Microsoft tells FCC what it wants

MICROSOFT TELLS FCC WHAT IT WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS
[SOURCE: Lasar's Letter on the FCC, AUTHOR: Matthew Lasar]
Microsoft executives spent much of the first week of this month at the Federal Communications Commission, meeting with Commissioners and staff. Not only did they lobby for specific regulatory policies, they outlined a broad agenda for the FCC to follow in the years ahead. 1) On December 7th, Microsoft representatives Craig Mundie, Ian Ferrel, Blair Westlake, and Paula Boyd met with FCC Chair Kevin Martin and called for the deregulation of the video franchising process. Mundie argued that such deregulation would "help to expedite the deployment of new video services." 2) Microsoft has been pushing hard over the last few months for the FCC to give the corporation easy access to so-called "white space." The software giant wants this access to market "unlicensed devices" on such spectrum, such as LAN based home entertainment systems and "robust" or "community mesh networks" -- interconnected LANs that can share a wide variety of communications home and office applications. 3) At a December 1st meeting, Microsoft officials endorsed Comcast's petition for a waiver on the "integration ban" on TV set-top boxes. Not providing "built-in" security on such boxes makes it easier for consumers to pick their own set-top box, rather than the cable provider's preferred equipment.
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