TORONTO -- In a much-anticipated decision, the Canadian Radio-TV and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said the nation’s conventional TV networks can seek from cable operators and satellite-TV providers fees or other compensation for their signals. But the CRTC stopped short of imposing any fees or mandating “value for signal” negotiations between the parties, pending a judgment by the courts on the agency’s power to do so.
Allowing unlicensed wireless auxiliary devices on all TV band channels would run counter to the recommendations in the National Broadband Plan, AT&T said in reply comments to an FCC rulemaking. “The proposed rule would delay the implementation of the National Broadband Plan by requiring subsequent commercial broadband licensees to clear the broadcast spectrum of the very low-power auxiliary users this proposed rule would place there."
Initial items in the National Broadband Plan that may get FCC proceedings include recommendations that the agency take steps to make all cable, DBS and telco-TV providers offer gateway devices and that CableCARDs be easier to install, numerous agency and industry officials said. Commissioners may vote as soon as next month on two related and forthcoming items, they said. One would likely begin an inquiry on how to mandate all subscription-video systems be able to be accessed by a simple gateway device that could also get online content. Another would resolve some CableCARD problems.
The National Broadband Plan sets “an agenda for connecting all corners of the nation,” the FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett said Monday at a meeting of the Communications, Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council. It’s an “aggressive action plan to enhance the safety of the American people,” he said. In December, Chairman Julius Genachowski asked CSRIC to study how Americans communicate and how to promote cooperation among emergency communications (CD Dec 8 p1). The plan includes recommendations for a public safety broadband network and on cybersecurity and consumer matters, Deputy Bureau Chief Jennifer Manner said.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google defended its privacy practices at a session on setting policy for Californians to share detailed information about their power usage with online conservation companies and others. At a Public Utilities Commission workshop, Jeffrey Byron of the state Energy Commission told Google representative Ed Lu, advanced-projects program manager, late Friday that his company had been portrayed earlier at the event as a danger to privacy. The warning came from Zack Kaldveer, the communications director of the Consumer Federation of California, who cited privacy worries about Google Book Search and Google Buzz.
With the National Broadband Plan on the street and plans underway to try to find an additional 500 MHz of spectrum over the 10 years, questions remain about the actual spectrum needs of carriers. The broadband plan offered relatively little analysis on this critical issue. FCC officials said more is to come and the agency will release a technical paper offering more detail on the number crunching behind the plan’s spectrum chapter.
Passage of health care reform legislation over the weekend frees Congress to finish the oft-delayed satellite TV reauthorization and may also loosen bottlenecks that held back other legislation, industry officials said Monday. But Congress won’t necessarily intensify telecom legislation efforts, they said. An ongoing debate among Hill leadership is whether, in the wake of passing health care, they should lay low or come out swinging, said an industry lobbyist.
Inmarsat and ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) license partner SkyTerra will look for an outside “established player” to build a terrestrial network to work with the two companies’ satellite networks, Inmarsat CEO Andrew Sukawaty said in an interview. While “nothing has been signed,” the FCC National Broadband Plan recommendations for loosening some of the mobile satellite services/ATC requirements will allow Inmarsat and other ATC licensees to move forward without the expensive regulatory “tethers,” he said. The huge expense in developing a terrestrial network has been one major reason that ATC license holders haven’t been able to find a viable business model and the investment from a larger terrestrial wireless company would help move things forward, he said.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Privacy and security considerations may require California regulators to move more slowly than planned to require the distribution of smart grid data on customers’ electric usage over the Internet or other networks, said the official handling the work. The issues “are even more complex than I thought, and so we might need more time,” said Administrative Law Judge Timothy Sullivan Friday, speaking just after a panel at a Public Utilities Commission workshop in which consumer advocates, including one from the commission, pleaded with it to slow down because of the mass, detail and sensitivity of the information and what they called a need for careful planning by the PUC and utilities.
FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett played defense to skeptical police and fire department officials on the agencies’ recommendations for establishing a nationwide, interoperable public safety network. At a conference Friday of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), Barnett urged public safety to back calls in the National Broadband Plan for $12 to $16 billion in additional funding. But officials said they care more about getting spectrum “real estate” than money. Many officials said they were worried they can’t rely on shared commercial networks in emergency situations.