United Telecom Council (UTC) said it launched new frequency notification service Frequency Guard. It said new e-mail notification system was designed to help licensees protect integrity of their licensed spectrum. UTC said service was offered through its Spectrum Services, powered by SiteSafe. It said Private Land Mobile Radio Service (PLMRS) and other frequency bands used by U.S. industry “are increasingly congested, and licensees are suffering growing levels of harmful interference to the radio communications on which their businesses depend.” UTC said Frequency Guard notified participating customers when applications were filed that were co-channel with, or on adjacent channels, to customers’ designated PLMRS and Multiple Address Service (MAS) frequencies. It said service used up-to-date FCC data to identify potentially conflicting applications and notified client via e-mail. UTC said client received information which included applicant name, application ULS file number, and application coordinator name and coordination date and other information, “long before the FCC grants a license.”
FCC terminated proceeding on Intelsat and customer access to space stations, it said. Order released Thurs. dealt with Intelsat and Comsat transactions involving earth station licenses, private land mobile radio licenses and international Sec. 214 applications. FCC approved assignment of licenses for earth stations, private land mobile radio and other assets from Comsat to Intelsat.
Game developer iEntertainment Network (IENT) -- best known for Warbirds TotalSim series -- said Wed. it had signed exclusive U.S. distribution deal with Activision to ship 3 of IENT’s latest air and land combat game titles to stores for holiday season. IENT Gen. Mgr. Phil Hall said: “Tapping into Activision’s leading online and retail distribution channel positions our products to have the greatest impact in the highly competitive flight and combat simulation games marketplace. Successful retail distribution and sales will drive players to our online arenas, which in turn drives our recurring monthly online revenues.” Activision Value Publishing (AVP) will be exclusive U.S. distributor for Dawn of Aces II, Air Combat, Armored Assault. All titles are to be distributed with 1-2 months of free online play and feature more than 45 unique airplanes, tanks and ships, as well as many offline missions allowing players to practice their combat skills on their own before going online. AVP said it “plans to ship a number of these PC titles to major retail chains in over 100 U.S. cities in 2003, and is expected to sell a significant number of the games via their online sales channels.”
Aviation officials and regulators raised concerns Wed. that FCC rules could allow ultrawideband (UWB) devices to hamper critical avionics systems before potential interference was fully evaluated. FCC order in Feb. set what agency called “ultraconservative” emission limits for UWB. Based on concerns UWB could interfere with safety-of-life and other critical aviation systems, FAA began testing devices last week at its Technical Center in Atlantic City (CD Nov 18 p5). But Sally Frodge of Transportation Dept.’s Office of the Secy., also said at World Airline Entertainment Assn. (WAEA) conference in Washington that continuing resolution that expires in Jan. could tie up funding needed for follow- on evaluation of those test results.
Airline officials and technology developers urged federal regulators Tues. to back certification guidelines for how wireless devices could be used aboard aircraft without causing interference. FAA’s John Dimtroff said at World Airline Entertainment Assn. (WAEA) conference in Washington Tues. that proposal was pending to set up special advisory committee on safety of personal electronics devices on aircraft and possible testing standards. Because of funding considerations, FAA would have ultimate sign-off on such decision, but it is one that has backing of U.S. airlines and technology developers such as Intel.
Airline officials and technology developers urged federal regulators Tues. to provide certification guidelines for how wireless devices could be used aboard aircraft without causing interference. The FAA’s John Dimtroff said at World Airline Entertainment Assn. conference in Washington Tues. that proposal was pending to set up special advisory committee on safety of personal electronics devices on aircraft and possible testing standards. Because of funding considerations, FAA would have ultimate sign-off on such decision, but it was one that had backing of major U.S. airlines and technology developers such as Intel.
Once high-flying Comdex show has come in for rough landing. While attendance is expected to hold its own compared with 2001 event at 125,000, that’s down from peak of 225,000 during height of Internet boom in late 1990s. Number of exhibitors has shrunk to 1,100 from 1,685 year ago as many companies shifted to hotel suites and Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) meeting rooms off main exhibit floor. This year’s show covers about 500,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space, less than 50% of LVCC’s capacity, or half of space Comdex occupied in 2000 and about half of that projected by CEA for Jan. CES.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began testing ultra-wideband (UWB) devices last week in effort to make initial assessment by year-end on potential impact of new technology on avionics systems. FAA, along with Depts. of Transportation, Defense and NASA, is among agencies that expressed concerns about potential interference of UWB in safety-of-life frequencies. “We do anticipate that there will be some problems based on what we know about UWB types of devices,” FAA Program Mgr. George Sakai said: “To what degree, we don’t know. This is why we needed to do some actual testing.”
Image Entertainment said its 2nd quarter loss narrowed to $513,000 (-3? per share) from $856,000 (-5?) in same quarter year ago. But Chatsworth, Cal., DVD licensee and distributor said its revenue climbed 25.9% to $26.26 million from $20.87 million. Company said it saw sales growth in all 3 of its business categories -- domestic wholesale distribution, retail distribution via subsidiary DVDPlanet.com, international wholesale. It reported $666,000 pretax loss in quarter that included one-time impairment charge of $343,000 to write down closing of its Las Vegas distribution center and adjacent land. Commenting on results, Image CEO Martin Greenwald said company “grew its core DVD business as well as strengthened its balance sheet” in quarter. Greenwald once again told financial analysts in conference call after our Wed. deadline that management was continuing to focus its efforts on improving company’s liquidity and strengthening balance sheet. He said: “We have been able to significantly reduce our interest-bearing debt since March 31, 2002 through proceeds raised from a private placement as well as proceeds received from the sale of our Las Vegas, Nevada, real estate. Comparing overall interest-bearing debt, we've seen a drop from $25.6 million on March 31, 2002 to $18.8 million as of November 12, 2002. Obviously, this not only reduces the Company’s interest expense line item but also frees up capital for additional licensing. We will continue to explore new opportunities to further improve the balance sheet.” He went on to say: “Image’s library of exclusive content now stands at approximately 2,000 active DVD titles with more compelling content being released every month. Because of the strength of the library, and the acceptance of our new programming, I am confident that, for the quarter ending December 31, 2002, we will see both sequential and comparative revenue growth as well as expanding operating income.”
Games for legacy PlayStation console continue to be among top sellers in Japan. Reporting on videogame software sales in Japan for week ended Nov. 3, Media Create (MC) said 4 PlayStation games were in top 10, compared with 3 for PlayStation 2 (PS2) next-generation console, 2 for Game Boy Advance (Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land from Nintendo at #3 and Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 from Namco at #8); one for GameCube (From TV Animation One Piece: Treasure Battle! from Bandai at #5). But MC said overall top-selling title for week was Dragon Quest Characters: Tomeko’s Great Adventure 3 for PS2 from Enix. MC also said PlayStation/PS one games represented only 2.4% of top 100 videogame software sales in week, trailing leader PS2 (44.50% market share), Game Boy Advance (38.23%), GameCube (11.67%). Results continued to be bleak for Microsoft’s Xbox in Japan, which had only 1.44% share of videogame software market in week -- not much better than SwanCrystal (1.29%) and WonderSwanColor (0.47%), neither of which are marketed in U.S. MC said “PS2 took over the Number 1 slot back from GBA in software sales per hardware.” It also said new games fared well in week, saying 15 made their way into top 100 rankings for week, representing 64.06% of total unit sales. More than 300,000 units of Dragon Quest Characters were sold in that title’s first week of availability, MC said. Other 2 PS2 titles in top 10 were Ultraman Fighting Evolution 2 from Banpresto at #6 and Medal of Honor Frontline from EA Square at #9. Top-selling PlayStation game was Square’s Final Fantasy at #2. Other PlayStation games in top 10 were Final Fantasy II from Square at #4, Final Fantasy I & II Premium Package from Square at #7, Simple Character 2000 Series Vol. 13: Mobile Battle Record from Bandai at #10.