The war of words on spectrum among broadcasters and carriers and their equipment vendors heated up ahead of a possible markup of legislation in the House Communications Subcommittee next week. The latest dispute between NAB, representing TV stations, and CEA, CTIA and member companies on the industry side is over a two-week old report by Citigroup on whether there’s a looming shortage of frequency for wireless broadband. Both sides continue to try to frame the report to illustrate their case of whether there’s a looming spectrum crunch, although stock analysts concluded after a study that carriers could more efficiently use the 538 MHz they already have by upgrading to LTE.
The war of words on spectrum among broadcasters and carriers and their equipment vendors heated up ahead of a long-looming markup of legislation in the House Communications Subcommittee. The latest dispute between NAB, representing TV stations, and CEA, CTIA and member companies on the industry side is over a two-week old report by Citigroup on whether there’s a looming shortage of frequency for wireless broadband. Both sides continue to try to frame the report to illustrate their case of whether there’s a looming spectrum crunch, although stock analysts concluded after a study that carriers could more efficiently use the 538 MHz they already have by upgrading to LTE.
There’s not much of a push yet within the FCC for an AllVid rulemaking that consumer electronics makers have sought to move the industry closer to a requirement that all pay-TV companies connect to CE devices without CableCARDs, agency officials said Wednesday. They said few at the commission seem to be trying to ratchet up the pressure on Chairman Julius Genachowski to issue a rulemaking notice. That could change after a closed-door stakeholder meeting organized by the Media Bureau was held in the commission meeting room last Wednesday, agency officials watching the AllVid proceeding said.
There’s not much of a push yet within the FCC for an AllVid rulemaking that consumer electronics makers have sought to move the industry closer to a requirement that all pay-TV companies connect to CE devices without CableCARDs, agency officials said Wednesday. They said few at the commission seem to be trying to ratchet up the pressure on Chairman Julius Genachowski to issue a rulemaking notice. That could change after a closed-door stakeholder meeting organized by the Media Bureau was held in the commission meeting room last Wednesday, agency officials watching the AllVid proceeding said.
There’s not much of a push yet within the FCC for an AllVid rulemaking that consumer electronics makers have sought to move the industry closer to a requirement that all pay-TV companies connect to CE devices without CableCARDs, agency officials said Wednesday. They said few at the commission seem to be trying to ratchet up the pressure on Chairman Julius Genachowski to issue a rulemaking notice. That could change after a closed-door stakeholder meeting organized by the Media Bureau was held in the commission meeting room last Wednesday, agency officials watching the AllVid proceeding said.
DALLAS - NATM dealers are slowing expansion plans despite the flood of available retail locations, striking a cautious strategy amid the struggling U.S. economy, buying group members we polled here said. While dealers scooped up leases that became available with Circuit City’s demise (CED Sept 18/09 p1), many of the better locations are now filled, leaving NATM members more focused on increasing business at existing locations rather expanding the size of their chains, industry officials said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau Friday restarted it’s informal 180-day “shot clock” on its review of AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile. As a result, Friday was officially day 83 of the review. AT&T welcomed the development, but merger critics said the quick restart of the clock could also be bad news for AT&T. Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the development.
A second cable operator may soon land an FCC waiver to encrypt all channels. RCN now wants to follow Cablevision’s lead and be able to turn on and off service remotely (CED Aug 16 p1), cutting down on signal theft and sparing the expense and carbon emissions of sending out technicians on truck rolls.
A second cable operator may get an FCC waiver to encrypt all channels. RCN now wants (CD Aug 16 p13) to follow Cablevision’s lead and be able to turn on and off service remotely, cutting down on signal theft and the expense and pollution of sending out technicians. Commission approval of RCN’s new request seems likely, and there will probably be less opposition to the move expressed than Cablevision faced in 2009, industry lawyers and an analyst said in interviews Tuesday. They said the regulator seems unlikely to start a rulemaking to examine whether it’s worth keeping a ban on operators encrypting channels in the basic tier. RCN wants out of that ban in Chicago and New York, where it’s gone all-digital.
Sirius XM pushed past 21 million subscribers by June 30 when it had 8 percent more paid subscriptions than the 19.5 million it had June 30 a year earlier, the company said Tuesday. “Self-pay net additions” grew 19 percent in the quarter ending June 30 to 363,000 from the same 2010 quarter, prompting Sirius XM to upgrade its forecast on net subscriber additions for the year to 1.6 million from 1.4 million in the previous forecast. That would represent a 13 percent increase from 2010’s net subscriber additions, CEO Mel Karmazin said on an earnings call.