Legislation to create a unified network for Wyoming schools will be introduced in the state’s next legislative session, said Gov. Matt Mead in his keynote at the Wyoming Broadband Summit Tuesday. Broadband connectivity to schools has increased by 700 percent this year, but all of the data currently must go through the state capital, said Mead. “This new network would allow schools to directly connect with each other without having to go through Cheyenne.” His proposal would create rings with 100 Gbps backbones, and it would remove a choke point in the system, said Troy Babbitt, Wyoming broadband enterprise architect. “By increasing the bandwidth, students can bring their devices to campus,” said Babbitt. “So much can happen with a mobile device, we just need to be able to accommodate it.” The governor’s proposal would ask for $15.7 million to build the network, and it would also be capable of using IPv6 at a later date, said Babbitt. A study conducted by VisionTech360 was also released at the summit to show economic and social impact of broadband (http://bit.ly/16JkoXj). Of the 500 businesses that responded to the online survey, 94 percent said they access the Internet three or more times per day. More than 50 percent of the businesses said they had a broadband connection that was adequate to meet the needs of their daily business activities. The report said broadband is also important to new agriculture and healthcare innovations, but some areas lack sufficient broadband connections.
CTIA scored a win at the FCC Tuesday, as the agency said it will henceforth separate Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations from wireless-related complaints that have nothing to do with carriers in its quarterly reports on consumer inquiries and informal complaints (http://bit.ly/HdXu3Q). CTIA had long sought the change, said Vice President Scott Bergmann. “CTIA and its members advocated for this important clarification since the previously aggregated numbers hid the well-known fact that wireless complaints are declining relative to subscribership.”
As of June 30, 61 projects from NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program were completed and 163 projects remained in active status, said NTIA in its quarterly status report released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/HoqcPK). In the third quarter of FY13, grant recipients deployed more than 12,200 fiber network miles, bringing the total number of miles to more than 105,000, said the report. Through June, grant recipients had deployed or improved the infrastructure in 47 states, four territories and the District of Columbia, said the report. Grant recipients connected more than 3,600 community anchor institutions, an increase of 26 percent from the second quarter, bringing the total number of institutions to more than 17,000, said the report. Sixty-five BTOP grant recipients installed more than 44,000 new workstations at public computer centers (PCC), said NTIA. During the third quarter, PCCs provided 1.5 million hours of training to 350,000 users, said the report. Sustainable Broadband Adoption projects reported more than 613,000 households and 5,000 businesses subscribed to broadband services in the third quarter, said NTIA. BTOP grantees spent more than $229 million in federal grant funds, matched by grant recipient contributions of more than $55 million during the third quarter, said NTIA. So far, the federal government has spent $3 billion in the BTOP grants, representing 80 percent of total obligated federal funds for the program, said the report. As of June 30, BTOP provided four extensions to BTOP grantees until no later than Aug. 31, 2014, said the report.
CTIA expressed satisfaction with the Tuesday markup of HR-3300 (http://1.usa.gov/1gYD7In), the FEMA Reauthorization Act of 2013. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure included the item in an afternoon session. Passage of the act “will provide the first ever reauthorization of the agency to ensure continued accountability and strong Congressional oversight,” a committee background report said (http://1.usa.gov/197coU2). “We are pleased that the bill makes it clear that FEMA cannot regulate wireless providers in any way,” said CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter. “In so doing, this preserves the WARN Act framework that has -- and continues to -- work so well as evident by the Wireless Emergency Alerts that the wireless industry developed."
A response from Aereo is due Nov. 12 to broadcasters’ attempt to appeal their 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals case for a preliminary injunction against the streaming TV service to the Supreme Court, according to the high court’s website (http://1.usa.gov/1al4hW2). Analysts have said the court is unlikely to grant cert while Aereo still faces litigation in multiple jurisdictions (CD Oct 15 p15). The New York case at the center of the cert petition is still proceeding on the merits, and Aereo has ongoing copyright infringement cases in Utah (CD Oct 9 p21) and Massachusetts, where Hearst has filed an appeal to the 1st Circuit to overturn a lower court’s denial of another preliminary injunction (CD Oct 11 p4). Aereo competitor FilmOn X, which uses a nearly identical business model, is also embroiled in litigation that could affect whether the petition for cert is granted. FilmOn is enjoined from broadcasting copyrighted material everywhere in the U.S. but the states in the 2nd Circuit’s jurisdiction because of a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, which it has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (CD Sept 9 p18). FilmOn is also in the midst of an appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (CD Aug 29 p5). Despite the litigation, Aereo is continuing to expand its service. The company said Tuesday it plans to expand into the Denver area starting Nov. 4 (http://bit.ly/1amqvXR). The expansion will include 67 counties across Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming and more than 3.4 million consumers, Aereo said in a news release. “Denver is a growing and dynamic tech hub and the enthusiasm we've received from the community has been phenomenal,” said founder Chet Kanojia.
U.S. home entertainment consumers seem to like UltraViolet, according to a survey done by NPD. The digital rights authentication and cloud-based licensing system was viewed favorably by 82 percent of users surveyed, and more than 70 percent of respondents said they would continue to add UV titles to their video libraries, the research company said Tuesday. UV is having a positive impact on early adopters and “meeting several of the initial objectives” of the companies who partnered on the service, it said. The satisfaction levels reported by users were comparable to those for established home video options from Netflix, Redbox and iTunes, said NPD. Seventy-eight percent of respondents who were UV users indicated the registration process was easy, especially those who signed up in the past year, suggesting the authentication process has improved, said NPD. But UV “remains in an early adopter phase, with only 15 percent of the population aware of it,” NPD said in a news release. Among the majority of consumers who were not aware of UltraViolet, six in 10 home video buyers said they would be interested in a service like UV that allowed them to view purchased video content on all their devices, it said. Thirty-five percent of UV users said using the system encouraged them to make more DVD, Blu-ray and digital movie purchases, it said. NPD’s report was based on a 3,187 UV-respondent survey in July, it said. Data was also collected from 10,071 respondents who are part of NPD’s online survey panel, most of whom weren’t registered for UV, it said.
The Communications Workers of America urged the FCC not to impose spectrum aggregation limits on any carrier’s ability to buy spectrum in the TV spectrum incentive auction. “Open competition is the best way to serve the public interest,” CWA said in a filing Tuesday at the agency. But T-Mobile and Sprint, which advocate spectrum aggregation limits, “are asking the FCC to establish different rules for different bidders, potentially slowing the spread of wireless and the investment and jobs that go with,” CWA said (http://bit.ly/17qKJQ0). One study found that if the FCC had imposed such limits on the 700 MHz auction, “it would have reduced auction revenue by 45 percent or almost $9 billion,” the union said.
Intel President Renée James and Symantec CEO Steve Bennett were among the industry executives who met behind closed doors Tuesday with President Barack Obama to discuss cybersecurity matters, the White House said. Obama met with Bennett, James and executives from the finance, energy and defense sectors to “discuss the importance of cybersecurity,” with an emphasis on industry’s cooperation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in developing the Cybersecurity Framework and other efforts to implement Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, the White House said. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker also attended the meeting, a Department of Commerce spokeswoman said. The meeting is the latest part of the White House’s effort to encourage the private sector to improve its cybersecurity protections. NIST Director Patrick Gallagher on Friday repeatedly encouraged industry to take a commanding role in the framework’s development, saying NIST would play a supporting role in the future (CD Oct 28 p8). NIST formally released the preliminary version of the framework in the Federal Register Tuesday, beginning the official 45-day comment period. Comments are due Dec. 13 (http://1.usa.gov/1byHYIZ). The executives told Obama and Pritzker they appreciated the degree to which NIST had consulted industry in developing the framework, the White House said. It said the executives also discussed the problems small and medium-sized businesses may encounter in adopting the framework’s best practices. Obama, Pritzker and the executives also discussed the need for Congress to pass information sharing legislation, the White House said. The other executives at the meeting were MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush, Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Pepco Holdings CEO Joe Rigby and Visa CEO Charles Scharf.
The communications industry is slowly becoming a more accepting place for women in senior leadership, said FCC Media Bureau Deputy Chief Michelle Carey, one of several women honored at the Washington D.C./Baltimore chapter of Women in Cable Telecommunications’ Touchstone Awards Tuesday. Carey received the Public Service Award for her long career in government -- she worked at NTIA before joining the commission. Though a recent WICT survey said senior roles for women are in decline (CD Oct 18 p19), Carey pointed to the several FCC bureaus helmed by women as an example of industry improvement, as well as the important position of NBCUniversal Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Meredith Baker, a former FCC commissioner. Baker was the keynoter at the event, and used examples from her favorite female characters in movies and TV to urge women in communications to make the most of their opportunities and seek out mentors. “Don’t be the kid standing at the top of the slide,” said Baker, quoting NBC star Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock. Baker’s speech also contained lessons from Sex and the City, Veep, Pretty Woman, among others. Women in communications should stay positive no matter what, emulating the character of Elle Woods from the film Legally Blonde, Baker said. “People want to be around those who stay positive,” said Baker. WICT gave Time Warner Cable Senior Director-Infrastructure Becky Bobzien-Simms the Geraldine B. Laybourne Fearless Award, Scripps Network Interactive Senior Vice President-Legal Affairs Suzanne Underwald the Communicate Award, Comcast Beltway Region Vice President-Human Resources Samantha Callahan the Inspire Award, Discovery Senior Vice President-Communications Catherine Frymark the Connect Award, and Travel Channel Vice President-Finance and Strategy Meghan Rogers the Emerging Leader Award. Award winners were chosen after being nominated by WICT members. Tuesday was the seventh time the Touchstone Awards have been given out.
The global mobile games market is expected to double by 2016 and reach $23.9 billion, research company Newzoo and mobile games marketing company AppLift predicted Tuesday. The growth is due to an increase in the number of players, as well as a higher average amount spent per paying mobile gamer, the companies said. The tablet games market will grow 400 percent by 2016 to reach $10 billion, they projected in a jointly produced report. Other findings and projections in the report included: 78 percent of the 1.2 billion gamers globally play mobile games; 38 percent of all mobile gamers spend an average of $2.78 a month on mobile games and that will increase to $3.07 by 2016; the Asia-Pacific region is the largest market for mobile games, accounting for 48 percent of global revenue; average monthly spending per paying mobile gamer is highest in Western Europe, at $4.40, ahead of North America’s $3.87, but North America has the highest share of paying users among players globally, at 45 percent; and the cost of acquisition for loyal mobile gamers ranges from 74 cents on Android and $1.11 on iOS in smaller Latin American countries to $1.71 for Android and $3.70 for iOS in mature Asia-Pacific markets including Japan, South Korea and Australia.