Level 3 met with FCC Wireline Bureau officials to discuss several intercarrier compensation and interconnection questions raised by a potential grant (CD July 23 p18) of VoIP requests for direct access to numbering resources (http://xrl.us/bnhxax). The Internet backbone provider wanted to know whether Vonage or any other VoIP provider granted a waiver would be required to participate in arbitration before a state commission if commercial negotiations exchange of local traffic and interconnection fails. Level 3 also asked if VoIP providers receiving waivers would have to establish interconnection agreements with ILECs in each area where they receive numbers, so that other carriers can indirectly interconnect with them. Level 3 urged the bureau to work with the International Bureau and agencies outside the commission to ensure proper safeguards are established regarding foreign affiliate and international transfer of control rules.
The biggest challenges facing would-be “virtual MVPDs,” or online video distributors that would replicate a traditional pay-TV product online, involve access to programming, devices and broadband networks, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote on the firm’s blog. Questions such as: Will the Internet be able to handle streaming of HD content to TV screens, will bandwidth caps hamper virtual multichannel video programming distributor efforts and will programmers participate remain unanswered, he said. “We continue to believe at least one and more likely a couple of virtual MVPDs will launch before the end of 2012."
Bad synchronization of captions and video programming can make it difficult or impossible for deaf or hard-of-hearing viewers to understand TV programs, advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing wrote in a letter to the FCC (http://xrl.us/bnhw9y). That’s why it’s so important that device manufacturers be required to include timing data, the letter said. “Absent a timing obligation on device manufacturers, efforts to encode captions with proper timing and synchronization at the programming source and efforts by VPDs [Video Programming Distributors] may be for naught,” the letter said. “Through our research we have found examples of situations that became unsynchronized entirely as a result of an apparatus not rendering the captions at the correct time relative to their encoding with the video,” the letter said. The letter included examples of cases where captions can become unsynchronized on devices including an iPad.
Time Warner Cable petitioned the FCC to let it out of local rate regulation in eight Kentucky communities, a petition for special relief shows (http://xrl.us/bnhw9f). In six of the areas, DBS operators serve enough of the homes in the area to warrant a finding of “effective competition,” the petition said. In the other two communities, the operator said its penetration is so low that it meets the “low penetration” test there.
The Distributed Antenna System market will double in size over the next five years, a Mobile Experts report forecasts. The report, released Monday, says the most dramatic growth will come from combining DAS with existing Wi-Fi, public safety radio and LTE systems. “The Global DAS market has been built on major venues such as airports, sports stadiums, and tunnels,” Mobile Experts analyst Joe Madden wrote. “Future growth will be driven by new vertical markets, with hospitality, healthcare, university and high-rise buildings becoming a more significant part of the market."
The FCC Media Bureau’s Video Division should dismiss an objection to the proposed transfer of WXTV-TV Greenville, Miss., from Saga Broadcasting to H3 Communications, the two companies said in a joint opposition to the informal objection of Raymond Hamilton. He objected because the owner of H3 is related to the owner of two other local stations, the filing shows. “The objection merely recites facts which were fully disclosed in the captioned assignment application,” the joint opposition said. “The objection is really no more than a comment on the application."
Members of the National Cable TV Cooperative can buy OpenVault’s real-time broadband usage data and analytics services on a pay-as-you-go basis, the vendor said. The company has received “approved vendor” status from the cooperative, it said.
The CEO of a cable operator that has had blackouts shared with Senate Commerce Committee members a Sept. 1 letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski saying the agency’s lack of action on new retransmission consent rules was “inexplicable inaction” (CD Sept 2 p3). Rocco Commisso said Mediacom would agree to not raise rates for basic and expanded-basic video service for two years if TV stations and cable operators freeze what they charge multichannel video programming distributors for carriage. “With your backing, I am confident that a significant number of MVPDs would join the freeze,” Commisso wrote the committee about Tuesday’s hearing on retrans. (See separate story above.) “Despite the clear and compelling evidence that the immense power held by a handful of media giants has created a dysfunctional marketplace in which the harm to consumers is compounding every year, the FCC has failed to act,” Commisso wrote. Thursday’s letter to the committee also was posted in commission docket 10-71 (http://xrl.us/bnhw6v).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment on a request by Louisiana that it be allowed to operate the Louisiana Wireless Information Network (LWIN) in the 700 MHz narrowband spectrum using 12.5 kHz channels through Dec. 31, 2024. The FCC’s deadline for narrowbanding systems like LWIN is Jan. 1. “In support of its Petition for Waiver, Louisiana argues that, ’the purpose of the 6.25 kHz channel mandate is to allow for a more efficient use of the 700 MHz spectrum dedicated to public safety,'” the bureau said (http://xrl.us/bnhw4g). “Louisiana argues that, ‘LWIN is fully built and operational across the State of Louisiana and is already using available spectrum to provide mission critical voice communications to its first responder community.’ Additionally, ’the cost to build new radio systems for the reconfigured 700 MHz spectrum is cost prohibitive and any new system in Louisiana within the last six years has been built to operate in the VHF and UHF spectrum.'” Comments are due Aug. 3.
Hawaiian Telecom wants the FCC to impose conditions (CD April 2 p17) if it approves various commercial agreements between Verizon Wireless, SpectrumCo and Cox as part of a broader transaction involving Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses. “In considering the ... Application, the Commission must consider the impact of the agency, resale and joint operating agreements filed in this proceeding by the Applicants,” the ILEC said (http://xrl.us/bnhwwe). “These agreements are critical parts of the overall transaction between Verizon Wireless and the cable companies. ... The Applicants do not propose merely to transfer spectrum, but intend as part of the arrangement to use the Commercial Agreements to consolidate significantly their wired and wireless services. The result will be less intermodal competition and higher barriers to entry for stand-alone wired providers.” The Communications Workers of America said in a filing in the same docket, 12-4, the FCC should keep its focus on jobs as it looks more closely at the transaction (http://xrl.us/bnhwxf). CWA noted that T-Mobile, which has proposed spectrum swap with Verizon, also before the commission, recently announced it was closing seven call centers in the U.S., employing 3,300. “Without high speed landline networks, wireless networks cannot succeed,” the union said.