LTE subscriptions will represent 40.5 percent of all mobile subscriptions in North America by 2017, Pyramid Research said Friday in its quarterly mobile data forecast. The North America region in Pyramid Research’s reports comprises Canada and the U.S. (http://xrl.us/bnm366).
A federal appeals court overturned a permanent injunction barring Verizon from using certain ActiveVideo Networks patents related to VOD, an opinion released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bnm36f). “Given the record in the case, it was an abuse of discretion for the district court to grant a permanent injunction,” said the opinion from the U.S. Appeals Court, Federal Circuit. “The district court fact findings that there was irreparable harm, inadequate remedies at law, and hardship which favored granting an injunction to ActiveVideo were clearly erroneous.” It remanded to the federal district court in Norfolk, Va., the question of how much in royalties Verizon should pay for use of the patents. The appeals court also vacated the lower court’s summary judgment on the invalidity of one of Verizon’s patents in the case and reversed the court’s finding of infringement against Verizon in another patent. It affirmed other judgments of infringement with regard to three ActiveVideo patents. And it affirmed the damages awarded against Verizon in full. A spokesman for Verizon declined to comment. ActiveVideo Networks did not respond to our query.
A California privacy bill aimed at cellphones and other mobile devices passed the Legislature Thursday and now advances to Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) desk for potential signature. No government entity would be allowed to obtain “the location information of an electronic device without a valid search warrant issued by a duly authorized magistrate unless certain exceptions apply, including in an emergency or when requested by the owner of the device,” according to the bill text (http://xrl.us/bnm3n5). “SB 1434 makes the necessary updates to California law to protect sensitive location information consistent with the express right to privacy in the California Constitution,” the Aug. 22 California Senate analysis said (http://xrl.us/bnm3hb). The Assembly passed the bill 63-11 Wednesday and the Senate approved its amended version 33-3 Thursday. The governor has given no indication of whether he'll sign, a columnist noted Friday (http://xrl.us/bnm3y6)
Cable operators are letting subscribers watch more pay-TV networks on IP-connected devices. Time Warner Cable said its customers can now access live streams of Fox News and Fox Business Network through its iOS apps in the home. And Comcast customers will be able to watch Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD live online at Xfinity.com/tv, Comcast said.
The Telecommunications Industry Association submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy on new Energy Star telephony testing requirements. The TIA asked the EPA and Energy to reconsider a proposal in the revised requirements that there be a five-minute test interval. “Not all phone systems utilize a fixed charge cycle,” TIA Vice President for Government Affairs Danielle Coffey said in submitted comments. “For some products, the charge cycle is reset once the portable is removed from the charging cradle or base unit. The time that products spend charging depends on the time out of the charge cradle. Because of this, an accurate testing procedure will require some specific timings to avoid the case where the handset is out of the cradle an unspecified amount of time prior to the testing.” TIA also took issue with some terms and definitions used in the proposed revisions, noting that they are “unnecessary and/or create confusion as they do not match up with commonly used telecommunications industry terminology” (http://xrl.us/bnm3gz).
The FCC Media Bureau denied a petition to stay a recent FCC order allowing its DTV viewability rules to sunset, an order released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bnm3gk). Agape Church, London Broadcasting, Una Vez Mas and the NAB petitioned for a stay (CD Aug 3 p5). “In this case, we conclude that the Movants have satisfied none of the four factors in the stay calculus,” the order said. Stays are granted when a party shows it is likely to prevail on the merits in an appeal, that they will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, that no parties will be harmed in an event of a stay and that a stay serves the public interest, the order noted.
A federal appeals court granted Comcast’s motion to stay the FCC’s recent Tennis Channel carriage order (CD July 26 p5). “The Tennis Channel is disappointed by the … decision,” by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, a spokesman for the channel said. “We believe the FCC’s decision was correct and that the court will agree with the FCC when it considers the full case.” Comcast praised the court’s action. “We are pleased the Court of Appeals has recognized the serious issues raised by the FCC’s unprecedented Tennis Channel decision,” a spokeswoman said. A Media Bureau spokeswoman declined to comment. FCC commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai, who both dissented from the FCC order, said they were pleased the court decided to issue a stay. “As stated in our joint dissent, we believe the decision errs on both the law and the facts, undermines the public interest and raises serious First Amendment concerns,” they said in a joint statement. “We look forward to the federal appeals court giving this matter a full and fair hearing while preventing irreparable harm to the parties."
AT&T doesn’t want the Michigan Pay Telephone Association to succeed in its petition for a declaratory ruling, an FCC filing said Thursday (http://xrl.us/bnm26t). Hank Kelly, general counsel of the MPTA, told us the petition “requests that the FCC find that the Michigan Public Service Commission failed to properly apply the FCC’s New Services Test pricing standard in setting rates for services made available to payphone providers.” AT&T representatives met with FCC staff and “argued that the Commission should deny the MPTA’s petition and explained that, in all events, MPTA’s request for refunds was barred as a matter of black letter law by the filed rate doctrine and under the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel.” Kelly told us he disagrees. AT&T’s contentions on filed rate doctrine and the principles of res judicata “do not apply in this instance,” he said. “The decision by the MPSC is inconsistent with and preempted by federal law, and the FCC is duty-bound by Section 276 to enforce its laws where the state public service commission failed to get it right.” He said MPTA will “be filing an updated set of information to respond directly to ATT’s most recent filings.”
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association wants to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss how recent FCC universal service reforms undermine the president’s “vision for the future of sustainable broadband in rural America.” NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield made the request in a letter Thursday, co-signed by about a dozen managers of rural telcos and cooperatives. “We share your vision of universal broadband access,” NTCA wrote. “Unfortunately, mixed messages from the federal government now threaten to undermine our collective vision.” NTCA discussed the recent reforms to the USF, which it said “are throttling the predictable revenue streams needed to justify the business case” for rural telcos throughout the country, and to help repay stimulus and Rural Utilities Service loans. The “untested and unpredictable” caps on USF support are “undermining efforts by small businesses to engage in network planning and to deliver on your objective of sustainable rural broadband,” NTCA said. “At this critical juncture in our nation’s road to recovery, it would be unfortunate indeed to pursue a USF and ICC reform plan that injects regulatory uncertainty into the marketplace and calls upon small businesses to cut jobs and hike prices."
Amazon said it signed an expanded licensing deal with NBCUniversal that will bring “hundreds” of episodes of Battlestar Galactica, Heroes, Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, The Starter Wife, Friday Night Lights and other TV shows to the Amazon Prime Instant Video library. Amazon Prime members will be able to instantly stream the new titles at no additional cost on the Kindle Fire or other compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including Roku set-top boxes, Macs, PCs, iPads, PS3s and Xbox 360s, Amazon said. Since its launch in February 2011, Amazon has continued to grow the Prime Instant Video library, adding more than 15,000 movies and TV episodes, and now offers more than 22,000 titles, it said. Amazon also said it now offers more than 120,000 movies and TV episodes that can be bought or rented from its Amazon Instant Video service. Prime Instant Video provides unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows at no additional cost with a $79 paid annual Amazon Prime membership. Amazon continues to “invest heavily in our content selection” for Prime members, said Brad Beale, its director-digital video content acquisition. NBCUniversal is looking to further expand its content offerings for Prime subscribers “in the near future,” said Frances Manfredi, president of its cable and new media distribution business.