The FCC and industry stepped up preparations for Hurricane Irma -- a Category 5 storm that was near Puerto Rico Wednesday and projected to head toward Florida. The Public Safety Bureau activated its disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for Irma to facilitate communications provider reports on infrastructure status and other storm-related situations. Reports are requested starting at 10 a.m. Thursday and continuing daily at that time until the system is deactivated for Irma, said a public notice. (The agency deactivated DIRS for Hurricane Harvey, said another PN, one of several Tuesday.) FCC bureaus announced procedures to help communications providers "initiate, resume, and maintain operations" in areas affected by Irma, said a PN, with guidance on special temporary authority requests and much contact information. A PN announced a 24/7 call line (202-418-1122) and email address (FCCOPCenter@fcc.gov) to address emergency needs. An FCC webpage on Irma contains links to various resources. "FCC public safety staff is busy preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irma while continuing to respond to the aftermath of #Harvey," tweeted Chief of Staff Matt Berry. Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday visited 911 operations and other facilities in Texas to view the damage from Harvey, said a release. Comcast is making its 137,000-plus Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in Florida available to non-Comcast customers through Sept. 15 in anticipation of Hurricane Irma's landfall, it said Wednesday. It also prepared facilities including staging emergency generators and fuel trucks and bringing in extra technical and network restoration teams. AT&T (here), T-Mobile (here) and Verizon (here, here) issued releases on Irma preparations. Amazon faced allegations of price gouging on bottled water in Florida as Irma approached, according to some reports (here, here). The company doesn't "engage in surge pricing," it emailed. "Amazon prices do not fluctuate by region or delivery location. Prices on bottled water from Amazon, and third-party sellers that are doing their own fulfillment to customers, have not widely fluctuated in the last month.”

CTA awaits “more detailed information” on the new partnership announced last week in Berlin by NAPCO Media and organizers of the IFA show, spokesman Jeff Joseph said Tuesday. IFA is the longtime competitor with CES for bragging rights over which is the world’s largest consumer tech trade show. At CTA, “we currently remain focused on producing another record breaking CES, the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies,” Joseph said. Registration for January CES opens Wednesday, he said. The NAPCO-IFA partnership “will offer consumer electronics and home appliances brands an unrivalled platform to connect with retailers,” said the Berlin announcement. The partnership will give brands “integrated access not only to the world’s biggest tradeshow for consumer electronics and home appliances, but also to NAPCO Media’s deep expertise and focused channel strategy for the US market,” said the announcement. “The IFA and NAPCO Media teams are engaged in strategic planning discussions that will result in innovative new products, research, and enhanced cross channel coverage of the industry that will debut early in 2018.” NAPCO, parent of Dealerscope magazine, produces CE Week, “the industry’s official mid-year conference and technology showcase” in New York, said the announcement. CTA was a CE Week sponsor until it ended its involvement about three years ago.

In an announcement Friday in Shanghai, Taiwan, Tokyo and Berlin, Sharp launched what it called an 8K Ecosystem dubbed “Horizon Broadened.” Calling the 8K ecosystem a “core strategy” of the company, with the help of Foxconn, Sharp pushed its “complete” 8K supply chain that includes 8K cameras, content editing, storing, and transferring and broadcasting. The global event followed a Thursday announcement that Sharp will deliver a 70-inch 8K TV (7680 x 4320 resolution) in China in October, Japan in December, Taiwan in February and Europe in March. No date was given for a U.S. release. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou referred to 8K manufacturing when he announced the company’s $10 billion investment in a Kenosha, Wisconsin, plant in July (see 1707270017). Sharp’s first-generation 8K TVs, with 16 times the resolution of Full HD, will be packed with premium TV features and housings, said the company. It described brushed aluminum alloy frames, Dolby Vision high dynamic range, and a sound bar equipped with three sets of speakers for bass that will mount behind the TV. A Yamaha “audio engine” and DTS sound are part of the system, it said. At Friday’s event, Sharp also announced it will participate in construction of a Foxconn global R&D center for future display technology in Shenzhen, China, where it will test 8K + 5G applications.

The FCC published in Friday's Federal Register a further notice on wireless mics approved by commissioners in July (see 1707130055). “This proposed action promotes the Commission’s goal of accommodating wireless microphone users’ needs through access to spectrum resources following the incentive auction and reconfiguration of the TV bands,” the notice said. The FCC said the risk of wireless mic operations causing harmful interference to incumbent users of the spectrum “is low considering that wireless microphones operate at relatively low power over short ranges.” In addition to TV spectrum, venues that qualify would be able to use portions of the 900 MHz band, as well as in the 1435-1525 MHz and 6975-7125 MHz band, under the FCC proposal. Comments are due Oct. 2 in docket 14–166, replies Oct. 16.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appointed new members to the Consumer Advisory Committee, to serve from Sept. 1 to Oct. 21, 2018, unless the committee terminates earlier, a public notice said. The new members serving as primary representatives are CTA Vice President Regulatory Affairs Julie Kearney, Digital Policy Institute co-Executive Director Barry Umansky, T-Mobile Chief Counsel-Policy Luisa Lancetti, and Alex Phillips former president of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association. Kyle Hildebrand and American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy William Rinehart were added as subject matter experts and special government employees, the PN said. With the new members, the FCC expects the CAC to provide guidance on “robocall blocking and reassigned numbers, preventing slamming and associated cramming, and outreach on spectrum repacking,” the PN said.

Videotron licensed Comcast's Xfinity X1 platform for use in its own IPTV service, said the Canadian cable ISP Tuesday. Canada's Rogers Communications and Shaw, plus Cox Communications in the U.S., have also licensed the X1 platform (see 1612160009).

Consumers who bought tech support products and services April 2012-November 2014 through an alleged tech support scheme have until Oct. 27 to submit a request for a partial refund, said an FTC Monday news release. Last year, Florida-based Inbound Call Experts paid $10 million to settle FTC allegations the firm deceived hundreds of thousands of consumers (see 1612220024).

Correction: It was Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy's Larry Downes, not Public Knowledge's John Bergmayer, who said he "would be cautious about using market cap as a measure of market strength or leverage" (see 1708250054).

The First Amendment constrains what government can do to limit free speech, but it doesn't put any such restrictions on companies like GoDaddy, Google and Twitter that refused to host the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer (see 1708180005, 1708150001 and 1708140044) or share advertising revenue with "hateful videos" after the Charlottesville, Virginia, protests, blogged American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow Daniel Lyons Friday. "And this is exactly as it should be," he wrote. "Absent some contractual provision to the contrary, companies should not be compelled to carry speech with which they disagree." Others said such actions have "somewhat disrupted the net neutrality narrative," said Lyons. But Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act not only shields service providers and ISPs from content written by others, it also protects the providers if they restrict access to material they find offensive, he added.

Sony Pictures video titles will be available at Redbox kiosks the same day as retail sell-through dates, under a new distribution agreement, said the companies in a news release. The agreement takes effect next month, they said. Redbox announced a similar pact with Lionsgate earlier this month. In July, Redbox signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment making that studio's content available for Redbox DVD rentals seven days after retail sell-through dates.