The House Appropriations Committee sought to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and NPR in its draft appropriations bill for FY 2013 (http://xrl.us/bng7we). The committee’s labor, health and human services and education appropriations bill would rescind $111.3 million of CPB’s 2013 funding and slash another $222.5 million from the CPB’s funding for 2014. The bill mandates that no funds may be used to support NPR and seeks to end all CPB funding beginning in 2015. Public broadcasting funds had been cut 13 percent in the past two fiscal years, Association of Public Television Stations CEO Patrick Butler said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bng7yc). “This proposal flies in the face of the will of the American people, who routinely rank public broadcasting as one of the best investments the federal government makes and who overwhelmingly support our work and our public service mission, across the ideological spectrum.” The bill will be marked up by the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Related Agencies on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in Room 2358-C Rayburn. The full Appropriations Committee has not yet scheduled a markup of the bill, a committee spokeswoman told us.
The Enforcement Bureau and Elgato Systems entered into a consent decree resolving an FCC investigation into labeling issues with the company’s EyeTV One TV receiver (http://xrl.us/bng7ux). Elgato agreed to pay $2,800 to the U.S. Treasury.
Grid Net released a new version of the Grid Net platform Tuesday, extending the smart grid software platform and adding new features that support 3G public smart grid deployments. The program’s 2.7 version now supports 4G WiMAX, 4G LTE, Ethernet over fiber optic and 3G UMTS and EVDO CDMA cellular networks, the company said. “It is a significant challenge to create a secure and cost effective smart grid over public networks, but we have done it with v2.7, our most advanced cellular smart grid innovation to date,” Chairman John Combs said in a news release (http://xrl.us/bng7ut).
The Wireless Bureau sought comment on numerous requests from Multilateration and Location and Monitoring Service licensees for a waiver of Section 90.155(d) of the commission’s rules and a time extension to meet construction deadlines for their 900 MHz M-LMS Economic Area licenses (http://xrl.us/bng7p6). The licensees are Progeny, FCR, Helen Wong-Armijo and PCS Partners. The licensees face a five-year construction requirement on or before Thursday. Comments are due Aug. 15, replies Aug. 31.
A coalition of library organizations in the U.K. warned that libraries and learning institutions would suffer destructive blows from 2010 the Digital Economy Act (DEA) and additional provisions presented in June in the draft Initial Obligations Code. The coalition includes the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CLIP), Libraries and Archives Alliance, and Research Libraries U.K. They're supporting the aim to fight piracy and protect creators’ rights, and the government was “going the wrong way about it by treating libraries, schools, colleges and universities in the same way as private individuals,” the coalition said in a Tuesday news release (http://xrl.us/bng7tj). Libraries under the DEA could be put on a copyright infringement list for potential wrongdoings of individuals, the groups warned. Measures of the act once fully implemented could go as far as slowing Internet speed or suspending line access of libraries, the coalition said. It said some libraries might decide to pull the plug to the Internet in the first place, to avoid the cost necessary to monitor and manage the implementation of the DEA provisions. The libraries’ request an exemption to be able to provide Internet access. “This isn’t about excluding libraries from the Act, it isn’t about breaking copyright law or endorsing piracy -- it’s about recognizing libraries’ unique role by creating an exception within the Act -- which Ofcom are perfectly able to do,” CLIP President Phil Bradley said of the U.K.’s telecom regulator. “Ofcom are already creating an exception for commercial suppliers of Wi-Fi, for example."
The European Commission is investigating whether Microsoft failed to comply with its 2009 agreement to offer users a screen enabling them to choose their preferred Web browser, it said Tuesday. On the basis of information it received, the EC said, it believes the company may have failed to roll out the choice screen with Windows 7 Service Pack 1, released in February 2011. That’s despite the fact that last December Microsoft said in an annual compliance report that it had met its commitments, the EC said. Since February 2011, millions of Window users in the EU may not have seen the choice screen, it said. The Internet giant recently acknowledged that the choice screen wasn’t displayed during the period, it said. The EC takes compliance with its decisions very seriously, Competition Policy Commissioner Joaquín Almunia said. He trusted the company’s reports were accurate, he said. Since that apparently isn’t the case, the EC has acted immediately, he said. If the probe confirms an infringement, “Microsoft should expect sanctions,” he said. The company admitted it goofed: “We have fallen short in our responsibility” to display the browser choice screen. Due to a technical error, it missed delivering the screen choice software to PCs that came with the Service Pack 1 update to Windows 7, it said. The software has now been delivered as it should have been to PCs running the original version of Windows 7, as well as the relevant versions of Windows XP and Vista, it said. However, while it believed when it filed its most recent EC compliance report that it was distributing the screen choice as required, “we recently learned that we've missed” serving it to around 28 million PCs running Windows 7 SP1, it said. Microsoft said it deeply regrets the mistake and apologizes for it. Once notified by the EC that it was out of compliance, Microsoft said, it distributed the screens within one business day; launched an outside investigation to see how the error occurred; and offered to extend its compliance period.
T-Mobile USA introduced a new flat rate Open Europe unlimited data feature targeting business customers. “Designed to address the increasing demand for data, the costs associated with international data roaming, and businesses’ desire for more predictable costs, the $50/line per month T-Mobile Open Europe plan provides business customers with unlimited data, including up to 500 MB full-speed data, within 28 European countries with no international roaming tolls,” the carrier said.
HDMI cable manufacturer RedMere and Fresco Microchip agreed to combine with Chrysalis Capital VIII to form new semiconductor company, Spectra7 Microsystems, they said Tuesday. The combined company plans to focus on new bandwidth solutions for mobile and consumer products the firms say will address increasing bandwidth demand while also lowering costs. “The mobile internet has an insatiable appetite for bandwidth -- growing almost 20 fold in the next four years, with connection speeds increasing 10 fold at the same time,” RedMere CEO Tony Stelliga said in a news release. “As a result, smartphones, tablets and the wireless infrastructure require new analog signal processing technology.” Along with an existing capital investment of $80 million between RedMere and Fresco, Spectra7 is expected to raise $10 million in venture capital equity.
AT&T encouraged the FCC to take various steps to promote rollout of broadband in wireless communications service spectrum. The comments came in a meeting about WCS with agency staff. “There is near-universal recognition that much more spectrum needs to be devoted to mobile broadband services, and the Commission is appropriately looking to underutilized WCS spectrum to help fill this gap,” the company said (http://xrl.us/bng62w). “The uncertainty created by the conditional renewal status of WCS licenses and the still-pending competitive applications for those licenses, however, is a major obstacle to that goal.” More than two years ago, the agency released a notice of proposed rulemaking “proposing, inter alia, to dismiss the competing applications and remove the cloud this regulatory uncertainty casts over the substantial investments that will be necessary to make full use of WCS spectrum for mobile broadband services,” the carrier said. It urged the FCC to: “promote its core broadband policies by (1) severing the issues relating to the WCS licenses from the other issues in WT Docket No. 10-112, (2) issuing a Report and Order that establishes an interim rule that governs WCS renewal applications and that precludes the filing of competing WCS applications, (3) dismissing pending competing WCS applications, and (4) granting unconditional renewal to current WCS licensees where appropriate."
FCC rules incorporating the 2011 revision of American National Standards Institute technical standard C63.19 in its hearing aid compatibility rules, and giving the industry a year to make the transition, kick in Aug. 16. The commission approved an order in April giving industry 12 months. That was half the length of time sought by various industry commenters, including CTIA, the Rural Cellular Association and major carriers, to make the transition (CD April 10 p10). Small carriers get an extra three months. The order appeared in Tuesday’s Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bng6y6) along with a new effective date.