The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has announced the following entity name and/or address change(s) for new DDTC license applications. New license applications received after the listed deadline will be considered for return without action for correction to the new name and/or address (dates hyperlinked):
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sought to downplay negative press the company received after it announced a hefty price increase for its video subscription service last week. The “noise level” from disgruntled subscribers was “less than expected,” given the 60 percent price increase implemented for subscribers who opted into the combination streaming/DVD plan, Hastings said Monday in an earnings call. “We knew what we were getting into."
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings sought to downplay negative press the company received after it announced a hefty price increase for its video subscription service last week. The “noise level” from disgruntled subscribers was “less than expected,” given the 60 percent price increase implemented for subscribers who opted into the combination streaming/DVD plan, Hastings said Monday in an earnings call. “We knew what we were getting into."
On July 22, 2011, the Department of Homeland Security released its 2011 progress report on fulfilling the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations for preventing and responding to acts of terrorism and other threats. The report lists DHS' current work as including an air cargo advance screening pilot, air cargo best practices, screening 100% of all air cargo on international inbound passenger aircraft, etc.
Arbitron’s Q2 sales gained 8.4 percent from a year earlier to $95.7 million as it continued to phase in price increases for its Portable People Meter clients and land new ones, it said. Profit nearly doubled to $7.6 million, on the higher sales and lower interest expense. Shares gained 3.5 percent.
NARUC’s board approved a batch of policy resolutions at the conclusion of the group’s meeting in Los Angeles. A Universal Service Fund/intercarrier compensation resolution supports proposals on USF revamp by the state members of the Federal/State Joint Board. The resolution emphasized the critical role assigned to states by Congress, including in part through the mechanism of the Joint Board. If an industry-supported “settlement” proposal is filed in the USF/ICC rulemaking notice and subsequently released by the FCC for public comment, that agency is urged to jointly offer the state members’ plan for comment simultaneously and include a request to contrast the two plans, the board said. A Lifeline/Link-Up resolution urges the commission and states to work within the existing USF program budget to improve broadband adoption in urban and rural areas and for native nations communities on tribal lands through coordinated Lifeline and Link-up Broadband Service Pilot Program projects, among other issues. The FCC should say the pilot program participants are not required to change local phone service providers, purchase bundled broadband and voice services or otherwise be penalized in order to obtain Lifeline and Link-Up broadband services and enabling access devices, the resolution said. It urged the FCC and states jointly create at least one pilot program in each of the five NARUC-affiliated regulatory conference regions that will include digital literacy and outreach components and that will defray a meaningful amount of the program participants’ average cost for the installation and activation and monthly charges for broadband and acquisition of devices enabling access. A call termination resolution encourages the FCC to reaffirm “that no carriers, including interexchange carriers, may block, choke, reduce or restrict traffic in any way” and recommends the FCC and states take all appropriate actions to protect consumers by immediately addressing call terminating problems.
Many provisions of a proposed German State gambling treaty breach EU law, the European Gaming & Betting Association said Tuesday. It cited a “detailed opinion” issued by the European Commission warning that if the proposal isn’t changed, Germany could end up in the European Court of Justice and be fined. The EC document wasn’t available. While the draft law seems to open Germany’s market for online sports betting operators from all EU members, it actually reserves the market for incumbent national monopolies, EGBA said. Among other things, it said, the measure: (1) Limits the number of sports betting licenses to seven while exempting the state monopoly from having to apply for a license. (2) Sets a nearly 17 percent tax on the amount wagered on all operators, which will make online betting uneconomic and exclude Internet gambling operators. (3) Bundles offline and online betting together and applies a commercial viability test to potential operators, putting online-only providers at a disadvantage when seeking a license. (4) Allows some casino games to be offered online but only by specified companies already offering land-based casino games in Germany. The states don’t agree on the treaty, with the state of Schleswig-Holstein preparing to enact an alternative law that will open the sports betting market to EU-licensed operators and reduce the attractions of the black market for consumers, EGBA said. The EC didn’t object to that measure and EGBA supports it, it said. This isn’t the first time recently that the EC has come down on a national gambling proposal; earlier this month it said that some of the provisions of Greece’s draft law could be incompatible with EU law. EGBA sees a trend toward EU jurisdictions reforming their gambling laws to include Internet gambling and moving away from prohibitions and monopolies, Secretary General Sigrid Ligné told us. But governments must notify the EC of their proposed measures and in several recent cases the EC has found potential breaches of EU law, she said. While some countries try to fix their legislation to resolve EC concerns, others, such as Germany in the past, Estonia and Belgium more recently, have decided to ignore the EC, she said. Those governments are taking advantage of the lack of follow-up by the EC, which since 2008 hasn’t taken any action to litigate against them or step up pending infringement procedures, she said. That leads to growing fragmentation of the regulatory framework for online gambling operators and isn’t sustainable, she said. EGBA expects the situation to be fully revealed when the EC publishes its discussion paper on Internet gambling, which should force it to take urgent actions against violators, she said.
Local governments essentially told the FCC to back off, in response to an April 7 notice of inquiry seeking comments on improving government policies for access to rights of way and wireless facilities siting. The National Broadband Plan last year concluded that rates, terms, and conditions for access to rights of way can have a significant impact on broadband deployment. In late 2009, the FCC imposed a “shot clock” on local zoning decisions for cell towers and other wireless facilities, which met with similar push back from local governments.
The patents behind Circuit City’s failed Digital Video Express (Divx) conditional-access DVD system will be up for auction in August, starting at $750,000, perhaps signaling new life for the technology in some as-yet-unknown application.
The economic downturn and rising costs make it hard for some tribal radio licensees to build stations before construction permits expire, some tribal broadcasters said. When the FCC opened a filing window for new noncommercial FM stations in October 2007, it provided an opportunity for the number of stations on tribal lands to increase, they said. Construction permits were granted in 2008, requiring recipients to start up their radio stations this year. Some recipients requested extensions from the Media Bureau.