The FCC published in the Federal Register an order adopting limited forbearance from a requirement that the service area of an eligible telecom carrier conform to the service area of any rural phone company serving the same area for the Mobility Fund Phase I auction (http://xrl.us/bndrxt). The effective date was Tuesday.
More companies sought waivers of new EAS requirements as the deadline approached late last week. Lakeview Cable, Port St. Lucie Broadcasters, Inc. and Treasure Coast Broadcasters, as well as Telecommunications Management LLC and Avenue Broadband Communications asked the FCC Friday to be let out of the requirements temporarily. Port St. Lucie Broadcasters and Treasure Coast broadcasters asked for two more months to install common alerting protocol-compliant EAS equipment. The broadcasters said they had ordered the necessary equipment but haven’t received it (http://xrl.us/bndpit). Telecommunications Management and Avenue Broadband Communications, which does business as New Wave, asked for a six-month extension of the deadline at 18 of its cable systems because it can’t access broadband there and a four-month extension at five systems for equipment backlog reasons (http://xrl.us/bndpjf). Lakeview also asked for a four-month waiver because it hasn’t received equipment it ordered yet. It also said it is consolidating some of the operations of other systems within the next year and asked for a 12-month waiver covering those facilities (http://xrl.us/bndpjo).
Cablevision attorneys urged the FCC not to impose hardware requirements on cable operators that operate all-digital systems and wish to encrypt their basic service tier, an ex parte filing shows (http://xrl.us/bndphf). Cablevision has encrypted its basic tier under an FCC waiver, and an order that would let other cable operators follow suit was held up after Boxee raised concerns about the ability of basic service customers to access the signals through third-party devices. A proposal from Boxee and Comcast urged an interim solution of Comcast providing a “digital transport adapter” with an Ethernet connection that would allow Boxee’s device to receive the signals. “Cablevision urges the Commission not to pursue additional hardware requirements as a precondition to encrypting the basic service tier,” the notice said. “Further requirements to design and support legacy devices would be a step backward for both operators and consumers, as they seek to enjoy more services on more devices without set top boxes,” the notice said. Already, companies such as Cablevision are delivering video services to new devices without hardware requirements, it said. “These devices -- supporting a variety of operating systems including iOS, Android, Mac OS and Windows -- are largely already capable of downloading and running operator-supplied, secure ‘apps’ that access programming content,” it said. “Other, nonstandard devices can either use a CableCARD or use our downloadable security to get access to secure content."
Liberty Media rejected Sirius XM’s claims that its petition to obtain de facto control of the satellite radio company doesn’t provide new material facts or arguments. The petition urges the FCC International Bureau to reconsider dismissal of applications to assume such control (CD June 1 p7). The new information provided in the petition responds directly to the erroneous conclusion in the bureau decision that Liberty Media had not demonstrated that it intends to take actions that would constitute exercise of de facto or de jure control over Sirius, Liberty said. The company was responding to Sirius’s opposition to the petition. Sirius had said Liberty hasn’t presented a concrete plan to take control (CD June 13 p16). Liberty said it’s “not required to state precisely how and when it will exercise de facto control over Sirius."
Internet Broadcasting said its TV station customers are all using its new content management system ibPublish 2. The newer system lets stations embed more videos, image galleries and stories on other sites, and features added Web analytics tools, it said.
Nielsen said it bought Vizu, an online advertising technology company. The deal will let Nielsen offer real-time reporting of online ad performance, it said. “Vizu has developed a best-in-class solution for measuring and optimizing brand advertising effectiveness online,” said Steve Hasker, president of Nielsen’s global media products and ad solutions business. Terms weren’t disclosed.
The EchoStar XVII satellite will launch Thursday from French Guiana. The satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral, “will provide HughesNet Gen4 high-speed Internet service to consumers and small business throughout North America,” EchoStar said. The launch will be broadcast live at www.echostar.com/launch, starting at 5 p.m. EDT.
NTIA must make a bigger effort to provide for remote participation in the agency’s multistakeholder process to develop data privacy rules. The plea came Monday in a letter to NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling from a dozen privacy and consumer groups (http://xrl.us/bndpea). The agency plans its first multistakeholder meeting July 12 with the aim of developing a privacy code of conduct for companies who handle personal consumer data. “For the multistakeholder process to have any chance of success, it must include meaningful remote participation based on robust, two-way communication,” the groups said. “To do less is to deny a real voice in the process for civil society.” The groups said it is “clearly impossible” for some consumer groups to participate in the agency’s meetings due to the financial burdens of sending representatives to Washington. They also denounced as “simply inadequate” NTIA’s decision to use its staff as a proxy to relay questions from out-of-town participants. To overcome this, the groups suggested that NTIA offer an audio bridge and an Internet relay chat to provide real time access and interaction with remote participants. The groups also suggested that the agency offer remote voting if any voting occurs, rather than proxy voting via agency staff. The letter was signed by representatives from the ACLU, the Center for Digital Democracy, Common Sense Media, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Consumer Watchdog, the Consumers Union, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times and U.S. PIRG. NTIA did not comment.
Technological advancements, declines in the price of equipment and monthly services and other factors are allowing satellite communications to emerge as a means of connectivity for many smart grid applications. Revenue from satellite services for such applications will reach $368 million by 2020, increasing from just under $67 million in 2012, a Pike Research report said (http://xrl.us/bndpa3). Satellite services can be suitable for substation automation, distribution automation, advanced metering infrastructure backhaul and mobile workforce applications, it said. Although satellite-based systems will remain a niche technology compared with terrestrial options, “utilities will increasingly consider them in their list of communications options.”
Representatives of the Western Telecommunications Alliance offered advice on the future of USF and intercarrier compensation reform, during a meeting with an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (http://xrl.us/bndox2). “The major portion of the meeting involved a general discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of: (a) the Commission proceeding rapidly to adopt orders with respect to the pending matters in the further rulemaking that affect rural telephone companies; or (b) waiting to monitor the impacts of its implemented changes before proceeding further,” the group said. “A hybrid approach of resolving certain critical issues at an early date (e.g., support for naked digital subscriber line services), while monitoring impacts before proceeding on others was also discussed."