An FCC data roaming mandate is critical to help a newer challenger like T-Mobile complete with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, T-Mobile told the commission by letter. Data roaming means job growth, the carrier said. Sprint Nextel also urged the FCC this week to move forward on a data roaming requirement, which was recommended in the National Broadband Plan.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bipartisan measure designed to speed up the patent system. The committee voted 15-0 on S-23. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, voted present. The committee delayed a vote on a separate bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to extend until December 2013 three provisions of the Patriot Act scheduled to expire Feb. 28.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Verizon’s request that the panel of judges who heard the Comcast case and ruled in April against the commission be assigned to its challenge of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The court has yet to rule on a motion asking the court to accept the case. Other challenges to the order, approved 3-2 in December, are considered likely, including from net neutrality supporters who want tougher rules.
Alaska’s second statewide test of its emergency alert systems through radio and TV stations and cable operators last week -- following one a year ago that had major problems -- was a success, participants told us. The lessons from those tests, and exercises across other states, may help prepare broadcasters, cable operators, government officials and others for a nationwide emergency alert test, industry officials said. The national test could come late this year (CD Feb 2 p3), under draft FCC rules that some commissioners have already approved, agency officials said.
NTIA must soon convince a Congress concerned about federal spending to pay millions of dollars so the agency can conduct oversight of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $4.7 billion Broadband Technology Opportunities Program. In December, the lame-duck Congress passed a continuing resolution increasing NTIA’s budget by about $20 million to $40.6 million, in part to pay for BTOP oversight. The resolution expires March 4. With one month to go and the GOP-controlled House looking for budget cuts, some fiscal conservatives are looking at NTIA.
Cable and telecom companies in Virginia back a state legislative proposal to cap pole attachment rates, while co-ops are pushing their own measures in the state legislature, officials told us. Meanwhile, the State Corporation Commission raised concern over the proposed 2011 Telecom Modernization bill. Legislation sponsored by Del. Bill Janis (R) would alter the current arrangement by making the State Corporation Commission the arbiter of disputes between co-ops and companies seeking to link to their poles. The bill would cap the rates that co-ops can charge at an amount not higher than what regulated utility companies charge for similar pole connections.
Dish Network’s proposed purchase of bankrupt S-band licensee DBSD (CD Feb 2 p8) came right after the FCC’s LightSquared waiver approval (CD Jan 27 p1), yet it remains difficult to predict if Dish could garner similar waiver treatment from the agency, said industry executives. Dish has numerous options for use of the spectrum and much will depend on specific plans before it’s clear that Dish will even need such approval, they said. Its agreement to buy DBSD for $1 billion is still contingent on bankruptcy court and FCC approval.
Time Warner’s movie studio isn’t getting enough value from Netflix and Redbox, and it’s time to take a look at arrangements with the low-price DVD rental businesses, said the parent company’s CEO. The Warner Bros. studio already imposes a 28-day delay in releasing DVDs to those platforms, and Time Warner CEO Jeffrey Bewkes said Wednesday on the company’s Q4 earnings teleconference that having the window is better than not. “It’s getting kind of clear that the acceleration in consumer usage of these kinds of services … makes it a good time for us to reevaluate the terms,” he said. “We can’t be more specific at this time. We just think the value that our film company should get for that period of exhibition is considerably higher than what’s there now,” he said. Netflix and Redbox didn’t immediately respond to our queries.
Broadcasters would be among those required to run nationwide tests of the emergency alert system (EAS) in conjunction with federal agencies and other programmers, under a draft FCC order that commissioners may vote on soon, commission and industry officials said Tuesday. The Public Safety Bureau circulated an item on EAS Jan. 20, the FCC website said. That’s a draft order to require nationwide tests to be done annually, perhaps starting this year, commission and industry officials said. The order would turn into rules the proposals in a January 2010 rulemaking notice (CD Jan 15/10 p5), FCC officials said.