EchoStar’s Sling Media filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and is suing Belkin, claiming its Belkin @TV set-top products infringe patents at the heart of its video placeshifting technology.
Several Senate Commerce Committee members want Congress to modernize rules that govern the communications market. From federal E-rate polices, to video regulations, lawmakers at Tuesday’s FCC oversight hearing said it’s time to take a hard look at what should be done to modernize the 20th century rules that govern the market now.
Common Cause doesn’t like the prospect of the FCC relying on an outside group’s study of the impact of a draft order’s media ownership rule changes on minorities and women. The agency Tuesday paused a proceeding on some cross-ownership deregulation pending the study by BIA/Kelsey paid for by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (CD Feb 27 p1). The FCC “should take the time necessary to conduct careful, independent research on how proposals to relax its rules on media consolidation would impact levels of broadcast ownership by women, African-Americans and other minorities,” Common Cause said in a news release Wednesday. Common Cause Special Adviser Michael Copps, a former FCC member who is an opponent of media mergers and acquisitions, is “troubled by the process” the commission is following, he said. BIA/Kelsey “has longstanding ties to the industry,” Copps said of the broadcast research firm. “The FCC itself should be driving the research process, setting the parameters and teeing up the questions needed to satisfy anti-discrimination requirements set by the courts and guarantee an independent and data-driven outcome.” But it’s MMTC, not broadcasters, that’s paying for the study, the council’s executive director, David Honig, told us of the concerns of groups opposing media M&A.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski paused the media ownership proceeding to give the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council time to study the impact of waivers allowing common ownership of stations and daily newspapers on minority and women-owned broadcasters. The delay had been expected (CD Feb 21 p5) and shortly after NAB and the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) backed MMTC’s plan to spend its own money on the research. Other FCC members and broadcasters generally support the delay in voting on rules first circulated Nov. 14, agency and industry officials told us, and commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowell said they backed the delay.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council no longer seeks an immediate vote on an FCC media ownership order that has deadlocked commissioners (CD Feb 19 p13). MMTC made a new proposal for steps to take before a vote on whether to deregulate newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules. The council last month sought a vote on the draft Media Bureau order before studies were complete on the rules’ effect on minority ownership (CD Jan 28 p7), saying if the research showed deregulation would harm people of color, the order could be reversed. Executive Director David Honig told us the council now wants the proceeding put on hold so a study the group will pay for on cross ownership’s effects on minority-owned stations can be done by a research firm.
Take-Two Interactive delayed the release of Grand Theft Auto V for the PS3 and Xbox 360 from this spring (CED Oct 31 p7) until Sept. 17, it said Thursday. The game needed “additional development time,” it said. Take-Two shares closed 6.8 percent lower Thursday at $12.17. Bank of Montreal Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams continues to believe the game “will be among the best performing games” of 2013, following the “success of earlier titles in the series,” he said. Grand Theft Auto is Take-Two’s top-selling game property and one of the best-performing game series in the entire industry. But Williams lowered his earnings per share estimate for Take-Two’s fiscal year, “in part due to the delay of the game and partially due to higher than previously assumed expenses,” he said. Take-Two’s fiscal year ends in March. The publisher is “poised for significant growth” over the next two fiscal years behind the releases of “several major titles” that also include BioShock Infinite, said Williams. Take-Two’s online initiatives in Asia that leverage key game series including NBA 2K and Civilization offer a “potential long-term catalyst” for the publisher, he said. But “uncertainty about the company’s ability to consistently hit release dates gives us pause,” he said.
Carriers asked the FCC to allocate more money to Phase II of the Mobility Fund, arguing in reply comments this week that $500 million annual support for wireless eligible telecom carriers to accelerate mobile deployment is not nearly enough, and pales in comparison to the support offered to ILECs. But Verizon Wireless cautioned that consumers and business could suffer if the fund gets too large.
ATSC 2.0 will emerge as a new candidate broadcast standard early this year with a goal of deploying it in CE products by year-end, Richard Chernock, chairman of the ATSC technology and standards group, told us. The candidate standard designation is a precursor to formal implementation of ATSC 2.0, he said.
ATSC 2.0 will emerge as a new candidate broadcast standard early this year with a goal of deploying it in CE products by year-end, Richard Chernock, chairman of the ATSC technology and standards group, told us. The candidate standard designation is a precursor to formal implementation of ATSC 2.0, he said.
ATSC 2.0 will emerge as a new candidate broadcast standard early this year with a goal of deploying it in CE products by year-end, Richard Chernock, chairman of the ATSC technology and standards group, told us. The candidate standard designation is a precursor to formal implementation of ATSC 2.0, he said.