Policy

SCTE outlines CALM Act best practices

April 4, 2013 2:15 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The CALM Act requires that the audio level of commercial messages be at the same average loudness as the associated programming content. SCTE 197 provides guidelines for cable operators for recording measured loudness and loudness metadata value.

Appeals court: Aereo is legal

April 2, 2013 1:06 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Aereo, which offers inexpensive live broadcast television feeds to computers, tablets and smartphones, doesn't violate U.S. copyright law, a divided federal appeals court said Monday. The decision was based in part on Cablevision's landmark court case that established the legality of the networked PVR system.

Court turns away class action against Comcast

March 27, 2013 12:28 pm | by Associated Press | News | Comments

The Supreme Court is turning away a class action lawsuit against cable provider Comcast Corp. The high court on Wednesday overturned a lower court decision to certify as a class customers who say the company's monopoly in parts of the Philadelphia area allowed it to raise prices unfairly.

Charter refuses ads for TV antenna maker

March 22, 2013 1:22 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

A TV antenna maker wanted to use the competition's own medium — cable TV — for its anti-cable message. Now, officials at Antennas Direct say Charter Communications' refusal to air the ads is evidence of the cable industry's growing concern over antennas.

Genachowski resigns as FCC chairman

March 22, 2013 1:17 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

The outgoing chairman’s tenure coincided with continued adoption of broadband and ever higher Internet connection speeds, especially on the wireless side. He approved Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, while blocking AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile.

FCC Commissioner McDowell resigns

March 21, 2013 12:32 pm | by Andrew Berg, Wireless Week | News | Comments

McDowell was first appointed to a seat on the Commission by President George W. Bush. When he was reappointed to the Commission in 2009, Commissioner McDowell became the first Republican to be appointed to an independent agency by President Barack Obama.

San Jose fires up free Wi-Fi network

March 15, 2013 2:23 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

The city that considers itself the capital of Silicon Valley is offering free connectivity via a network built by SmartWAVE Technologies using 802.11n Wi-Fi products from Ruckus Wireless. San Jose also has one of the best acronyms ever for its metro area network exchange (see story).

Monroe supports Canada's alert system

March 14, 2013 1:35 pm | by Brian Santo | Product Releases | Comments

Monroe’s DASDEC emergency messaging platform and R189 One-Net Emergency Alert Systems (EAS) encoder/decoder systems provide comprehensive support for Canada's National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) system requirements. The former is designed for TV and radio broadcasters, the latter for cable, IPTV, and satellite providers.

Comcast co-hosts IETF meeting

March 12, 2013 12:14 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

For the second straight year, Comcast is a co-sponsor of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 86 meeting, which is taking place this week in Orlando, Fla. Comcast also announced that it had renewed its membership to the Internet Society as a platinum organization supporter for the sixth consecutive year.

Bang the DRM slowly

March 7, 2013 6:10 pm | by Brian Santo | Articles | Comments

There isn’t a single legal concept that has inspired more heartburn in more facets of content distribution than digital rights management (DRM). Consumers have a pretty good idea what DRM is, and plenty vociferously despise it with the same loathing they have for banks, airlines and their communications service providers.

Capital Currents: FCC broadcast spectrum incentive auctions

March 6, 2013 5:42 pm | by Jeffrey Krauss, President of Telecommunications and Technology Policy | Articles | Comments

The big picture on FCC incentive auctions of broadcast spectrum, includes two key elements: 1) The transfer of at least 120 MHz of spectrum for mobile broadband use; and 2) The generation of enough revenues to pay broadcaster relocation costs, the funding of a national broadband public safety network, as well as support for deficit reduction.

Schools shift from textbooks to tablets

March 6, 2013 2:46 pm | by The Associated Press | News | Comments

Schools are increasingly looking to the hand-held tablets as a way to sustain students' interest, reward their achievements and, in some cases, actually keep per-student costs down. News Corp. just introduced its $299 Amplify tablet designed for the education market; some 2,000 schools use Google's $199 Chromebooks.

Comcast achieves goal of hiring 1,000 veterans

March 6, 2013 12:14 pm | by Mike Robuck | News | Comments

Comcast announced today that it and NBCUniversal reached their three-year goal of hiring 1,000 veterans two years ahead of schedule. Comcast will double down on its pledge, which was made through U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s "Hiring Our Heroes,” by hiring an additional 1,000 armed services veterans by 2015.

Google Builds White-Space Spectrum Database

March 5, 2013 2:16 pm | by Ben Munsen, Wireless Week | News | Comments

Google has unveiled a searchable map of the available white-space spectrum in the U.S. The company said this new effort is in order to help promote dynamic spectrum sharing. The FCC is in the process of evaluating the map for accuracy.

Comcast expands access to Internet Essentials

March 5, 2013 2:10 pm | by Brian Santo | News | Comments

Comcast said it has connected more than 150,000 families thus far through its program to provide Internet access to low-income students and their families. Eligibility criteria for the program will soon be expanded to include parochial, private and homeschool students, bringing the estimated total number of eligible families to nearly 2.6 million.