EchoStar is shifting new satellite receiver/DVR production to Hopper-like products as it seeks to secure original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers to build business beyond sister company Dish Network, said Michael Hawkey, vice president of sales and marketing. EchoStar will continue supplying the Hopper satellite receiver/DVR and Joey thin-clients to Dish along with re-manufactured products through 2013, he told us. The emphasis will be on broadening the options available with Hopper, including the addition of new over-the-top services and Wi-Fi to the whole home device, Hawkey said. The Hopper, with a two terabyte hard drive and a PrimeTime Anytime feature that has drawn TV networks’ litigation, has proven to be an attractive option for potential OEM customers, said Hawkey. He declined to say when a deal might be struck. EchoStar also supplies satellite receivers to the Dish-MDC Communications Dish Mexico joint venture and Bell Canada’s Bell Expressvu. “I want to roll it out to other customers and they are actually demanding it,” Hawkey said. “You will start to see” the Hopper with other customers, he said.
Five Democrats on the House Commerce Committee urged majority leaders to hold a hearing to examine communications performance and reliability in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. The request came in the form of a letter sent by Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, Calif., Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, Calif., Reps. Edolphus Towns, N.Y., Frank Pallone, N.J., and Eliot Engel, N.Y. “A hearing would allow us to investigate the reliability of the communications networks, to identify and highlight best practices and, where necessary, to address potential vulnerabilities in our communications infrastructure,” the letter said. The Democrats said they wanted to examine the performance of wireless and fiber optic networks in light of AT&T and Verizon’s plans to phase out support for traditional copper line networks. “We are concerned by accounts suggesting that those with corded telephones running on copper-line networks were able to communicate while those relying on wireless services or fiber-optic cables were not,” they said. A spokesman for the majority members did not comment.
The draft FCC media ownership order would “gut” the rules, possibly without a public vote, a group opposing broadcast mergers and acquisitions said Monday. Free Press noted the commission didn’t hold public hearings on the proposed deregulation. The Media Bureau order, ending the quadrennial ownership review due in 2010 under the Telecom Act, may not be voted on at the Dec. 12 commissioner meeting if FCC members begin voting on it before then, agency officials have said (CD Nov 13 p1). A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment. The similarity of the deregulation to an order approved in 2007 under FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is “recycling the Bush administration’s failed policies,” Free Press CEO Craig Aaron said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bn2jts). “It’s baffling that the FCC is even considering rushing to vote on this warmed-over proposal.” Representatives of Free Press and the United Church of Christ met Thursday with an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, to oppose allowing waivers of cross-ownership rules, so one company can hold a daily newspaper and TV station in the same market, said a filing posted Monday to docket 09-182. “The short term cost savings generated by these alleged ‘efficiencies’ have only been used to temporarily enhance profits, not” improve “local news coverage,” it said (http://xrl.us/bn2jt8).
House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both California Democrats, expressed their concern that the FTC is preparing to expand its powers to regulate antitrust violations. The issue was raised in a letter made public Monday (http://xrl.us/bn2jqt). Eshoo and Lofgren, who represent districts in or around Silicon Valley, urged the FTC to reconsider expanding its jurisdiction under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to include antitrust actions. The commission, in coordination with the Department of Justice, is currently investigating Google for alleged antitrust violations. Eshoo and Lofgren said expanding Section 5, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices, “could lead to overbroad authority that amplifies uncertainty and stifles growth. These effects may be most acutely felt among online services, a crucial engine of job creation, where technological advancement and small business innovation are rapid,” they said. The FTC had no comment.
The GSM Association suggested four frequency ranges that could be considered when selecting candidate bands for possible mobile allocations or identification to internationally standardized applications in preparations for the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference, a submission to an ITU meeting this week said. The GSMA suggested the ranges 470-694 MHz, 1300-1527 MHz, 2.7-2.9 GHz and 3.4-4.2 GHz. It said 1400-1427 MHz would likely need to be protected. The GSMA said the needs of developing countries should be taken into account when considering bands to spur international mobile telecom. Bands that can help drive international harmonization, thus lower costs, should be considered, it said. Bands that help with coverage, capacity and the ability to deliver very high bit rates should also be considered, it said. GSMA wants candidate bands selected from 470 to 694 GHz. It referred to the needs of developing nations. Coverage could also be cost effectively spurred using bands up to 1.6 GHz, it said. Capacity could be boosted using bands between 1 and 4 GHz, the association said. Data speeds could be further enhanced using bands between 2 and 6 GHz, it said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau approved the request of Sprint Nextel to relinquish its eligible telecom carrier designation in Alabama, Georgia, New York and Virginia, effective Dec. 31 (http://xrl.us/bn2jor). The carrier will continue to offer service on a non-ETC basis in those areas, the order said.
Efforts to expand broadband adoption in Dickey Rural telco’s rural service area are “being jeopardized” by USF and intercarrier compensation reforms that have “significantly and surprisingly curtailed the amount of high cost universal service support that DRTC reasonably expected to receive,” the telco told FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and aides to commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, an ex parte filing said. The commission’s elimination of Safety Net Additive support is of particular concern, causing a loss of $1.68 million over the next five years, Dickey said. The North Dakota telco offers free Internet classes to its customers to encourage broadband adoption, and participates in the Rural PC Project, a joint project with NTCA and Microsoft, to provide affordable computers to rural customers, it said. But the telco may have to limit these efforts to expand broadband adoption because of cuts in USF, it said. “Due to the FCC’s extremely onerous waiver process and uncertainty regarding any favorable outcome, there is no viable avenue by which to obtain any relief,” the company said.
NAV Canada finalized an agreement with Iridium to invest in a joint venture for global, satellite-based aircraft tracking. This year, Iridium announced its plans to introduce Aireon, an effort to provide satellite-based surveillance capability for air navigation service providers (CD June 20 p6). Through the agreement NAV Canada will purchase “Series A preferred membership interests representing up to 51 percent of the fully diluted equity of Aireon,” it said in a press release (http://xrl.us/bn2jqn). The company also plans to become an Aireon customer, “aiming to deploy this new satellite-based surveillance capability in its North Atlantic airspace operations,” it said.
Alaska Communications Systems wants the FCC to grant its petition for a declaratory ruling in order to launch its proposed Alaska Wireless Network. The FCC approval is a “prerequisite” for the launch and will ensure the system complies with FCC rules, company officials told FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday (http://xrl.us/bn2jnm). They discussed pending assignment of license applications associated with the project, the filing said. The petition specifies how the FCC should classify the joint facilities of the proposed wireless network, which will affect how Alaska Communications and its partners are able to use the network’s spectrum.
The Republican Study Committee (RSC) said it made a mistake when it prematurely published a policy brief that called for comprehensive copyright reform. The briefing entitled: “Three myths about copyright law and where to start to fix it” was published Friday on the RSC website (http://xrl.us/bn2jcb), but has since been removed. The paper was authored by Derek Khanna, an RSC policy staff member, and discussed possible reforms to U.S. copyright law that “would lead to more economic development for the private sector and to a copyright law that is more firmly based upon constitutional principles,” the document said. The paper argued that modern copyright laws have expanded beyond the original intent of the Constitution to become “a symptom of the expansion in the size and scope of the federal government.” Khanna urged the committee to seek policy solutions like: statutory damages reform, expansion of fair use, increased punishment for false copyright claims, and limitation of copyright terms and renewals. Public Knowledge Founder Gigi Sohn said in a blog post Monday (http://xrl.us/bn2jje) lobbyists for the content industry sought to censor the debate over copyright reform by sinking the study. She said the policy brief was taken down from the RSC website less than 24 hours after it was released because “entertainment lobbyists [came] down on the RSC like a ton of bricks.” RSC Communications Director Brian Straessle disagreed and said in an email that “due to an oversight in our review process, [the policy brief] did not account for the full range of perspectives among our members.” “It was removed from the website to address that concern. I know some want to point fingers elsewhere, but the simple fact is that we screwed up, we admitted it, and we hope people will now use this opportunity to engage in polite and serious discussion of copyright law,” he said. The Recording Industry Association of America said separately that it never asked for the brief to be removed from the RSC website. “We understand that a decision was made ... to allow for the appropriate process that would have otherwise taken place before issuing,” said RIAA Senior Executive Vice President Mitch Glazier. “We appreciate that the Republican Study Committee clarified that the policy brief did not meet RSC standards for review by Member offices and staff,” he said in an email from his spokesman. The Motion Picture Association of America did not comment.