The Cal. PUC fined NOS Communications and Affinity Network $2.9 million total under a settlement of slamming, cramming and deceptive marketing charges against the companies. The companies, which were jointly named in the complaint, must also pay $50,000 in restitution to the roughly 1,400 identified victims of the unlawful conduct. The average refund will be about $25. The companies were accused of unauthorized service and billing changes and of misrepresenting the savings customers would enjoy. The complaints alleged that the carriers quoted per-minute rates, but actual bills were calculated by adding in non-usage- related fees under a complex formula of call units. The settlement also requires the carriers to change their sales and marketing practices and report on their compliance. In another matter, the PUC awarded grants totaling $6.83 million for 3 projects to bring telecom services to unserved areas of northern Cal. The projects will bring phone service to Yurok Tribe lands in Humboldt County, deploy wireless infrastructure throughout rural Trinity County and bring wireline and wireless services to the small rural town of Iowa Hill in Placer County. The grants were made under a universal service program established 2 years ago.
Gemstar-TV Guide and Comcast will launch their first jointly developed electronic program guide (EPG) by late summer, CEO Jeffrey Shell told us after the company’s annual shareholders meeting in N.Y.C. The companies, which formed the Guide Works joint venture this year, are essentially reworking the I-Guide that Gemstar previously had under development, and will introduce it first on Comcast’s cable systems, he said. The EPG will be a key ingredient in the Guide Works’ efforts to establish a cable standard for program guides, said Shell, whose company received a $250 million up-front licensing fee from Comcast and will market the jointly developed product to other MSOs. Gemstar has a 49% of Guide Works and has contributed 100 employees, while Comcast holds the remaining 51%, Shell said. Meanwhile, Gemstar’s EPG agreement with Time Warner Cable, will likely result in parts of the guide rather than the whole package going on the MSO’s system, Shell said. Gemstar also is planning to further expand its TV Guide Channel, which is expected to reach 80 million homes when it launches on EchoStar’s DISH service later this month. In conjunction with a revamped version of the TV Guide Channel, Gemstar is developing TV Guide Land, an on-demand guide that will provide highlights of TV shows mixed with editorial. TV Guide Land -- which will likely be available on Comcast systems as well as DirecTV and EchoStar satellite services -- also will allow the viewer to pause, fast forward, rewind and scroll through programming, Shell said.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a notice announcing that the next meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) will be held on June 18, 2004 in Washington, DC. (This committee was previously called the "Treasury Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service.")
Gemstar-TV Guide and Comcast will launch their first jointly developed electronic program guide (EPG) by late summer, CEO Jeffrey Shell told us after the company’s annual shareholders meeting in N.Y.C. The companies, which formed the Guide Works joint venture earlier this year, are essentially reworking the I- Guide that Gemstar previously had under development, and will introduce it first on Comcast’s cable systems, he said.
According to a Journal of Commerce editorial, the debate over container security has shifted and the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS') newly formed Container Working Group, not U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is the driving force.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that its Office of Field Operations and its Office of Information and Technology are in the process of conducting various public meetings at several of the major land borders across the U.S to present the major provisions of its regulations and policies on the advance electronic presentation of information for inbound truck cargo and to answer questions from affected parties.
Corning is courting 3 prospective buyers for its closed CRT glass plant in State College, Pa., but it may be 2 years before the facility is productive again, Rick Weakland, Corning’s dir.- corp. real estate, told the Centre Daily Times. The former glass plant, which closed last year, will take another 3-6 months to clean and empty, a Corning spokesman said. Corning sold its glass making equipment to tube maker Henan Anyang, which is moving the gear to China. The factory’s prospective buyers include a potential manufacturer and a developer that might be interested in leasing space in the facility to others, Weakland said. Corning is working closely with State College officials to market the plant, which might sell for $10-$15 million with its 100 acres included, Weakland said. If a buyer had no use for the plant and wanted to redevelop the land, it might be worth $2-$5 million, he said. Meanwhile, Corning has begun talks with Pa. environmental regulators on a consent agreement that will identify areas of contamination on the State College property and detail Corning’s plan to eliminate them before leaving. Lead levels in the water discharged from the factory exceeded permitted limits 43 times last year, Pa. Dept. of Environmental Protection records show, the Daily Times reported. Mike Welch, DEP environmental cleanup program mgr., said Corning gave the DEP formal notice of its “intent to remediate” the property before leaving. Chemicals at the plant include cleaning solvents and lubricants, Welch said.
Game Boy Advance (GBA) and PS2 again dominated videogame hardware sales in Japan, Media Create (MC, www.m-create.com) said data for the week ended May 23 showed. MC said GBA was the week’s winner with a 47.15% market share, up from 38.91% a week ago (CED May 24 p8). It said 43.22% went to the front-lit GBA SP and 3.93% to the standard system. PS2 followed with a 44.69% share, down from 52.07%. GameCube once again trailed far behind, this time with a 7.37% share, down from 7.84%. But Nintendo’s console still far outpaced Microsoft’s Xbox, which had only a 0.35% share (down from 0.41%). Sony’s legacy PS one console and Bandai’s handheld SwanCrystal again barely registered -- with 0.32% and 0.10%, respectively, down from 0.63% and 0.15%. MC said sales of the top 100-selling games totaled about 770,000 units in the week -- 72.82% better than last week. After a week in which new and older releases sold weakly, MC said Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for PS2 -- the week’s #1-selling game, which Capcom is publishing for Take-Two Interactive in Japan -- and various other new releases helped boost sales this time. It said 61.81% of the top 100 games were new releases and almost all the top 10 were newcomers. Other strong performers in the week included Nintendo’s #2-selling Famicom Mini: Gambare Goemon! Karakuri Douchu for GBA. MC said Nintendo’s 2nd series of Famicom Mini games “sold about 168,000 units” in total and dominated the top 10. Other Famicom titles in the top 10 were Dr. Mario at #8, Adventure Island at #9 and Wrecking Crew at #10. One other GBA title was in the top 10: Banpresto’s Crayon Shin- chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land no Dai Boken at #7. Only one GameCube title made the top 10: Nintendo’s Pikmin 2 at #3 again. Rounding out the top 10 were Bandai’s Ultraman at #4 and Success’s Pachinko Slot Tokondensho: Inoki Festival at #5 (down 4 from last week) -- both for PS2.
European Union (EU) countries should be required to implement radio spectrum trading and liberalization to spur more efficient use of spectrum, a report submitted this week to the European Commission said. However, it said, given the likelihood of wide divergence among member states in introducing spectrum trading, countries should be given wide latitude in deciding how their systems will work so long as national spectrum management regimes are coordinated across the EU. The report was prepared by Analysys, DotEcon and Hogan & Hartson. It’s up for discussion at a July 15 European Commission workshop in Brussels.
Leading education groups are ramping up pressure on the FCC to back away from a plan to take 18 MHz away from ITFS as part of a final rule on the MMDS/ITFS spectrum allocation (CD May 26 p4). Education groups met with Comr. Abernathy Wed. and hope for meetings with the other Commissioners by June 3, when the Commission has to decide whether to put an ITFS order on the June 10 meeting agenda.