Political ad sales are growing more slowly for Spanish-language media than the rest of the media, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce said, citing figures from Kantar Media. It looked at political ad spending in 10 states April 10-Sept. 25 and found 4.57 percent went to Spanish-language outlets. “This year there has been a great deal of speculation that we would see a significant jump in Spanish-language ad spending,” said Ken Goldstein, president of Kantar Media’s Campaign Media Analysis Group. “That may yet happen, but so far this cycle it appears that ad spending is closer to historical norms than any sort of break out year."
The Copyright Office said it extended to Oct. 24 the deadline for submitting reply comments on its rulemaking on verification of statements of account and royalty payments (http://xrl.us/bnscq2). The deadline had been October 3.
Lobbying continued around the FCC’s ban on exclusive contracts between cable operators and the pay-TV networks they own ahead of the ban’s expiration date Friday. The sports programming carried on national pay-TV networks is just as “non-replicable” as that carried by regional sports networks, American Cable Association (ACA) attorneys told FCC officials, according to a recent ex parte notice (http://xrl.us/bnscos). The commission has the authority to presume that “any network, regardless of whether it is distributed regionally or nationally” that carries a certain amount of sports programming, “is both non-replicable and highly-desired and will significantly hinder competitive MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors] if withheld from them in the marketplace,” the notice said. The commission can use predictive judgment to reach that conclusion, it said. Separately, attorneys for Time Warner Cable told aides to commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel that categorical bans on exclusivity, even one limited to regional sports networks, should be rejected, an ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bnscpe).
The U.K. will launch its 4G spectrum auction process at year’s end, with bidding starting early in 2013, the Office of Communications said Tuesday. Ofcom has been consulting for 18 months on how to get the spectrum to market as quickly as possible, it said. After meeting with operators, TV broadcasters, Digital UK and transmission company Arqiva, the regulator secured the earlier release of frequencies previously used for digital terrestrial TV, it said. That spectrum will now be cleared and ready for 4G services across much of the country five months earlier than planned, it said. The move was made possible by significant progress in the digital switchover and the clearance program itself, which has been running ahead of schedule, it said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on various proposed changes for licensing in the Amateur Radio Service. Among the proposals is granting examination credit for expired amateur operator licenses instead of requiring former licensees to retest (http://xrl.us/bnsckk). The bureau also proposed shortening the grace period during which an expired amateur license may be renewed from two years to 180 days. Comments are due 60 days after the notice of proposed rulemaking is published in the Federal Register, replies 90 days after publication.
The Louisiana Public Service Commission closed a proceeding on a fight between AT&T and dPi Teleconnect, saying both parties “have amicably resolved their disputes,” according to an order Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnsck9). AT&T had brought complaints against many Louisiana CLECs in recent years. Those complaints were consolidated in 2010 from five proceedings into one, the order said. AT&T and dPi have an interconnection agreement by which dPI resells telecom services, according to the PSC.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) appeals board decision Tuesday against Belkin International, Cisco Linksys, D-Link Systems and Netgear on the scope of a wireless router patent. Belkin had requested an inter partes reexamination of U.S. Patent 7,035,281, claiming 10 “substantial new questions of patentability regarding claims 1-32 of the ‘281 patent” based on four prior references, according to the court ruling (http://xrl.us/bnsb78). OptimumPath has claimed Belkin, Cisco, D-Link, Netgear and other companies infringed on the 281 patent (http://xrl.us/bnscat). PTO Director David Kappos said only one of the references, U.S. Patent 6,560,217, raised a “substantial new question of patentability” and ordered a reexamination of six claims -- 1-3 and 8-10 -- under the 281 patent. Belkin petitioned for a review of the remaining claims not being reexamined, but did not ask for reconsideration on whether the other three claimed references applied, the ruling said. An examiner issued an “action closing prosecution” on the claims related to those accepted and did not deal with the three rejected references, so Belkin appealed to the PTO appeals board. The board found it did not have jurisdiction to decide applicability of the three rejected references and reaffirmed the examiner’s ruling, according to the federal court ruling. The federal appeals court said Belkin’s arguments in its appeal “are without merit,” saying Belkin should have petitioned Kappos to review his decision on the three rejected references. “Belkin did not do so, and thus that decision became final and non-appealable,” the court said in its ruling.
Microsoft and Google both unveiled initiatives in the lead-up to Wednesday’s presidential debate. Google and the CEA teamed up to create “Insights from the 2012 Debates,” which will include a digital display at the debates that features search trends and content from Google Plus users, the company and association said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnscod). The goal of the initiative is to showcase the ways in which voters learn about the candidates and issues of the 2012 presidential election. Such tools are “transforming the political process from one that watches votes from afar, to one in which people can participate, engage and shape in a democratic way,” said Susan Molinari, Google vice president-public policy and government affairs. The former Republican U.S. representative from New York recently was hired by Google. Also on Tuesday, Microsoft said Xbox 360 owners in the U.S. can watch the debates through the election 2012 hub on Xbox Live, which Microsoft started in August (http://xrl.us/bnsco2). Through the platform, Xbox Live gold members can answer real-time poll questions about the candidates and their views.
Comments are due Oct. 12 on an Alaska Communications Systems petition for waiver of the Connect America Fund Phase I incremental support rules (http://xrl.us/bnscgt). ACS seeks a waiver of the rule requiring broadband deployment to one unserved location per each $775 received; a waiver of the definition of “unserved” to exclude those locations served by fixed wireless broadband providers; and a waiver of the definition of “broadband” to count upgrades to existing customers with speeds below 1.5 Mbps (CD Sept 28 p19). Reply comments in docket 10-90 will be due Oct. 19.
State advocates have continued crying out against the problem of rural call completion. “Regardless of what state I was in, the conversation quickly turned to call completion problems that rural communications providers continue to experience at high levels,” National Telecommunications Cooperative Association CEO Shirley Bloomfield said on her official blog Monday (http://xrl.us/bnscfu). John Burke, chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) telecom committee and member of the Vermont Public Service Board, had urged the FCC in a Sept. 26 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (http://xrl.us/bnscfm) to “drop the hammer.” The rural call termination problem “persists,” and the FCC “needs to expeditiously identify a provider or providers that have not resolved practices that result in call termination issues identified in the [FCC’s] February 6 Declaratory Ruling and take appropriate and swift action, including imposing the penalties outlined in that order,” he wrote. NARUC had passed a resolution at its July meeting praising the FCC’s ruling and urging continued action. Bloomfield echoed Burke’s sentiments and call to action. She talked of revenues “lost” and job applicants who have “missed opportunities.”