Five Rivers Electronics Mfg. expects to land a new assembly contract for HD widescreen direct-view TVs within 1-2 weeks, a deal that will likely result in rehiring 150 laid-off Philips employees, CEO Thomas Hopson said. To accommodate the order, Greeneville, Tenn.-based Five Rivers will increase volume across one line and install another, Hopson said. When production begins late this month, Five Rivers will be operating 4 of its 10 potential lines, he said. Materials needed for the sets are en route to the factory, Hopson said. Most of those returning to the former Philips plant will be hourly workers, although there will also be a small number of salaried positions, Hopson said. Hopson declined to identify the customer but said the company was drawn from the plant’s existing base, which includes Philips and Samsung. The Greeneville facility currently employs 535 workers, who assemble Philips 55W LCoS sets, among other products. Five Rivers was formed in 1997 in a buyout of the factory from Philips. The new contract would be a boon for Five Rivers, which has seen its business shrink in the face of increased imports of TVs from China. The ITC is expected to vote this month on a complaint filed last year by Five Rivers that seeks to have dumping duties imposed on sets from China.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) updated its policy for collocating antenna systems on towers previously studied by the agency. In a public notice Tues., the FAA said in some cases it wouldn’t require a filing of notice for an aeronautical study to add frequencies to an existing structure already deemed not tp pose an air traffic hazard. The change is largely in line with a voluntary best practices agreement crafted by a coalition of wireless carriers and tower companies, called the Colocation Void Clause Coalition. The group included PCIA and CTIA. The best practices were designed to streamline notification to the FAA for cases in which a proposed tower change wouldn’t affect antenna height. The guidelines proposed that wireless companies not be required to notify the FAA when adding only certain specific frequencies to a structure located beyond one nautical mile radius from an FAA facility. Under past FAA policy, the agency required notice for certain proposed structures that could affect the navigable airspace. The agency has studied these proposed projects to assess whether they would cause harmful interference to air navigation or surveillance facilities. If a person added frequencies that involved collocating antennas on an existing tower for which the FAA had issued a “determination of no hazard to air navigation,” the applicant had to file a “frequency only” notice. If an additional antenna system had to be used to add frequencies, it couldn’t be located on federal or public use landing facilities property, the FAA said. “Also, the antenna system must not be colocated or mounted on an FAA antenna structure without prior coordination with the FAA.” Under the new policy, notice still must be filed with the FAA if a structure’s height is increased. The policy applies to a range of frequencies, including industrial/business specialized mobile radio systems at 800 MHz, cellphone service at 800 MHz, paging bands at 900 MHz and broadband PCS and 1850-1990 MHz. The policy also only applies to current technologies and modulation techniques. “Any future technologies placed into commercial service by wireless service providers, although operating on the frequencies mentioned above, must either coordinate the new technology with the FAA” or must provide notification to the FAA. The coalition had stressed to the FAA in 2002 an immediate need for the agency to take another look at interference regulations that govern tower siting (CD Oct 3/02 p9). The companies said the process at that time had resulted in many unnecessary filings with the FAA and the FCC and engendered inconsistent interpretations. The coalition had asked the FAA to revive a 12-year-old proposal for clear procedures.
In an effort to show his administration is serious about broadband deployment, President Bush signed an executive memorandum Mon. aimed at streamlining access to federal land. The executive memorandum will put into effect recommendations of a federal right-of-way working group coordinated by NTIA. In a speech, Bush listed several ways he’s promoting broadband deployment in working toward his stated goal of universal access by 2007, but Senate Democrats took issue with his claims.
The pace of new orders for KVH Industries’ TracVision A5 mobile satellite antenna was “weaker than we would have liked” in the first quarter, CEO Martin Kits van Heyningen told analysts. Despite the setback, KVH, which shipped the TracVision A5 last fall, is “gaining traction” for the product at retail and remains on target to ship 10,000 units this year, he said. KVH officials declined to provide an update beyond the 1,700 units that had shipped as of Dec. 31, but confirmed analyst speculation that about 1/3 of this year’s total will be delivered in the first half. The TracVision A5 attaches to the top of a motor vehicle and rises about 5” above the roof to enable reception of DirecTV programming. KVH is seeking agreements with conversion companies to include the A5 in customizations of mini-vans and SUVs, van Heyningen said. It has also made some progress in having the antenna sold through car dealerships, he said. Meanwhile, KVH said first-quarter net income declined to $128,000 from $183,000 as revenue increased to $17.9 million from $13.1 million. Mobile and land-based satellite revenue rose 81% during the quarter, as overall gross margin moved to 39% from 45% a year ago, but up from 29% a year ago. TracVision A5 gross margins were 28%, CFO Patrick Spratt said. Sales to the marine market accounted for 47% of revenue during the quarter. The U.S. Army has postponed indefinitely delivery of a $2-million order for KVH’s TacNav satellite-based navigation systems for Humvee vehicles in Iraq, Spratt said. KVH had expected to record the order in the first quarter.
On April 1, 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a first set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and responses regarding the mandatory advance electronic information requirements for inbound air cargo.
Communications companies last week gave the FCC a wide- ranging wish list of changes they'd like made to the agency’s proposed regulatory fee structure for fiscal year 2004. From LMDS-based carrier XO Communications to submarine cable company Tyco, companies pinpointed areas they said didn’t reflect their industries or the FCC’s cost of regulating them. The comments were filed April 21 at the request of the FCC.
PS2 and Game Boy Advance (GBA) again dominated videogame hardware sales in Japan, Media Create (MC, www.m-create.com) said data for the week ended April 18 showed. MC said PS2 had a 48.59% market share this time, vs. 48.09% a week ago (CED April 19 p7). GBA followed with 44.25% (vs. 44.52%) -- 39.73% for the front-lit GBA SP model and 4.52% for the standard version. GameCube’s share decreased to 6.14% from 6.35%. But Nintendo’s console again fared far better than Xbox, which saw its share drop to 0.52% from 0.57%. Trailing not far behind Microsoft’s console were again Sony’s legacy PS one console (0.32%) and Bandai’s SwanCrystal handheld system (0.19%). MC said the top 100-selling games in the week totaled about 605,000 units -- 6.82% better than a week ago but 48.77% less than the weekly average. Eight new titles made the rankings this week and their share represented 40.95% of total unit videogame sales, MC said. It said Nintendo’s Kirby: Labyrinth in the Mirror for GBA -- the week’s #1-selling game -- sold about 189,000 units. MC said the game’s predecessor -- Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land -- sold about 213,000 units in its first week and went on to sell 848,000 units. Therefore, MC said, “one can expect [a] further increase in unit sales for this new sequel.” Among the other new releases, MC said about 19,000 units of Banpresto’s #3 Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Cinema Land no Dai Boken for GBA were sold vs. about 18,000 of Koei’s #5 Crimson Sea 2 for PS2. There were 2 other GBA titles in the top 10: Nintendo’s Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. at #4 (down 2 from a week ago) and Pokemon’s Pokemon Fire Red at #6 (down one). The rest of the top 10 were PS2 games: Square Enix’s Dragon Warrior V at #2 (down one), Koei’s Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires at #7 again, Koei’s Nobunaga’s Ambition: Tenka Sousei at #8 (down 2), Konami’s Pro Baseball Spirits 2004 at #9 and Capcom’s Monster Hunter at #10 (down 2).
New Games: THQ said the name of its upcoming sequel to the hit game Tak and the Power of Juju is Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams. It said the sequel, developed by Avalanche Software, will ship in Oct. for Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PS2 and Xbox. Tak was the first game released under THQ’s deal with Nickelodeon to create new intellectual properties that would initially be introduced as videogames and then migrate to other entertainment media. THQ COO Eric Doctorow said the first Tak game “just hit our million unit mark globally.” THQ said it planned to show the game for the first time at E3 Expo, May 12-14 in L.A… Vivendi Universal Games (VUG) said its Leisure Suit Larry PC franchise, started in 1987 with The Land of the Lounge Lizards, will be making its way to consoles for the first time. VUG said it planned to ship Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude -- developed by High Voltage Software -- for PC, PS2 and Xbox this fall… Godzilla will return to consoles this fall, when Atari ships Godzilla: Save the Earth, developed by Pipeworks for PS2 and Xbox. Atari shipped Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters -- also from Pipeworks -- in 2002 and the new title will add a new Action Mode and online multiplayer fighting for both consoles, the publisher said. Atari said the new game will pit Godzilla against more than 18 monsters --including Mothra -- under license from Toho, the film studio best known for its Godzilla movies.
On March 4, 2004, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 1047, the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003."
Boeing Satellite Systems will use CopyTele encryption technology on the satellites it built for Thuraya’s satellite telephone service, CopyTele said. Boeing will sell 3 different encryption units for use with the Thuraya network, the company said: 2 units for voice-only encryption and one which combines voice and fax encryption. CopyTele said the units will encrypt signals between 2 satellite phones and a satellite and land-line phone.