The Justice Dept. should bar Mario Gabelli from participating in FCC auctions, since DoJ has charged him with misusing the FCC designated entity process, FCC Comr. Adelstein said Tues. A company owned by Gabelli applied to bid in the Aug. advanced wireless services auction (CD July 11 p1). “This AWS auction has been somewhat mishandled,” Adelstein said in response to an audience question at a conference sponsored by the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC).
FCC Comrs. Adelstein and Copps urged expansion of the FCC’s 4 net neutrality principles to include one barring bias in the carriage or treatment of Internet traffic. Speaking to the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) conference Tues. indirectly they indicated the 5th principle has been discussed in the FCC’s consideration of the Adelphia merger.
The FCC and NTIA face an uphill fight finding spectrum suitable for opening separate 10 MHz test beds -- a long- stalled recommendation by a June 2004 presidential report on U.S. spectrum policy, sources said Tues. FCC and NTIA may have to offer an alternative program permitting studies but not the kind of test bed the report envisioned, sources said.
Some intellectual property and licensing interests are concerned that the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) initial actions have been enigmatic and too lax in controlling the case, making its first proceeding more cumbersome and expensive for parties involved. The board, an arm of the Copyright Office created in 2004 to replace the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), is deliberating webcasting rates and terms, but the proceeding is on hiatus until late July. The CRB lost its hearing room and a substitute space hasn’t yet opened up. Future litigants are watching the case closely.
Some intellectual property and licensing interests are concerned that the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) initial actions have been enigmatic and too lax in controlling the case, making its first proceeding more cumbersome and expensive for parties involved. The board, an arm of the Copyright Office created in 2004 to replace the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), is deliberating webcasting rates and terms, but the proceeding is on hiatus until late July. The CRB lost its hearing room and a substitute space hasn’t yet opened up. Future litigants are watching the case closely.
Some U.S. agencies aren’t identifying necessary resources for renewing telecom contracts, GAO said. While most agencies reviewed -- Dept. of Interior; Bureau of Land Management; FBI and GSA -- had plans for “sound transition practices” as they transition to new telecom contract vehicles, neither DoJ nor the Dept. of Energy plan to identify necessary resources, GAO said. In a June 6 letter to House Govt. Reform Committee Chmn. Davis (R), GAO said enough time remains for all agencies to address issues raised by the 2001 telecom transition, but time is short for making inventories and strategic analyses. The Federal Technology Service has “an important program-level responsibility to plan and coordinate the transition,” GAO said.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report to Congressional requestors on the progress of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, entitled Observations on Efforts to Implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on the U.S. Border with Canada.
The InFocus-TCL South Mountain Technologies (SMT) venture is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs as it seeks to lower expenses until it secures longer term financing, InFocus said in an SEC filing. The layoffs come as InFocus pursues a “strategic realignment” of SMT, a China-based front projector manufacturing joint venture it formed with TCL in 2004.
TV station requests to delay their shifts to full digital broadcast are piling up at the FCC, which got 9 such requests by our deadline Thurs. Gannett’s WMAZ-TV Macon, Ga., is among stations seeking a 6-month extension of the so- called “use it or lose it” July 1 deadline to finish building DTV facilities (CD June 15 p18). WMAZ-TV justified its waiver request on grounds the Commission hasn’t acted on a June 6 application to change its construction permit. Fox sought waivers Mon. for WDCA Washington and WRBW Orlando, both operating at reduced power, as WRBW also awaits approval of construction plan changes. More than 80 documents have landed in the FCC DTV docket since the Commission last discussed the looming deadline. A Media Bureau official didn’t respond to our inquiries seeking a tally of the total number of requests for waivers the FCC has received.
Strong results in ATI Technologies’ chipset, DTV and handheld segments helped it overcome a “challenging quarter for the PC industry” in Q3 ended May 31, CEO David Orton said Thurs. He commented as the graphics chip maker reported Q3 sales of $652.29 million, up from $530.24 million a year ago. The company posted a $31.9 million profit (12 cents per diluted share), reversing last year’s $445,000 loss (0 cents).