The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on a waiver request by the state of Montana, which wants to use 155.4750 MHz for interagency coordination of first responders within 16 kilometers of the U.S.-Canadian border. The Northern Tier Interoperability Consortium got a grant under the Border Interoperability Demonstration Project and Montana wants to use the “Blue Channel” spectrum. “Specifically, Montana would allow state, local, tribal and Canadian first responders to communicate on the Blue Channel for mutual U.S./Canadian operations at or within 16 kilometers of the border,” the bureau said in a notice (http://xrl.us/bnrn4p). “Montana argues this plan would achieve the following objectives: 1) Improve day-to-day interoperable emergency communications among local, state, tribal, and federal entities as well as international partners along and across international borders; 2) Improve interoperable emergency communications among emergency response providers responding to threats and natural disasters on the border; and 3) Facilitate interoperable communications among emergency response providers in border communities of varying population densities.” Comments are due Oct. 18, replies Oct. 29.
Verizon New York and Integrated Path Communications are sparring over a two-year-old interconnection agreement, in a proceeding before the New York Public Service Commission (http://xrl.us/bnrneo). Verizon brought a detailed white paper before the commission in early September, and in response, Integrated Path sent the commission a Wednesday reply alleging that Verizon misstates “the factual history of the parties’ relationship” and said it plans to provide its own evidence. “As a direct result of Verizon’s suspension of payments, IPC has over-paid taxes that will need to be returned,” Integrated said. It said Verizon’s invoices have been “grossly overstated.” Both ITC and Verizon want the issue resolved before the commission, according to their documents. ITC said the Verizon white paper and Wednesday reply shouldn’t be considered “final submissions” on the dispute. ITC asked the commission to issue an order outlining a schedule for discovery and subsequent hearings.
A draft FCC order circulated Wednesday would enable LTE mobile broadband deployment on 20 MHz of “long-dormant spectrum” in the WCS band, said Chairman Julius Genachowski’s office. It would also make an additional 10 MHz available for fixed broadband with the option for possible mobile broadband use in the future. The order is tentatively set for a vote at the agency’s Oct. 17 meeting, where a few other items also will be voted on, the agency said Wednesday. (See separate report below.) AT&T and Sirius XM had agreed this summer on a deal involving wireless communications service (WCS) spectrum that some had seen as providing the base for an eventual FCC order (CD June 19 p1). The new draft item would “revise the WCS rules to facilitate use of 30 megahertz of spectrum for wireless broadband service while protecting” satellite radio “against harmful interference,” the tentative meeting agenda said. The proposed order is part of Genachowski’s efforts to allow for more flexible use of spectrum to address the ongoing “spectrum crunch,” an FCC spokeswoman said. “By unleashing 20 megahertz of spectrum now -- and up to 30 megahertz in the future -- [Genachowski] continues to leave no stone unturned when it comes to maximizing opportunities to refill the mobile spectrum pipeline that had begun to run dry over the last decade."
The preliminary agenda for the FCC’s Oct. 17 meeting includes an order to streamline reporting requirements for international phone traffic, “significantly reducing” filing burdens, the agenda said. Another order would adopt a “do-not-call” registry to protect public safety answering points from autodialed calls that could tie up emergency phone lines. Also tentatively set for a vote is an order to facilitate use of 30 MHz of spectrum for wireless broadband service while protecting satellite radio from harmful interference. (See separate report above.)
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski probably had no choice but to circulate a program access order that reportedly lets expire on Oct. 5 a ban on exclusive contracts between cable operators and networks they own (CD Sept 17 p2), said Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen. “This chairman has been very clear ... that he is going to make decisions based upon the data and that he’s going to apply the law,” Cohen said on C-SPAN. “If you do that in this case, there’s no reasonable justification for a continuation of the exclusivity ban.” To the extent that advocates of the ban think it needs to be retained, they should seek new authorization from Congress, Cohen said in a videotaped interview to run on the Communicators Saturday. “The current legislation simply does not support the exclusivity ban in the current competitive posture in the market.” Advocates for retaining the exclusivity ban continued to make their case at the FCC this week, filings show. A group including representatives for Verizon, Public Knowledge, Dish, AT&T, DirecTV, the Sports Fan Coalition and Centurylink met with Media Bureau officials to push for retaining the ban, especially for networks that carry live sports programming, an ex parte notice said (http://xrl.us/bnriqi). “The legal case for extending the exclusivity ban in the case of regional sports networks is particularly strong,” and would be allowed under D.C. Circuit precedent, the notice said. The American Cable Association also argued for retaining the ban, but suggested some changes to the draft order should the commission let the ban expire. The order should adopt a rebuttable presumption that an exclusive contract involving satellite-delivered cable-affiliated programming is unfair, regardless of whether it’s a regional or national network “if the network carries the same minimum amount of sports content as an RSN as previously defined by the Commission,” ACA said. The commission should adopt a rebuttable presumptions that such an exclusive contract, if the subject of a successful complaint under Section 628(b) of the Communications Act, would also be unfair “and have the purpose or effect of significantly hindering any other MVPD’s ability to provide satellite-cable programming,” the association said. And the order should adopt a rebuttable presumption that the four elements required to support relief in a standstill petition under FCC rules “are satisfied in cases involving renewal of an existing contract,” it said. None of those changes would be as good as keeping the ban, the notice said, but “in the absence of an across-the-board rule of conduct pertaining to exclusive agreements, it is imperative that these measures be adopted,” it said. The Coalition for Competitive Access to Content met with aides to Commissioner Ajit Pai to make the case for keeping the ban, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnrisi). Dish Network officials discussed the ban separately with aides to Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, a notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnrisp).
Discovery pledged to put $7.4 million into its Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership nonprofit to support the United Nation’s Education First initiative. The company also said its Discovery Education program will work with the recording artist will.i.am’s i.am.angel foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative on a program aimed at getting U.S. students more interested in science, technology, engineering, art and math education.
About 267.3 million smart-connected devices were shipped worldwide in Q2, a 27 percent increase from the same quarter last year and a nearly 3 percent increase from Q1 this year, International Data Corp. said Wednesday. Total revenue on those devices reached $131.5 billion for Q2, an increase of about 16 percent from last year and a nearly 3 percent decline from Q1, IDC said. Q2 shipments in the U.S. stood at 47.4 million units, a nearly 8 percent drop from Q1 and a 5 percent drop year-over-year from 2011. The U.S. market drop largely occurred because the smartphone and tablet ramp-up started to slow and “a degree of saturation” began to impact the market, IDC said. Research suggests worldwide shipments of smart connected devices should total nearly 1.2 billion at the end of 2012, and could reach 1.4 billion in 2013, it said (http://xrl.us/bnriku).
A data aggregation company failed to show sufficient evidence of discriminatory treatment to justify a court’s grant of a preliminary injunction against Comcast, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnriij). The case involved directory assistance data, provided to third-party aggregators and used for directory-related services. Comcast signed an agreement with the aggregator LSSi in 2007, but terminated the arrangement four years later, and said it would provide access to its data only through a new company, Targus. LSSi filed suit, alleging Comcast’s new arrangement was discriminatory under certain nondiscrimination provisions of the Communications Act -- Sections 202, 222(e) and 251(b)(3). The district court granted a preliminary injunction to LSSi, finding a “substantial likelihood of success” on the merits of its claim. But the 11th Circuit said the decision was an abuse of discretion: LSSi did not show it was likely to succeed, because it had not yet shown substantial evidence of discriminatory treatment. “Asking what we understand to be the correct question -- whether Comcast through its agent Targus will discriminate between itself and LSSi -- we conclude that LSSi has not shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits,” the appeals court wrote. The “potential” for unlawful discrimination is present, but further discovery is necessary to determine that, the court wrote.