With the bids for Sprint and Clearwire off the table and an offer for LightSquared spectrum, Dish Network still has options for how it will use its AWS-4 spectrum and expand its services for customers, analysts said. Dish’s $2.2 billion offer for LightSquared could help Dish, but only in the long term, some analysts said.
"Since it appears that the smaller spectrum slice of 1755-1780 can be cleared without any need to impact BAS operations, we have no idea why DOD is making clearing those 25 megahertz contingent on ’sharing’ 85 with us,” said NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan, former chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau. “Moreover, in NTIA’s spectrum report released just last year, DOD asserted that nearly all of its operations could not share spectrum with broadcasters in the BAS band. No new testing has been done, so it’s unclear what has changed. The only thing that has changed recently is that we just finished shrinking our BAS allocation from 120 to 85 megahertz to make way for mobile broadband.”
Before opening the 5.850-5.925 GHz band for Wi-Fi, as proposed by the FCC in February, the commission should first assemble an advisory panel to look at how unlicensed use of the spectrum will affect dedicated short range communications (DSRC) technologies, said the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in reply comments filed at the FCC. The Intelligent Transportation Society of America said in its comments that the Department of Transportation and original equipment manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to make crash-avoidance technologies a reality.
The American Legislative Exchange Council will look at draft model legislation restricting warrantless cellphone tracking, following similar laws enacted in Maine and Montana (CD July 15 p7), at ALEC’s annual meeting in Chicago Aug. 7-9. The 40-year-old organization, which brings together state legislators and industry, will also consider revising past model legislation, propose a draft resolution objecting to certain potential Communications Decency Act (CDA) amendments and a statement of principles for cybersecurity. The group has attracted fierce criticism from such groups as Free Press (CD April 9 p11), but it remains committed to transparent policy discussions, its task force leaders told us.
Mobile privacy stakeholders disagreed over the status of a voluntary code of conduct for mobile app developers, as the NTIA praised the industry representatives and advocacy groups for agreeing to begin user testing of the code. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling applauded the group for having “reached a seminal milestone in the efforts to enhance consumer privacy on mobile devices,” in a statement after our deadline Thursday. As the process moves into testing, NTIA is likely to turn its attention to facial recognition technologies for its next privacy process, stakeholders told us the next day.
The Center for Copyright Information explained some of its thinking after it was criticized at a hearing on copyright law, while a fair use proponent criticized testimony about the expansion of fair use, in follow-up interviews. During the hearing, Intellectual Property Subcommittee Ranking Member Mel Watt, D-N.C., announced that he would be introducing legislation regarding performance royalties for sound recordings on over-the-air radio before the August recess. Broadcasters objected to such a bill, while artists and their allies supported it, in testimony and in statements.
As Time Warner Cable and CBS work to settle a retransmission consent dispute, the companies agreed to an extension through July 29, a Time Warner spokeswoman said. If an agreement isn’t reached, a blackout could affect 14 CBS stations in markets including New York, Los Angeles and Boston (CD July 22 p7). The contract originally was to expire Thursday. Such disputes could be an impetus for the FCC to revisit its authority to step in under a new chairmanship, some attorneys said. CBS is keeping the FCC posted on developments, a CBS spokeswoman said.
The most important step the Senate Commerce Committee can take in improving cybersecurity in critical U.S. infrastructure is to “make sure the technical experts” at the National Institute of Standards and Technology “stay engaged and working with the private sector to develop effective cybersecurity standards,” said Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. The committee hearing where he spoke Thursday was largely a chance for Rockefeller and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., to showcase the Cybersecurity Act of 2013, which they introduced the day before (http://1.usa.gov/19iJL7R).
Companies and trade associations overwhelmingly urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to create a more transparent enforcement process for U.S. International Trade Commission exclusion orders, in comments for an interagency review led by the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. IPEC had asked for input on CBP implementation of the ITC import bans, which normally relate to a finding of intellectual property infringement. Comments addressed CBP’s reluctance to share information provided by patentholders with respondents, and vice versa.
The FCC will likely approve the proposed $1.5 billion merger between Gannett and Belo despite petitions to deny the transaction filed Wednesday by the American Cable Association, Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and multiple public interest groups, said several industry observers in interviews Thursday. “It’s unlikely that the petitions to deny would result in the commission not approving the transaction,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, now a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute.