Critical infrastructure such as telecom networks remain at risk of terrorist attack in large part due to a failure of federal agencies such as the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to share information, a new report said Tues. While there’s plenty of information both in the federal govt. and the private sector to make critical infrastructure more secure, legacy models of information sharing are insufficient, and President Bush should intervene, said The Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, formed shortly after Sept. 11 by the Markle Foundation. John Gannon, a former deputy CIA dir. and now staff dir. of the House Select Homeland Security Committee, said the report’s goals echoed those of Chmn. Cox (R-Cal.) and the select committee.

Electronic Arts (EA) again dominated the top 10 videogame rental chart in the U.S., Rentrak’s Home Video Essentials preliminary data for the week ended Nov. 23 showed. Five EA games were in the top 10, led by Medal of Honor: Rising Sun for PS2, which again was the #1-rented title. Rentrak said the game earned $615,804 in the week, increasing its total rental earnings to $1.27 million. The other 4 EA games in the top 10 were Need for Speed Underground for PS2 at #3 in its first week ($330,349), the Xbox version of Rising Sun at #5 (up 3, earning $247,276 in the week and $523,801 to date), Madden NFL 2004 for PS2 at #8 (up 2, $224,470 and $4.15 million), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for PS2 at #10 (down 3, $202,003 and $538,205). PS2 again was the dominant hardware player in the top 10. The only other game in the top 10 not for Sony’s console was Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto double pack at #9 (down 5, $205,471 and $777,889). The only other publisher with more than one game in the top 10 was Activision, whose True Crime: Streets of L.A. was #2 (up one, $346,358 and $1.01 million) and Tony Hawk’s Underground was #4 (down 2, $319,317 and $1.55 million). Rounding out the top 10 were Sony’s SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs at #6 (down one, $245,891 and $898,363) and THQ’s WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain at #7 (down one, $227,972 $1.07 million). On the movie rental chart for the same week, Rentrak said Paramount’s Lara Croft: Cradle of Life, in its first full week of availability, was the #1-rented DVD, earning $5.13 million in rentals in the week on DVD and $5.21 million to date.

Commerce Dept. investigators reported evidence of “massive imports” of color TVs from China in the run-up to the dept.’s preliminary decision this week that recommended antidumping duties of up to 45.8% on the sets (CED Nov 25 p1). The investigators’ finding of “critical circumstances” stemmed from a move by Chinese manufacturers to increase exports of 21"-and-up TVs to the U.S. ahead of the release of the preliminary decision that will form the basis for a final ruling in April.

In the first telecom decision of its kind since the Basic Telecom Agreement of 1997, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of U.S. long distance carriers in their dispute with Mexico’s Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), a U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) official confirmed Wed. The WTO late last week issued a preliminary decision requiring Telmex to reduce the rates it charges U.S. carriers to connect incoming calls.

Consumer intentions on buying TV sets remained unchanged in Nov. from Oct., according to preliminary data in the Conference Board’s monthly survey. Of 5,000 households polled, 7% said they planned to buy a TV set in the next 6 months, vs. the same percentage in Oct., 6.3% in Sept. and 6.7% in Nov. 2002. The Consumer Confidence Index registered a “solid gain” in Nov., jumping a full 10 points from Oct. and reaching its highest level since the fall of 2002, the Conference Board said: “The rise in expectations is a signal that consumers will end this year much more upbeat than when the year began.”

Apex Digital said it planned to unveil a combination PC gaming console and progressive scan DVD player at CES in Jan. after signing a deal with privately held technology company Digital Interactive Systems Corp. (DISC). An Apex spokeswoman said “we have not yet established a ship date, nor have we confirmed pricing, although we anticipate it being in the $399 range.”

At our deadline Mon., TV set manufacturer Five Rivers Electronic Innovations and 2 unions were claiming victory over a Commerce Dept. preliminary decision that imposed 28-46% antidumping duties on color TVs (CTVs) imported from China. Commerce didn’t propose duties on CTVs from Malaysia.

NPR expects to finish testing the secondary or supplemental digital audio channel by mid-Dec. and submit the results to the National Radio Systems Committee at the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 9, Vp Engineering Mike Starling told us. NPR is setting much store by the success of the supplemental audio channel as a way of increasing coverage in light of spectrum shortage and to promote localism, an issue that has come to the fore after the FCC decided to raise the ownership limits for commercial TV broadcasters. Starling said testing had been almost completed on schedule Sept. in 4 markets when iBiquity unveiled its new HD Codec (HDC) to replace the PAC Codec. Starling said data collection was done based on the PAC codec at KALW San Francisco, KKJZ L.A., WETA Washington, a long- standing test station for iBiquity, and WNYC N.Y.C. The introduction of the HD Codec in Aug., which drew “rave” reviews from more than 40 broadcast engineers and executives, meant “all our test data on PAC Codec was not conclusive of what would be the real world coverage characteristics and that we have to do several rounds of some regression testing.” The new testing would be confined to Washington and N.Y., Starling said, because those stations were on the air permanently, whereas in L.A. and San Francisco the testing was done on “loaner” transmitters. It won’t be necessary to go back and redo all of those data, he said. Asked whether there had been any preliminary findings on the viability of the 2nd channel, Starling was cautious, saying he didn’t want to be “premature about our expectations.” He said it was believed internally that if a city grade coverage contour of 70 dBu was achieved it would be substantial enough to “warrant asking the Commission to endorse this option” as part of the interim service rules for digital radio. “We think we will clearly exceed that, but I wouldn’t want to predict where we will wind up,” he said. “We will probably be somewhere between the 60 and 70 dBu contour as you could generally expect.”

NPR expects to finish testing the secondary or supplemental digital audio channel by mid-Dec. and submit the results to the National Radio Systems Committee at a Jan. 9 meeting planned during the Las Vegas CES, Vp Engineering Mike Starling told us.

The downward creeping in analog rear-projection TV pricing has turned into a sprint with Circuit City promoting a Magnavox 55” set at $799, post rebate, in an ad circular Thurs.