Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen said Dish is “prepared to win and prepared to lose” in its bid for Sprint Nextel. If Dish is unsuccessful with Sprint, “we have a lot of options,” including selling the spectrum, selling Dish or partnering with someone in the wireless business, he said Thursday during a Q1 conference call.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act Thursday aimed at giving consumers more control over viewing options, he said in a floor speech Thursday. He said the bill, which was expected (CD May 9 p2), aims to “encourage the wholesale and retail unbundling of programming by distributors and programmers, establish consequences if broadcasters choose to downgrade their over-the-air service, and eliminate the sports blackout rule for events held in publicly-financed stadiums.” NCTA called the bill “unnecessary and counterproductive,” in a news release. NAB and Dish Network did not comment.
The FCC launched a rulemaking seeking comment on a Qualcomm proposal for a terrestrial-based air-ground mobile broadband service in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band, on a secondary basis, for use by passengers on aircraft. The service uses time-division duplex technology and is expected to mean faster broadband connections on commercial flights. The proposal has faced continuing opposition from the Satellite Industry Association since the spectrum is set aside as a satellite uplink band (CD April 30 p4). Commissioners approved the NPRM on a 4-0 vote Thursday, but said they want hard evidence that the new service won’t pose interference problems for satellite operators.
The FCC approved a rulemaking that proposes giving the commercial space industry faster, more assured access to the 420-430 MHz, 2200-2290 MHz and 5650-5925 MHz spectrum bands during space launches. The FCC also proposes various options to improve interference protection for communications between commercial satellites and federal users on the ground. An accompanying NOI examines the space industry’s broader spectrum needs. The NPRM and NOI were approved Thursday by the commission by a 4-0 vote.
The comparatively low cost of mobile DTV will give terrestrial broadcasters a “significant advantage” over streaming TV services like Aereo, stakeholders said Thursday at the Advanced TV Systems Committee annual meeting. Representatives from mobile DTV providers Dyle and Mobile 500 Alliance said mobile TV technology’s comparatively low cost and reliable coverage was one of several advantages that would keep broadcasters competitive with wireless carriers.
The chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau, William Lake, threw cold water on broadcasters’ recent calls for the commission to delay the incentive spectrum auction and the repacking proceeding that follows to coincide with the deployment of the next-generation ATSC 3.0 standard. “I do urge ATSC and the industry to work as fast as you can and want to on ATSC 3.0,” Lake said Thursday in Q-and-A at the annual meeting of the Advanced TV Systems Committee. “It’s just that I think it’s unrealistic to expect that the incentive auction will slow down to wait."
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, a prolific user of Twitter (https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch), doesn’t have any rivals among executives at Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Time Warner Inc.’s TBS or Univision, judging by their spokeswomen’s comments. “We don’t have any Ruperts in our midst yet,” said Comcast Chief Communications Officer D'Arcy Rudnay. “It’s pretty brave of him.” It’s “easy for tweeting to go amiss,” she said. “Plus, what am I going to say? I'm on the Acela and it’s 30 minutes late?” But “most everyone on my team does” use Twitter, said Rudnay.
The First Responder Network Authority Board agreed to launch a special committee to investigate questions about FirstNet management raised last month by board member Paul Fitzgerald, sheriff of Story County, Iowa. Fitzgerald questioned whether the board is transparent and open and whether first responders are being frozen out of decisions being made as the process of launching the network gets under way (CD April 24 p1). The board met by conference call Wednesday.
Rapid growth in the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturing sector is a threat to U.S. national security because it’s a possible source of cyberattacks on U.S. communications infrastructure, said retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John Adams in a report released Wednesday, commissioned by the lobbying and policy group Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM). The report said U.S. national security and the nation’s defense-industrial base are threatened by an over-reliance on foreign suppliers for “critical defense materials,” including telecom equipment (http://bit.ly/144fqnC). The AAM report follows the release earlier this week of a Defense Department report to Congress that said at least some cyberattacks on U.S. government and civilian computer networks “appear to be attributable directly to the Chinese government and military.” China is waging these attacks to gather information on U.S. defense, diplomatic and economic interests “that support U.S. national defense programs,” the Defense Department said in its report (http://1.usa.gov/13ecTZb). The Defense Department report makes it “all the more urgent” that the U.S. restore domestic production of telecom equipment and other equipment needed for military use, Adams said at a news conference Wednesday.
An FCC order requiring all carriers and providers of interconnected text message services to provide subscribers with automatic 911 bounceback messages by Sept. 30 was pulled late Wednesday from Thursday’s commission agenda. The order had been circulated prior to its being put on the agenda last week for the meeting and the commissioners wrapped up electronic voting Wednesday, FCC officials said.