TV and radio broadcast networks and affiliates increasingly are aligned on several issues getting legislative and regulatory attention, our survey of executives in those businesses found. The executives and NAB President Gordon Smith sounded upbeat that agreement in broadcasting, evidenced in part by last month’s return of CBS and Fox to the lobbying group (CD May 11 p14), will help the industry make its case in Washington. They said that’s crucial to avoid fracturing like that of a decade ago -- when networks left NAB amid disputes over ownership rules -- and to fend off challenges to businesses that have faced struggles. It also helps to deal with member NBC set to get a new owner in Comcast.
NTIA will start announcing round-two awards under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program in July, Administrator Larry Strickling said at Pike & Fischer’s Broadband Policy Summit. With about $1.2 billion having been awarded to 82 projects in round one, there’s still $3 billion to be awarded by Sept. 30. In the first round, NTIA learned that “when we're talking about unserved and underserved areas in this country, there’s a huge difference between the needs of the anchor institutions and the needs of families and small business,” Strickling said. The need for much higher speeds is greater for the anchor institutions, like libraries and schools, he said.
The personnel and data needs of the effort to contain the Gulf of Mexico oil leak have increased reliance on satellite communications in what is usually a very low-density region, said executives of major providers of satellite services there. But one of the two providers has had a much larger increase in demand than the other.
AT&T, CTIA and TIA endorsed an FCC proposal to launch an online clearinghouse for information-sharing about products and services that promote access to devices tailored to people with disabilities. In a post May 17 to the FCC’s Blogband, the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau asked for comments on the clearinghouse by Thursday. The post followed up on a recommendation in the National Broadband Plan.
BRUSSELS -- ITU members have focused on modest improvements in the international regulatory framework for some terrestrial services in WRC-12 preparations, an official said Thursday at a workshop on European objectives. A Canadian proposal suggests bigger changes but requires additional study of the effects on other provisions, according to a May impact study by the Radiocommunication Bureau. Participants in ITU-R and the European Conference of Postal Administrations are settling on making no changes in satellite service definitions in the conference preparatory talks.
Public safety and emergency experts emphasized the need for more clarity, accuracy and relevance in emergency alert procedures and systems, they said at the FCC and Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 21st Century emergency alerting workshop Thursday, citing lessons learned from an emergency alert system test in Alaska in January. The FCC should extend the deadline for installing updated Emergency Alert System (EAS) gear and the federal government should fund more training to use it, some said.
The ongoing fight over whether broadband should be reclassified as a more heavily regulated “telecom” service has resulted in chaos for the broadband industry, FCC Commissioner Meredith Baker said Thursday at the annual Broadband Policy Summit, sponsored by Pike & Fischer. Baker also said work on the “third way” reclassification plan by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has distracted attention from the National Broadband Plan. Another danger is that increased FCC regulation of the Internet could lead to more government control of the Internet in other nations, she warned.
A hearing on Internet accessibility legislation exploded into a political brawl after Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., lashed out at CEA President Gary Shapiro. Testifying Thursday to the House Communications Subcommittee, Shapiro had said Markey’s bill (HR-3101) could kill start-up consumer electronics manufacturers by requiring them to make all products accessible to people with any disability. Republicans defended the CEA executive and scolded Markey. Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., tried to steer the discussion back toward areas of agreement.
STANFORD, Calif. -- A veteran FCC economist fleshed out alternatives for auctioning spectrum that broadcasters give up for reuse in mobile broadband. The commission could give out overlay licenses, hold separate auctions to clear and re-license the spectrum, or set up a process to make both changes at the same time, said Evan Kwerel, senior economic adviser to the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, saying he spoke only for himself.
A long-awaited cybersecurity bill introduced Thursday in the Senate Homeland Security Committee would give the president authority to declare a “national cyber emergency” and take emergency measures to fight it without further congressional approval. It would establish a national cybersecurity center and a formal cybersecurity czar appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The bill was introduced by committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., ranking member Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Thomas Carper, D-Del.