Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) counsel David Sobel said location technology for wireless phones has “issues that need to be addressed soon.” Sobel said there “is very spotty legislation” in this area. Most important is question of legal standards required for law enforcement to gain access to location information, he said.
Mercedes Walton, ex-AT&T, appointed pres.-COO, Applied Digital Solutions… James Toupin, ex-U.S. International Trade Commission, named gen. counsel, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office… Larry Beerman, ex-Tellabs, named vp-business development, NexTone Communications… Timothy Kelly, ex-tickets.com, appointed pres., National Consumer Organization, Sprint…Kathy Jia promoted to gen. mgr., MediaWave Advertising… Appointed to e.spire Communications board: Dennis Freely, Telecom Group; Stanton Williams, NTL… Reed Hundt, ex-FCC chmn., elected to Brience board… Andrew Rosen, regional vp-sales, Clear Channel, adds exec. vp-mktg., replacing John Fullam… Robert Gerrard promoted to exec. vp-gen. counsel, Scripps Networks… Promotions at ACT Teleconferencing: Robert Aubry, to regional managing dir.-N. America, replacing Eugene Warren, who was promoted to COO; Mark Kelly to chief technology officer, replacing Iain McKeracher, retired.
Mich. Gov. John Engler appointed Laura Chapelle as new PSC chmn., succeeding John Strand, who recently resigned to head Mich. Legislative Advisory Council. Chapelle, who was Engler’s deputy legal counsel, will serve out 6 months remaining in Strand’s term. Her background is in energy regulation and legislation. Nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.
EchoStar said it would raise rates for 2 of its top packages. Monthly fee for America’s Top 50 increased 10% to $21.99 and America’s Top 100 package $1 to $30.99. Rate for premium America’s Top 150 package will be unchanged. Company said it had to raise rates because some channels had increased prices up to 40%. New rates become effective Feb. 1.
Internet streaming video surged 215% to more than 900 million streams accessed in 2000, study by DFC Intelligence reported. It said broadband Internet access carried nearly 29% of video streams, and 15% of streams carried ads -- www.dbpwebcasttrack.com.
Most recent round of DTV standard tests was flawed, COFDM backer Sinclair Bcst. said in memo we obtained Wed., day before start of closed-door DTV summit in Washington. Sinclair said COFDM tests inadvertently were conducted with receiver that lacked front-end filter, causing set to be overloaded in many situations. At very least, mistake and test results indicated that NAB and MSTV should go ahead with 2nd round of testing on DTV systems, Sinclair Vp-New Technology Nat Ostroff said in memo. Other broadcast officials didn’t immediately comment on memo.
Bidding in FCC’s C- and F-block PCS auction rose to $14.57 billion Wed., vs. $14.2 billion Tues. Salmon PCS, designated entity with Cingular Wireless investment bid $3.06 billion, followed by AT&T Wireless-backed Alaska Native Wireless with $2.42 billion. Competition remains strong for 3 N.Y.C. licenses, all of which now have surpassed $1 billion mark. In 43rd round, Verizon Wireless bid $1.42 billion for one license there, Salmon PCS $1.13 billion for another and Alaska Native Wireless $1.04 billion for 3rd. Other high bidders in auction of 422 licenses that began Dec. 12 include DCC PCS with $966.4 million, Cook Inlet with $486.8 million, VoiceStream with $385.9 million, Leap Wireless with $336.8 million. Of top 15 bidders, 13 are designated entities, with Verizon Wireless and VoiceStream representing exceptions. Next highest bid for single license after N.Y.C. is $519.7 million for L.A. license by DCC PCS, subsidiary of Dobson Communications.
StreamAudio will provide audio streaming and revenue-sharing ad insertion technology for all 83 Cox Radio stations under new agreement with Cox Radio Interactive. Cox is 4th largest radio owner in U.S., based on revenue.
Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) urged FCC to reject NCTA and Time Warner petitions for reconsideration of agency’s cable-ready labels for new DTV sets (CD Nov 29 p5). Signaling no letup in battle between consumer electronics and cable industries over DTV set labels and other DTV-cable compatibility issues, CERC argued that real problem was OpenCable specifications for advanced digital cable set-top boxes and integrated TV sets, not set labels adopted by Commission. In 10- page filing with FCC, CERC criticized cable industry for not supporting digital cable boxes “capable of competition with the MSO-distributed products now on the market.” Group said it was “cable industry compliance, not the labels, that needs to be reformed.” CERC also said NCTA was seeking to “turn this labeling proceeding into a substantive mandate that all OpenCable-reliant DTV receivers must include the ‘1394’ interface” favored by cable and broadcasting industries for digital sets. CERC said cable industry’s own focus group studies showed that “the labels previously recommended by NCTA are… not good enough.”
German govt. awarded 8 major regional spectrum licenses to provide fixed wireless and broadband services to ArcTel, joint venture of Teligent and Mannesmann Arcor. Licenses in 26 MHz band cover Berlin and Hamburg, increasing total population coverage of ArcTel in Germany to 31 million, companies said. Mannesmann Arcor is fixed-line telecom arm of Vodafone Group. Companies said ArcTel now holds more than 200 licenses in Germany.