Officials from the EU and Japan met in Brussels Thursday to “reaffirm their close partnership” on information and communications technology issues, they said in a joint statement. It said Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission, and Tatsuo Kawabata, Japan minister for internal affairs and communications, discussed the need to “ensure Internet policies are coherent and compatible at the international level” so users can enjoy content and services “across borders,” and the need to reach “international consensus” on how data flows should “not be unduly restricted.” They agreed on the importance of improving network security by “sharing good practice [sic], jointly promoting resilience and risk management,” engaging the private sector and doing joint research efforts to counter threats such as botnets, the statement said. The officials “underlined the need to promote and spread international standards for exchanging Internet security information” as well, and they plan to hold a Japan-EU Internet security forum. Japanese and EU companies also face “unfair market access barriers” due to ICT security regulations in “third countries,” the statement said. Kroes and Kawabata are keen on holding another joint seminar on cloud computing technology “with more participation from the business sector,” following up on an April 19 seminar in Tokyo. They agree on the need to “encourage” nongovernmental organizations in Japan and the EU to exchange views on best practices for protecting children online; continued promotion of joint research and development on optical and wireless communications, Internet security and the new generation network/future Internet; and using ICT to address the challenges of a “rapidly-aging society,” such as through remote medical and “social” care.
News Corp’s STAR TV signed a deal with Time Warner Cable to carry four channels in India. The channels include STAR India PLUS and Life OK, said ethnic programmer International Media Distribution, which also is owned by News Corp. It said STAR India PLUS, the top Asian channel in India and the U.K., “will soon be available to Time Warner Cable customers in select markets."
Brown Student Radio in Providence, R.I., urged the FCC to block Casa de Oracion Getsemani from obtaining removal of a time-sharing condition on its license for WIGV(FM) Providence, R.I. Casa received a construction permit only because it presented a “so-called settlement with two other applicants,” BSR said in response to Casa (http://xrl.us/bm55q4). It said one applicant “packed up and left town, turning its permit back to the Commission, and the other of which never lifted a finger to construct a station.” BSR said it’s entitled to share time with Casa “based on the status of two equal non-settling parties in the original application proceeding."
The broadcast associations of all U.S. states now back an alternative political-file proposal that many TV station owners and the NAB asked the FCC to adopt instead of the rule approved 2-1 by commissioners Friday mandating Internet posting of spots’ rates. A filing Wednesday in docket 00-168 reported (http://xrl.us/bm55os) the assent of the state groups. They were asked before Friday’s commissioner meeting by law firms representing the groups to sign on (CD April 23 p1).
The Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance and USTelecom support the petition of FairPoint’s ILECs to be permitted to convert the company’s special access services from rate-of-return regulation to price cap regulation, the associations said in FCC filings posted Wednesday in docket 12-71. “FairPoint is in a unique situation” because it’s the only price cap ILEC in the country with rate-of-return affiliates that settle on a cost basis, ITTA said (http://xrl.us/bm55aa). “The request to be permitted to convert the FairPoint Petitioning LECs’ special access services to price cap regulation would ease a significant resource and financial burden on FairPoint and streamline its regulatory obligations.” They should also remain subject to rate-of-return carriers’ schedule for transitioning their intercarrier compensation rates to bill-and-keep, because this would give the smaller, predominantly rural telcos time to adjust their operations to respond to marketplace changes, ITTA said. USTelecom said granting the petition would reduce costs, increase incentives for efficiency, and provide other ratepayer benefits (http://xrl.us/bm55ce). “FairPoint has thoughtfully developed a proposal that benefits consumers, meets several disparate Commission policy goals, and is applicable to FairPoint’s unique regulatory situation,” USTelecom said.
There were more markets affected by retransmission consent blackouts this year than in 2011, the American Television Alliance said: So far this year, broadcasters “have used their bullying tactics in 45 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington.” Last year, 40 markets experienced blackouts, ATVA said. Affiliates of ABC, CBS and Fox were unavailable to Dish Network subscribers in Casper and Cheyenne, Wyo., for four months before Dish Network reached an agreement with three broadcasting companies (CD May 3 p18). It’s time for reform “of outdated rules that allow broadcasters to hold viewers hostage in business disputes,” said the alliance, which includes many subscription-video companies as members.
The Entertainment Software Association took its case for a waiver of advanced communications service accessibility rules to an FCC member’s aide. ESA executives met with an aide to Commissioner Robert McDowell to discuss the “benefits of waivers with respect to the many offerings clearly within the proposed classes” of videogame products which the association wants exempt. That’s according to an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 10-213 (http://xrl.us/bm55n7) and after the group met with agency staffers on its request (CD May 3 p13).
The NAB should discourage members from auctioning all or some TV frequencies in the voluntary incentive auction the FCC will hold, said a group of low- and full-power station owners that has a different plan. The Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance, which wants the agency to instead allow stations to transmit streaming video and other broadband data to mobile devices, criticized CEA President Gary Shapiro’s comments to NAB President Gordon Smith that NAB seems to be discouraging participation (CD May 2 p12). “The CEA’s request borders on arrogance, to ask the NAB to cheerlead for an action that would lead to the diminishing of their industry and the robbing of the American public of the free airwaves,” the alliance said late Wednesday. A CEA spokesman declined to comment. Shapiro puts “the wireless carriers in front of Broadcasters,” Sinclair Vice President Mark Aitken, an alliance board member, said in a written statement. Besides that company, other members of the alliance that own full-power TV stations include Capitol Broadcasting and Pappas, an alliance spokesman said.
Congressional Privacy Caucus Co-Chair Ed Markey, D-Mass., asked nine carriers about their practice of sharing mobile tracking data with police departments, in separate letters sent Wednesday. The inquiry stemmed from a recent New York Times article that revealed the extent to which law enforcement agencies are seeking information about customers’ phone usage, geolocation, text messages and “full scale wiretapping,” said Markey’s office. The Times article also mentioned that wireless companies are selling mobile phone tracking equipment to law enforcement agencies and some are actively marketing their ability to provide customer information to police departments. Markey sent letters to U.S. Cellular, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Leap Wireless/Cricket Communications, MetroPCS, Verizon, AT&T, C Spire Wireless and TracFone Wireless. “I am deeply concerned about possible privacy intrusions, particularly in the absence of consumer knowledge or consent, or judicial oversight,” Markey wrote in identical letters to each carrier (http://xrl.us/bm55mq). He asked them to report the extent of the information sharing with law enforcement agencies and how much money they gained in exchange for such information, as well as to explain each company’s protocol for handling such requests and divulge any misuse of cellphone tracking by law enforcement agencies. A Verizon spokesman said the company will review the letter and “respond in an appropriate manner. In responding to law enforcement requests, Verizon Wireless follows the law,” he said. AT&T spokeswoman Margaret Boles and Cricket spokesman Greg Lund confirmed that the companies had received Markey’s letter and both said they “will respond accordingly.” CTIA declined to comment.
The FCC fined four radio stations $42,000 total, in Enforcement Bureau forfeiture orders released Thursday. R.J.’s Late Night Entertainment Corp. was fined $22,000 because non-commercial educational station WHPR(FM) Highland Park, Mich., didn’t have operational emergency alert system equipment, the transmitter was moved without permission and the public inspection file wasn’t accessible (http://xrl.us/bm55fw). Each fined $10,000 were Taylor Broadcasting for not having sufficient staff at WJTB(AM) Elyria, Ohio (http://xrl.us/bm55f2), and KM Radio because KQMG(AM/FM) Independence, Iowa, had violations similar to WHPR (http://xrl.us/bm55gc).