Sprint said its new Direct 2 You service, in which a Sprint expert can provide on-site wireless sales, consultations and customer service, is available in 28 municipalities in the Denver, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco metropolitan areas. Direct 2 You, which is available to any new or current Sprint customer, allows experts to “meet customers where it is convenient for them, bringing them expert attention when and where they need it,” said Sprint Vice President-Northeast Karen Paletta in a news release. The Direct 2 You service will expand into the Dallas, Detroit, Tampa and Washington areas in early July, and is expected to continue expanding into additional markets through the rest of 2015, Sprint said.

Iridium signed up resellers for its new Push-to-Talk satellite-based communications system, including AST Group, Beam Communications, Gardline Comms, Gilat Satcom and Spacenet Communication Services de Mexico, the company said in a Monday news release. Push-to-Talk is based on the satellite company's low earth orbit constellation, and uses its various PTT radios and other providers' PTT devices that employ the Iridium PTT 9523 Core transceiver.

Discovery Communications and its Eurosport sports network got all European broadcast rights for the four Olympic Games in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024 from the International Olympic Committee, Discovery said in a Monday news release. The rights, costing about $1.46 billion, include free-to-air and pay TV, Internet and mobile phone. Discovery agreed to air some coverage on free-to-air TV during the Games.

Shaw Communications plans to offer Comcast's cloud-based X1 video platform, making it the first Canadian cable company to do so, Shaw said Thursday.

Friday’s 5-4 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage “not only is a step forward for equality and humanity, it allows American businesses to attract the best employees without regard to the marriage laws of their state,” CEA President Gary Shapiro said in a statement. That’s why “a progressive and inclusive view of marriage is pro-business, pro-innovation policy,” Shapiro said. Diversity is served because “my nation's highest court recognizes that a person should not be discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality,” he said. Other tech leaders reacting to the decision included Apple CEO Tim Cook, who tweeted: “Today marks a victory for equality, perseverance and love.” For Verizon, "when you’re in the business of connecting people across the planet, diversity needs to be a part of your DNA and your blueprint for success," wrote Senior Vice President-Public Policy and Government Affairs Mike Glover on the carrier's blog Friday.

The FCC has opposed regulation where broadcasters support it and supported regulation where broadcasters oppose it, said Matthew Berry, aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai, in a speech to the Florida Association of Broadcasters Convention Wednesday. “And on uncontroversial issues where broadcasters ask for action, the Commission often seems to do nothing,” Berry said in prepared remarks. “The end result has left many wondering what exactly is motivating the Commission’s decision-making.” Pai's office tends not to favor “the clumsy fist” of regulation, Berry said. “I was thinking of wearing a button today that read: 'Don’t blame me; I work in the minority.'" Berry criticized the FCC Democratic majority for supporting certain incentive auction policies over the objections of broadcasters, such as dynamic reserve pricing, preserving vacant channels for unlicensed use, and not limiting the auction budget to the repacking fund. “Too often throughout this proceeding, the Commission has tried to rig that market to benefit favored companies and industries and penalize those in disfavor,” he said. If DRP is abandoned in the FCC July auction order, as expected (see 1506170052), it will be “a major victory” for broadcasters, Berry said. Efforts by wireless carriers to reserve spectrum in the incentive auction are “amusing,” Berry said. ”It isn’t every day that companies with market caps over $30 billion attempt to foment a populist uprising so they can receive more corporate welfare from the federal government,” he said. “If their effort succeeds, there will be less money to pay broadcasters in the reverse auction.” The FCC should stop “thumbing its nose at Congress” and update media ownership rules, Berry said. He criticized the continued existence of the newspaper broadcast cross-ownership rule, and praised efforts in Congress that would counter the FCC rule change to increase how many joint sales agreements are attributable for ownership purposes. “I am optimistic that we will prevail,” he said in support of the congressional efforts. Berry also said it's time for the FCC to act on modernizing contest rules and revitalizing AM radio. “Time is not on the side of the grand old band," he said. The agency had no comment.

The use of a promotional model for demos doesn't constitute a "permissible use" under drawback rules permitting refunds of customs duties for unused goods, Customs and Border Protection ruled. CBP said in the just-released May 28 ruling, HQ H258306, that demos of Anritsu network testing devices before sale go beyond incidental usage and don't qualify as unused merchandise. Anritsu is a Japanese manufacturer of network test and measurement equipment for the telecom industry. The company's U.S. sales personnel generates interest in Anritsu products through the use of promotional models imported into America. The company lets potential customers test the models, either through letting the prospect take a device home or within a lab setting, said CBP.

Google released Chrome v 43.0.2357.130 for Linux, Mac and Windows to address multiple vulnerabilities Monday, one of which may let an attacker obtain sensitive information, said a U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team alert. “Access to bug details and links may be kept restricted until a majority of users are updated with a fix,” Google Chrome Technical Program Manager Anthony Laforge wrote in a blog post Monday. “We will also retain restrictions if the bug exists in a third party library that other projects similarly depend on, but haven’t yet fixed.”

AT&T and DirecTV officials told FCC officials that their proposed transaction would provide benefits to tens of millions of consumers, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 14-90 about a conference call Friday. They cited the voluntary commitments they had previously made to provide the commission with further assurances the deal would be in the public interest, the filing said. In response to a question after the FCC's Thursday meeting, Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency was trying to resolve the AT&T/DirecTV proceeding "with dispatch" but wouldn't elaborate. The FCC's nonbinding 180-day shot clock for its AT&T/DirecTV review remains stopped on Day 170.

The GPS industry continues to voice worries about the growing demand for LTE-based services and the need to protect Global Navigation Satellite System and GPS receivers and services from signal interference. In an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 11-109, Deere, Garmin and Trimble Navigation said they met with FCC staff last week to highlight the protections needed for navigation devices vs. communications ones, and to make clear "that we remain committed to working ... to protect critical GNSS applications from interference while potentially exploring ways that currently underutilized spectrum in adjacent bands can be made more productive." A presentation to FCC staff said LTE band 24 sits closer to the GNSS "receive" band than the usual spectrum spacing for paired wireless broadband spectrum frequencies, meaning GNSS "is expected to tolerate what wireless systems cannot."