Policy

Capital Currents - Enhancing Energy Conservation

January 1, 2012 12:38 am | by Jeffrey Krauss, Telecommunications and Technology Policy | Articles | Comments

There is a lot of effort underway in the cable and consumer electronics industries to develop methods for conserving energy. Some of this is driven by the Energy Star 3.0 requirements for TVs, DVD players and set-top boxes.

How spectrum allocation became a political football

December 22, 2011 12:31 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The question of what to do with white space spectrum gets tangled up in the bitter partisan wrangling over tax policy in Washington.

AT&T rivals lobby FCC for conditions on Flo deal

December 22, 2011 12:00 pm | by Maisie Ramsay, Wireless Week | News | Comments

With the threat of AT&T's merger with T-Mobile USA passed, the operator's competitors are turning their attention to its acquisition of 700 MHz spectrum used for Qualcomm’s discontinued Flo TV mobile television service.

Sprint sues 4 cable giants over voice patents

December 21, 2011 1:41 pm | by Maisie Ramsay, Wireless Week | News | Comments

With Sprint's legal battle against AT&T's merger with T-Mobile effectively at an end, the operator is turning its attention to cable operators.

Concurrent gains patent for ads during trick play

December 21, 2011 1:39 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Ads can still appear, even while viewers pause, fast forward or rewind through content – including through embedded commercials.

IEEE all-in-one home networking standard progresses

December 21, 2011 1:38 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

IEEE 1905.1, which bridges Wi-Fi, MoCA, Ethernet and HomePlug, takes an important step toward ratification.

Judge sides with Microsoft in Moto patent dispute

December 21, 2011 1:17 pm | by Andrew Berg, Wireless Week | News | Comments

An administrative law judge issued an initial determination that Motorola Mobility is in violation of one of six Microsoft patents listed in a patent infringement suit filed by Microsoft against Motorola Mobility.

AT&T drops $39B T-Mobile bid; 'duopoly' averted

December 19, 2011 10:43 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

AT&T is hanging up on its $39 billion bid to buy smaller wireless provider T-Mobile USA, nearly four months after the U.S. government raised concerns that the deal would raise prices, reduce innovation and give customers fewer choices.

Bill aims to eliminate retrans rules

December 19, 2011 2:09 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Passing the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act is highly unlikely for a number of reasons, however.

TV channel squeeze proposed to pay for tax cuts

December 19, 2011 2:07 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Congress is considering letting cell phone companies pay television stations to give up their frequencies so they can be put to better use for wireless broadband.

WhiteSpace Alliance forms with eye on international markets

December 19, 2011 2:01 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The WhiteSpace Alliance plans to address the world market with the new IEEE 802.22 wireless broadband technology.

British Telecom files patent suit against Google

December 19, 2011 1:56 pm | by Andrew Berg, Wireless Week | News | Comments

British Telecom (BT) has filed allegations of patent infringement against Google with a district court in Delaware.

Justice fines Comcast CEO $500K over filing flub

December 19, 2011 1:52 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The Justice Department is fining Comcast CEO Brian Roberts $500,000 for failing to notify authorities that he had acquired more voting stock in the company after Comcast bought the cable assets of AT&T in 2002.

Cox sells AWS spectrum to Verizon; they agree to sell each other’s services

December 16, 2011 2:47 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

The other shoe just dropped now that Cox Communications announced that it is selling its 20 MHz Advanced Wireless Services licenses to Verizon Wireless for $315 million.