An NPR satellite feed caused a systemic audio glitch with Wednesday’s first-ever nationwide test (CD Nov 10 p2) of the emergency alert system (EAS). The Squawk Channel feed was used by some commercial radio and TV stations and multichannel video programming providers to carry the test alert from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, executives said. The feed also was used for some noncommercial stations, which got the channel directly from NPR and who then passed it onto the other types of EAS participants. Broadcasters and MVPDs that relied on the feed for the test had the audio test message disrupted. The exercise nonetheless worked as intended, because the EAS participants got the simulated warning and passed it on, even though the announcement couldn’t be clearly heard, said executives who participated in the test.
The first-ever national emergency alert system test saw glitches at cable operators, DBS providers and commercial and nonprofit radio and TV broadcasters, our survey of those EAS participants and our own research found. The exercise was shortened last week to 30 seconds from three minutes, after the NCTA unsuccessfully sought a delay because many cable encoder-decoder units that pass the alert on couldn’t show video saying it was a test (CD Nov 7 p6). That prompted worries among government and industry officials that viewers would think an actual emergency occurred, but broadcast executives said that didn’t appear to have happened, based on initial reports. All EAS participants have a month and a half to report to the FCC how things went.
A draft of the IEEE 1905 standard that would set up seamless home networking among Wi-Fi, Multimedia over Coax (MoCA), HomePlug and Ethernet is set to be considered in December by the IEEE working group in charge of it, executives said at the HomePlug Alliance technology conference outside San Francisco Wednesday. That would pave the way for 1905-compliant products to hit the market in time for the 2012 holidays, they said. But setting up a certification program could take longer, they said. The groups behind the 1905 standard are looking to set up a “consortium of consortiums” to handle certification, but that could take time, said Purva Rajkotia, director of product management, standard and regulation for Qualcomm Atheros, a HomePlug silicon vendor.
Sen. Olympia Snowe will ask the FCC commissioner nominees about their attitude to having more technical expertise at the agency, the Maine Republican’s telecom adviser told us Wednesday. Snowe isn’t opposed in principle to either Ajit Pai or Jessica Rosenworcel (CD Nov 2 p1), but she has long been concerned that the agency employs so few engineers and other technical experts, Matt Hussey said. The commission employs about 300 engineers, less than 15 percent of the payroll, and Pai and Rosenworcel are lawyers, Hussey said.
Verizon is doubling the amount of smartphone data to drive upgrades, save on costs and better compete, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said during the Wells Fargo investor conference Wednesday. The carrier may be interested in potential divested spectrum from AT&T’s planned buy of T-Mobile, he said.
SILICON VALLEY -- Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Wednesday she wants to make sure that the zeal for raising federal revenue doesn’t prevent adding “open space for innovation” in the airwaves. The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is looking to spectrum auctions “to raise money for the federal government,” she noted at the Silicon Valley Wireless Symposium, organized by Joint Venture Silicon Valley. But Lofgren said she wants to make sure that when it comes to adding spectrum for broadband “not everything gets auctioned,” so unlicensed capacity is available. “We need to think about how we can incent additional efficient use of spectrum,” she added.
Spectrum sharing between federal government and commercial users may be of only limited usefulness, warns a draft document scheduled to be taken up Thursday by the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee during a meeting at the Commerce Department. Sharing of spectrum is getting a lot of attention due to growing demand for a scarce resource.
Dish Network will weigh acquisitions, alliances and partnerships with telecom operators as a means for plunging into the wireless business pending FCC approval of its proposed acquisitions of TerreStar and DBSD Networks, CEO Joe Clayton told us Tuesday at the CES Unveiled event in New York.
No senator broke with party lines in floor debate Wednesday over the FCC’s net neutrality order scheduled to take effect Nov. 20. Republicans universally supported a joint resolution (SJ Res 6) to disapprove the December order under the Congressional Review Act. As expected (CD Nov 9 p4), Democrats lined up against disapproval. Republicans need the support of at least four Democrats when the Senate votes Thursday. The House passed an identical resolution in April, but the White House has threatened a veto if presented with the bill.
Building a communications network to facilitate a smart grid energy network will require more than one networking technology, and utilities and vendors are looking at hybrid powerline communications (PLC) and wireless networks to meet the task, said executives at the HomePlug Powerline Alliance technology conference Tuesday. “We're using what we call a dual approach,” said Gary Stuebing, a strategic planning manager for Duke Energy. “When we start looking at over-the-air technologies, we decided we're going to use Wi-Fi,” he said. “Our long-range approach is for PLC technologies, because we're going to need both."