GENEVA -- U.N. agencies set up a broadband commission including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to spur the rollout of high-speed Internet access to reduce poverty and disease and to aid primary education, officials said. The commission of business, government and U.N. leaders aims to harness information and communications technology (ICT) to drive the global development agenda and help reach the Millennium Development Goals.
Ireland’s High Court cleared the way for a constitutional attack on EU Internet and telephony traffic data-storage rules, saying Wednesday that Digital Rights Ireland can pursue a challenge to national law in the European Court of Justice on the grounds that the data retention directive violates fundamental rights. The move, which follows decisions against data retention in Germany and Romania, has implications for data storage across Europe, said DRI Chairman TJ McIntyre. Meanwhile, a preliminary European Commission assessment of the directive shows wide divergence among national laws, and concerns from civil society and telecom providers.
In its response to the FCC inquiry, PBS said increased funding, reformed copyright laws and amendments to corporate underwriting rules will be key to creating a robust public media future in the digital age. “While the [1976 Public Broadcasting Act] may be a product of the analog era, its intent is timeless. … In a time when citizens have an unprecedented number of options for news, information, and entertainment, PBS and public media are needed now more than ever,” PBS told the FCC.
As Cox Communications rolls out a new “Trio” interactive program guide (IPG)designed to tie together search of linear, on-demand and broadband content, it will continue to seek to have CE manufacturers deploy it in products, the company said. The IPG, which Cox jointly developed with NDS during the past two years, will be deployed in Cisco 8642 tru2way set-top and 1642 client boxes starting in two markets this month and expanding system-wide by year end, said Steve Necessary, vice president of video product development and support. Trio will replace Rovi’s Passport and Cisco’s Sara IPG in digital boxes. Rovi also is unveiling a version of its TotalGuide targeting cable operators at the NCTA convention in Los Angeles this week.
Limited writing by Elena Kagan, nominated Monday to the Supreme Court, about telecommunications, media and intellectual property law means there are few clues about how she would deal with these matters as a justice, lawyers said Monday. “There really isn’t much out there, and most of her articles are descriptive,” said Marvin Ammori, professor at University of Nebraska College of Law. “She discusses different ideas, versus arguing ‘here are the outcomes that should be achieved.’ You can’t really pin her down on which cases she approves of and which cases she doesn’t."
The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig Alliance) will cooperate on multi-gigabit networking in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, Bruce Montag of Dell, a member of the WiGig Alliance board, said in an interview. New specifications developed would allow for data transfer at speeds of 7 Gbps or more, 10 times as fast as the fastest 802.11n Wi-Fi, he said.
According to a report issued Thursday by the Communications Workers of America, West Virginia’s utility commission should not approve Verizon’s proposed sale of landlines to Frontier Communications. West Virginia is the only state left among 14 where Frontier wants to acquire Verizon networks in which the transaction still needs utility commission approval to proceed.
The departing head of FCC’s broadband work crew said the agency doesn’t need a permanent czar to ensure that the commission stays focused on high-speed Internet service even after execution of the National Broadband Plan wraps up. Blair Levin sees changes to the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation as linked and thinks they need to be done together, he said in an exit interview Friday. He remains confused why broadcasters are publicly resisting the plan’s recommendation to create a market for other uses of TV spectrum and said that, despite much speculation about what he'll do next, he himself doesn’t know.
The Rural Utilities Service opened the window Friday for applications for broadband stimulus funds for projects using satellites to increase the reach of broadband. The request for proposals (RFP) was printed in Friday’s Federal Register and outlines the application process for rural library broadband and technical assistance projects as well. The satellite broadband funds are part of the second round of broadband stimulus fund distribution through RUS’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). The agency will accept applications for funds through June 7, it said.
STANFORD, Calif. -- “A lot of back and forth, a lot of angst” resulted inside the FCC from dealing with the Comcast decision, said Sherrese Smith, aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski. Trying to keep regulating Internet access under Title I could create uncertainty for investors and consumers throughout long court fights, and “Congress probably did not intend for broadband to be under” a Title II common carrier framework, she said Friday. Genachowski’s “third way” calls for “reclassification under Title II” with forbearance on the “very onerous” obligations in the title, Smith said at the Legal Frontiers in Digital Media conference. Asked about coverage of wireless broadband, Smith said only, “I think we'll be working on that."