Bilateral trade with Mexico supports 6 million U.S. jobs, reaching an estimated $535.9 billion in 2012, according to a recent report from the center-left think tank NDN (here). The report said that 23 U.S. states have Mexico as their number one or two trading partner. Forty-seven land ports of entry between the two countries process several hundreds of billions of dollars in trade every year, the report said. Released as Congress spotlights the border -- mark up of the Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill starts May 8 -- the report recommends funding additional CBP officers and improving infrastructure at the borders to leverage trade from North American Free Trade Agreement in light of upcoming free trade agreements, like the EU-U.S. pact. The report also recommends the development of “key U.S.-Mexico trade metric” to policymakers and the public can better understand what the government is doing on trade at the border.
The unprecedented opportunities for U.S. businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa will only be realized if the federal government crafts a more coordinated export strategy, increases investment in the region and agrees to take on the risks associated in working in such a frontier economy, a group of experts told the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee May 7.
The $7 billion set aside by Congress for FirstNet is billions of dollars less than it would cost to build a nationwide public safety network, and public safety will need to partner with carriers to get the job done, consultants from Televate said in a white paper released Friday. The money allocated by Congress from auction proceeds “is insufficient to fund the construction of a nationwide network, [and] only 3.5 percent of the land area including 50 percent of the expected user population can be served with this funding level,” the white paper said (http://bit.ly/12xtzHp). Nationwide service would cost “$5.5 to $9.4 billion more to build than the existing funding supports” and public safety user fees are likely to cover only 40 to 50 percent of operating costs, Televate said. “Private participation is needed whereby a partner will derive sufficient value to invest some $5.5 to $9.4 billion in capital to build the network, and secure more than $1.5-$2.0 billion in additional revenue annually to cover network operations costs,” the paper said. “The private partner must be able to capture sufficient value to make such investments.” The firm provides expertise to public safety and hopes to play an active role in FirstNet, according to its website (http://bit.ly/13Shr6c).
British Sky Broadcasting is focusing on offering more content and new capabilities to distribute content, said CEO Jeremy Darroch. BSkyB had a 6 percent revenue increase to $8.3 billion in the nine months ending March 31, and about 715,000 subscribers were added, he said Thursday during a webcast. There has been growth across all product lines and it highlights the opportunity for future growth, “which has been transformed by our shift to a multi-product strategy,” he said. “We don’t just sell satellite TV and the breadth of our offer continues to grow,” he said. BSkyB will mainly focus on overall product sales instead of only TV customer net additions, Darroch said. It also will emphasize broadening products in its strategy, he said. BSkyB continued to attract more customers with direct-to-home service, “stand-alone home communications” and its over-the-top service, Now TV, he said. BSkyB plans to participate more broadly in the marketplace, which includes broadening distribution with over-the-top services and on mobile platforms, Darroch said. BSkyB also is extending its content window with on-demand services to compete more effectively in the DVD release window and it’s building its library content, he said. Different payment types will be available to meet different customer needs, he added. The opportunity for growth in pay-TV revenue and subs remains healthy, Darroch said. “We're seeing the market broaden out in the U.K. and more distribution opportunities to monetize our service,” he said. New services, like Sky Go Extra, are starting to land and provide additional revenue for the company, he said. The company connected 600,000 set-top boxes to reach 2.3 million homes by the end of the quarter, he said. There were about 4.5 million weekly downloads of on-demand content in Q3, “which is more than five times the level from a year ago.” Churn was higher at 10.8 percent, reflecting the pressure on some household budgets, he said. Darroch said Liberty Global’s $23 billion proposal to buy Virgin Media so far isn’t informing BSkyB’s strategy. It “doesn’t affect our strategic thinking or direction,” he said. “We'd hope to have a competitive but also productive relationship with them.”
CBP released the agenda for the May meeting with the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (COAC) in Washington, D.C. CBP also said the meeting will be available online and registration is available (here).
The suits involving Vizio and LG followed the expirations of patent license agreements. The LG pact lapsed in November 2011. Rovi also filed an ITC complaint against LG that was headed to a hearing in Q2, company officials said. Rovi had forecast getting $40 million from the various settlements, the bulk of it in the second half, Chief Financial Officer Peter Halt said. Most of the proceeds from the litigation will come from LG, which signed a broad pact and also renewed a DivX pact, company officials said. While the Hulu agreement isn’t a “significant deal” in revenue, it’s an important “proof point” in Rovi’s efforts to get licensing agreements with over-the-top service providers, CEO Thomas Carson said.
Silicon Image’s licensing revenue from new Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) 3.0 and HDMI 2.0 standards will start flowing in the second half 2014 at the earliest, Silicon Image CEO Camillo Martino said on an earnings call.
New Mexico’s congressional delegation asked the FCC to preserve broadcast TV and translators in rural areas during the spectrum incentive auction, in a letter to Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday (http://bit.ly/10OTjEO). “It is important that the Commission protect the public’s ability to receive free over-the-air television ... whether that signal is provided by a full power broadcast or a translator,” said the letter, signed by the state’s two senators and five House members. The letter said nearly 600,000 New Mexico residents rely solely on broadcast TV, transmitted by more than 200 translators in the state. The letter said broadcast TV spreads information, especially during emergencies such as wildfires, in New Mexico’s rural areas and tribal lands where cable, satellite and high-speed Internet are less common. “Thus we do not underestimate the enduring value of free broadcast television ... even as new mobile services become more and more essential,” said the legislators.
Port workers are entitled to Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act benefits only if their worksites directly abut navigable waters, said the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. As a result, New Orleans Depot Services (NODSI) does not have to pay a workers compensation claim to a container mechanic that worked at its facility 300 yards from the Intracoastal Canal in New Orleans, it said. The appeals court’s ruling overturns its own precedent on the issue, adopting instead the 3rd Circuit’s more restrictive definition of “adjoining” navigable waters.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said there is “plenty of blame to go around” but the current data on the program “doesn’t paint a picture of success,” in his opening remarks. He said the Lifeline fund grew 226 percent since 2008 and, in 2012, the FCC spent $2.2 billion on the program. “Specifically, it spent $2.2 billion of your money, my money -- virtually every American’s money -- since the Lifeline program and the entire Universal Service Fund is paid for through a charge on phone bills,” he said. “We are spending large sums of money and probably squandering much of it.”