NextWave negotiations finally ended with announcement Fri. by FCC Chmn. Powell that settlement had been reached for company to surrender all its C- and F-block licenses. He said NextWave’s licenses would go to wireless carriers that won them in re-auction and “the American taxpayer will receive $10 billion, more than twice the amount than would have been received had NextWave kept the licenses in accordance with recent court rulings.”
Spectrum, direly needed for rescue operations following Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, was unavailable due to misallocation of bands intended for public safety, wireless analysts said at New America Foundation forum Thurs. on “The Great Airwaves Robbery.” Only about 20% of wireless calls attempted on Sept. 11 in N.Y.C. and 40% in Washington were completed, CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler said. “The nature of wireless communication transformed on Sept. 11,” he said, citing 400% increase in cellphone usage in N.Y. after attacks. “We built a system based on spectrum levels that expected wireless to only be an ancillary service,” and not broad alternative form of communication it has become, he said.
Subcommittees of Public Safety National Coordination Committee (NCC) worked through nitty-gritty issues Thurs. on how public safety agencies could use wideband data technology to talk to each other using applications such as text messaging and video conferencing. NCC subcommittees focused in day-long meetings in Brooklyn on encryption, standards, field trials, implementation and funding issues involving 24 MHz of spectrum dedicated to public safety at 700 MHz. Participants wrestled with challenges of addressing security and equipment standards in band for which interoperable wideband data equipment hasn’t yet been built, as industry awaits outcome of standards process. Meetings were run-up to NCC general membership meeting today (Fri.) that will provide broader feedback on how interoperability and communications for public safety systems worked in aftermath of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Senate Majority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) has recommended his legislative asst. Jonathan Adelstein to White House for nomination as FCC commissioner, he announced Thurs. Recommendation was in letter to President Bush, who is expected to accept Daschle’s recommendation and nominate Adelstein -- whose name then would go back to Senate for confirmation. Daschle said Adelstein’s “expertise in telecomm issues and his commitment to seeing rural America share in the telecom revolution make him the perfect candidate.” Adelstein would be appointed to serve out term of former FCC Comr. Tristani, which expires June 2003.
FCC’s lengthy delay (22 months since last pleadings were filed) in acting on Sinclair Bcst. applications to buy 15 TV stations from Sullivan Bcstg. isn’t “an egregious length of time for agency action,” Commission told U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. FCC was responding to court order giving it 40 days to explain why it hadn’t acted (CD Oct 17 p9). Sinclair had asked court to issue writ of mandamus ordering FCC to act (CD Sept 14 p4). Commission said 22-month delay was “far from the extraordinary cause that would warrant such a drastic remedy” as mandamus order. Draft order deciding case currently is “under active consideration,” agency told court, and decision will be released “in no more than 30 days.” Explaining long delay, Commission said case involved “a complicated series of transactions,” with applications first filed in 1998. Additional applications and amendments were filed by Sullivan and Sinclair in Aug. 1999, which prompted petitions to deny by Rainbow/Push Coalition and others. Citing numerous applications and “dozens of pleadings” filed in case, FCC said “serious allegations of misrepresentation” against Sinclair “certainly warranted” complete examination by Commission. Sinclair’s claims of “bad faith” against FCC officials involving EEO matters “merit little response [and are] unseemly and baseless,” agency told court.
Senate approved conference report (H.-Rpt. 107-278) on FY 2002 Commerce, Justice and State Depts. appropriations bill (HR-2500) Thurs., day after House okayed the measure almost unanimously (CD Nov 14 p2). Measure passed 98-1 in roll call vote, with Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) lone dissenter. It provides for $245 million FCC budget, middle ground between $238.6 million House proposal and $252.5 million Senate recommendation. Commission appropriation would be offset by $218.8 million in fee collections. Report calls for investment of several hundred million dollars in govt. information technology and telecom infrastructure projects and funding for various cybercrime and intellectual property enforcement initiatives. It approved $154 million for Office of Justice Programs-administered law enforcement technology program, much of which will be distributed to state and municipal agencies to acquire or upgrade communications and data systems. It also would prohibit funding of “activities authorizing the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies or affiliated organizations to tax any aspect of the Internet.”
“The promise and the peril” of DTV is subject of cover article in current issue of Television Quarterly now being distributed. Author John Pavlik of Columbia U. asks without answering: “In the end, will the public interest be better served by DTV [or] will the realities of the television business lead DTV toward the vast interactive wasteland [ex- FCC Chmn.] Newton Minow once lamented? Post-Internet economics pose that peril.” Issue also includes article on what’s permissible now on TV, by retired ABC TV chief censor Alfred Schneider. Article says: “What was once sexually daring is now prosaic, and yesterday’s blood and gore is now tame.”
Ancillary terrestrial services (ATS) will benefit mobile satellite service (MSS) operators by increasing opportunities to provide service in urban areas, expanding subscriber bases and improving financial strength of MSS systems, Globalstar said in FCC reply comments Tues. ATS service will increase accessibility of coast-to-coast services for public safety and emergency response services in situations where local terrestrial service is disrupted, company said. Only minimal regulation of ATS is necessary to avoid harmful interference to MSS licenses and other services, it said. ATS should be offered on noninterference basis with respect to satellite- delivered services in MSS spectrum, Globalstar said. Licensees should receive wide latitude in developing terrestrial infrastructure, Globalstar said. Commission also shouldn’t adopt complicated formulas to determine whether ATS services were truly ancillary, to require certain priority for satellite calls or to impose geographic constraints on terrestrial service, as some terrestrial groups had suggested, it said.
BellSouth’s systems in Ga. and La. “have gotten even worse” in recent weeks, WorldCom told FCC in reply comments urging agency not to grant BS Sec. 271 application for those 2 states. WorldCom said problems with BS operational support systems (OSS) were more severe than what Dept. of Justice thought when it raised concerns about company’s OSS issues last week. BellSouth tried earlier this month to implement “one of the more straightforward OSS enhancements” to enable competitors to “migrate” customers by telephone number and name without having to provide address. Although other Bell companies have been able to do that, “BellSouth’s efforts have caused substantial problems that immediately doubled WorldCom’s reject rate,” WorldCom said. Consumer Federation of America urged rejection, arguing local phone markets weren’t open to competition yet and granting Sec. 271 petitions would lessen chance that they ever would be. BellSouth said FCC should “rely on the substantial record developed by 2 state commissions rather than the unsubstantiated assertions by competitors.” “Over the last several years, the state public service commissions in Georgia and Louisiana have examined every aspect of local competition and we've received unequivocal endorsements,” BellSouth said in statement.
NATPE 2002 in Las Vegas will kick off Jan. 21 with panel on “The Year in Review” highlighting major industry events of 2001, followed by session on cable. Jan. 22 formal opening session will feature panel of top media executives, followed by separate sessions on impact of deregulation on operations and on marketplace. Other sessions are scheduled on interactive TV, wireless, program repurposing, TV and the Internet, cable vs. satellites, program diversity. Several FCC officials, including commissioners, are planning to participate, NATPE said. Despite economy, Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and defections from convention floor of dozen major programmers (CD Oct 18 p8), NATPE Pres. Bruce Johansen said preregistration was on par with last year and some 20,000 were expected to attend, with heavy international representation.