Belo agreed to buy UPN affiliate KTTU-TV (Ch. 18) Tucson from Clear Channel for $18 million. Belo currently operates station under LMA.
Staff of La. PSC urged agency to consider establishing state pool of CLECs to ensure that customers of any CLEC that reneges on its financial obligations to incumbent telcos don’t suddenly find themselves without dial tone. Staff said CLECs in pool would provide customers of failed CLEC with temporary local service during interval while they sought new permanent provider. PSC and CLECs would have to develop administrative rules governing notice of impending nonpayment problems for carriers, customer notices, carrier contributions, customer-to-carrier and carrier-to-carrier payments. Pool would cover all CLEC customers, whether or not prepaid.
Set-top box (STB) equipped with hard drive and capable of receiving DirecTV and at least 3 other services could be available by late 2002, DirecTV Global Digital Media Pres. Lawrence Chapman said. Device would combine services that are or will be available in separate standalone DirecTV receivers this year including Wink Communications, AOLTV and UltimateTV. Latter 2 are built around TiVo and WebTV personal video recorder (PVR) technologies, respectively. All-in-one device could have 3 or 4 tuners, enabling it to receive several channels at same time, Chapman said. Current DirecTV-TiVo product has 2 tuners, only one of which is operational, with 2nd due to come online in midyear via software download, he said. STB also probably would have DSL connection option given DirecTV parent Hughes Electronics’ proposed acquisition of Telocity. “In the future we'll be able to consolidate on a platform that can run all these various services and let the consumers choose,” Chapman said. Gateway device also could play into DirecTV’s strategy for offering video-on-demand (VoD), first part of which is expected to revealed in first half of this year in conjunction with TiVo. “We could load those titles on a server overnight and have them ready for the viewer when they want to view them in VoD,” Chapman said.
Wireless carriers kept FCC’s C- and F-block auction alive with flurry of bids in handful of markets, as record-breaking PCS auction continued to edge toward close Thurs. As few as 2 new high bids were placed in one round Thurs., with 99th round of bidding resulting in 5 new bids and total net revenue of $16.9 billion. New offers in final rounds Thurs. centered on mostly smaller- to medium-sized markets, including bids by AT&T Wireless- backed Alaska Native Wireless for Cheyenne, Wyo., Verizon Wireless for Marion, O., and VoiceStream PCS for Portsmouth, O. Rankings of top bidders remained unchanged, topped by Verizon Wireless with $8.8 billion, followed by Alaska Native Wireless with $2.9 billion and Cingular Wireless-backed Salmon PCS with $2.3 billion.
Ruling in cable’s favor on DTV must-carry again, FCC rejected effort by Paxson Communications to obtain mandatory cable carriage of its 6 digital multiplexed programming streams in Chicago area. In little-noticed 5-page ruling late Tues., Cable Bureau denied Paxson’s petition to force AT&T Broadband, Charter, Mediacom and 9 other cable operators and overbuilders to carry broadcaster’s 6 channels on its digital signal (Ch. 46) instead of its WCPX (Ch. 38) analog station. Paxson argued that its 6 digital channels were entitled to must-carry because company was seeking to replace its analog signal with its digital signal, not gain dual cable carriage of its analog and digital signals. Paxson also contended that 1992 Cable Act required cable carriage of all TV signals, including digital. Its plan called for cable operators to replace WCPX analog signal with downconverted analog version of WCPX-DT primary digital signal and put 5 other digital channels on their digital programming tiers. But cable operators and overbuilders said FCC hadn’t issued DTV must-carry rules, and carriage of Paxson’s digital signal was unnecessary because they already were carrying its analog signal. Cable interests also asserted that there was no statutory right for mandatory carriage of digital signal downconverted to analog and Cable Act required systems to carry only single video service. FCC Cable Bureau, noting Commission’s earlier order tentatively concluding that broadcasters weren’t entitled to dual carriage of their analog and digital signals (CD Jan 24 p3), said it found Paxson’s requests to be “inconsistent” with that order. While DTV-only stations “may immediately assert their digital cable carriage rights,” agency said, TV stations broadcasting in both analog and digital modes can’t assert such rights until broader DTV must-carry issue is resolved. “In this instance, although Paxson has requested its digital signal to be substituted for its analog signal, it still holds 12 MHz of spectrum and has given no indication that it intends to return its analog spectrum,” Commission said.
FCC ordered GE Americom Thurs. to disclose information to Pegasus Development on its contract with Harris Corp. involving construction of GE Star Ka-band satellite system. Pegasus requested information Oct. 13. GE Americom received license to launch and operate 5 satellites in fixed-satellite service (FSS) in Ka-band. It was required to begin construction of first bird by May 1998, but had asked that contract be exempt from Freedom of Information Act disclosure requirements and withheld from public inspection. Pegasus, which wants to launch its own Ka-band satellites, objected.
Lockheed Martin suffered net loss of $519 million in 2000 after $319 million profit in 1999, on $980 million loss related to sale of Aerospace Electronics Systems and $91 million of write-off of Globalstar debt. Net earnings in 4th quarter were $89 million, down from $293 million. Net sales increased slightly to $7.6 billion in 4th quarter from $7 billion year ago. Lockheed did generate record cash flow of $265 million in 4th quarter and $1.8 billion for 2000. Company predicted earnings per share would grow by at least 20% in year.
Europe Star opened office in Cape Town, South Africa, with a ceremony in Johannesburg Wed. Europe Star 1 satellite was launched Oct. 29 and service connecting Europe, southern Africa, Middle East, India and Southeast Asia began earlier this month.
Ability to downgrade HDTV signal to 480i at request of content owners is built into DirecTV satellite receivers, several CE manufacturers confirmed. Downgrade function was incorporated as only copy protection method available that could allay content owners’ fear of unauthorized digital copying, and thereby obtain HD programming for DirecTV, manufacturers said. Receivers use Copy Generation Management System, which has codes to permit unlimited copying, recording single copy or prohibiting any copying. When DirecTV invokes no-copy provision at content owner’s request, receiver shuts off high-definition (1080i/720p) signal to DTV display and on-screen message informs viewer that only SDTV 480i image is available. Manufacturers said they hoped that emergence of secure digital copy protection methods would eliminate stopgap measure of downgrading HDTV picture. CEA said it expected to issue statement on subject in near future.
FCC Chmn. Powell appointed Marsha MacBride chief of staff, and named his core transition team and his personal staff. MacBride, 10-year veteran of FCC, is returning to Commission after being vp at Disney’s Washington office. During years at FCC, MacBride has been Legal Advisor to then-Comr. Powell for mass media and cable and exec. dir. for FCC’s Y2K conversion effort. MacBride has been in Political Programming Branch of Mass Media Bureau, Cable Bureau, and Office of Engineering and Technology. She was also Legal Advisor to Comr. James Quello in 1997. Transition team includes Jane Mago, Enforcement Bureau, who will oversee the Office of Gen. Counsel, David Fiske, who will oversee Office of Media Relations, Paul Jackson, special asst. to chmn., who will oversee Office of Legislative and Inter-governmental Affairs. Powell’s current personal staff will move to Chairman’s Office -- Peter Tenhula continuing as senior legal advisor, Kyle Dixon and Susan Eid as legal advisors, Toni McGowan as confidential assistant and Dorothy Clingman as senior staff asst. Other staff appointed to Chairman’s Office include: Tommi Greely, Betty Freeman and Kim Anderson-Collins.