Univision Communications adds executives to its streaming team "in preparation for the launch of its two-tiered global platform": Chief Marketing Officer-Streaming Roger Sole, ex-Sprint (now T-Mobile) and more recently formerly WeWork global CMO; Senior Vice President of Development-Streaming Vincenzo Gratteri, ex-Onza Americas; Senior Vice President-Streaming Partnerships Adam Waltuch, from Netflix; and Senior Vice President-Business and Legal Affairs, Streaming Rita Chertorivski, ex-NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.
Trimble adds Dell Technologies Chief Financial Officer Thomas Sweet to its board ... Ingram Micro promotes Paul Bay to CEO to succeed Alain Monie, who transitions to executive chairman; Ingram also promotes Kirk Robinson to executive vice president and president-North America, and elevates Luis Ferez to senior vice president and president-Latin America, adding both to its executive leadership team; Nimesh Dave, executive vice president and president-global cloud, to depart ... Mastercard adds Harit Talwar, from the Goldman Sachs neobank platform Marcus, to its board, effective April 1 ... Analog Devices Technology Fellow Baoxing Chen named a 2022 IEEE Fellow for contributions to the field of integrated signal-power isolation and integrated magnetics ... Gimbal | true[X], connected TV consumer “engagement” platform, hires Lauri Baker from Pause Commercials, also former Discovery and Verizon Media, as senior vice president-partnership strategy ... Ultra-low power tech platform Ambiq announces ex-Aquantia executive Mark Voll as CFO ... Thunderbird Entertainment Group appoints former Archie Comics Publications Vice Chairman Jerome Levy to its board ... Cybersecurity company Red Canary adds Jamf CEO Dean Hager to its board ... Univision Communications adds executives to its streaming team "in preparation for the launch of its two-tiered global platform": Chief Marketing Officer-Streaming Roger Sole, ex-Sprint (now T-Mobile) and more recently the former WeWork's global CMO; Senior Vice President of Development-Streaming Vincenzo Gratteri, ex-Onza Americas; Senior Vice President-Streaming Partnerships Adam Waltuch, from Netflix; and Senior Vice President-Business and Legal Affairs, Streaming Rita Chertorivski, ex-NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.
The FCC wrapped up its comment cycle on the future of the 4.9 GHz band. But industry officials told us further agency action likely isn’t imminent, with issues to wade through before recommending a final approach. Commenters disagreed whether there should be a national framework with a nationwide band manager, though there's general support for expanding use of the band. A question is who other than public safety agencies should be given access.
Senators and industry officials are eyeing a laundry list of policy matters they want Alan Davidson to prioritize once he becomes NTIA administrator. The Senate confirmed Davidson Tuesday on a bipartisan 60-31 vote, as expected (see 2201050056). The chamber voted 64-30 Monday to invoke cloture on Davidson (see 2201100058).
Verizon and AT&T agreed to a further two-week delay, until Jan. 19, in turning on their C-band spectrum for 5G, while taking other actions to address air safety, consistent with the model for deployments in France. The agreement will protect air safety, President Joe Biden said in a statement. Industry observers said the carriers, government regulators and the airlines appear close to a final resolution, though questions remain.
Verizon and AT&T agreed to a further two-week delay, until Jan. 19, in turning on their C-band spectrum for 5G, while taking other actions to address air safety, consistent with the model for deployments in France. The agreement will protect air safety, President Joe Biden said in a statement. Industry observers said the carriers, government regulators and the airlines appear close to a final resolution, though questions remain.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. has asked a Ukrainian businessman and his technology company to sell its stake in Texas-based Firefly Aerospace due to national security concerns, Bloomberg reported Dec. 29. CFIUS is concerned that valuable U.S. technology could be transferred from Firefly to Ukraine or Russia via tech entrepreneur Max Polyakov and his firm Noosphere Venture Partners, the report said, and has asked the firm to sell its 50% stake in Firefly. Noosphere told CFIUS it plans to follow through with the request and sell its stake, the report said. Firefly, which develops commercial space launch vehicles, subsequently announced it would pause preparations for its next launch, according to a Dec. 30 report from SpaceNews. Noosphere told Bloomberg that it understands “CFIUS’s actions come amid rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia,” adding that the firm is “working diligently to address CFIUS’s concerns in the most efficient and appropriate manner possible.” Polyakov in 2020 agreed to step down from the company’s board and Firefly’s day-to-day activities “to help make it easier for the company to win U.S. government and military contracts and ease some of the underlying tensions,” Bloomberg said. Firefly, Noosphere and the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Verizon and AT&T are poised to turn on their 5G C-band operations this week, a month after agreeing to a delay until Wednesday. Analysts speculated that the biggest potential threat to that start is the FAA or aviation industry going to court to seek a stay. Airlines For America (A4A) asked the FCC late last week for a stay and warned of a legal challenge if the agency doesn’t act. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg asked the carriers to extend their pause.
The FAA believes more work is needed to find a good solution to its dispute with the FCC over the impact on aviation safety from 5G C-band wireless broadband signals “so that 5G and aviation can safely coexist,” a spokesperson emailed Thursday in response to a recent letter from Senate Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee ranking member Susan Collins, R-Maine. “While I understand the effort to deploy 5G services quickly, I do not believe the safety of our aviation system and the public should be potentially compromised,” Collins said in a Dec. 23 letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that circulated the next week. The FCC and FAA should reach a "safe resolution" to the dispute and "postpone" the C-band rollout, set to begin Wednesday, until an agreement happens, it said. The dispute is likely to be a major factor in the FCC’s 2022 spectrum agenda (see 2112290025). Wireless and aviation groups have been pressing their case to the FCC (see 2112220038) and lawmakers amid increased interest in the issue. The FCC didn't comment.
All the Republican members of the Senate Finance Committee, led by ranking member Mike Crapo of Idaho, are questioning the administration's decision to trade off extraterritorial taxation of U.S.-headquartered companies (Pillar One) in exchange for a global minimum corporate income tax (Pillar Two) and the removal of digital services taxes.