The Internet Innovation Alliance voiced many concerns on the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking on mobile spectrum holdings. “The existing unpredictable, non-public process for changing spectrum screens undermines economic growth by failing to provide investors with the transparency, predictability and flexibility needed to properly consider wireless broadband investments,” it said in a Tuesday letter to all five commissioners (http://xrl.us/bn2uut). It blasted the regulatory uncertainty and its effect on growth while praising the benefits of mobile broadband. The alliance advocated for making more spectrum available in 2013 and providing greater certainty. Future spectrum screen analyses should acknowledge how competitive the wireless industry is “in addition to recognizing differential values of spectrum with varying propagation characteristics,” it said.
News Corp.’s purchase of a 49 percent equity stake in the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network won’t impact its Baa1 senior unsecured rating and has positive long-term strategic and financial implications, Moody’s Investors Service said in a research note. News Corp. announced the acquisition Tuesday (CD Nov 21 p15). The YES Network is a strong addition to News Corp.’s portfolio of TV and entertainment properties, Moody’s said. A continuing long-term ownership stake in the network “will increase the company’s leverage in negotiating pay-TV distribution contracts for all its other RSNs [regional sports networks] if they are negotiated as a group,” Moody’s said. “We expect the company to benefit from cash flows it receives as its share of the YES Network’s partnership income."
The FCC will examine Numbering Resource Utilization and Forecast (NRUF) reports, carriers’ local number portability (LNP) data and carrier-to-carrier LNP data from December 2008 to June 2012 in its review of the proposed transfer of AWS-1 and WCS spectrum licenses to AT&T. “These data may assist the Commission in assessing the competitive effects of the transactions,” the FCC said Wednesday. The commission intends to place the NRUF, LNP and carrier-to-carrier LNP data reports for all wireless carriers into the proceeding record. Because this data is treated as confidential under federal law, the FCC will make it available only to people participating in the proceeding. Affected carriers will have until Dec. 3 to oppose the entering of their NRUF and LNP data into the record, the FCC said. Those parties will also have three business days to object to the release of their data after a person signs a confidentiality agreement in order to review the data (http://xrl.us/bn2upm).
The FCC sought comment on Entercom’s petition on contest rules which the agency received Jan. 20, said a Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn2up6). The broadcaster asked the commission to end a 1976 mandate that stations disclose on-air all material terms of their contests when promoted during programming (CD Jan 27 p7). “The FCC has finally gotten around to asking how anybody else feels about the proposal,” said the blog of the Fletcher Heald law firm, with radio and TV station clients. “A solid show of support ... could improve the prospects for the eventual adoption of Entercom’s proposal,” though a rulemaking notice would need to be issued before rules change, the post said. Comments on rulemaking 11684 are due Dec. 20, the firm calculated.
NAB wants low-power FM station license seekers to give “advance notice to any full-service FM stations that may be impacted” by an LPFM getting an FCC waiver to be two notches away on the dial, the association said. Association executives proposed the “simple, reasonable procedure” in meetings Monday with Commissioner Robert McDowell and with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, filings posted Tuesday in docket 99-25 said. Full-power FMs that would be affected by a second-adjacent frequency waiver “should have the opportunity to review and potentially improve the engineering showing” from the LPFM applicant, the filings (http://xrl.us/bn2uoc and http://xrl.us/bn2uoe) said. That “would offer benefits to everyone involved, including the Commission, the LPFM applicant, the full-service station, and listeners,” they said. A draft Media Bureau order would allow such waivers (CD Nov 15 p6), and NAB and other full-power broadcasters have said they should be given infrequently. “Determining the interference potential of either a second-adjacent LPFM station or similarly-situated FM translator is not a simple matter,” the association said this week. It sought a “cautious approach” to such exemptions.
Charter Communications investors are selling about 3.1 million shares in a secondary offering, the cable operator said in a Tuesday news release (http://xrl.us/bn2ukm). The stock that Apollo-affiliated funds are selling, in a deal where Charter said it’s not receiving any proceeds, is worth about $220 million, based on market prices.
The FCC proposed fining a Class A TV station $13,000 (CD Nov 21 p14) for not keeping in its public-inspection file kids’ programming reports. A Media Bureau notice of apparent liability released Wednesday went to Highland Park Broadcasting (http://xrl.us/bn2ujx). This is the second such notice in as many days.
Global optical networking (ON) equipment spending dropped 1 percent year-over-year in Q3 to $3.7 billion, research firm Ovum said Wednesday in a market analysis. While ON spending was up 14 percent year-over-year in the Asia-Pacific market, it dropped 11 percent in North America, 8 percent in the Europe, Middle East and Africa market and 4 percent in South and Central America, Ovum said. “Preliminary analysis of 3Q12 results offers little positive news,” Ovum analyst Ron Kline said in a news release. “The competitive environment is challenging at the moment. Many vendors are grateful just to see their business stay flat.” Ericsson, Fiberhome, Huawei and NEC were the only top vendors that saw revenue rise from Q2 and year-over-year, Ovum said. Nokia Siemens, Tellabs and ZTE posted declines from Q2 and year-over-year. “With three uninspiring quarters of 2012 behind us, we are advising our clients that the global market will likely contract into the $14.5-15.0 [billion] range,” Kline said. “We are not anticipating a large-scale buying spree that would recoup all the ground lost in the three earlier soft quarters."
An Obama administration spokesman “categorically” denied in an email statement Wednesday allegations that the U.S. participated in a cyberattack against the French government. The denial followed a story published by a French magazine L'Express (http://xrl.us/bn2ump) that claimed a virus that infected French government computers this year resembled the Flame virus that was allegedly developed by U.S. and Israeli cyberexperts to target Iranian computer systems. Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said: “We categorically deny the allegations by unnamed sources that the U.S. government participated in a cyber attack against the French government. France is one of our strongest allies. Our outstanding cooperation in intelligence sharing, law enforcement, and cyber defense has never been stronger, and remains essential in successfully combating the common threat of extremism.”
CTIA and NAB want a one-month extension of the deadlines to submit comments on the FCC’s plan for implementing spectrum incentive auction legislation. In a joint filing late Tuesday, the associations asked the FCC to extend the deadline to comment from Dec. 21 to Jan. 25, and to extend the deadline for reply comments from Feb. 19 to March 26. An extension would give interested parties time to address “the complicated economic, engineering and policy issues” raised by the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking on the spectrum incentive auction plan and to assist the commission in implementing the Spectrum Act, they said in the filing. “The novelty and uniqueness of this auction require that all interested parties thoroughly digest and analyze the complex set of issues presented in order to ensure that the auction has the best chance for success” (http://xrl.us/bn2ucb).