The FCC approved AT&T’s buy of Qualcomm spectrum 3-1 over a dissent by Commissioner Michael Copps. The vote was a positive development for AT&T, which last week dropped its move to buy T-Mobile after the FCC and Department of Justice both lambasted that deal as bad for competition. The buy gives AT&T six MHz of unpaired 700 MHz spectrum nationwide and another six MHz in five major metropolitan markets. The order imposes two sets of conditions, addressing data roaming and interference.
Though lawmakers won’t resume their markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act until 2012, opponents of the legislation continue voicing their objections to the bill, and particularly its provision to allow domain name system (DNS) blocking. So far, more than 40 major technology companies have announced their opposition to SOPA, and even the Future of Music Coalition, a content industry group, said it’s “fundamentally concerned” with security implications of the legislation.
Though lawmakers won’t resume their markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act until 2012, opponents of the legislation continue voicing their objections to the bill, and particularly its provision to allow domain name system (DNS) blocking. So far, more than 40 major technology companies have announced their opposition to SOPA, and even the Future of Music Coalition, a content industry group, said it’s “fundamentally concerned” with security implications of the legislation.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., will seek middle ground with the House on spectrum legislation, including reducing his proposal for funding a national public safety network, Rockefeller told reporters Tuesday after Democrats’ weekly policy lunch. The House-proposed figure of $6.5 billion comes “close” to what’s needed for the network, but $7 billion or $7.5 billion would be “a whole lot better,” the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said. The extra money could make the difference on whether the network gets built, Rockefeller said.
The House Commerce Committee hit the pause button on spectrum legislation after House leaders said they're discussing adding spectrum auction authority to a larger spending package that may be voted this week on the House floor (CD Dec 5 p7), a GOP committee aide said Monday. The committee had considered marking up the spectrum bill by Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., this week. “House Leadership has indicated they want to include spectrum in an end of the year package, so at the moment we are waiting to see how things develop on that end,” the committee aide said. Auctions would be used as one way to pay for a payroll tax cut extension, the yearly pay correction for doctors serving Medicare patients and other items in the package.
British receiver manufacturer Roberts has begun selling what radio listeners have been clamoring for since VCRs were launched in the 1970s -- an easy way to time-shift radio. “RecordR” was shown in prototype form in the summer, and is now on the market for about $150. It records FM or European DAB onto an SD card, with the length of the recording limited only by the capacity of the card. Unattended recording is set by entering the date, time and station pre-set. Up to four timer events can be set. “Pause plus” and “Rewind” allow live radio to be paused for up to 60 minutes. DAB recording is in MP2 at whatever data rate is native to the broadcast. Recording from FM is in the WAV format at 256 kbps.
Both sides of the debate on shared services agreements were disappointed in the timing of release of a Media Bureau order on a Honolulu SSA, and by what it said. Lawyers who filed the petition asking the commission to bar the deal said its release the day after Thanksgiving seemed designed to avoid attention. Foes of separately owned stations sharing news and other assets said the bureau should have found the SSA involving a major TV broadcaster and an investment firm violated rules barring two top-four rated stations from having common ownership within any market. Lawyers representing other TV stations said they worry that when licenses come up for renewal, broadcasters in SSAs could face questions because of what the order said about the Honolulu pact.
Citing a more “conservative” forecast, Rovi pushed back the volume launch of TotalGuide-embedded CE products to Q4 2012 from the first half, Chief Financial Officer James Budge told us last week at the BMO Capital Markets conference in New York. Rovi had expected to have TotalGuide embedded deployed broadly across an unidentified tier one manufacturer’s TVs and Blu-ray players in early 2012 (CED May 12 p2). Rovi has completed the code work for the embedded TotalGuide, but CE manufacturers’ product road maps don’t show it appearing until Q4 2012, Budge said. The delay coupled with an expected “meaningful drop off” in Rovi’s analog copy protection business will result flat CE revenue in 2012, Budge said.
The Natural Resources Defense Council supports the EPA’s decision to pursue an alternative Energy Star model for game consoles but wants effective limits put in place on energy use and branding and promotion guidelines for manufacturers, the group said. Because of the limited number of products in the market, the agency is opting not to use the Energy Star label to differentiate high efficiency consoles models but is weighing an alternative that involves EPA “recognition” of manufacturers “who commit to adopting the finalized efficiency criteria for their systems."
Audio-Technica introduced two headphones with communications and control compatibility with the iPhone, iPad and iPod. The ATH-CK400i in-ear headphones ($59.95) and ATH-BT03 Bluetooth in-ear headphones ($79.95) provide music playback, the ability to answer phone calls over the headphones, and integrated device control for music playback functions including play, pause, fast forward, rewind and more, Audio-Technica said. The model ATH-CK400i is available in blue, red, black/green, pink, black or white and comes with four sizes of ear tips. The wireless ATH-BT03, available in black/red or white and with multiple ear tips, enables hands-free calling and is bundled with a separate controller for managing calls and controlling music functions, the company said.