If competition is subsidized it can become artificial, said White Paper released Thurs. by National Telecom Coop Assn. (NTCA). “The Cost of Competition” argues that competition doesn’t necessarily work in rural areas and it shouldn’t be forced. Bottom line is “permit competition to develop in rural areas but don’t subsidize it,” NTCA said in news release. Authored by economist Dale Lehman, White Paper questioned wisdom of making universal service funds available to competitive entrants, saying that might undermine viability of broadband deployment by incumbent rural LEC. There isn’t real strong business case for broadband deployment in rural areas in first place, report said. Solution might be to increase universal service fund so more money would be available to all carriers, Lehman concluded -- www.ntca.org.
ALTS submitted proposal to FCC to curb high CLEC access charges without more drastic measure of mandatory detariffing. ALTS plan proposed Thurs. would: (1) Set ceiling of 2.5 cents per min. for CLECs serving large markets. Different formula would be used for rural CLECs. (2) Make CLECs subject to mandatory detariffing if they exceeded ceiling. (3) Protect CLECs from “harassing” tactics by large interexchange carriers (IXCs). For example, FCC would “affirm” that IXCs couldn’t refuse to pay filed tariff rates. Agency also would define terms under which IXCs could refuse to terminate service to end users served by CLECs that charged higher-than-permissible access rates. Proposal, called Guaranteed Reduced Exchange Access Tariffs (GREAT), was presented in comments to FCC on whether mandatory detariffing should be used to discourage excessive rates (CC Doc. 97-146). Agency had expressed concern that under “filed rate doctrine” of tariff law, CLECs could set unreasonably high rates and enforce payment through federal tariffs. ALTS said plan would “ensure reasonable CLEC access charge levels while at the same time promoting regulatory certainty.”
Internet streaming video surged 215% to more than 900 million streams accessed in 2000, study by DFC Intelligence reported. It said broadband Internet access carried nearly 29% of video streams, and 15% of streams carried ads -- www.dbpwebcasttrack.com.
Arianespace Flight 137 finally got off ground Jan. 10 as Eurasiasat 1 was launched into orbit from Kourou after 4 delays. Launch originally had been scheduled for Dec. 8.
Bidding in FCC’s C- and F-block PCS auction reached net of $14.93 billion Thurs., inching up from $14.57 billion Wed. Verizon Wireless had 103 high bids worth $6.2 billion, followed by Cingular Wireless-backed Salmon PCS with 62 for $2.9 billion and AT&T Wireless-backed Alaska Native Wireless with 47 for $2.5 billion. Dobson Communications subsidiary DCC PCS bid $960.8 million, VoiceStream $573.6 million, Cook Inlet $480.9 million. After 47 rounds, units of 3 largest wireless carriers continued to jockey for 3 N.Y.C. licenses. Verizon Wireless bid $1.6 billion for one license in that market, Alaska Native Wireless $1.12 billion for another and Salmon $1.1 billion for 3rd. Those licenses are fetching figures that are more than double those in next most competitive market, L.A., where DCC and Verizon are bidding closer to $500 million.
StreamAudio will provide audio streaming and revenue-sharing ad insertion technology for all 83 Cox Radio stations under new agreement with Cox Radio Interactive. Cox is 4th largest radio owner in U.S., based on revenue.
U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruling Tues. that rejected SBC’s advanced services subsidiary (CD Jan 10 p1) appeared to have raised more questions than it answered. Observers questioned Wed. whether decision might pressure Congress to revise Telecom Act to account for advanced services, how ruling would affect similar arrangement at Verizon and how it might play out under new Republican FCC. Court overturned trade-off FCC made with SBC: FCC allowed SBC to provide advanced services free of interconnection requirements if company formed separate affiliate to provide those services. In response to appeal filed by Assn. of Communications Enterprises (ASCENT), court ruled FCC didn’t have authority to forgo interconnection requirements of Sec. 251(c) just because SBC was providing advanced, rather than basic, services and using separate subsidiary. ASCENT represents competitive carriers, particularly those that resale ILEC service.
Paxson announced series of TV station transactions, including: (1) It agreed to sell KBPX (Ch. 13) Flagstaff and WPXS (Ch. 13) Mt. Vernon, Ill., to Equity Bcstg., terms not disclosed. Stations will remain Pax affiliates. It said sales were move toward complying with FCC ownership cap. Deals mean Paxson stations will reach 33.1% of U.S. households, it said. (2) Pax TV signed joint sales agreements with Scripps-owned NBC stations in Kansas City (KSHB-TV, Ch. 13), Palm Beach (WPTV, Ch. 5), Tulsa (KJRH, Ch. 2). NBC stations will provide sales and marketing infrastructure for Pax stations. (3) Paxson signed joint sales agreement with Dispatch Bcst. station WTHR-TV (Ch. 13) Indianapolis (NBC). WTHR-TV will provide sales and marketing for WIPX-TV (Ch. 63) Bloomington, Ind.
New cable industry study found that 79% of digital cable and 55% of analog cable subscribers were “very or somewhat receptive” to interactive TV (ITV) features. CTAM study, conducted through online interviews with 525 cable customers in 6 major markets, showed video-on-demand (VoD), personal video recorders (PVRs) and local news and information to be most attractive of core interactive features. Customers expressed most willingness to buy VoD services, with 71% of digital cable and 67% of analog cable subscribers saying they would do so. Study also found that cable customers most receptive to ITV features already were tinkering with more rudimentary forms of interactivity, colocating PCs in same room as TV sets and using both devices simultaneously. Most receptive consumers also tended to be 18-34 years old, pay-cable subscribers, frequent pay-per-view users and videotape renters, high-speed data subscribers and owners of big-screen TVs and DVD players.
Most recent round of DTV standard tests was flawed, COFDM backer Sinclair Bcst. said in memo we obtained Wed., day before start of closed-door DTV summit in Washington. Sinclair said COFDM tests inadvertently were conducted with receiver that lacked front-end filter, causing set to be overloaded in many situations. At very least, mistake and test results indicated that NAB and MSTV should go ahead with 2nd round of testing on DTV systems, Sinclair Vp-New Technology Nat Ostroff said in memo. Other broadcast officials didn’t immediately comment on memo.