CTA hails the Nevada Senate’s approval of a proposal to fund the “expansion and modernization” of the Las Vegas Convention Center (see 1605010002), said Karen Chupka, senior vice president-CES and corporate business strategy, in a statement. “This critical investment will help us grow CES,” with expected completion of the project in 2023, Chupka said. The measure now moves to the Nevada Assembly, where members are urged “to act quickly to approve this important project,” she said.

Comments are due Oct. 26, and replies Nov. 2, on EchoStar's petition for a waiver that would let it import and sell AirTV, an Internet-enabled set-top box that doesn't include an analog tuner, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday in docket 16-329. The PN said FCC rules require that through Aug. 31, 2017, TV broadcast receivers must be capable of receiving all channels allocated by the FCC to the TV broadcast service. In its petition filed last week in docket 12-1, EchoStar said AirTV was made for use with applications running on mobile devices and will offer access to digital HDTV content broadcast over the air and is aimed at the "cord cutter" market. It also said since the FCC is sunsetting in 2017 its requirement that all over-the-air digital tuners include over-the-air analog tuners, there's no reason to think allowing AirTV less than year before that sunset 'would frustrate the limited remaining lifespan of the rule or otherwise harm consumers."

The FCC released its first-ever white paper on cognitive disabilities and possible accessibility and technology solutions, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in remarks at a Coleman Institute conference on cognitive disabilities and technology Thursday in Broomfield, Colorado. “We’re not where we need to be when it comes to making sure accessibility issues are a first thought, not an afterthought.” In the white paper, the commission said a lack of outreach to those with cognitive disabilities is a major barrier to their use of technology, along with economic barriers and a dearth of accessible tech. “The perceived complexity of many communications devices may deter their acquisition,” it said. “Consumers and their caregivers may simply assume that a technology cannot be made accessible to them, even when a device has features to address the consumers' accessibility needs.” Communications tools that can help those with cognitive disabilities are “being underutilized because people either don’t know they are available or know how to access them,” Wheeler said. The FCC Disability Advisory Committee’s Sept. 22 approval of a set of industry-supported best practices designed to ensure the needs of those with cognitive disabilities are included in development of communications technology is “groundbreaking and inspiring,” Wheeler said. The practices are consistent with Coleman Institute’s own Declaration of Principles: Rights of People with Cognitive Disabilities to Technology and Information Access, Wheeler said, saying he's now a signatory to the declaration. Under the best practices, companies are encouraged to develop “collaborative relationships” with people with cognitive disabilities and related organizations, and to “keep abreast” of their needs. The practices encourage companies to include those with cognitive disabilities in their development process, and to make it easier for their products to be customized to suit individual needs, Wheeler said. He cited recent guidance from the FCC on how TV stations can make their alerts accessible to those with cognitive disabilities (see 1609300060). Despite such efforts, there's a danger that outreach efforts to those with cognitive disabilities could get worse as technology advances, Wheeler said. “We need to make sure that new barriers are not created through complex display menus and user guides, complicated security and navigation features, and software upgrades that may be well-intentioned, but which often create obstacles for individuals with disabilities,” Wheeler said. “The Commission has rules in place assuring that advanced communications services and equipment are accessible, and we will enforce those rules.” Policymakers should encourage industry representatives to “do their part to raise awareness among their designers, developers, service personnel and customer representatives about the needs of people with cognitive disabilities and their support networks,” Wheeler said. Those with cognitive disabilities also need jobs, he said, noting an FCC program that has led to six employees with intellectual disabilities. The program “has helped everyone at the FCC,” Wheeler said. “Work is getting done -- and well. Training is ongoing. Promotions are occurring. And new relationships and sensitivities have developed.”

A private meeting between the transition team for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and telecom and tech officials was postponed. Trump transition officials initially scheduled an hourlong meeting for Thursday morning at the BakerHostetler law firm offices in Washington, with likely attendees expected to include CTA, the Internet Association, MPAA, Information Technology Industry Council and CTIA, plus people representing individual companies and possibly New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, chairman of the Trump transition effort (see 1609290070). But industry officials told us the meeting was pushed back a day and is now expected to occur Friday. The Trump campaign lacks any telecom and tech agenda, and some Republican lawmakers told us Trump should look to Congress (see 1609300050).

Azione Unlimited will unveil a road map for a recurring monthly revenue (RMR) model at its fall conference, Oct. 18-20, in Las Vegas. Demands from consumers for seamless integration of a growing number of components provide custom integrators with challenges and opportunities, said Azione President Richard Glikes in a news release. Azione’s eight-member RMR committee will present recommendations at the conference for how to price, sell, implement and manage plans, and the group will review findings in discussion groups, Glikes said. Azione recently partnered with service provider OneVision Resources for 24/7/365 support. OneVision works closely with Azione partner ihiji to provide system monitoring, remote diagnostics and maintenance.

“NAB is sorry to see the end of INTX," an NAB spokesman told us Wednesday evening, shortly after NCTA said it won't hold its annual cable show (see 1609280068). NCTA CEO Michael Powell blogged that his group thinks "large trade show floors, dotted with exhibit booths and stilted schedules have become an anachronism." NAB "strongly" disagrees "that large trade shows are ‘anachronistic,’" its spokesman said. "We believe the 103,000 attendees at last year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas would also beg to differ.” CTA can't comment on other trade shows, a spokesman emailed us Thursday. CTA holds the annual CES.

NCTA's annual INTX trade show is no more, President Michael Powell said in a blog post Wednesday. "We are now exploring new and better ways to tell our story, to gather our community, to advance our growth and present our vision of the future," Powell said. "We believe large trade show floors, dotted with exhibit booths and stilted schedules have become an anachronism." INTX 2017 was to have been in Washington, D.C. That show won't be held, an NCTA spokesman told us. The move follows NCTA's rebranding earlier this month (see 1609190017).

Azione Unlimited’s fall conference in Las Vegas changed venues, moving to the New York-New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino Oct. 18-20 from the Monte Carlo Resort due to renovations, said the buying group in a Monday email. Dealer presentations will cover a TV comparison spreadsheet for closing deals, client car programs, camera leasing, employee bonus programs and outsourcing human resources, Azione said.

Roughly 82 percent of U.S. TV households subscribe to some form of pay-TV service -- down from 87 percent in 2011, and in line with 2005's 82 percent, Leichtman Research Group said in a news release Friday. Among the non-subscribing TV households, Leichtman said, 14 percent paid for a service in the past year. The researcher said rates of people leaving or intending to leave the pay-TV category have been steady in recent years, but the penetration decline comes from a lack of people entering the category and the industry not keeping pace with movers and the growth in rental housing. Leichtman said the reported monthly mean spending on pay-TV service is $103.10, up 4 percent over last year, the lowest annual increase in five years. Findings came from a phone survey of 1,206 U.S. households.

Intel, Lenovo, Synaptics and PayPal are collaborating on an authentication system for consumer and enterprise laptops, they said in a Friday announcement. Lenovo customers will be able to authenticate to online FIDO- (Fast ID Online) enabled services such as PayPal by using a fingerprint rather than a password, said the companies. Intel’s 7th Gen Core processors with Software Guard Extensions are the foundation for the hardware-protected biometric authentication, and Synaptics’ Natural ID fingerprint sensor is said to offer enterprise-level security with TLS 1.2 encryption, including anti-spoofing algorithms. The goal is to reduce fraud and increase security through “nearly frictionless” hardware-based biometrics, said the companies. Users today have to remember myriad passwords for different accounts, PC log-in, email and online shopping, said Johnson Jia, senior vice president-Lenovo PC and smart device business group, saying the collaboration will change that with a simple authentication solution.