LightSquared is considering initially only using the lower part of its L-band spectrum to help allay concerns over its interference with nearby GPS spectrum, satellite industry executives said. The GPS industry may be opposed to such a compromise, though, because even service at that level could impede important GPS operations, the executives said. LightSquared, along with the U.S. GPS Industry Council, is conducting tests looking at the potential for interference between LightSquared’s planned terrestrial service and GPS operations. The final report on that testing is due to the FCC June 15. LightSquared has access to 1525-1559 MHz in the L-band.
A new PBS emergency alert system pilot project using mobile DTV capability could be a model for a next-generation warning system, public broadcasting executives said in interviews. Over the next year, the system will be tested and evaluated with participation from WGBH-TV Boston, Alabama Public TV and Vegas PBS, said John McCoskey, PBS chief technology officer. The system requires devices that are common alerting protocol (CAP)-compliant and will use text, images and video to issue messages, he said. The project is part of a partnership with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and LG Zenith, both of which are helping fund the project, said McCoskey.
The FCC has denied an emergency motion from utility companies to stay parts of its April pole attachments order (CD May 27 p10). The way is now set for a request for an injunction from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, utility lawyers told us. American Electric Power Service, Duke Energy, Entergy Services, Florida Power & Light, Florida Public Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery, Progress Energy, Southern and Tampa Electric did not meet “any of the four prongs” required to demonstrate the need for a stay, Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett wrote in an order released late Wednesday. The four elements, similar to the standard set for a court injunction, require a petitioner to demonstrate that it’s likely to prevail on the merits, that it “will suffer irreparable harm,” that “other interested parties will not be harmed if the stay is granted” and that “the public interest” favors a stay, Gillett said.
A program carriage proceeding may be in play at the FCC, with career staffers and commissioners likely to consider changes to an order and further rulemaking notice (CD May 17 p7) before they're voted on, agency and industry officials said. They said it’s unclear whether the Media Bureau and office of Chairman Julius Genachowski will end up making all, or even some of the changes many multichannel video programming distributors seek. Genachowski and some of the other FCC members seem likely to consider making changes, agency and industry officials said. Much of what will end up in play will be based on what changes Genachowski and the General Counsel’s office seek, if any, after reviewing cable, DBS and telco-TV concerns, commission officials said.
Pay-TV networks’ plans to distribute video online seem more aggressive outside the U.S., where executives said at an investor conference they're seeking to preserve the status quo and work with incumbent distributors. At the Nomura Media Summit in New York Thursday, executives from Discovery Communications, HBO and Viacom discussed their approaches to online video in the U.S. and elsewhere. HBO has the rights to distribute its network on its HBO GO smartphone and tablet product directly to consumers if it wanted to, CEO Bill Nelson said. If tablet PC penetration increases globally as projected, “we are going to move swiftly and aggressively to take advantage of that, either from a wholesale standpoint, or if the devices allow, in a direct to consumer product.” Nelson noted it could be years before that happens.
TORONTO -- Even with numerous technical, operational and financial hurdles still standing in its way, LTE will become a dominant wireless technology, if not the dominant wireless technology, globally by the end of the decade, industry experts predicted this week at the Canadian Telecom Summit.
The Senate Commerce Committee filed the bipartisan substitute amendment for the Senate spectrum bill by Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. The 119-page amendment will be used as the base bill when the committee marks up S-911, a Senate aide said. The committee scheduled a June 8 markup, but no agenda has been announced, the aide said. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he supports the latest version of the bill. Committee Republicans met to discuss the bill Wednesday afternoon, a GOP aide said.
The NAB and NCTA opposed an application by Digital Broadcasting OVS to operate an online open video system in the top 50 U.S. TV markets (CD June 1 p9). The NAB also asked for more time to comment on the application because it wasn’t initially available on the FCC’s website and the public notice soliciting comments was published directly before a federal holiday, and the deadline for comments was immediately following it (CD May 31 p17). Under OVS rules, the agency must act within 10 days on certification applications. The commission should reject the application because Digital Broadcasting OVS failed to establish that it’s a local exchange carrier under the Telecom Act, the NAB said.
Many TV stations probably won’t be able to broadcast to mobile devices anytime soon, because of an FCC action Tuesday (CD June 1 p20), industry lawyers and executives said in interviews. They said the Media Bureau decision to stop accepting applications to change TV channels means the several hundred broadcasters using VHF channels must stay there for the foreseeable future. The so-called freeze starting Tuesday on petitions to substitute digital channels was long awaited by some, but surprising to others, they said. Broadcasters who hadn’t sought moves can’t, foreclosing moving to the UHF band where it’s much easier to do mobile DTV, industry executives and lawyers said. More stations sought to move to UHF last week, citing mobile DTV.
The FCC has tallied, at our deadline, nearly 36,000 comments on AT&T’s proposed buy of T-Mobile, mostly short, from hard to verify sources, but overwhelmingly opposed to the deal. But numerous groups and companies also filed, sending a mixed message to the commission, with groups like the Media Access Project and the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council taking opposing views (CD June 1 p1). AT&T said support for the merger is growing.