FirstNet is looking for a general manager, an NTIA presentation released last week said (http://xrl.us/bnz23c). This new position “shall be responsible for implementing the policies and strategies approved by the [FirstNet] Board, and overseeing all of the day-to-day operations of FirstNet, akin to a Chief Executive Officer or President in a corporate setting,” according to the Oct. 16 presentation. The manager will report to the board, it said. The ideal candidate will have national business leadership experience and expertise in public safety, governmental processes and the technical, network and commercial issues involved in FirstNet, the presentation said. The agency compared FirstNet to a “start-up” venture. The nature of the position calls for more than 15 years of experience, U.S. citizenship, and a likely base of operations in Washington, D.C., or northern Virginia, it said. Payment will be up to $155,500 a year, with the possibility of senior executive pay of $179,700 a year, the presentation said. Application letters and resumes are due Dec. 1 to FirstNetGM@ntia.doc.gov. A FirstNet board committee will then select a pool of candidates to interview with the board and NTIA, the presentation said.
The new president of NARUC is prioritizing cybersecurity and telecom. NARUC posted the speech of incoming president Philip Jones Friday, who assumed the role at the organization’s Nov. 11-14 Baltimore meeting. The prepared speech detailed many challenges, including $1 trillion that the “dynamic” telecom industry needs for capital investment over the next 15 years. “Cybersecurity and critical asset protection will be a theme of my presidency” as threats have increased “in frequency and scope,” Jones said (http://xrl.us/bnz2ze). He described efforts in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, and said NARUC wants to “ensure” the “statutory and historical role of [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] and [the North American Electric Reliability Corp.] in setting the grid’s rules and standards,” the prepared speech said. States will play a cybersecurity role and are “close to the ground,” he added. NARUC commissioners should build their cybersecurity knowledge base and teams on a state level as Jones and NARUC staff forge closer relationships on the federal level, he said. Jones launched a telecom task force on Monday devoted to questions of federalism and NARUC’s relationship with the FCC (CD Nov 14 p5).
For Q3, overall radio revenue of $4.2 billion was about the same as a year earlier, while digital sales increased 8 percent to $205 million, the Radio Ad Bureau (RAB) said. On-air ad sales still make up the bulk of radio industry revenue, but digital sources of revenue are growing faster, said Erica Farber, RAB’s CEO. “More marketers are tapping the multi-platform aspects of Radio to reach our active and highly engaged audiences,” Farber said.
The Texas Public Utility Commission amended its September petition to opt out of the National Lifeline Accountability Database. In a Friday FCC filing (http://xrl.us/bnz2xg), the PUC credited the FCC’s interim notices guiding states in how to opt out and now includes technical information regarding its designated low-income discount administrator. This company, Solix, offered responses about how it ensures accountability in Texas and how it operates. Due to reform this year, Solix “de-enrolled 220,652 telephone numbers previously identified as eligible for Lifeline discounts,” it said. The overall documentation shows that Texas qualifies to opt out of the national database, the PUC said.
Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., lost his re-election bid to former San Diego Councilman Scott Peters, a Democrat, by less than 3,000 votes. Bilbray, a member of the House Commerce Committee and the Communications Subcommittee, conceded on Friday. Bilbray becomes the fifth Commerce Committee Republican to vacate their seat before the 113th Congress. Charles Bass, R-N.H., lost his race in November, Sue Myrick of North Carolina announced her retirement, while Cliff Stearns of Florida and John Sullivan of Oklahoma lost their primary races earlier this year.
InterMedia Outdoors Holdings, which owns the Sportsman Channel, agreed to buy control of Outdoor Channel Holdings and form a new company, InterMedia Outdoor Holdings Inc., in a cash and stock “election merger,” the companies said. Outdoor Channel shareholders will be entitled either to $8 or one share in the new company for each share of Outdoor they hold, the Outdoor Channel said. That values the deal at about $207 million based on Outdoor Channel’s 25.82 million shares outstanding. The new company has secured $150 million from CIT Communications, Media and Entertainment to finance part of the deal and to refinance some debt, it said. The transaction is expected to close before April, the company said. Outdoor Channel’s shares closed up 4.6 percent Friday to $7.52.
FCC figures show “the number of Latino-owned media outlets is dismal,” the National Hispanic Media Coalition said Friday. Two days earlier, a Media Bureau report (http://xrl.us/bnz2v7) said that Hispanics as of Oct. 1, 2011, controlled 513 U.S. stations. They included 39 full-power TV stations, or 2.9 percent of the total; 172 AMs, 4.5 percent of the total; and 151 FMs, or 2.7 percent of all. Latinos comprise 16 percent of the country’s population, the coalition said. The data’s “a day late and a dollar short,” Vice President of Policy & Legal Affairs Jessica Gonzalez said in a news release. It’s “deplorable” the commission now has circulating for a vote a draft order that would deregulate some media ownership rules, she said.
The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) connected its first city with 100 percent of the necessary fiber backbone, it said. This major trunk buildout of Centerville City took about a year and a half, according to the agency. The $24 million buildout of Centerville City and five other cities comes from $16 million in federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program money and $8 million in local bond money, UTOPIA said Friday. UTOPIA is a consortium of 16 cities throughout Utah. Of the city’s single-family homes, 22 percent subscribe to the municipal network, with 40 percent expected to do so soon, according to Mayor Ron Russell. The mayor emphasized the network’s usefulness for local business. Centerville City has cut its telecom costs by 60 percent, said UTOPIA Executive Director Todd Marriott. UTOPIA has, as of Nov. 6, connected government facilities in all but one of the BTOP-funded cities, installed fiber at 129 anchor institutions, laid 109 miles of fiber, and extended fiber into a West Valley City business park, UTOPIA said.
The Copyright Office set a new deadline of Dec. 10 for reply comments on its notice of proposed rulemaking on changes to its monthly and annual statements of account rules under the Section 115 compulsory license, a notice in the Federal Register said. The deadline, which had already been pushed back once, had been planned for Nov. 26. But several parties asked for additional time after their operations were affected by Superstorm Sandy.
The “overall approach” of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to media ownership rules “is sensible,” said Minority Media and Telecommunications Council Executive Director David Honig. MMTC earlier stopped opposing cross-ownership of a broadcaster and daily newspaper within a market because “the basic premise of our former opposition ... evaporated with the devastating losses in the ranks of print journalists,” Honig told us. He responded to comments by Free Press that MMTC would only back cross-ownership if it wouldn’t hurt diversity (CD Nov 15 p1). “We leave the door open” to change tack, Honig confirmed. But “I've not seen one instance where a minority deal in recent memory was prevented or inhibited” by cross-ownership, where a person of color was pursuing a transaction, he said of his experience as a broker (http://xrl.us/bnz2t7).