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In an amicus (friend of the court) brief, the Consumer Electronics Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association and Internet Association took Dish's side in the lawsuit filed by broadcasters against the ad-skipping DVR.
The groups said that the Hopper was protected under the Supreme Court's Betamax decision. "[R]ecording for personal, private viewing does not infringe; nor does declining to watch commercials... There is simply no precedent for finding consumer copyright liability where, as here, recordings stay in the home, are made portable, or otherwise remain under the control of the consumer who made them," they argue.
CEA, CCIA, Internet Association File Amicus Brief Supporting Dish’s Ad-Skipping DVR
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) is assuming control of the Senate subcommittee in charge of the budgets of the financial agencies. The new post will give Lautenberg power over what is spent by the Treasury department, Securities & Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and a host of other agencies.
“This chairmanship provides an important opportunity to strengthen consumer protections and make sure our nation's financial institutions serve the interests of all Americans. In addition, the FCC has a tremendous impact on our daily lives, from cellphones to the Internet to what we see on our television screens, and I will work to promote fairness, localism and diversity in the telecommunications industry,” he said.
Sen Lautenberg assumes power over financial agency, FCC budgets Press release (Sen Lautenberg)
The European Commission unveiled a deal with Hewlett-Packard, Telefonica and eight other telecoms and technology firms aimed at filling up to 700,000 high tech job vacancies.
Calling it a grand coalition, European Union Telecoms Commissioner Neelie Kroes said the companies pledged to offer training, free online university courses or provide start-up funding. The European Commission is seeking to spur economic growth, boost competitiveness and tackle a record jobless total of 26.1 million in the 27-country European Union, or 10.7 percent of the working population. High tech vacancies have proven hard to fill because job seekers either do not have the right qualifications, have qualifications not recognized throughout the European Union or do not speak English.
EU seals pact with firms in bid to fill 700,000 tech jobs
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced new actions as part of the Broadband Acceleration Initiative, a comprehensive effort to remove barriers to broadband build-out, including streamlining the deployment of mobile broadband infrastructure, such as towers, distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells.
The FCC defined and clarified a technical provision in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 regarding local review of requests to modify an existing wireless tower or base station. This provision will accelerate deployment and delivery of high-speed mobile broadband to communities across the nation. This action will create greater certainty and predictability for providers that today invest more than $25 billion per year in mobile infrastructure, one of the largest U.S. sectors for private investment.
The FCC also launched a proceeding to expedite placement of temporary cell towers – cells on wheels (COWs) and cells on light trucks (COLTs) – that are used to expand capacity during special events, such as the Inauguration or the Super Bowl. Chairman Genachowski also announced actions in the coming months to further streamline DAS and small cell deployment; examine whether current application of the tower siting shot clock offers sufficient clarity to industry and municipalities; and begin developing model facility siting rules for localities. Each of these actions would contribute to faster, more efficient deployment of wireless infrastructure.
New Broadband Acceleration Initiative Actions Statement (FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel) FCC Wants to Help Round up More COWS and COLTS (B&C) FCC moves to streamline wireless buildout (ComputerWorld)
An edict from the Library of Congress is about to make phone unlocking illegal for the first time in 6 years. The decision, issued in October, is part of a triennial process whereby the Librarian of Congress hands out exemptions from the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The new ruling comes with a grandfather clause. It will continue to be legal to unlock phones purchased before Saturday, January 26. But if you unlock a phone purchased after that date you could be liable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits the "circumvention" of copy protection schemes.
Unlocking new cell phones to become illegal on Jan 26, 2013
[Commentary] Rarely do you see companies double-dare the Federal Communications Commission to back up their brave talk about promoting competition. That is, however, what AT&T has just decided to do – with a little help from Verizon.
After gobbling a ton of spectrum last year in a series of small transactions, AT&T announced earlier this week it would buy up ATNI, which holds the last shreds of the old Alltel Spectrum. To top this off, Verizon just announced it has selected the purchaser for the 700 MHz spectrum it promised to sell off to get permission to buy the SpectrumCo spectrum. And guess what? The purchaser of the bulk of Verizon’s 700 MHz licenses, which Verizon promised to divest to promote competition – is AT&T! Mind you, this was exactly the anti-competitive scenario many of us predicted when Verizon made the offer to sell off its 700 MHz licenses in order to bulk up on its AWS footprint. Nevertheless, the FCC refused to impose a condition prohibiting the sale of the licenses to AT&T on the grounds that it could wait to see who purchased the licenses before acting. Well, now we know, and the FCC has the “hypothetical” transaction it did not want to consider last summer squarely before it today.
AT&T and Verizon Double-Dare FCC To Stop Spectrum Consolidation
Verizon Wireless announced today it has signed agreements to complete a number of spectrum license transactions, including license sale, purchase and lease agreements.
The agreements cover the following transactions:
- Verizon Wireless will sell 39 lower 700 MHz B Block licenses to AT&T in exchange for a payment of $1.9 billion, and the transfer by AT&T to Verizon Wireless of AWS (10 MHz) licenses in certain western markets, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Fresno and Portland, Oregon.
- Verizon Wireless will sell lower 700 MHz B Block licenses covering the Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham markets in North Carolina to Grain Management, a Sarasota, Florida-based private equity firm that invests in the telecommunications sector, in exchange for a payment of $189 million.
- Verizon Wireless will lease from Grain Management an AWS license covering Dallas, Texas, which Grain is acquiring from AT&T.
The transactions are subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). In April, Verizon pledged to sell off two 12MHz blocks of mobile spectrum in the 700MHz band, including the B block, if U.S. regulators approved its purchase of spectrum from a group of cable providers.
Verizon Wireless, AT&T Announce Spectrum License Transactions AT&T to buy Verizon spectrum for $1.9 billion (IDG New Service) AT&T to Buy Spectrum From Verizon for $1.9 Billion (Bloomberg) AT&T to Pay $1.9 Billion for Verizon Spectrum (Reuters) AT&T buys Verizon airwaves for $1.9 billion (The Hill) Verizon, AT&T in $1.9 Billion Deal to Swap Some Spectrum (WSJ) AT&T Will Buy Some Verizon Spectrum for $1.9 Billion (NYTimes) Verizon appeases regulators by selling spectrum to AT&T (ars technica) AT&T buys Verizon's high-speed cellphone spectrum in 18 states (LATimes)
[Commentary] The single biggest story this week, of course, is the story you already know: On January 21, 2013, at 11:55 AM Eastern Time, President Barack Obama delivered his Second Inaugural Address from the steps of the U.S. Capitol. The address called on the nation to work together to meet the challenges we all face -- the cost of health care and the size of our deficit, climate change and transitioning to sustainable energy sources, ending wars and winning the peace, ensuring civil rights and personal safety, and creating a path to citizenship for new Americans. But our focus today are a few lines that perked the ears of many an observer of our nation’s telecommunications policy and the technology sector.
No Single Person Can Build the Roads and Networks...
The National Association of Broadcasters says there are parts of the Federal Communications Commission's proposed band plan that are unworkable from an engineering perspective, but it has an alternative as it works to ensure that broadcasters who don't sell out spectrum aren't, in turn, sold out by an unworkable auction framework hurriedly erected to meet an artificial timetable.
NAB held true to its word, signaling in comments on the FCC's incentive auctions that its concern was for TV stations that remain in business. According to top NAB execs, its comments do not even address the auction portion (or channel-sharing by those who give up spectrum), but rather focus on the key issues of international coordination, station repacking and the band plan, or as the new wireless BFF, NAB, puts it, "the neighborhood" they will share with their "wireless friends." The NAB also repeated association concerns that the FCC’s plan to hold its incentive spectrum auction next year may be overly ambitious — and they vowed to protect the rights of the vast majority of the nation’s more than 1,700 TV stations that choose to remain in broadcasting after the auctions are completed.
NAB: Current FCC Band Plan Needs Fixing NAB: FCC Moving Too fast on Auction (TVNewsCheck)
The Federal Communications Commission’s Incentive Auction proceeding moves forward in earnest with the filing of opening comments. The stakes are as high as the issues are complex.
Freeing up more spectrum is critical to U.S. economic growth and technological leadership. And this auction presents the FCC with the best opportunity it will have for many years to advance that goal. AT&T offered a number of recommendations for building on the FCC’s initial proposals.
The Band Plan – In principle, AT&T supports many of the concepts incorporated by the FCC into the proposed band plan, which sought to carefully coordinate blocks of uplink and downlink spectrum across different markets at varying clearing targets. After engaging in a detailed engineering analysis and consulting with vendors, AT&T believes that certain aspects of the FCC’s initial proposal raise technical concerns that could create the potential for harmful interference and risk auction participation. To accommodate these concerns, AT&T offered a modified band-plan framework that retains some of the key characteristics of the FCC proposal, but with variations that seek to address technical concerns.
The Reverse and Forward Auctions – AT&T supports the FCC’s proposal to conduct reverse and forward clock auctions. The dual clock auction framework represents an innovative approach to managing the inter-related two-sided nature of an incentive auction. But, as with the band plan, AT&T offered proposals to improve upon the framework outlined by the FCC.
Opportunity in the 600MHz Band