Consumer rights must be brought into the digital age to boost online shopping, European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Tuesday. The European Commission approved a strategic consumer policy -— covering the digital, transport, financial, energy and food sectors —- intended to increase participation and trust in the market. Its main objectives are to: (1) Adapt consumer law to the digital environment and tackle problems consumers face online. (2) Reinforce consumer safety for goods, services and food. (3) Give consumers the right tools and information to deal with things such as filing complaints and figuring out the true cost of consumer credit. (4) Put in place better enforcement and redress mechanisms. The EC has already enacted a consumer rights directive and proposed updated data protection rules to boost consumer confidence online, Reding said. Now it plans to modernize Europe’s package travel rules to take into account the growing use consumers make of the Web for arranging their vacations, she said. But Reding warned “it takes more than new laws to make the digital single market work for consumers,” and she urged EU members to put rules in place swiftly and non-bureaucratically so consumer rights become a concrete reality. The European Consumers Organization (BEUC) said in a statement that gathering previously scattered initiatives under one umbrella “gives a strong signal of higher standing for consumer needs and expectations in EU policy making.” But “the proof will be in the pudding,” said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens. In times of “fierce budget cuts,” it will be a relief across Europe to work with governments to support national consumer organizations, she said.
A coalition aimed at ensuring that EU spectrum policy preserves the coexistence between devices and services launched Tuesday. The European Forum for Spectrum Coexistence’s (EFSC) founding members are Cable Europe, the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association, the Association of Professional Wireless Production Technologies, and the Performing Arts Employers Associations League Europe, they said. The coalition wants EU spectrum policymakers to ensure that radio- and non-radio-deployed equipment is taken into account when the introduction of new radio services threatens to upset the balance in the electromagnetic ecosystem, it said. The group will address a gap in Europe’s current spectrum allocation system, said Cable Europe Managing Director Caroline Van Weede.
The Telecommunications Industry Association on Monday asked the FCC to clarify its order waiving the Jan. 1, 2013, deadline for private land mobile radio licensees in the 470-512 MHz band (T-Band) to migrate to narrowband technology. TIA specifically asked the agency to make clear it is waiving the ban on 25 kHz technologies in radios for use in the T-Band portion of the Part 90 VHF/UHF in certification applications filed on or after January 1, 2011. “Should public safety entities be unable to replace communications equipment during the interim transition period for the T-Band, these licensees face a dangerous prospect,” TIA said in a statement. “The Commission’s statement in Footnote 19 of the T-Band Order, while providing that permissive changes may be possible in some circumstances for existing certifications during the transitioning of the T-Band, does not appear to account for the possibility that ‘wideband,’ i.e. 25 kHz technology radios, may not be available in the interim time period. If licensees are unable to replace equipment that requires new certifications, they are at risk of reduced equipment availability and capabilities required for continued protection of the public."
T-Mobile reported on a meeting at the FCC with various officials to discuss its petition asking the FCC to reject the Verizon Wireless/cable deals (http://xrl.us/bm8syu). T-Mobile said Verizon Wireless is already ahead in the race to LTE. “Verizon has been able to deploy LTE on its ‘greenfield’ 700 MHz spectrum,” T-Mobile said. “Verizon is heavily marketing LTE, and the absence of robust LTE is a competitive disadvantage. Concentrating this spectrum in Verizon’s hands forecloses LTE competition.” Verizon already has “greenfield” covering more than 13 billion MHz/POPs suitable for LTE, T-Mobile said: “This is more than AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile combined.”
SeaChange International said it sold its media services division, On Demand Group, to Avail-TVN for $27 million. The sale reflects SeaChange’s strategy to become a pure-play software company, CEO Raghu Rau said. “We can now focus our efforts on strengthening our competitive advantage in delivering next generation multi-screen video software solutions to cable, IPTV and mobile operators,” he said.
LG said it is demonstrating multiple cable operators' services running on its Smart TV sets without a CableCARD device. “At The Cable Show we're showing … a version of a Tier-1 cable operator’s HTML5 Smart TV app, developed with just a few weeks of effort,” said Sam Chang, general manager of LG’s innovation development group. “It uses common Web technologies to deliver a new user-interface, full electronic program guide and secure streaming of live linear TV,” he said.
Arris and NDS said they will work together on an integrated media gateway using Arris hardware with NDS middleware. The agreement will bring together Arris’s Media Gateway and Media Player with NDS’s MediaHighway middleware, VideoGuard Connect DRM and Snowflake user interface, Arris said. “Working together demonstrates our companies’ flexibility and commitment to using innovative approaches to deliver cable’s long-awaited whole-home solution,” said Bruce McClelland, president of Arris’s products and services division. The terms weren’t disclosed.
Globalstar is working with Thales Alenia in order to continue doing business after the American Arbitration Association ruled in favor of Thales in a dispute with Globalstar. “We're working with Thales to come to some resolution so we can move forward,” said Barbee Ponder, Globalstar regulatory affairs vice president. The ruling requires Globalstar to pay Thales about $67 million in termination charges by June 9, Globalstar said. The companies had an agreement to manufacture second-generation satellites. Thales agreed to deliver 24 satellites by 2010 in phase 2 of the agreement, Ponder said. Globalstar received 18 and asked the arbitration panel to determine whether the company could begin receiving satellites for phase 3 for the same fixed price as phase 2 spacecraft, he said. The arbitrators ruled that “Thales has no further obligation to manufacture or deliver satellites under Phase 3 of the contract,” Globalstar said. “We're in daily discussions with Thales regarding … our need for satellites and the delays we continue to experience with phase 2 spacecraft,” Ponder added. Thales said it’s working with Globalstar “to find a solution for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Over-the-top video offerings are getting worse, making them less of a threat to traditional pay-TV distributors, UBS analyst John Hodulik wrote in a note to investors. “Although these providers remain a threat, the first generation of OTT competitors are increasingly in the rear-view mirror,” he said. Netflix’s subscriber growth is slowing and that company also has run into problems licensing programming, he said. And reports indicate Hulu may pursue a pay-TV authentication model, he said. “Compared to a few years ago when networks were putting much of the content on the Web for free within hours, or even before its primetime debut, the majority of content now sits behind pay walls and/or is released online days or weeks after its broadcast,” he said. Moreover, Comcast’s recent move to charge broadband subscribers more if they exceed certain usage thresholds also indicates the threat from OTT video distributors is overblown, he said. “We believe that if Comcast were really worried about the longer-term threat of alternative OTT video, it would have kept those data caps firmly in place,” he said. “However, the development of its proprietary IP video platform and its understanding of content providers’ financial motivations will enable it to defend its turf far better than data caps would have,” he said.
Pay-TV distributors have recently increased their dividends and share buyback plans, a trend that could limit their future credit upgrades, Standard & Poor’s said in a report from its RatingsDirect service. “These shareholder-friendly actions have been within our parameters for the current ratings, so we have taken no rating actions thus far,” said Naveen Sarma, a credit analyst. “But in the longer term, we believe these more aggressive financial policies could limit potential upgrades.” The share buyback programs don’t appear to be sustainable, but Standard & Poor’s expects the pay-TV distributors to continue raising their dividends, Sarma said.