Accessibility rules for user interfaces and program guides were adopted Tuesday so the FCC could come as close as possible to the missed Oct. 8 deadline to finish implementing the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), an agency official told us. The deadline occurred during the partial federal government shutdown. Though the rules were adopted Tuesday, commissioners are still working on statements to be released along with the rules, an FCC official told us the next day. Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted to approve the rules implementing sections 204 and 205 of CVAA while Commissioner Ajit Pai approved in part and concurred in part, said an FCC release Tuesday. All three commissioners are issuing written statements, the release said. The new rules will require devices to make “essential functions” accessible and classify devices that have conditional access to content as navigation devices, an FCC official had said (CD Oct 30 p15). The item includes a three-year implementation deadline, but cable operators with fewer than 400,000 subscribers will be granted an additional two years to subscribe, the official said. Other details about the rules, and what might be contained in a further notice of proposed rulemaking mentioned in the release, remain unclear. American Foundation for the Blind Senior Policy Director Mark Richert said he’s particularly concerned about proposed rules on how those in need of accessible equipment will be able to request it from providers. He said the details of what equipment operators can provide to meet accessibility requirements are important. “How broad is that? What kind of alternatives are they allowed to provide?” asked Richert. Although few details were contained in the commission’s release, Richert said he’s optimistic that the rules will be a positive change. “Once these rules take effect, people who are blind or visually impaired will be able to quickly find a news channel during an emergency or tune in to their favorite show as readily as sighted people,” said Clyburn.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, introduced the Patent Litigation Integrity Act (S-1612), saying in a statement that the bill would “address the growing threat of so-called ‘patent trolls.'” The bill would require courts to award “reasonable” attorney fees and other expenses to the party that wins in a patent litigation case unless the losing party’s legal position and conduct were “substantially justified” or in special cases where shifting fees would be unjust. The bill would also allow the defendant in a patent case to seek a motion to require the plaintiff to post a bond that would cover attorney fees and other legal expenses. The judge would have discretion to determine whether posting a bond would be unfairly burdensome for the plaintiff, such as when the plaintiff is an institution of higher learning (http://1.usa.gov/1ap2peZ). BSA/The Software Alliance praised the bill Wednesday. Tim Molino, director-government relations, said in a letter to Hatch that the bill “gets to the heart of the problem we face today by correcting imbalances in the legal system that give the non-practicing entities commonly known as ’trolls’ undue leverage over the legitimate companies they target” (http://bit.ly/1aEihGL). Dish Network Deputy General Counsel Jeffrey Blum said in a statement that the bill “will help spur innovation, and address the growing problem of frivolous patent litigation."
Industry groups lauded the introduction of the Innovation Protection Act (HR-3349), which would change the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s funding structure. The bill, introduced by House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., would create a revolving PTO fund that the agency could spend even when the government shuts down or makes cuts through sequestration. PTO is already fully funded through fees but still must go through the appropriations process, making it vulnerable to fee diversion. House Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Mel Watt, D-N.C., and Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., are original co-sponsors of the bill. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., became a co-sponsor Tuesday. American Intellectual Property Law Association Executive Director Todd Dickinson said in a Tuesday statement he hoped that HR-3349 will “provide the USPTO with the ability to do the work its customers pay for by ending the possibility of fee diversion, once and for all.” The America Invents Act was meant to solve the PTO funding problem, but “it obviously hasn’t,” he said. Tim Molino, BSA/The Software Alliance director of government relations, said that “ensuring [PTO] has a steady stream of self-generated revenue will allow it” to effective implement AIA.
The Google Fiber app is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch platforms, said the company in a blog post Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1aekarh). The app now has a channel history “shortcut” feature to help all users find their favorite shows, said Google. Customers can also now manage their DVRs from a tablet or phone to find, organize, watch and mass-delete all its content, said Google. Both of these features are now available on all Android and iOS devices.
NoaNet completed its 1,600-mile broadband network to connect rural communities across Washington state, said the nonprofit telecom provider in a news release Wednesday (http://reut.rs/1cr5EUM). The project was funded in part by NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant, and it will serve hundreds of previously underserved libraries, police stations, city halls, colleges and other community institutions, said NoaNet. Local ISPs can also connect to the network and provide service to consumers in towns, cities and remote areas from Ilwaco to Colville and Asotin, said the provider.
The ITU will approve two new standards for satellite services and revise one other unless objections are raised by Dec. 28, the director of the Radiocommunication Bureau said in letters to members. One new recommendation includes access procedures for fixed-satellite service (FSS) occasional use transmissions to geostationary-satellite orbit space stations in the 4/6 GHz and 11-12/13/14 GHz FSS bands, a second letter said. An FSS occasional use transmission is a telecommunication application with a transmission that lasts a limited period of time ranging from minutes to months, it said. Another new recommendation provides a methodology to calculate aeronautical mobile-satellite route service (AMS(R)S) spectrum requirements within the frequency bands 1545-1555 MHz in the space-to-earth direction, and 1646.5-1656.5 MHz in the earth-to-space direction, a letter said. It’s intended to be used to quantify the spectrum requirements related to the AMS(R)S priority categories defined in the Radio Regulations, it said. The 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference called for development of the spec. Editorial changes were proposed for an existing recommendation on broadcasting satellite service Earth station antenna patterns for use in interference assessment involving non-geostationary orbit satellites covered by the FSS regulatory plan for the bands 4500-4800 MHz, 6725-7025 MHz, 10.70-10.95 GHz, 11.2-11.45 GHz and 12.75-13.25 GHz.
The ITU will approve two new standards for satellite services and revise three others unless objections are raised by Dec. 28, the director of the Radiocommunication Bureau said in a letter to members. One new recommendation identifies the satellite radio interfaces of international mobile telecommunications advanced (IMT-advanced), a new satellite radio interface based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing technology called SAT-OFDM, and a broadband mobile satellite technology called BMSat. IMT-advanced is the international standard for advanced wireless services. The recommendation provides detailed radio interface specs, it said. It also includes the capability to ensure worldwide compatibility, international roaming and access to high-speed data services, the letter said. A second new recommendation is on characteristics and protection criteria for non-geostationary mobile-satellite service (MSS) systems operating in the band 399.9-400.05 MHz. It provides a description and the corresponding protection criteria for broadband noise and narrow-band interference of an MSS system that uses the band in the earth-to-space direction, the letter said. Draft changes to another recommendation define the methodology that should be used to calculate whether a non-geostationary orbit fixed satellite service (FSS) system is in conformity with the equivalent power flux-density (epfd) limits contained within Article 22 of the Radio Regulations, the letter said. The article deals with the requirement for space stations to be fitted with devices to ensure immediate cessation of their radio emissions by telecommand, whenever it’s required under regulatory provisions, it said. The recommendation is applicable to those bands for which epfd limits have been defined, it said. Draft changes to a recommendation on determining the impact on the fixed service operating in the 11.7-12.2 GHz band when geostationary FSS networks in the Americas exceed certain epfd thresholds will account for decisions at previous World Radiocommunication conferences. Other draft changes update guidance on ITU-R recommendations related to systems and networks in the radio-navigation satellite service operating in the bands 1164-1215 MHz, 1215-1300 MHz, 1559-1610 MHz, 5000-5010 MHz and 5010-5030 MHz.
Comcast’s dependable quarterly results have shifted investor focus away from the long-term threats to its industry, said Moffett Nathanson analyst Craig Moffett in an email to investors Wednesday. “A few years ago stocks swung wildly on each pronouncement from Apple or Google or Netflix,” said Moffett. “Now, investors have been lulled (into complacency?) by Comcast’s steady stream of rock solid results.” However, Moffett said rising programming costs and “eroding affordability” are sure to eventually affect Comcast’s bottom line. “History suggests that anxiety about the broader ecosystem is dormant, not dead,” said Moffett. Though usage-based pricing could help insulate cable companies like Comcast from such threats as over-the-top video, Moffett said the viability of usage-based pricing remains “an open question.” Concerns about the long term “make it hard to say there is sufficient upside here to warrant more than our Neutral rating,” said Moffett.
Everbridge will provide emergency alert services for Virginia as part of its “optional use” contract with the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, said the company in a news release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/HsFFP9). All Virginia public organizations can now use Everbridge to send emergency notifications through emails, texts and phone calls, and to alert emergency responders to activate during crises, said the provider of critical communications solutions.
The use of satellite communications for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions offers many benefits, executives from Gilat said Wednesday during a webinar. It provides forward link command and control of the UAS and it “eliminates the need for expensive airborne communications relay,” said Steve Jacklin, vice president-business development, Gilat North America. It also provides beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) capability and offers near-global coverage, he said. A 4.5-meter transportable antenna can be used, which eliminates the need for numerous data links in a region to support the mission, he said. “One antenna can support a mission.” The solution is available in the Ku and X bands, he said. Gilat is working on providing the service in the Ka band, he added. To implement satellite communications for UAS, a compact terminal and compact antenna module are needed to fit in the UAS, said Kevin Bruestle, Gilat vice president-product engineering. The antenna must allow the UAS to maintain a low profile, he said. The size, weight and power “need to be as small as possible without compromising the performance of the antenna,” he said. Gilat provided its Black Ray 1000 terminal for a UAS customer, he said. The customer wanted a solution that wouldn’t affect the endurance of the UAS, and a restricted payload capacity and volume, he said. Gilat installed the BLOS terminal, which is less than 26 pounds and it reached nearly 1 Mbps, Bruestle said. “In spite of the small antenna … you're still able to get good throughput.”