The FCC should extend the viewability rule, not “reverse course by replacing it with a regime sought by cable, in which the viewability standard is met even if consumers must purchase equipment” to watch TV stations guaranteed subscription-video carriage, the NAB said. That “would contravene multiple provisions of the Communications Act,” it said of cable requests (CD April 9 p11) on a rulemaking notice asking whether to sunset a requirement that some systems carry in HD and standard definition must-carry signals. “The cable industry’s proposal would allow cable operators to discriminate by, for example, offering non-broadcast programming in a viewable format but not local broadcast signals,” the association reported executives told Chief Bill Lake and others in the Media Bureau’s front office. “Consumers that subscribe to hybrid systems would have to determine why they can no longer view must carry stations, identify what equipment is needed to view them, order and pay for equipment to view those signals, and install or arrange for installation.” Friday’s ex parte filing is in docket 98-120 (http://xrl.us/bm3333).
The FCC Public Safety Bureau extended until Oct. 15 the filing freeze for new non-rebanding related 800 MHz applications along the U.S.-Canada border in various NPSPAC regions (http://xrl.us/bm33vr). “This extension of the freeze on non-rebanding applications is needed to preserve vacant channels for licensees re-tuning their systems according to the reconfigured band plan adopted by the Bureau for licensees operating along the U.S.-Canada border,” said a public notice from the bureau. The freeze was set to expire April 14. The freeze covers Michigan, Ohio, Washington State, Eastern and Western Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania.
The conclusion of the mobile emergency alert system broadcast pilot project “sets the stage for the standardization by the Advanced Television Systems Committee and evaluation” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said PBS, the Mobile 500 Alliance, LG and other supporters of the project. The project was run by PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and LG (CD June 6 p11). In addition to public broadcasters, M-EAS is receiving widespread interest from commercial broadcasters, garnering support from the NAB Labs, the Mobile Content Venture and the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the supporters said. They said the project demonstrates the system’s capabilities for delivering multimedia alerts to mobile DTV-equipped cellphones, laptops, and other devices “to avoid the potential roadblocks of chronic congestion of cellular systems during emergencies.” LG demonstrated its prototype mobile phone this week at the NAB show, the company said.
CBS joined two major mobile-DTV groups of TV station owners trying to bring content to portable devices that get terrestrial broadcasts. CBS said its KTVT Dallas, WFOR Miami and KCAL Los Angeles will participate in the Dyle service that’s operated by the Mobile Content Venture of 12 TV-station groups, including companies owned by Comcast, Cox Enterprises, Gannett, News Corp. and the Washington Post Co. CBS said its KSTW Seattle is joining the Mobile500 Alliance of 50 broadcast companies including LIN and Sinclair. Both ventures “are led in large part by our affiliate partners,” said President Diana Wilkin of CBS Affiliate Relations.
Google estimates 250 million Android devices were activated worldwide by the end of 2011, up 50 million in less than three months and 100 million in six months, the company said in a filing in the FCC wireless competition docket (http://xrl.us/bm33tn). “By the end of 2011, Google estimates that more than 700,000 devices were activated each day around the world; 3.7 million were activated between December 24 and 25, 2011 alone,” it said. “More than 800 different Android devices are now available to consumers, delivered via a global partnership network of 55 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and more than 310 wireless carriers in 153 countries.” The commission is preparing its 16th annual wireless competition report.
Broadcasters and a group that includes pay-TV providers traded questions for each other on retransmission consent Monday, as NAB holds its annual convention. The American Television Alliance (ATVA) of cable, DBS, telco-video companies and others seeking retrans rule changes said it wants TV stations to consider updating a system that’s been “static and unchanged” since 1992. ATVA said NAB attendees should ask whether broadcasters are “exploiting government regulations that restrict the free market.” An NAB spokesman responded with questions of his own. “How does ATVA explain the fact that pay-TV rates have risen on average more than four times the rate of inflation for the last 20 years,” he asked. “Is ATVA aware that broadcast retransmission consent fees account for only 2 cents on every dollar paid to a cable company?” Retrans rules or the provisions of the 1992 Cable Act allowing stations to charge pay-TV companies for carriage are unlikely to be changed soon (CD March 23 p10).
Intelsat and PCCW Global agreed to interconnect their multiprotocol label switching networks. PCCW, a Hong Kong-based telecom service provider, along with Intelsat will offer networking solutions “and access to the world’s premier video neighborhoods to customers in Asia and other regions of the world,” Intelsat said in a news release. It’s the first interconnect between IntelsatOne and a partner network that supports both media and network services, it said. IntelsatOne Point of Presence will be installed in Miami to give the Caribbean and Latin America regions “improved access to Intelsat’s fiber network, satellites and teleports,” Intelsat said: It’s part of an agreement “to provide satellite capacity for media distribution on Intelsat’s industry-leading Latin American video neighborhoods.” The satellite company also said the international direct-to-home community on its Galaxy 19 satellite grew, with nearly 250 channels of programming, “content in more than 40 languages” and “53 channels of religious-themed content."
ViaSat was awarded a $31.5 million full production and fielding order for multifunctional information distribution system joint tactical radio system (MIDS JTRS) terminals for the government. The order was gained through a competitive procurement through the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, ViaSat said. MIDS JTRS provides a migration path from a low-volume terminal “to a certified, reprogrammable, software-defined radio architecture for tactical data links."
Under a multi-year agreement, SES and Encompass Digital Media will make NASA TV channels available to cable and DBS companies. Encompass will use a full transponder of C-band capacity on SES’s AMC-18 satellite to uplink three full-time NASA TV channels to cable systems in the U.S., SES said in a news release. It said Encompass also will use SES occasional-use services and bandwidth “to deliver most of the popular network’s launch and special event coverage."
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., affirmed her support for the FCC’s proposal to place TV stations’ public-inspection files, including information regarding political ads, on a government-hosted website (CD April 16 p14). The rulemaking “merely brings this disclosure online and into the 21st century,” the House Communications Subcommittee ranking member said in a letter sent to the commission Monday (http://xrl.us/bm33c9). “Where technical limitations might have made widespread availability of the public file infeasible in 1950, the failure to do so in 2012 -- using the Internet -- is inexcusable.” Eshoo said creating an FCC-hosted website for the disclosures is “an encouraging start,” and urged “further action” to bring online the public files of cable operators and DBS companies.