Spotify has landed in TiVo Premiere DVRs in the U.S., further expanding the reach of the music streaming service. TiVo customers will need a Spotify Premium account for a $9.99 monthly fee to stream music through their home theater systems and use a TiVo remote to browse playlists, albums and artists, but 30-day free trials will be available. The Spotify app will be available in the music and photos section of the TiVo Premiere. Spotify has more than 5 million paying subscribers, including a million in the U.S. With the addition of Spotify, TiVo builds on a music lineup that also includes Pandora, Rhapsody, Live365 and Music Choice. The TiVo Premiere DVRs also have several streaming video services, including Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Instant Video.
Spotify has landed in TiVo Premiere DVRs in the U.S., further expanding availability of the music streaming service. TiVo customers will need a Spotify Premium account for a $9.99 monthly fee to stream music through their home theater systems and use a TiVo remote to browse playlists, albums and artists, but 30-day free trials will be available. The Spotify app will be available in the music and photos section of the TiVo Premiere. Spotify has more than 5 million paying subscribers, including a million in the U.S. With the addition of Spotify, TiVo builds on a music lineup that also includes Pandora, Rhapsody, Live365 and Music Choice. The TiVo Premiere DVRs also have several streaming video services, including Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Instant Video.
Among coupon site RetailMeNot’s top 20 deals for this week were hardware and content coupons for iOS devices and tablet offers from Walmart. Walmart is pushing sub-$100 tablets on its website with free shipping for arrival by Christmas for purchases made by Dec. 18. As of midday Tuesday, Walmart’s online store had sold out of a slate of Android 4.0-based second-tier tablets including an $89 seven-inch tablet from Supersonic, a $59 FunTab mini tablet for children, an $89 seven-inch Mach Speed Trio Stealth Pro, a $99 Visual Land Connect, a $99 Ematic Pro, $79 seven-inch tablets from Maylong and iView and a $99 nine-inch tablet from iView. Some sub-$99 models were still available from Ematic, Maylong, Polaroid and Supersonic, we found. Customers had the choice of free shipping to home or in-store pickup using Walmart’s Site to Store service. Best Buy is offering through Jan. 5 $50 off the purchase of an iPhone 5 or 4S with new two-year contract and 15 percent off a $100 iTunes gift card, according to the website.
Florida’s Lifeline program grew notably from July 2011 to June 2012, the state’s public service commission said in a report (http://xrl.us/bn6v8k). The annual report was released Monday and will be presented to the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott later this month, the PSC said (http://xrl.us/bn6v8n). The FCC killed the state’s Link Up program, which helped fund installation expenses, except for on tribal lands, in April, it added, but the number of Lifeline customers grew by 9.7 percent to 1,035,858 as of June, largely due to the “designation of prepaid wireless providers” as eligible telecommunications carriers, the PSC said. Five companies account for 98 percent of subscribers: SafeLink Wireless, Assurance Wireless, AT&T Florida, Verizon Florida and CenturyLink. The report cited high numbers of state residents receiving food stamps and noted that it’s the largest qualifying program for Lifeline in Florida. “Staff anticipates that Lifeline enrollment of new customers will continue to grow due to the current economic conditions,” the report added. The report also described how Florida is meeting the FCC’s Lifeline reform requirements. Florida Universal Service Administrative Co. Lifeline disbursements amounted to $111.39 million over this period.
The White House released a list of completed items as part of the joint U.S.-Canada "Beyond the Border" initiative. The White House press release is (here). The report is (here).
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced changes Dec. 13 to Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) electronic manuals. While some changes are minor, other changes may affect the admissibility of the plant products, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Many agree the Telecom Act of 1996 is out of date, but whether Congress attempts a rewrite anytime soon will come down to one question, said speakers at a Practising Law Institute event Thursday: “Can we make it better, or will we make it worse?” One consideration is whether the weight of a rewrite can be carried by the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which Congress must deal with by its expiration at the end of 2014 (CD Nov 2 p5). Congress is also watching the net neutrality appeal closely to see what the courts think about the FCC’s authority over the Internet, speakers said.
The Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services plans a summit Feb. 7. The focus will be “best practices learned from broadband adoption programs and academic studies/surveys, and how implementation of these best practices can close the broadband adoption gap among Americans -- particularly low-income households, racial and ethnic minorities, seniors, rural residents, residents of Tribal lands and people with disabilities,” the FCC said Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn5v7i). The meeting will be all day long at FCC headquarters and will be webcast, with further details to come.
CBP posted its annual agricultural report, which covers fiscal year 2012.The report provides a high level overview of two key areas, CBP agriculture inspection statistics and resulting enforcement action statistics.
The following individuals have been added to OFAC's SDN List: