N.H. legislature will see several bills on electronic privacy in 2001 session. Prefiled draft bills, which have not yet been assigned numbers, include one by state Rep. Neal Kurk (R-Weare) to establish state Office of Privacy to ensure personal information collected by state agencies is used solely for purpose for which it was obtained. Kurk prefiled another bill to prohibit state agencies from posting personal identifying information about individuals on Internet. Another prefiled bill, with multiple sponsors, would require private entities that collect personal information about their customers, patients or clients to alert those individuals whenever such data were shared with 3rd parties. Still another is HB-115, which would prohibit telemarketers from using automatic dialing equipment to place calls that contain no message. Measure would address common nuisance of autodialers that keep placing calls even when there’s no sales representative available to speak. It would allow civil law suits for greater of $500 or actual damages.
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Comr. Powell endorsed free market vs. govt. regulation, pleasing consumer electronics officials at the CES here Sat. But reaction was more muted when he also indicated reluctance for govt. to move aggressively to spur DTV transition. Powell, who is widely rumored to become next chmn. of FCC, was interviewed one-on-one by CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro, also rumored to be candidate for position in new Bush Administration, despite recently signing new 10-year contract with CEA.
Hungarian Telephone & Cable finalized purchases of shares of its Hungarian subsidiaries from minority stockholders, terms not disclosed. Company said transactions were all-cash except for purchase of International Finance Corp.’s (IFC) 20% stake in Papatel. For Papatel transaction, Hungarian Telephone issued 72,000 shares of common stock to IFC, which is part of World Bank Group. Hungarian Telephone Pres. Ole Bertram said it planned to consolidate its 4 subsidiaries into single company.
American Tower said Fri. its operating income before depreciation and amortization plus interest would fall below expectations for 4th quarter. Company said lower than anticipated levels were due mainly to one-time $7 million reserve for bad debt on component sales to Anicom. Operating income before depreciation and amortization is now expected to be $56-$60 million in quarter. Company also said it expected revenue for quarter to be $226-$233 million, resulting from stronger than forecast sales in services and Internet, voice, data and video segments. American Tower estimated that towers newly constructed in quarter would top 500, also beating forecasts and raising year- end total to more than 1,650. Company’s shares fell 8.37% Fri. to $36.25 at close.
NCTA called for entries for its 3rd annual “Community Spirit Awards” for local programming. Assn. said it also would host symposium for local and regional programming professionals in conjunction with awards March 27-28. Workshop will include sessions on current issues in local programming and advanced applications with technology. Deadline for entries is Jan. 19.
Satellite digital radio rivals used Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to flex their promotional muscle in advance of commercial debuts later this year. Sirius Satellite Radio told news conference it had signed “multifaceted” marketing and programming partnership with House of Blues that “will introduce service to millions of music fans” attending House of Blues events throughout U.S. Sirius also announced programming carriage agreements with A&E TV Networks, Discovery Channel, Weather Channel. Mktg. Vp Doug Wilsterman said first Sirius receivers should arrive for sale by midyear at $300-$400. Sirius also plans to market FM modulator for adapting existing car audio equipment for use with Sirius satellite receiver. It demonstrated what Wilsterman called “absolutely true” satellite reception in Las Vegas Convention Center. He said that for demonstration purposes, Sirius had turned off its Las Vegas terrestrial repeater. Responding to questioner, Wilsterman said Sirius and rival XM Satellite Radio were committed to “honoring” FCC mandate that receivers marketed by both services be made interoperable. He said Sirius and XM were working very hard to achieve interoperability under “unified standard” agreement they signed last year. But he estimated that first interoperable receivers wouldn’t be available in marketplace for 4 years. Meanwhile, at Fri. Las Vegas news conference set for past our deadline, XM planned to demonstrate first-time live broadcasts to Convention Center from company’s Washington studio. On eve of CES, XM said it scored big promotional coup, announcing it had signed 2,200- store Sears to promote XM radio products and services at retail nationally.
Michael Kennedy moves up to dir.-global relations, Motorola… Betsy Kulick, ex-Motient, named dir.-external relations, Final Analysis… John Fiorini, ex-Gardner, Carton & Douglas, appointed partner, Wiley, Rein & Fielding… Nicole Buie, advanced to dir.-research and education, CableRep Adv…Stephen Parker, ex-Russell Reynolds, named managing dir.-information systems and e-commerce, Hailes & Assoc… Jack Zwaska to receive career achievement award to be named after him by Bcst. Cable Financial Management Assn. Jan. 10… Adam Singer, Telewest, appointed non-exec. member of board, QXL ricardo… Jeffrey Liberman advanced to pres.-Radio Div., Entravision Communications, replacing Amador Bustos, who resigned as executive but remains with company… Kay Jackson promoted to dir.-regulatory affairs, Cox Communications… Travis Rutherford, ex-ememories.com, named senior vp, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive, replacing Doug Gleason, resigned… Richard O'Brien, ex-Special Olympics, appointed exec. vp-dir.-govt. relations, American Assn. of Advertising Agencies… Changes at Prodigy Communications: Added to board: Robert McClane, Joseph McKinney and Randall Stephenson; resigned from board: Marc Goldberg and Arturo Elias… Vicki Livingston, ex-Telecorp PCS, named dir.-mktg., Universal Wireless Communications Consortium… William Carey, advanced to pres.- Southwest Tex. Div., Time Warner Cable, replacing Jeffrey King… Peter Uhlmann promoted to chief of staff for Rep. Cox (R-Cal.) from legislative dir., but will continue as principal adviser on Internet and telecom issues.
Month after postponing consideration of thorny DTV transition issues, FCC intends to tackle at least some DTV matters at its Jan. 11 open meeting. Well-placed sources said Commission was likely to approve bid by new DTV-only station to gain cable must- carry status and require consumer electronics manufacturers to put digital tuners in all new TV sets by date certain, among other less controversial items. But what’s not clear was whether agency would tackle core issue of whether cable operators and DBS providers should carry broadcasters’ analog and digital signals during current DTV transition. Action on dual-carriage issue, which has been hanging over federal regulators for more than 2 years, has been postponed repeatedly by Commission.
As it continues to weigh imposing additional regulatory conditions on AOL’s pending purchase of Time Warner (TW), FCC is seeking help from group of small and midsized ISPs. Commission has asked coalition of smaller ISPs and state associations to draft definitions of local and regional ISPs that agency might use in setting tougher open access requirement on AOL-TW combination. Proposed requirement reportedly would force AOL-TW to carry at least one local and one regional ISP on every TW cable system, in addition to national EarthLink service that MSO already has committed to carry. That would go beyond open access provision stipulated by FTC, which would require AOL-TW to open its high- speed cable lines to at least 3 unaffiliated ISPS, including EarthLink, when it added AOL as offering. Speaking for ISP coalition, NorthNet Mktg. Dir. Stephen Heins said group also was pressing FCC to set open access mandates for business users in smaller and rural areas. He said group planned to submit its proposal to Commission by today (Jan. 8) at latest.
First order of business for new House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) is examination of “the networks’ blown coverage of the Presidential election,” his spokesman Ken Johnson told us. In early Feb., Tauzin will chair hearing by full Committee on issue, Johnson said: “It’s not designed to be confrontational. We simply want to find out why the networks dropped the ball and how we can prevent this from happening again.” He said other early priorities would include FCC reauthorization and reform, giving Bell companies authority to provide advanced services across LATA boundaries, resolution of reciprocal compensation controversy and “long hard look at online privacy.”