Relationships between TV stations and the networks they're affiliated with have grown increasingly tense in some cases as both sides seek more money for carriage of the local signals by pay-TV companies, some executives said. As local and national TV advertising sales had slumped during the recession, the need for retransmission consent payments appears to be increasing, our survey of industry executives and lawyers found. Efforts by networks including Fox to share in the money that stations get from cable and other pay-TV providers to carry affiliates and to encourage affiliates to get higher fees have heightened tensions, some said.
The ITDS Board has submitted its annual report on the International Trade Data System to Congress, as required by the 2006 SAFE Port Act.1 The report includes updates on the status of ITDS implementation and the status of the Automated Commercial Environment within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among other issues.
The following were among determinations of the Court of International Trade in cases involving antidumping or countervailing duty law in October 2009.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America has posted notices to its website responding to member inquiries regarding the 10+2 interim final rule. Among other things, NCBFAA says that CBP has confirmed that all warning messages regarding Importer Security Filings should be disregarded. CBP has also informed NCBFAA that ISF filers do not need to wait for carriers to submit their Automated Manifest System filing in order to submit an ISF filing. Waiting until the AMS is filed may result in a late filing of the ISF. (NCBFAA responses available at http://www.ncbfaa.org/News/ItemsDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=10245)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that it is scheduled to deploy ESAR A2.3.1a (antidumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) entries in ACE and AD/CVD Case Management) on January 17, 2010.
The key question for data-privacy legislation shouldn’t be whether collection and use happens online or off, industry representatives and academics told a joint hearing of the House Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees Thursday. It’s especially important that any new rules not impose burdens that large corporations can handle but small businesses can’t, said an Internet entrepreneur. Lawmakers said a wide-ranging data privacy bill would likely be introduced in a few weeks, but it was clear from their remarks that several outstanding issues remain.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a general notice announcing that the 2010 annual user fee of $138 assessed for each customs broker permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by January 25, 2010.
CBP's Office of Information and Technology has posted an updated list of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface. (List, dated 11/09/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/automated/automated_systems/abi/getting_started/vendor.ctt/vendor.doc)
Most comments that the Federal Trade Commission has received before its first privacy roundtable have urged the commission to enact more-thorough privacy principles and restrict the use of consumers’ information. A few dissenters, however, argue that privacy advocates overemphasize the value of privacy to the detriment of the Internet and innovation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently posted the October 2009 customs broker license exam and answer key. According to CBP sources, the pass rate for the October exam was 6.9%.