The FCC and NTIA face an uphill fight finding spectrum suitable for opening separate 10 MHz test beds -- a long- stalled recommendation by a June 2004 presidential report on U.S. spectrum policy, sources said Tues. FCC and NTIA may have to offer an alternative program permitting studies but not the kind of test bed the report envisioned, sources said.
Some intellectual property and licensing interests are concerned that the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) initial actions have been enigmatic and too lax in controlling the case, making its first proceeding more cumbersome and expensive for parties involved. The board, an arm of the Copyright Office created in 2004 to replace the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), is deliberating webcasting rates and terms, but the proceeding is on hiatus until late July. The CRB lost its hearing room and a substitute space hasn’t yet opened up. Future litigants are watching the case closely.
Some intellectual property and licensing interests are concerned that the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) initial actions have been enigmatic and too lax in controlling the case, making its first proceeding more cumbersome and expensive for parties involved. The board, an arm of the Copyright Office created in 2004 to replace the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), is deliberating webcasting rates and terms, but the proceeding is on hiatus until late July. The CRB lost its hearing room and a substitute space hasn’t yet opened up. Future litigants are watching the case closely.
Some U.S. agencies aren’t identifying necessary resources for renewing telecom contracts, GAO said. While most agencies reviewed -- Dept. of Interior; Bureau of Land Management; FBI and GSA -- had plans for “sound transition practices” as they transition to new telecom contract vehicles, neither DoJ nor the Dept. of Energy plan to identify necessary resources, GAO said. In a June 6 letter to House Govt. Reform Committee Chmn. Davis (R), GAO said enough time remains for all agencies to address issues raised by the 2001 telecom transition, but time is short for making inventories and strategic analyses. The Federal Technology Service has “an important program-level responsibility to plan and coordinate the transition,” GAO said.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report to Congressional requestors on the progress of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, entitled Observations on Efforts to Implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on the U.S. Border with Canada.
The InFocus-TCL South Mountain Technologies (SMT) venture is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs as it seeks to lower expenses until it secures longer term financing, InFocus said in an SEC filing. The layoffs come as InFocus pursues a “strategic realignment” of SMT, a China-based front projector manufacturing joint venture it formed with TCL in 2004.
TV station requests to delay their shifts to full digital broadcast are piling up at the FCC, which got 9 such requests by our deadline Thurs. Gannett’s WMAZ-TV Macon, Ga., is among stations seeking a 6-month extension of the so- called “use it or lose it” July 1 deadline to finish building DTV facilities (CD June 15 p18). WMAZ-TV justified its waiver request on grounds the Commission hasn’t acted on a June 6 application to change its construction permit. Fox sought waivers Mon. for WDCA Washington and WRBW Orlando, both operating at reduced power, as WRBW also awaits approval of construction plan changes. More than 80 documents have landed in the FCC DTV docket since the Commission last discussed the looming deadline. A Media Bureau official didn’t respond to our inquiries seeking a tally of the total number of requests for waivers the FCC has received.
Strong results in ATI Technologies’ chipset, DTV and handheld segments helped it overcome a “challenging quarter for the PC industry” in Q3 ended May 31, CEO David Orton said Thurs. He commented as the graphics chip maker reported Q3 sales of $652.29 million, up from $530.24 million a year ago. The company posted a $31.9 million profit (12 cents per diluted share), reversing last year’s $445,000 loss (0 cents).
Ubisoft said it signed a distribution deal with Square Enix to bring videogame Kingdom Hearts II to Australia, New Zealand, Benelux, France and Nordic lands including Iceland. Terms weren’t disclosed. The game, a hit in the U.S. and Japan, will ship for PS2 in PAL territories this fall, the game publisher said. To date more than 9.1 million units of games in the Kingdom Hearts series have been sold worldwide. Since its Dec. and March releases in Japan and N. America, respectively, the sequel has sold 2.4 million plus units total. The games feature classic Disney characters as well as characters and locations created by Square Enix. The latter’s CEO, John Yamamoto, said his company chose Ubisoft for PAL distribution based on the publisher’s “strong distribution channels.” Ubisoft, meanwhile, said it is looking to enter or expand its offerings in game categories where until how it has had little to no presence, including kids games, role-playing games (RPGs), sports, movie and TV licensed games. Ubisoft hopes to introduce 5 new game brands in each of the next 2 years, it said. Ubisoft, with about 2,800 developers at its internal studios, plans to add 500 developers during the current fiscal year, it said. Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said in a research note “this will add to product development costs [but] Ubisoft’s studios are located in low-cost territories and this should mitigate the overall increase in headcount.”
Thrane & Thrane uses gateway earth stations in Burum, Netherlands and Fucino, Italy to tap Inmarsat’s BGAN service, the firm told the FCC International Bureau. The submission was in response to IB requests to identify locations of land earth stations used in connection with BGAN, now operating in the U.S. under a 60-day STA.