Policy

EchoStar Affiliate Gains FCC Licenses

By: By Ted Hearn Aug 19 2004 - 12:51pm

An affiliate of EchoStar Communications Corp. was granted federal licenses Thursday to provide video programming and high-speed data in dozens of markets, sharing a slice of the airways heavily used by direct-broadcast satellite carriers.

South.com LLC, which is nearly one-half-owned by EchoStar, bid $27.7 million in a Federal Communications Commission auction in January to obtain 37 licenses, covering markets in Boston; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; and Atlanta.

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Copps Favors Cable-Indecency Regs

By: By Ted Hearn Apr 21 2004 - 8:13am

Las Vegas -- Like TV stations, cable operators should be covered by federal rules that ban indecent programming during hours when children are expected to be in the audience, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said Tuesday.

"I think it's time for them to come under some oversight," Copps said in comments at the National Association of Broadcasters' convention here.

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Cable Broadband, VoIP Covered by CALEA

By: By Ted Hearn Aug 4 2004 - 1:59pm

Cable companies that provide high-speed Internet access and offer managed Internet-protocol-based phone services must comply with a law that authorizes law enforcement to wiretap communications networks, the Federal Communications Commission tentatively ruled Wednesday in a unanimous decision designed to shore up the country’s defense against terrorism.

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House Panel to Hold a la Carte Hearing

By: By Ted Hearn Jul 9 2004 - 12:26pm

Whether cable operators should offer a la carte programming to consumers goes before a House subcommittee July 14, continuing Capitol Hill’s interest in an issue that caught the cable industry by surprise.

The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is holding the hearing. A witness list was not available, but MSO and programming executives are expected to appear.

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NCTA Responds to Pro-a-la-Carte Survey

By: By Ted Hearn & David Cohen May 5 2004 - 1:13pm

Concerned Women for America -- which has 500,000 members and considers itself the largest public-policy women's organization -- released poll results Wednesday showing that parents do not want to pay cable companies for indecent programming as a condition of receiving channels that they think are appropriate for their children.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, however, was unimpressed.

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A Blocker from Blonder Tongue

By: By Multi Channel News Staff Mar 30 2004 - 8:19am

Blonder Tongue Laboratories Inc. announced the release of its "TV Channel Blocker," which enables cable operators to allow their subscribers to keep unwanted channels from being viewed in their homes.

The vendor said the TV Channel Blocker unit can be mounted at the tap output or at the consumer's residence, and it can either be powered from the cable plant or the residence.

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Intel Inside FCC’s DTV-Transition Plan

By: By Ted Hearn Oct 27 2004 - 1:14pm

A business coalition that includes Intel Corp. is urging federal regulators to expedite the digital-television transition in order to give wireless-broadband companies access to valuable spectrum currently in the hands of local TV stations.

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FCC Moves to Bolster Powerline Broadband

By: By Ted Hearn Oct 14 2004 - 2:11pm

The Federal Communications Commission adopted rules Thursday with the goal of transforming every electrical outlet in the country into a high-speed-data port and providing wide-scale competition to the market’s dominant players, phone companies and cable operators.

The commission adopted numerous rules establishing procedures that will allow broadband-power-line providers to offer service without causing harmful interference to licensed users, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the aviation industry and amateur radio operators.

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Powell: VoIP Will Pack a Wallop

By: By Ted Hearn May 4 2004 - 2:12pm

New Orleans -- Voice-over-Internet-protocol service should terrify local phone incumbents because Web-based VoIP providers have unimpeded access to consumers with none of the network costs, Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell said Tuesday.

"You don't have to own a $1 billion network to offer a service," Powell said. "If you are a big incumbent and you've sort of enjoyed the competitive advantage of being the owner of that content-storage system, you, in my opinion, ought to be terrified."

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NCTA Pushing to Keep Integrated Boxes

By: By Ted Hearn Oct 20 2004 - 2:27pm

Cable's top lobbying group is pressing federal regulators to eliminate a rule that would ban the deployment of integrated set-tops after July 2006, citing cost concerns and a host of other factors.

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants the rule repealed, claiming that CableCard-enabled set-tops would impose large and unnecessary costs on consumers.

Federal Communications Commission sources have said that the agency is unlikely to take action on the matter in the near future.

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