TV Guide Digital said more people are watching VOD and streaming TV programming, more are paying for such programming and they're increasingly using mobile devices to watch. The company surveyed 2,306 people about their TV viewing habits, it said. And VOD has become a way for people to discover new shows to watch; it said 89 percent of survey respondents said they found out about a new program on VOD or online after the season had already begun.
Dish Network told the FCC that the out-of-band emission limits proposed in a proceeding on AWS-4 spectrum are “more than sufficient to protect other wireless operators,” in an ex parte filing in docket 12-170 (http://xrl.us/bnuv97). The proceeding examines whether the DBS company should be authorized to use wireless spectrum for a terrestrial service. Sprint Nextel’s suggestion of imposing stringent emission limits for AWS-4 services of -40 dBm/MHz at 2000 MHz is “unjustified as a technical matter,” Dish said in the filing, which referenced Monday meetings with staff from the Wireless Bureau, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s office and other staff. The FCC “can reach a win-win result that offers a path to use H block for broadband, attracts bidders to a future H block auction and reduces harmful interference into AWS-4,” Dish added.
TV newsrooms worldwide will soon be able to take live video feeds in broadcast quality from consumers’ iPhones and Android devices using technology initially developed for professional camera operators by Israeli company LiveU. The technology works by “bonding” together several different cellphone services to provide enough data capacity for 1080-quality video, LiveU said. Professional LiveU backpacks, costing upwards of $25,000 to $30,000, are increasingly being used by news crews for untethered news coverage, it said. The packs each accommodate up to seven different cellphone SIM cards, to access various 3G cellphone services at the same time, and they share H.264-compressed video among them, it said. If one cellular link drops out or slows, more data is loaded on the others, it said. If all are congested, the backpack reverts to more powerful compression to get the signal out, it said. When no combination of links can support a live stream, the backpack stores the stream and forwards it later, it said. LiveU packs have been used recently for news coverage of the London Olympics and the royal wedding, it said. To cover the Arab Spring uprisings in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, camera operators had limited bandwidth, it said. Still, with data rates available to cover the uprising down to 800 kbps, live pictures got out using enhanced compression, it said. The consumer version of LiveU in the form of an iPhone and Android app is being tested in London by its U.K. distributor, Garland Partners. Garland expects those apps to become commercially available globally by Q1 2013, company representatives said at recent demonstrations at a conference of the British Kinematograph, Sound and Television Society. The apps will be free to consumers because broadcasters already pay a license fee to install LiveU equipment for receiving the incoming app streams that are used as breaking news feeds, Garland said. Since few smartphones are built to accommodate more than a single SIM card, the consumer app will bond singles from a subscriber’s 3G wireless service with those of a public Wi-Fi hotspot or MiFi dongle device, for a combination link operating at speeds around 1.5 Mbps, it said. Where 4G services are available, data rates will be around six times faster than 3G, it said.
A new Wi-Fi protocol, IEEE 802.11ac, will become dominant over the next three years, with it being used in 70 percent of mobile handsets shipped in 2015, according to ABI Research. “The Wi-Fi 802.11ac protocol offers several advantages over the current and most commonly used 802.11n protocol,” ABI Research senior analyst Josh Flood said Thursday in a news release. “Firstly, the wireless connection speed will be quicker; the new protocol also offers better range and improved reliability, and superior power consumption. It’s also capable of multiple 2X2 streams and should be particularly good for gaming experiences and HD video streaming on mobile devices.” A similar trend is happening with Bluetooth technology in mobile devices. While 65 percent of mobile devices in 2012 incorporate Bluetooth generation 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 technology, the newer Bluetooth “Smart Ready” 4.0 will become the dominant technology on devices within the next two years, ABI Research said. By 2014, almost 80 percent of smartphones will have near-field communication capabilities, 80 percent will have facial recognition capabilities and more than 10 percent will “operate by gestures,” ABI Research said (http://xrl.us/bnuv44).
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) is inviting U.S. companies to send letters of interest in collaborating with ITL through the National Cybersecurity Excellence Partnerships. NIST said in a notice Thursday that it will accept letters of interest on an ongoing basis, but reserves the right to later establish a cutoff date. Companies should send letters to Karen Waltermire at NCCoE@nist.gov or to National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, MS 2000, Gaithersburg, Md., 20899 (http://xrl.us/bnuvw6).
ViaSat increased the monthly data cap for its entry-level Exede satellite broadband service ($49 monthly fee) to 10 GB from 7.5 GB, essentially matching Dish Network’s DishNet. DishNet, which is using ViaSat’s satellite for its service, starts at $39 for a plan with a 10 GB cap. But DishNet’s starter pack is bundled with a Dish Network video plan and has the same 5 Mbps/1 Mbps download/upload speeds as Exede. ViaSat’s Exede is continuing with 15 GB ($79) and 25 GB ($129) data caps on packages with 12 Mbps/3 Mbps download/upload speeds. Exede subscribers that surpass the caps have their service throttled back to 128 kbps for the remainder of the billing period unless an extra $10 per gigabyte is paid. The ViaSat-1 Ka-band satellite at 115 degrees west can support one million subscribers and earn $350 million in annual EBITDA over its 15-year life, B. Riley & Co. analyst Mike Crawford said in a research note for clients. “It is no surprise” ViaSat is increasing monthly bandwidth caps at the entry-level given that it faces increased competition from EchoStar’s HughesNet4, which formally launched its Power high-speed service in late September with a $49 entry-level monthly fee for 10 Mbps/1 Mbps download/upload. Other packages have 10 Mbps/2 Mbps ($79) and 15 Mbps/2 Mbps download/upload speeds. The entry-level service allows downloads of up to 250 MB of data in a 24-hour period before speeds are slowed, while the other two plans are at 350 MB and 450 MB. Unused portions of the daily allowance can be “banked” for future use. HughesNet4 is delivered from the EchoStar 17 satellite at 107.1 degrees west. ViaSat’s Exede has a “late night free zone” from midnight to 5 a.m. that allows users to download data without having it count against their monthly cap. DishNet’s free zone runs from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. ViaSat’s satellite broadband service, which also includes WildBlue subscribers, had 405,000 customers in late June.
Germany’s telecom market is fairly good for consumers, but more effective regulation is still needed for competition, the German competitive carriers’ association VATM said Thursday. Deutsche Telekom still dominates the fixed-line sector and, 15 years after the telecom sector was fully liberalized, DT “alone will generate in this area almost the same revenues -- with a 43.7 percent share of the total sales -- as all the alternative fixed-line carriers together, with 43.9 percent,” said VATM President Gerd Eickers. DT’s broadband market retail share is around 45 percent, he said. The fact that rivals must depend on DT resale products “remains a vexing problem” because they generally have to interconnect with the incumbent’s access networks to reach their end customers, since network structures stem from the time of DT’s monopoly, VATM said. The high monthly rent for the local loop contributes heavily to DT revenue and stifles competition with cable operators that don’t have to pay for such wholesale services, it said. The association wants Germany’s local loop charges lowered to the European average, Eickers said: “We want to steer investments in the expansion of modern infrastructure rather than investing in already depreciated copper lines.” The report also found, among other things, that: (1) DT rivals are generating more than half of the investment in telecom services. (2) Revenue generated by the sector is expected to remain about the same as last year, at around 60 billion euros ($78.5 billion). (3) By year’s end, around 800,000 households will be connected via fiber networks that will reach at least to their building’s basement. (4) The total volume of broadband traffic over fixed networks increased by around 13 percent to 4.4 billion gigabytes. Outbound data traffic volume from mobile networks rose by 33 percent to 196 megabytes per user in the 2012 reporting period (without LTE). Data services will generate almost two-thirds of non-voice revenues in the mobile sector this year. LTE expansion is progressing, and soon coverage requirements in all German states will be met, including in rural, previously unserved regions, the report said. The VATM urged the Federal Network Agency to speed up the approval process for radio links needed for LTE.
The FCC opened a docket on Deutsche Telekom’s proposed acquisition of MetroPCS. “In the proposed transaction, Deutsche Telekom will receive 74 percent ownership of the combined company and MetroPCS shareholders will receive $1.5 billion in cash and 26 percent ownership in the combined company, which will retain the T-Mobile name,” the FCC said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bnuu4v). “The purpose of this public notice is to announce the opening of a docket, WT Docket No. 12-301, and establish the ex parte status of discussions related to the proposed transaction. When the Applications have been accepted for filing, we will issue a separate public notice announcing that fact and setting forth a pleading schedule.” Meanwhile, the Wireless Bureau issued two protective orders offering various degrees of protection to confidential information filed on the merger.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority now doesn’t anticipate full wireless coverage of the Washington, D.C., Metro system until December 2015. That’s more than two years later than planned, General Manager Richard Sarles wrote Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine (http://xrl.us/bnuqhk). Metrorail’s coverage is provided by Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile and is required by Section 601 of the Division of the Passenger Rail lnvestment and Improvement Act of 2008, Sarles said. “The carriers have completed installation of infrastructure at all but three stations, and wireless service at remaining stations will be available once the carriers complete their testing process.” But “significant work” remains, he said Tuesday. Major obstacles are the 2009 rail deaths at the authority’s Fort Totten, Md., station and aftermath and that this telecom ambition “required significantly more time then any of the parties envisioned” when begun in 2008, he said. The wireless coverage deadline had been extended to March 27, 2013, Sarles said. He cited challenges of equipment, employee training and the limited hours during which his workers can operate in the Metro tunnels.
The FCC gave Northwest Indiana Public Broadcasting a renewal of its license for WLPR(FM) Lowell, Ind. The Media Bureau denied an objection to the renewal by Len Clark, a former station employee, it said in an order (http://xrl.us/bnuqgw). He alleged the non-commercial station engages in underwriting practices “that do not comply with commission requirements,” the bureau said. The bureau said it’s unable to find a substantial and material question of fact on whether NIPB’s decision “to air any particular announcement was an abuse of discretion and/or violation of our underwriting requirements."