BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk took a negative view of the NTIA’s report on the 1755-1850 MHz band and what it means for wireless carriers (CD March 28 p1). “The NTIA report doesn’t look promising for wireless operators in dire need of spectrum given the lengthy times and high costs outlined in the report,” he wrote. “As a result, consumers should expect their data prices to rise and spectrum owners like Clearwire, Dish and NextWave could see renewed interest in their assets.” Wells Fargo’s Jennifer Fritzsche offered a similar take. “This report does not offer any sort of quick fix in getting spectrum to the market place in our view,” she wrote. “It is clear from this report the NTIA does not want to allocate the 1755-1780 MHz band before it has a more direct process for reallocating the entire 95 MHz."
Visible World said it was granted a patent on technology to allow multiple TV commercials to be inserted in the same TV ad slot, and have each ad targeted to a specific customer segment. The patent for Visible World’s “Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation for Addressable Content” is Visible World’s 16th, it said. It said it expects to win more patent awards. “We know we have some unique technology for linear addressable TV advertising, especially as it relates to scalability,” said CEO Seth Haberman.
The register of copyrights lacks the authority to resolve disputes about whether a TV station belongs on its list of “specialty stations,” the Copyright Office said. The list is now used in statutory licenses for TV station carriage calculations. The MPAA had said the register of copyrights could resolve disputes over whether a specific station should be identified as a specialty station (CD Nov 9 p20). Though no parties responded to that suggestion in pleadings, the Copyright Office disagreed, it said in a notice published in Wednesday’s Federal Register. “There is no statutory authority” under Section 411(b)(1) of the Copyright Act for the register to make such determinations, the notice said. That section deals with a different element of copyright law entirely and has no “words, phrases or terms that tie this provision in any way to Section 111, much less specialty stations,” the notice said. The office’s hands are tied when in such matters, the notice said. “The policies and procedures for creating this list are limited in scope and do not establish a process by which the Office can resolve the specialty status of a particular station, regardless of purported facts.” The office said it got affidavits from 63 TV stations attesting to their specialty status: http://xrl.us/bmzp5i.
The FCC International Bureau said it erroneously dismissed a portion of an application for an earth station filed by SES. The company requested authority to operate emission designator 1M00F8D, the bureau said in a letter to SES. The bureau amended SES’s licenses for call signs E110104 and E020071 to authorize use of the designator.
The FCC should reconsider its requirement that privately held rate-of-return regulated carriers submit for public review annual reports of financial condition that have been audited and certified by an independent certified public accountant, the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association said in a letter to the commission Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bmzp2y). The requirement is “overly burdensome,” treats rural LECs inequitably compared to other USF recipients, and is “unnecessary,” the group wrote, arguing it is neither reasonably tailored nor appropriately balanced to “achieve the objective of accountability.” NTCA made three counterproposals: permit RLECs to submit a financial reporting form similar to that required by the Rural Utilities Service; allow RLECs to prepare the form through a compilation process rather than the “costly and burdensome” process of having a financial report audited and certified by a CPA; and allow RLECs to submit financial data “under seal pursuant to the established protective order process."
The Rural Cellular Association will launch an initiative called the RCA Industry Ecosystem Development Program. It will be a member-only program that the association hopes will provide “efficiency, cost savings and revenue opportunities for the member companies.” It was announced Wednesday at RCA’s 2012 Competitive Carriers Global Expo. “I am pleased RCA has developed programs that will directly benefit our members,” said President Steve Berry. “With the ever-present duopoly of AT&T and Verizon Wireless in the industry, it is more important than ever for competitive carriers to work together to form a healthy mobile ecosystem."
The FCC released a revised Form 499A worksheet Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bmzpxc). The annual worksheet, used by intrastate, interstate and international telecommunications providers to report revenue, is due completed by Monday.
The House Commerce Committee has had “discussions” with the FCC about LightSquared since the committee issued its request for documents about the matter, said House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. “We look forward to a positive response to our request, and we're just fleshing out … what we're after,” Walden said after a cybersecurity hearing in his subcommittee Wednesday. Committee aide Neil Fried added that the committee has also talked with NTIA and the Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Executive Committee (PNT ExCom). “We're starting to get answers, but as you can imagine there is a lot of information to coordinate,” Fried said.
The CEA said it took another step to make products accessible to disabled users. The association said it and Solekai Systems are making available sample bit streams to help TV designers “go beyond the simple Secondary Audio Program” that’s in analog TVs. SAP can send audio narration of action sequences where there’s not dialogue, so those with sight problems can know what’s happening on-screen. “The challenge is to make video descriptions available to the large base of installed DTVs that were designed before standards were updated, while enabling future DTVs to take advantage of all the available digital audio capabilities,” the group said Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bmzpzi). “Broadcasters, operators and manufacturers can use this stream to evaluate best practices to support required delivery of video description.” The CEA noted it’s working with the FCC and “a diverse group of stakeholders to pave a way forward for reliable delivery of video descriptions.” Solekai designed a sample stream with “video descriptions compliant with the latest accessibility standards,” the association said. On Monday the group made available to members a manual for them to comply with advanced communications services accessibility rules, and it’s seeking a waiver of ACS rules for Internet Protocol-enabled DVRs and TVs (CD March 28 p16). Email Mark Levine at mlevine@CE.org to download sample bit streams.
Small healthcare providers feel burdened by the number of FCC forms they must fill out each year to get support from USF rural health care (RHC) programs, National State Offices of Rural Health and the Michigan Center for Rural Health officials told Wireline Bureau staffers, said an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bmzpqb). Many recipients hire contractors to complete the required paperwork, the groups said, suggesting the commission consider a three-year period of eligibility so entities won’t have to refile Form 466 every year. They said that the RHC primary program has led to the creation of the greater Minnesota telehealth broadband initiative pilot, but implementation is being delayed because of “lack of administrative funding for the project, the difficulty in finding a 15 percent match, confusion at the outset of the program as to whether it was [a] grant program, and the unusual nature of the RHC competitive bidding process.” The driving factor for broadband adoption by rural health clinics is image size and the ability to do teleradiology, the groups said in a filing in docket 02-60 made Wednesday by a bureau staffer who participated in the March 7 meeting. It said the groups want the agency to “consider incentives for local telecommunications companies to build out last mile connections,” which could help with a lack of connectivity throughout Minnesota.