The TrueCut Motion image-grading platform for filmmakers, in development for three years at Pixelworks and formally launched for “end-to-end” commercial use in December, landed a significant win at CES 2022 when TCL became the first device manufacturer “to join and publicly endorse the TrueCut Motion ecosystem,” said Pixelworks CEO Todd DeBonis on a Q4 earnings call Thursday. Pixelworks bills TrueCut Motion as offering filmmakers advanced mastering tools to control how motion is rendered in their films when modern consumer displays with HDR, high resolution and high frame rates often can compromise “motion integrity.”

The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Feb. 10 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):

NAB raised concerns and the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council supported a Land Mobile Communications Council petition asking the FCC to modify its Part 90 rules on sharing of TV channels 14-20 with the T-band to reflect the changes that have occurred due to the DTV transition. Comments were posted Thursday in RM-11915. The T-band is shared with public safety and gets the most use in major cities, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. “The changes LMCC proposes could have the practical effect of increasing instances of harmful interference between television stations and land mobile operations in the T-band by allowing television stations and land mobile operations to operate in closer proximity to one another,” NAB said. It noted “occasional complaints concerning interference issues between television stations and T-band land mobile operators under the existing rules, including from LMCC itself.” NPSTC said “time is ripe” to update the rules. “The Commission is fortunate that the LMCC has done so much of the work required to initiate the rulemaking proceeding it has requested,” NPSTC said: “The LMCC petition is comprehensive and includes the background leading to the request, specific recommended changes to the rules, and the rationale for the recommendations provided. The petition even provides a succinct summary on the history of the T-Band spectrum sharing that began in the 1970s. This summary should be helpful as well in crafting the NPRM.” Los Angeles County noted the rules were last updated in the 1990s. “Experience gained from (1) combating interference from DTV operations (new since original rules were adopted), (2) the transition of some [land-mobile radio] systems from analog to digital (which is a continuing process), and (3) the lack of vacant channel options due to channel repacking -- all mandate that the Commission revisit equipment performance assumptions made over two decades ago,” the county said. Issue an NPRM “at the earliest opportunity,” urged the Enterprise Wireless Alliance: T-Band applicants “must comply with a rule that protects television station contours as though they still were operating in NTSC [National Television System Committee] format even though they are required to operate in ATSC [Advanced Television Systems Committee] format. In the interim, television stations are receiving greater than necessary protection while, conversely, affected land mobile systems are not able to derive maximum use of T-Band spectrum.”

Chip shortages and shipping delays prevented iRobot from filling $35 million in Q4 orders, said CEO Colin Angle on the company’s Thursday earnings call. Sales fell 16% year on year to $455.4 million, said the company. Shares plunged14.3% Thursday to close at $62.47.

E-Space, founded by O3b and OneWeb founder Greg Wyler and with plans for as many as 100,000 communications satellites, said Monday it secured $50 million in seed funding led by Prime Movers Lab. It said the financing funds launch of its test satellites in March and a second test launch later this year, with mass production to start in 2023.

The House passed semiconductor-funding legislation 222-210 on a largely party-line vote Friday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and lawmakers are looking ahead to conference talks to combine elements of the newly House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) (see 2202010001).

The House passed semiconductor-funding legislation 222-210 on a largely party-line vote Friday. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and lawmakers are looking ahead to conference talks to combine elements of the newly House-passed America Creating Opportunities for Manufacturing, Pre-Eminence in Technology and Economic Strength Act (HR-4521) and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260) (see 2202010001).

Crosley Radio landed the rights from Apple Corps to introduce The Beatles Let It Be Anthology Turntable, $199, in limited edition to commemorate the release of the Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back on Blu-ray and DVD, said the vendor Thursday. The deal was brokered by Thread Shop, Sony Music’s licensing and merchandising division, it said. The Blu-ray and DVD were postponed indefinitely from their Feb. 8 release. Crosley will distribute only 1,500 turntables, and only through independent U.S. record stores, it said.

The House passed its China package, the America Competes Act, on a nearly party-line vote, with one Democrat dissenting and one Republican voting for it. The America Competes Act and the Senate's U.S. Innovation and Competition Act both propose subsidizing American semiconductor manufacturing and both propose investing in science research to better counter China's play for technological dominance, but the House version spends far more money and includes some priorities that the Senate did not, such as $2 billion annually for climate change foreign assistance and a generous reauthorization of Trade Adjustment Assistance. The vote was 221-210.

SkyShowtime, the Comcast/ViacomCBS joint streaming venture, landed its European regulatory OK, said the venture partners Wednesday. SkyShowtime will launch later this year in more than 20 markets, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, they said.