Rep. Cubin (R-Wyo.) reintroduced bill (HR-496) to deregulate small telcos serving fewer than 2% of nation’s access lines. Similar bill (HR-3850) passed House last year and is being backed in Senate this year by Sen. Burns (R-Mont.). Cubin said FCC has promised to address question of whether its regulations are too cumbersome for small telcos, but “the agency’s time frame on issuing those proposed rules has changed like the Wyoming wind. It’s time those obligations are met, and this legislation would solidify what the FCC has promised to do for a long time.” She said she has “bent over backwards to accommodate many of the initial concerns that some members had with this legislation and have incorporated a majority of their helpful suggestions.” Cubin said she looks forward to FCC’s “thoughtful suggestions as well as their own internal changes.” Initial co-sponsors for her bill are Reps. Gordon, Pickering, Barrett. House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) expressed support for Cubin’s efforts, saying she’s dedicated to “establishing regulatory common sense for small and mid-size telecommunications companies.” He said bill is “entirely consistent” with his own efforts to restructure FCC.
Arianespace Flight 139 launched shortly after 6 p.m. ET Wed., taking 2 military telecom satellites into orbit aboard Ariane 44L: (1) Sicral is Italy’s first military satellite. (2) British Skynet 4F is 4th such craft Ariane has launched and will serve U.K. Defense Ministry.
Only 1/6 of cable and satellite subscribers are willing to pay monthly fee for TV-based e-commerce, according to TechTrends survey. Study said most consumers would rather have e-commerce transactions added to their cable or satellite bill, rather than paying separately with credit card, and more than half believe security is most important issue -- www.techtrends.net.
Military Network is planned for end of year by Jeff Davidson (ex-Gannett), Carol Lafever (ex-ABC) and Tom McKnight (ex-FCC). Davidson is chmn., McKnight CEO, Ed Feuerherd chief program officer. Other principals: Robert Wussler, vice chmn.; Larry Meli; James Webb, former Secy. of Navy; Bruce Crockett, former Comsat CEO; Diane Powell, ex-NBC. Group bought assets of Military Channel, which ceased operations.
Ark. House passed bill (HB-1003) that would require all public schools and libraries to install Internet filters on any online computers used by minors in order to block their access to pornographic Web sites. As an alternative, they would have to obtain their Internet service only from providers that had filters. Measure also would allow prosecution of school or library employees who disabled filter in order to allow minors access to obscene material. Measure is pending in Senate Technology & Legislative Affairs Committee.
WorldSpace said it signed manufacturing, marketing and distribution agreement with P.T. Hartono Istana Teknologi of Indonesia. Companies will work together to produce low cost satellite receivers.
House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) scaled back his charges against 5 national TV networks Thurs., saying his investigators had “found no evidence of intentionally misleading or biased reporting” by ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC in their coverage of presidential election results last Nov. But Tauzin, in news conference with 3 House Republican colleagues, said his investigators had found “clear evidence of statistical, if unintentional, bias” in Voter News Service (VNS) data models and vote counts used by networks that favored Democrats on election night. As result, he plans to proceed with Feb. 14 committee hearing on network election coverage, at which heads of 5 news networks, VNS and Associated Press (AP) are expected to testify. “Our goal is simple -- find out what went wrong and try to fix it,” he said. “This system bit Democrats in the past and we think it bit Republicans this year.”
Group of 37 economists told FCC it shouldn’t directly create secondary markets for spectrum but should put in place more flexible rules that would enable such markets to emerge. In response to notice of proposed rulemaking on how FCC could pave way for secondary market for wireless spectrum, economists said wireless licensees should be subject to restrictions only on out- of-band emissions and anticompetitive concentration. “With few exceptions, spectrum continues to be offered to the market only as allocated and no price can be offered to reallocate it from the officially designated use,” group wrote. Group included Thomas Hazlett of American Enterprise Institute, Stanford U. Prof. Roger Noll, former member of White House Council of Economic Advisers, and Martin Baily of Institute for International Economics. Filing encouraged FCC to free up spectrum rules “much farther than the modest measures proposed in the notice.”
Images from latest NASA landing might be on your Web browser. NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendevous (NEAR) program Shoemaker spacecraft is expected to land on Eros asteroid Feb. 12 and scientists hope probe will send stream of 2 photographs per min. to Internet at www//near.jhuapl.edu. As craft descends, it will take pictures of surface. Question remains whether craft can land at angle on solar panel edge with antenna pointing toward Earth. NASA said there was less than 1% chance of contacting craft after landing.
Indecency complaint against KLOU(FM) St. Louis “deserves more than a dismissal” because of lack of adequate information, FCC Comr. Tristani said in statement on Enforcement Bureau action. Bureau, in Feb. 7 letter to complainant, said “reference to excretory organs alone is not sufficient to find material indecent.”