The FCC established a pleading cycle on Ponderosa Telephone Co.’s proposed sale of a single 700 MHz C-block license to AT&T, covering three counties in California’s Central Valley. The agency calculated that AT&T would hold 55 to 61 MHz of spectrum below 1 GHz in the three counties after the deal (http://xrl.us/bni2gx). Petitions to deny are due Aug. 15, oppositions Aug. 27 and replies Sept. 4.
Comcast asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review last month’s FCC Tennis Channel carriage order, a court filing shows. The commission ordered Comcast to make the Tennis Channel available on the same tier and to as many subscribers as the operator’s own Golf Channel and Versus networks (CD July 26 p5). “Comcast seeks review of the Order on the grounds that it is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act,” it said in its petition for review. The order “is contrary to constitutional rights under the First and Fifth Amendments,” and counter to the Communications Act, it said. A Media Bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.
Sorenson gave the FCC data related to the percentage of hearing-to-deaf video relay service calls between December 2011 and May 2012 (http://xrl.us/bniz8i). The filing was in response to a request by FCC staff. The video relay service provider requested the data be kept confidential.
Assessing USF contributions on special access services purchased by competitive LECs and used as an input to broadband Internet access services violates the principle of competitive neutrality, counsel for tw telecom told an adviser to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (http://xrl.us/bniz8n). This is because no USF contribution is assessed where a firm provides broadband Internet access using its own facilities, or unbundled network elements, the CLEC said.
Verizon offered the FCC several suggestions for how to conduct its upcoming data request on the special access market. The request must be “unambiguously mandatory in order to succeed,” and must carry “remedies for those that do not respond,” the telco said (http://xrl.us/bniz8p). It said the commission needs to receive data from all participants in the market for high-capacity services, including cable companies and other providers that offer competitive alternatives. In implementing a new framework to analyze where competition exists, the commission should investigate not just what has happened in the marketplace, but also what can happen, Verizon said. “The key question is whether the marketplace is contestable. Where do cable and other providers compete today, where can they compete, and where is it likely they will compete in the next few years?” The agency should ask where competitors can offer service, where they plan to offer service and where they are “technically capable” of providing service, the telco said.
Q2 sales from continuing operations at Sinclair increased 38 percent from a year earlier to $220 million, the company said. Profit increased 62 percent to $30.1 million due to higher sales. Sinclair said it expects Q3 sales from continuing operations of $223.1 million to $228.1 million, which would mark a 50 percent increase from the same period in 2011. A windfall of political ad sales is expected to account for most of the boost. The company also said it increased its quarterly dividend to 15 cents per share. Shares gained 13 percent Wednesday.
Time Warner is in close communication with YouTube so it can better understand how to use that video sharing website to Time Warner’s advantage, CEO Jeff Bewkes said Wednesday. For now, Time Warner has viewed Google’s YouTube primarily as a place to promote its other businesses, he said on the media company’s Q2 earnings webcast. “As YouTube shifts to offer more professionally-produced content, we'll look at that to support our networks, and possibly to launch some new businesses.” On Google’s fiber initiative in the Kansas City, Mo., area, Bewkes said he expects Time Warner’s networks to be available on that service soon. “We're in pretty good discussions with them, and we're pretty optimistic we'll be able to reach a deal,” he said. It’s important to understand the distinction between the facilities-based project Google has undertaken in Kansas and over-the-top video providers, Bewkes said. So-called virtual MSOs “don’t provide quality, they don’t provide infrastructure and they don’t improve the viewer experience,” Bewkes said. Google Fiber (CD July 27 p20) is different because it is investing in infrastructure, he said. Asked about how Time Warner views the potential for a partnership between its HBO unit and Netflix, don’t expect anything soon, Bewkes said. “There are not talks going on now between HBO and Netflix.” Those two companies are primarily competitors, he said. “Sometimes there are ways for other relationships to emerge over time,” he said. “Not now, but we'll see in the future.” Meanwhile, Time Warner still has no plans to sell its HBO Go online video service to U.S. customers without an HBO subscription through a traditional distributor, he said. “The whole idea that there are a lot of people out there that want to drop multichannel TV and just have a Netflix or an HBO, that’s not right,” he said. “Look for the data -- you won’t find them.” Time Warner Q2 sales fell 4 percent from a year earlier to $6.7 billion. Profit fell 32 percent from a year earlier to $429 million on lower sales.
The New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) got a 42-month extension of the FCC’s Jan. 1 narrowbanding deadline, until June 30, 2016, in an order from the Wireless and Public Safety bureaus released Wednesday. The system is the nation’s largest, transporting more than 4.5 million people each workday. The FCC has made clear repeatedly that it will have a high standard for granting a waiver, though the waiver was the second handed out this week (CD Aug 1 p18). The authority sought a waiver earlier this year, one of many such requests now before the agency (CD Feb 3 p5). The NYCTA application, like all waiver requests, was “subject to a high level of scrutiny,” but passed that test, the order said (http://xrl.us/bni2bf). “NYCTA has spent considerable time and money and made substantial progress in its effort to narrowband its ... system,” the order said. “The record shows that NYCTA began an extensive program to upgrade its subway radio system in 2003. Strict application of the narrowbanding rules would require NYCTA to expedite its contracted work schedule and risk service interruptions for millions of daily customers. We conclude that strict enforcement of the narrowbanding deadline under these circumstances would be inequitable and unduly burdensome, and that a waiver would be in the public interest.” The NYCTA also “must upgrade its radio system in one of the most complex transit systems in the world,” the order said. “NYCTA operates 119 radio sites with multiple base stations and a network of remote receivers, serving 468 passenger stations and 800 miles of track.” Still before the FCC is a broader waiver of the narrowbanding deadline filed by New City on behalf of its departments of police, fire, corrections, environmental protection and information technology and telecommunications (http://xrl.us/bnbkzn).
A report by the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group identifies vulnerabilities in devices that make them susceptible to Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) distributed denial-of-service attacks and recommends ways to mitigate them. It highlights shortcomings in device management and network configuration. The report, which is BITAG’s third review, explains how the devices are exploited and the implications and concerns around the attacks (http://xrl.us/bni2bo). The group includes Google, Microsoft, the Center for Democracy & Technology, Public Knowledge, Disney, Viacom, Cisco and AT&T, among other application providers, public interest groups, content providers, equipment makers and ISPs. ISPs began monitoring “large-scale SNMP reflection attacks where subscriber devices can be used unwittingly to generate significant and sustained levels of traffic, targeted against other networks or sites,” the report said. Several conditions allowing such attacks “exist on many types [of] networks, regardless of access network technology ... and regardless of geographic location.” Some conditions include networks that don’t perform ingress filtering, networks with hosts “that are infected with malware, and are under the control of bot networks” and some home gateway devices that are shipped with SNMP turned on by default, it said. BITAG identified initiation, distribution, reflection and amplification as steps taken by attackers to conduct the attacks. The SNMP size is larger than the SNMP query sent by the bot network, it said: The bot network “is able to amplify the amount of data directed at the attack target, compared to a smaller amount of data sent by the bot network.” BITAG cautioned against blocking all traffic destined for the attack target: This “prevents legitimate end user access to the target’s IP addresses.” Temporarily blocking traffic destined to shared cloud-based services and hosting services “can have a potentially significant impact on legitimate traffic that is not part of the attack,” it added.
CenturyLink wants to block electric utility Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES) from expanding its telecom services in the state, the telco said in a filing submitted Tuesday at the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (http://xrl.us/bniz8v). BTES had first asked for authorization “to provide telecommunications service throughout the State of Tennessee” on June 20 (http://xrl.us/bniz8t). “CenturyLink has a direct and tangible interest in this matter,” the company said. It needs to ensure its ability to compete wouldn’t be “unfairly and unlawfully compromised and that the competitive marketplace in Tennessee will not be adversely impacted,” which necessitates “conditions and competitive safeguards” in place, the telco wrote. CenturyLink said discovery, at minimum, is “necessary” to further investigate the extent to which BTES truly can deliver on its application for expanded telecom service. CenturyLink said it “will be harmed if the BTES 2012 Application is granted as proposed, without intervention by CenturyLink."