A bipartisan group of seven House lawmakers introduced a companion bill to the Senate’s Startup Act 2.0 on Wednesday. The bill aims to encourage job growth and the formation of new businesses by permitting foreign-born, U.S. educated immigrants to stay in the U.S., and reducing regulatory requirements for small businesses, among other provisions. The bill was introduced by Reps. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., Kevin Yoder, R-Kan., Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., Devin Nunes, R-Calif., Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Robert Dold, R-Ill. TechAmerica urged Congress to move quickly to implement the “economically beneficial” bill.
DirecTV and Diversified Communications are in contractual dispute over retransmission consent, blacking out WABI-TV (CBS) Bangor, Maine, and WCJB-TV (ABC) Gainesville, Fla., on the DBS channel lineup. “It’s time for Washington to cancel this program before broadcasters make 2012 the year of the blackout,” said the American Television Alliance, whose members include DirecTV and which seeks new retrans rules. Diversified’s “hopeful that we can reach an agreement that will bring the stations back to DirecTV subscribers, and we will continue to work toward that end,” WABI’s website said (http://xrl.us/bnas8d). The broadcaster wants a 300 percent rate increase, DirecTV Senior Vice President Dan Hartman said. “We have no problem compensating Diversified Communications fairly,” but the broadcaster made an “unwarranted demand” which could increase subscriber bills, he said. Diversified had no immediate comment about what retrans rates it wants, and broadcasters don’t usually disclose what they're paid under individual contracts. The DBS provider “has a 99 percent success rate of keeping your favorite programs on the air,” DirecTV said (http://xrl.us/bnas9p). “In the past year, we've completed hundreds of programming agreements, covering the most popular networks, stations and shows."
Time Warner Cable should be relieved by the FCC from video rate regulation in Oahu, Hawaii, because Hawaiian Telcom’s nascent video service there is having early success, the cable operator said. Enclosing a Hawaiian Telcom SEC filing with video figures, Time Warner Cable said the commission’s threshold for such deregulation is “clearly met” because of the telco’s service. Hawaii and the telco oppose the cable operator’s request (CD Feb 22 p15). “Hawaiian Telcom is the incumbent local exchange carrier in Oahu with a fully built out physical network connected to virtually all the homes in Oahu,” Time Warner Cable said Tuesday in docket 12-1 (http://xrl.us/bnasze). “Given the availability of its video service to at least 13.25 percent of the homes in Oahu, given the brisk pace of its ongoing deployment, and given its legally binding buildout obligations with the state,” there’s effective video competition, the filing continued.
A Fort Myers, Fla., man faces a possible $15,000 FCC fine for running an unlicensed radio transmitter at 107.5 MHz from his home there, an Enforcement Bureau notice of apparent liability to Albert Knighten said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnasuj). Super W Media was fined $3,500 for not reducing the power at night of WIPC(AM) Lake Wales, Fla., as required by the station’s authorization, a bureau forfeiture order said (http://xrl.us/bnasu4).
An indecency foe at odds with Disney over programming praised its new guidelines aimed at eliminating junk food ads on some channels targeted at kids (CD June 6 p13). “Disney’s decision to put children’s health ahead of corporate profit is bold and we hope others will follow their lead,” Parents Television Council President Tim Winter said late Tuesday. “We hope the entire Disney corporation will commit to more responsible program content across all of its media outlets -- beyond just its advertising standards."
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Wednesday he'll propose the agency expand experimental licensing rules for medical and other research. “This will reduce regulatory barriers, cut red tape, and speed the process of getting new technologies into the marketplace,” he said at the commission’s mHealth Summit. “New, streamlined experimental licensing processes will also be created for universities and nonprofit research organizations."
Officials with the Washington Independent Telecommunications Association, and member companies, discussed the problems caused by the FCC’s USF/intercarrier compensation reform order in a meeting with Angie Kronenberg, aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, said an ex parte filing. “WITA and its members reported continued challenges with call termination and phantom traffic,” the filing said (http://xrl.us/bnaqyh). “In addition to the unacceptable impacts on customers these access avoidance practices reduce the amount of revenue available to small companies. As a result ICC reductions are being calculated on what these companies are currently receiving and not on what they should be receiving if all calls were completed with the appropriate routing information. Some companies are unable to bill for more than 80 percent of their incoming long distance calls."
Motorola Solutions and Intrado said they're expanding an alliance under which Motorola will resell Intrado products and services worldwide as public safety moves to next-generation 911. “As Public Safety LTE broadband networks continue to be deployed, Motorola and Intrado are accelerating the intelligent delivery, access and use of real-time multimedia information both in the command center and in the field,” they said Wednesday in a news release. “Public Safety agencies will have access to new data services, and the flexibility to personalize and control the data to deliver the most relevant information when and where they need it,” said Tim Boyle, vice president at Motorola Solutions. “NG911 and the deployment of 4G LTE broadband networks are changing the public safety communications landscape. It is clear that multimedia applications are becoming mission essential and the ability to support them is now a defining requirement for public safety operations."
Internet Protocol captioning requests from CEA and the Digital Media Association were opposed by three groups representing those with hearing impairments and a program at a university serving those with trouble hearing. CEA had petitioned the FCC to reconsider its order, so removable media players need not display IP captions (CD May 3 p13). A lawyer for Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, National Association for the Deaf, Hearing Loss Association of America and Gallaudet University’s Technology Access Program reported their officials told Consumer & Governmental Affairs and Media bureau staffers of the concerns. The groups shared concerns about the association’s request that the commission clarify that Jan. 1, 2014, is when manufacturers must begin making compliant devices and not also selling them. “Consumers may rightfully expect, based on the Commission’s order in this proceeding, that the January 1, 2014 refers to the date that accessible apparatuses will be made available for sale,” the groups said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 11-154 (http://xrl.us/bnaqnx). “The presence of noncompliant apparatuses on store shelves at that point may lead to serious consumer confusion.” Manufacturers could label products to say if they're compliant or not starting in 2014, the groups said. DiMA’s request for a 16-month extension of enforcing some rules for video programming distributors to caption broadcast TV and cable video when it’s sent by IP and a request for that same delay for VPDs not providing captions to render them (CD May 14 p13) is a “gross abuse of administrative process,” the deaf advocates said. DiMA is “impermissibly attempting to bend the Commission’s individualized waiver process to seek a blanket waiver for the entire industry,” they continued. “Because nearly all IP-delivered video must be rendered on devices, plug-ins, or applications provided by VPDs, extending the deadlines for rendering would effectively vitiate the six-, twelve-, and eighteen-month deadlines carefully negotiated by the industry and consumer representatives on the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee."
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski circulated a draft fourth USF and intercarrier compensation reconsideration order, addressing how waivers will be handled by the agency. The standard set in the original order was more focused on consumer issues and loss of voice service, a commission official said. The order adjusts the standard to take broadband into account, since broadband was the major focus of October’s landmark USF/intercarrier comp reform order. The Wireline Bureau also plans to issue in the next few days an order providing some relief for one of the five rate-of-return carriers that have sought a waiver of the $3,000 annual per-line support limit imposed by the October order, the official said. The bureau is likely to grant relief to one or two of the other waiver applicants as well, the official said.