The Navajo Nation Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NNTRC) asked for a 15-day extension, until May 31, to file comments on the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority’s (NTUA’s) application to be designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier providing Lifeline service to people living on Navajo lands. NTUA is proposing to provide service in combination with Commnet Wireless. “The NNTRC is using this docket as an avenue for collecting and reviewing public comment on the NTUA Wireless Petition, rather than hold its own proceeding,” the commission said. “As part of its Reply Comments, the NNTRC will issue its findings and order concerning whether the grant of ETC status to NTUA Wireless on the Navajo Nation is consistent with Navajo law, and is in the best interest of the Navajo people.” NTUA said it plans to offer service in an area covering 27,000 square miles, extending into 13 counties in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. “By leveraging existing NTUA resources and partnering with an established wireless service provider, NTUA Wireless will be uniquely positioned to offer competitive retail wireless telecommunications services to underserved areas of the Navajo Nation,” NTUA said in a March filing. NTUA Wireless will provide jobs for members of the Navajo tribe and utilize its expertise in the utility business “to offer a deeper penetration of retail wireless telecommunications service into the Navajo Nation,” it said.
ITU-R work on a draft recommendation on potential interference between the International Civil Aviation Organization standard microwave landing system (MLS) operating above 5030 MHz and radionavigation-satellite service (RNSS) systems in the band 5000 to 5030 MHz will likely be complete in September, said a draft letter from a group dealing with efficient orbit and spectrum use for the mobile satellite service and the radiodetermination satellite service. An ITU-R group on the maritime mobile service, including the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, the aeronautical mobile service and radiodetermination service, had asked about sharing between the MLS system operating above 5030 MHz and the planned RNSS in the adjacent band below 5030 MHz.
The Directorate of Defense Trade Controls has announced the following entity name change 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 (notice hyperlinked):
Don’t look for the Internet to replace broadcast news and other older media with vigorous investigative reporting, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Tuesday. “In spite of some very compelling and innovative experiments” online, some of which may survive, the Web lacks the “model, the mass or the momentum to fill the void that has eviscerated traditional media,” he said. “Big media likes to tell us the age of mergers and consolidation is over -- but I guess Comcast, NBCU and AT&T never got the memo. And most of what I read from the analysts now is that the stars are aligning for more deals, more consolidation, more stations owned by hedge funds, banking trusts and private equity firms for whom the public interest may be a wholly alien concept.” So all’s “not well in the land of journalism,” Copps said at an awards ceremony at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “The praiseworthy reporting that we honor today becomes harder to find because there is less of it,” Copps said: There’s a worsening “crisis” in journalism. The commissioner has long bemoaned the state of media and has opposed consolidation. He spoke of “a multitude of discouraging signs that new media is heading down the road that traditional media trod” of consolidating and “public policy shortfalls.” Copps said he wants the FCC “to start doing its part” to help the situation. He wants to require more disclosure of political ads, and for radio and TV stations to do more to show they deserve license renewals, Copps said Tuesday, repeating previous remarks. It’s “utterly unfathomable to me that some in Washington are trying to gut the very limited funding we currently provide for this precious news, information and education resource,” he said of efforts to defund federal money that goes to public broadcasters. “Other democracies leave us in the dust by investing meaningful resources in public broadcasting, while the issue here is lining it out of the budget,” Copps said. He praised programming on NPR and PBS.
Don’t look for the Internet to replace broadcast news and other older media with vigorous investigative reporting, FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Tuesday. “In spite of some very compelling and innovative experiments” online, some of which may survive, the Web lacks the “model, the mass or the momentum to fill the void that has eviscerated traditional media,” he said. “Big media likes to tell us the age of mergers and consolidation is over -- but I guess Comcast, NBCU and AT&T never got the memo. And most of what I read from the analysts now is that the stars are aligning for more deals, more consolidation, more stations owned by hedge funds, banking trusts and private equity firms for whom the public interest may be a wholly alien concept.” So all’s “not well in the land of journalism,” Copps said at an awards ceremony at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. “The praiseworthy reporting that we honor today becomes harder to find because there is less of it,” Copps said: There’s a worsening “crisis” in journalism. The commissioner has long bemoaned the state of media and has opposed consolidation. He spoke of “a multitude of discouraging signs that new media is heading down the road that traditional media trod” of consolidating and “public policy shortfalls.” Copps said he wants the FCC “to start doing its part” to help the situation. He wants to require more disclosure of political ads, and for radio and TV stations to do more to show they deserve license renewals, Copps said Tuesday, repeating previous remarks. It’s “utterly unfathomable to me that some in Washington are trying to gut the very limited funding we currently provide for this precious news, information and education resource,” he said of efforts to defund federal money that goes to public broadcasters. “Other democracies leave us in the dust by investing meaningful resources in public broadcasting, while the issue here is lining it out of the budget,” Copps said. He praised programming on NPR and PBS.
Broadcasters jousted with wireless carriers and the CEA as the FCC took in a last round of comments on its proposal to “repurpose” parts of the TV band. NAB filed a report, written by former FCC official Uzoma Onyeije, questioning whether there really is a spectrum “crisis.” CTIA and CEA fired back, arguing that all the evidence shows a growing need for more spectrum for wireless broadband. Five nonprofit groups said the commission needs to collect data on whether TV stations fully use their spectrum, with commenters “deeply divided on this question."
Broadcasters jousted with wireless carriers and CEA as the FCC took in a last round of comments on its proposal to “repurpose” parts of the TV band. NAB filed a report, written by former FCC official Uzoma Onyeije, questioning whether there really is a spectrum “crisis.” CTIA and CEA fired back, arguing that all the evidence shows a growing need for more spectrum for wireless broadband. Five nonprofit groups said the commission needs to collect data on whether TV stations fully use their spectrum, with commenters “deeply divided on this question."
Systemax’s board will likely follow through with Technology Products CEO Gilbert Fiorentino’s firing next week, Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Reinhold said Tuesday at the Barclays Capital retail and restaurants conference in New York.
The FCC Technological Advisory Committee (TAC) put heavy emphasis on recommendations for getting wireless and wireline for broadband built more quickly in its interim report released Monday. The report also stressed the role femtocells could play in more-efficient use of spectrum. TAC Chairman Tom Wheeler said members of the group continue to meet frequently and more recommendations, including several on the future of IPV6, are coming, likely this summer. The initial report made eight recommendations.
Cisco’s decision to drop Flip camcorders (CED April 13 p7) is already enabling DXG to expand retail distribution for its camcorders, Paul Goldberg, DXG USA senior vice president of marketing and sales, told Consumer Electronics Daily. DXG is perhaps better positioned than most rivals to land new accounts because its camcorders, like Flip models, are typically low-priced alternatives to products from Sony and other CE giants. But Goldberg thinks Cisco’s move was “pretty sad,” he said, saying some friends at Cisco lost jobs as a result.