The District of Columbia backed Fairfax County, Va., as it petitioned to have until July 29, 2010, to reband its 800 MHz channels. The completion deadline is June 26, 2008. Other area cities and counties are rallying behind Fairfax. The extension should apply to the entire national capital region (NCR), whose jurisdictions are “inseparable if the existing and necessary interoperability of NCR- jurisdiction public safety radio system is to be maintained,” D.C. said. “The past 20 years, these 14 national capital regional licensees have built one of the most advanced public safety radio systems in the United States, in terms of interoperability,” the city of Manassas, Va., said. “That interoperability will be interrupted unless the NCR licensees can coordinate the rebanding of these systems with due care and reasonable planning.”

Samsung will decide by year-end whether to field a full line of front projectors, building on an existing base of two models, Christopher Franey, vice president of marketing for commercial sales, told us. Franey, who joined Samsung last year from projector supplier Viewsonic, said the company has to fill out its line to compete. Samsung shipped a 1.5-pound micro-projector ($699) three months ago with a 0.55-inch DLP chip with 800x600 resolution, 25 lumens and 1000:1 contrast ratio, extending a line that included the SP-H710AE 710 home theater projector ($3,499). The SP-H710AE 710, shipped last October, sports a single 0.6-inch DLP chip with 1,280x720p resolution, 700 lumens, 2,500:1 contrast ratio and 250-watt lamp. The micro-projector uses six LEDs sourced from Osram. “Right now we're just getting feedback as far as what we need to do to have a more robust roadmap,” Franey said. “The company is serious about being in the projector marketplace and is working extremely hard in engineering. By CES, we will either be ready to play or not ready to play in terms of having a pretty focused lineup.” A Samsung preliminary product roadmap for projectors “fills in the gaps quite well,” Franey said. That Samsung is not introducing a deep line of front projectors is “largely a matter of priorities,” as the company has emphasized TVs, cellphones, storage, memory and semiconductors, Franey said. Meanwhile, LG has no immediate plans to debut in the U.S. a micro-projector it is expected to ship in Korea next month, said Ronald Snaidauf, vice president of commercial products. LG’s projector, with a 0.55-inch DLP chip, is said to deliver 100 lumens using Osram LEDs.

The International Trade Administration has issued its final results of the antidumping duty administrative and new shipper reviews of fresh garlic from China for the period of November 1, 2004 through October 31, 2005.

New Games: New Take-Two Interactive Chairman Strauss Zelnick stood by his firm’s game Manhunt 2 Thurs., after the title was banned by the British Board of Film Classification (CED June 21 p10) and Irish Film Censor’s Office (IFCO), and slapped with an AO rating by the Entertainment Software Rating Board in the U.S. The British Board refused to grant the game a rating, meaning the title can’t legally be sold anywhere in the U.K. IFCO issued a prohibition order, declaring the game can’t be sold in Ireland because “the level of gross, unrelenting and gratuitous violence is unacceptable” in the game, it said. ESRB’s rating could end up achieving the same result as in Europe because most major retailers refuse to sell AO-rated games and Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment don’t permit AO-rated games to be released on their game systems. Take-Two wouldn’t say if it planned to edit the game. But Zelnick said his firm “believes in freedom of creative expression” as well as “social responsibility.” He added that “not all of our products are intended for all consumers; in fact, we specifically make certain of our games for adults” and it believes parents and consumers, “once informed as to the nature of any entertainment product, should be able to make their own choices.” The game “fits squarely within the horror genre and was intended to do so,” he said, calling the title “a fine piece of art” that “I stand behind… fully”… Activision’s Spider-Man 3 for PS2, in its seventh week available, was again the top-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended June 17. The only game new to the top 10 was Ubisoft’s Call of Juarez for Xbox 360 at number eight in its second week… Vivendi’s World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Expansion Pack moved up one to become the top-selling PC game in the U.S. during May, NPD Group said. Its original World of Warcraft moved up one to number two. Midway’s Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar -- April’s top- selling PC game -- slipped to number four. The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff Expansion Pack was the top-selling PC game for the week ended June 9. World of Warcraft and its expansion pack followed at numbers two and three… Midway will ship a collector’s edition of John Woo Presents Stranglehold in “limited quantity,” at $69.95 during August in the U.S., it said. A bonus disc will feature a behind-the-scenes documentary, extended cinematic scenes not in the final game and other extras. Midway already said it would ship a collector’s edition at the same price for its PS3 SKU. Standard versions of the game will also ship for PS3 and 360 at $59.99 each. The game will also ship for PC at $49.99.

At the Automated Commercial Environment Exchange V conference held June 4-6, 2007 in Buffalo, NY, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials discussed the deployment of ACE Entry Summary, Accounts, and Revenue Release A2, which is currently scheduled for Fall 2008, but may be delayed.

The Commerce Department's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) has posted to its Web site the monthly reports containing official April 2007 trade data from the Department of Census for imports and exports of textiles and apparel:

The International Trade Administration has issued a notice amending its final antidumping duty determination and order on lawn and garden steel fence posts from China in order to revise the AD duty rate of one company, as there is now a final and conclusive court decision in the proceeding.

The International Trade Administration has issued the final results of its antidumping duty changed circumstances review of certain frozen warmwater shrimp from China.

10Tacle Studios expects to report fiscal 2007 sales growth of 77 percent, to 52 million euros, while earnings before interest and taxes will soar 97 percent to 9.3 million euros, it said. The forecast exceeds the German game developer’s internal projections, it said, adding that the new predictions “reflect recent developments” at the company, including implementation of a 3D online world with content from music channel MTV, “successful launch” of a media fund in Singapore and purchase of Budapest-based development studio Stormregion (CED June 6 p9). 10Tacle expects the cooperation with a fund to develop and market the MTV online world will generate revenue of 25 million euros in 2007 and 2008. An additional share in the income is expected to contribute to earnings “as early as 2008,” it said. The firm “completed negotiations with cooperation partners” for development of the Internet world, it also said. And the order volume through the Singapore media fund, “higher” than projected for 2007, has been used for initial projects “faster than expected,” it said. Preliminary deals were signed for two “comprehensive” project commissions from the media fund for the Stormregion studio and the order volume “will be in excess of” 14 million euros, it projected.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - LEDs, new bulb technologies and lasers are expected gradually to replace conventional UHP devices in microdisplay-based rear projection TVs in 2008, as set makers try to salvage a market flooded with flat-panel models, officials said at Insight Media’s Projection Summit here.