The FCC Wireless Bureau, on its own motion, Friday delayed the deadlines for filing comments on its Sept. 28 notice of proposed rulemaking on mobile spectrum holdings. The new deadlines are Nov. 28 for comments, Jan. 7 for replies. Previous deadlines were Nov. 23 for comments, Dec. 24 for replies. “Given the proximity of the filing deadlines to two federal holidays, as well as our desire to encourage thoughtful consideration of the important issues raised in this proceeding, we believe that a grant of additional time within which to file comments and reply comments will help to facilitate careful and deliberate consideration of these matters,” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnxn6z).
Halo Wireless is liable for unpaid access charges, the Florida Public Service Commission ruled. Its Wednesday order authorized AT&T to discontinue performance and terminate its interconnection agreement with Halo (http://xrl.us/bnxn6a). AT&T, Halo and other industry players fought in many states over these contested charges until Halo’s closure. The order acknowledges Halo’s July liquidation: “The [Halo] Trustee requested that AT&T disconnect Halo in all states in which AT&T was providing service, and the disconnection process was completed August 1, 2012,” the PSC said, adding that AT&T is also no longer receiving traffic from Halo. The ruling is “appropriate” despite the liquidation due to Halo’s sufficient prehearing testimony and the need for AT&T to show Halo is liable for unpaid access charges, it said. The order’s analysis discussed Halo’s still-operating affiliate, Transcom Enhanced Services, but unlike in certain other state commissions, the Florida PSC did not render a formal judgment on Transcom in its order. Transcom is currently fighting back against three state commissions in court (CD Oct 17 p9).
Comments are due Nov. 21, replies Dec. 12, as the FCC seeks to “update and refresh the record” beyond comments collected in a 2010 wireless microphones further notice proceeding, the Wireless Bureau said Friday (http://xrl.us/bnxn47). The FCC discussed the areas in which it hoped for additional comment in an Oct. 5 public notice (http://xrl.us/bnsrwd). The Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology asked “(1) whether the Commission should provide for a limited expansion of license eligibility that would permit some wireless microphone and other low power auxiliary station users, which currently operate in the TV broadcast spectrum on an unlicensed basis, to operate on a licensed basis under the Part 74 rules applicable to low power auxiliary stations (LPAS); and (2) what steps the Commission should take to promote more efficient use of this spectrum by wireless microphones."
Q3 TV station ad sales at Fisher Communications increased 14 percent from a year earlier to $34.7 million, the company said late Thursday. Cash flow at its TV businesses gained 55 percent to $10.5 million. The gains were helped by $3.6 million in political ad sales, and $6.3 million in retransmission consent revenue. The company finished the quarter debt free after having redeemed $61.8 million of its senior notes during Q1 2012, it said. It expects to establish a five-year $30 million revolving credit facility with the JPMorgan Chase bank in Q4, it said.
Toccoa Falls College further urged the FCC to reconsider its decision fining the college $10,000 for a public inspection file violation at its station WTXR(FM). This summer, TFC filed a petition for reconsideration (CD Aug 29 p8). The Georgia college also filed a supplement to the petition which includes a budget report for the 12-month period ending June 30 (http://xrl.us/bnxnya). The report “reveals that the annual budget for the operations of WTXR is $2,087,” it said. The grand total expenses for the full year was $862.80 out of that budget, it said. The budget shows that the station “clearly is not a station with paid staff or with the resources a non-student-run station would have,” TFC added.
Time Warner Cable (TWC) said it’s setting up mobile charging stations and free Wi-Fi access points around lower Manhattan and Staten Island. Additionally, all its Wi-Fi spots around New York will be available to non-subscribers, it said. Most of its customers in the area continued to receive service throughout Hurricane Sandy, said John Quigley, TWC regional vice president for New York City. “For those customers who lost service during the storm, we have been and will continue to work to restore services as quickly as possible,” he said.
Immersion believes nearly 400 million cellphones using basic haptics have shipped to date without licensing the company’s haptics technology, CEO Vic Viegas said on an earnings call Thursday. That’s up from the more than 200 million he cited in August. “It’s those phones that we expect to monetize and turn into revenue,” Viegas said Thursday. Immersion revenue for Q3 ended Sept. 30 grew 10 percent year-over-year to $7.1 million. But its loss widened to $3 million, or 11 cents a share, from $1.4 million, or 5 cents. Immersion shares, however, closed 2.5 percent higher Friday at $4.55. Royalty and license revenue grew 8 percent to $6.4 million. Revenue from product sales jumped 53 percent to $529,000. Forty-nine percent of total Q3 revenue came from mobility, while 24 percent was from game products, 16 percent from medical products, 7 percent from autos, and 4 percent from chips and other products, said Chief Financial Officer Paul Norris. “As mobile device manufacturers increasingly recognize” the benefits of Immersion’s haptic technology solutions, “we are licensing new technologies, deepening our customer relationships and expanding our market presence in important new geographies including Japan and China,” said Viegas. Immersion continues to “penetrate the China smartphone market, primarily through our chip partners who are having success selling our solutions into this market,” he said. “As we have started ramping our efforts in the region, we've seen three OEMs in China ship over 5 million handsets” using Immersion technology so far this year, he said. In Q3, Samsung rolled out new versions of the Galaxy S III smartphone, which he said includes Immersion’s TouchSense 3000 software and Reverb technology for mobile gaming. Samsung also launched the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet that he said includes TouchSense 3000 software. Immersion continues to “engage in discussions with current and new customers to license basic haptics,” he said. While the “final result and timing of these discussions remains unknown,” he said “we continue to believe there is potential for Immersion to monetize unrealized opportunities for basic haptics in the current fiscal year.” Immersion still expects to report revenue of $32 million to $38 million for this fiscal year, he said.
Cablevision customers can get credit on their bills for any full or partial day they couldn’t access services, even if the lack of service was a result of power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy, the company said. “In addition, customers will not be responsible for any damage to Cablevision equipment caused by the storm and will be able to exchange damaged equipment at no cost,” said Kristin Dolan, senior executive vice president of product management and marketing at Cablevision.
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $3,000 fine against Triplett & Associates for not filing children’s TV program reports for its Class A WDEM-CD Columbus Ohio, station, a notice of apparent liability released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bnxnu5). The Media Bureau found reports missing for three quarters in 2007, and one each in 2009 and 2010, the notice said. Responding in May 2011, Triplett & Associates said it believed the reports had been prepared for each of those quarters and filed electronically with the FCC, but was missing copies for two of them, the notice said. “Although the violations apparently resulted from inadvertence, the Commission has repeatedly rejected human error and inadvertence as a basis for excusing a licensee’s rule violation,” it said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered Richards TV Cable Co. to pay $10,000 for its “failure to install emergency alert system equipment at its cable systems in Jerusalem, Ohio,” a forfeiture order released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bnxnty). A February notice of apparent liability said the cable operator did not have such equipment during multiple inspections after 2008 (http://xrl.us/bnxnt2).