The FCC should reject a Harris petition (http://xrl.us/bm9s7q) asking the agency to hold that equipment manufactured for public safety use must meet the more stringent H-mask, rather than the B-mask, Alcatel-Lucent said. The request is “unnecessary, repetitive and anticompetitive,” Alcatel said in comments (http://xrl.us/bndo65). Alcatel said the petition appears related to Harris’s unhappiness that Alcatel won a contract to provide communications equipment to New Jersey Transit. “The Harris Petition is simply one of Harris’s many filings in WT Docket No. 11-69, representing a collateral attack by Harris on NJT’s selection of Alcatel-Lucent’s proposal to meet the communications needs of NJT using PowerTrunk’s digital land mobile radio solution in the 800 MHz band,” Alcatel said. “From the moment NJT chose Alcatel-Lucent’s proposal as best meeting NJT’s needs with respect to price and functionality, Harris has explored every angle to block that decision to no avail, including by incorrectly claiming that the Commission rules did not permit NJT’s proposed operations.”
Problems with data collection at Measurement Lab (M-Lab) in Mountain View, Calif., were “categorically not an M-Lab platform issue,” but “a common network issue that could have impacted any user accessing content and services via the given interconnect point,” Thomas Gideon, senior staff technologist at New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, said in an FCC filing. The agency reported last week that six days’ worth of broadband data had been compromised, leading the FCC to throw out data for the second month in a row, raising questions about commission broadband speed tests (CD July 2 p3). “The incident in question was not related to the M-Lab platform, as it could not be directly addressed through corrective action on a component, hardware or software, to which the M-Lab operations committee has administrative access,” Gideon said (http://xrl.us/bndobi). “Rather, the April 2012 incident was the result of faulty Internet Service Provider (ISP) network interconnect, which made it difficult for some testing panels to consistently and correctly reach the M-Lab servers. This distinction is a critical one, especially in light of the mischaracterizations made about the stability of the M-Lab platform as a result of the incident.” Gideon added, “The characterization of this issue as a problem on the M-Lab platform is inaccurate, and calling into question the stability of the M-Lab platform by stakeholders based on the April 2012 [incident] is misleading.”
Samsung was the leading handset maker in the U.S., controlling 25.7 percent of the U.S. market for the quarter ending in May, comScore said in a report released Monday (http://xrl.us/bndo4p). About 234 million Americans, ages 13 and older, used mobile devices, comScore said. Behind Samsung was LG with a 19.1 percent market share. Apple (15 percent), Motorola (12 percent) and HTC (6.1 percent) followed. Motorola’s share was down from 12.8 percent in February, Apple’s up from 13.5 percent. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform with a 50.9 percent market share. Apple was second with a 31.9 percent. How subscribers used their phones, whether to send a text or get online, saw little change between February and May.
The NFL said its teams can now set blackout levels at a lower threshold. Teams now can choose to not black out games when at least 85 percent of a stadium’s general-admission seats are filled, a spokesman confirmed. That’s down from 100 percent, he said. Under the change approved at the league’s May meeting, “more revenue than usual will be shared with the visiting clubs for tickets sold above that base number” of 85 percent, he said. “It’s optional if clubs want to do this and would only affect a few teams.” In 2011, 6 percent of games couldn’t be shown on broadcast or subscription TV in a local market when stadium seats didn’t sell out, versus about 25-30 percent of games blacked out 15 to 20 years ago, the spokesman said. “The new policy leaves it up to team owners to determine how full (between 85-100 percent) the stadium has to be to avoid blackouts,” said the Sports Fans Coalition, which has asked the FCC to start a rulemaking to end the agency’s blackout rule (http://xrl.us/bndo52). “We will continue to fight to end the FCC’s blackout rule because the government should not be in the business of propping up unethical and ineffective blackout policies."
Failed retransmission consent negotiations between Dish Network and West Virginia Media Holdings resulted in a blackout Sunday of four stations in West Virginia. Dish “has been unable to justify why they should be entitled to lower programming fees than anyone else,” said WBOY-TV (NBC, ABC) Clarksburg in a statement Monday. WOWK (CBS) Charleston, WVNS (Fox and CBS) Bluefield and WTRF (CBS, Fox and ABC) said they've made several offers for a retrans deal with Dish. “Until Congress and the FCC reform outdated regulations, viewers will be at the mercy of West Virginia Media and other broadcasters who take advantage of outdated rules to unnecessarily harm American consumers,” the American Television Alliance said. West Virginia Media “is insisting on an outrageous rate increase of more than 200 percent; and Dish is determined to hold the line against the kind of greed that would affect Dish customers adversely,” said the DBS company, which is a member of the alliance that seeks to change retrans rules.
The FCC proposed fining a Suisun City, Calif., amateur radio station operator $17,000 for running an unlicensed radio transmitter on 104.9 MHz and not allowing an inspection by Enforcement Bureau agents, said a bureau notice of apparent liability Monday. Brian Ragan also was ordered to submit a sworn statement that he no longer operates the unauthorized station and will make the amateur station available for inspection (http://xrl.us/bndo38).
FCC video description rules are now effective for ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC broadcast affiliates in the top 25 TV markets and for multichannel video programming distributor systems with more than 50,000 subscribers, the agency said (http://xrl.us/bndo8v). MVPD systems carrying programming from the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, TBS, TNT, USA and the broadcasters must provide about four hours weekly of primetime and/or children’s programming with video description, the FCC said. “Now, more than 21 million visually-impaired Americans will be able to access television programming with video description,” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said (http://xrl.us/bndo8z). The FCC also launched the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program (NDBEDP) to meet the communications access equipment needs of low-income members of the deaf-blind population, the agency said (http://xrl.us/bndpge). The NDBEDP will receive up to $10 million annually in funding, the FCC said. The commission has already selected 53 applicants to become certified distributors of the equipment, it said. The FCC will annually allot $500,000 of the funding for promotional outreach efforts, it said. “This is an important moment towards ensuring that individuals who are deaf-blind are able to fully utilize our nation’s communications systems,” said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
The Q1 FCC inflation adjustment factor is 2.03 percent for cable operators filing Form 1240, little changed from the year-ago quarter, said a Media Bureau public notice Monday (http://xrl.us/bndo3m).
AMC Networks and AT&T reached a new carriage agreement for AMC, IFC, Sundance and WE tv for AT&T’s U-verse TV, the telco said (http://xrl.us/bndoyx). Although AMC said it has been able to successfully negotiate with TV providers in the past, Dish Network dropped AMC channels Sunday without discussing rates, the programmer said (http://xrl.us/bndoy5). The DBS company had earlier said it wouldn’t renew its contract for the channels due to high carriage fees and low viewership rates (CD July 2 p17). Dish will replace AMC, WE tv, and IFC with HDNet Movies, Style and HDNet, the DBS company said in a news release Friday (http://xrl.us/bndpfd).
Comcast wants out of video rate setting by 20 local franchise authorities in New Jersey LFAs including Bellmawr, Deptford, Voorhees and Woodbury. The cable operator faces sufficient competition from both U.S. DBS companies, it said in a Media Bureau petition for effective competition posted Monday to FCC docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bndozd).