July 2012

White House Concerned With FCC Budget Cuts

The White House has threatened to veto the House appropriations bill. The legislation covers appropriations for a number of agencies including the IRS and OMB, which actually released the veto advisory (which includes criticism of a 10% cut in OMB's own budget). Under the Federal Communications Commission sections, OMB praises the auction receipts the FCC will have access to, but said added: "However, the bill also reduces regular appropriated funding for FCC to $323 million. Funding for FCC is budget neutral and without the proper amount of resources the agency would find it increasingly difficult to manage its responsibilities, such as supporting the build-out of public safety communications networks, overseeing mergers and spectrum transactions, and reforming the Universal Service Fund." The FCC had asked Congress for a 2% increase from $340 million to $347 million -- essentially flat when adjusted for inflation, despite increasing workloads in many areas. "The Administration strongly opposes the bill," said OMB. "If the president were presented with H.R. 6020, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill," it said.

Google Said To Face U.S. Probe Over Motorola Patents

The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal probe into whether Google’s Motorola Mobility unit is honoring pledges it made to license industry-standard technology for mobile and other devices on fair terms, three people familiar with the situation said.

The FTC has issued a civil investigative demand, which is similar to a subpoena, to the owner of the Android mobile operating system as it scrutinizes whether Google is improperly blocking rivals’ access to patents for key smartphone technology, one of the people said. The agency is also seeking information from companies including Microsoft and Apple as it investigates whether Google intends to license technology under patents that help operate 3G wireless, Wi-Fi and video streaming on fair and reasonable terms, another one of the people said. Another focus of the FTC probe, the person said, is Google’s decision to continue litigation started by Motorola Mobility over industry-standard patents before Google bought the company.

FTC Closes Its Investigation Into Sony/ATV Music Publishing's Proposed Acquisition of EMI Music Publishing

The Federal Trade Commission has closed its nonpublic investigation of Sony/ATV Music Publishing's proposed acquisition of EMI Music Publishing, without taking any action. Accordingly, the deal may now proceed as proposed. The Commission vote to close the investigation was 5-0. The closing letters to the companies can be found on the FTC's website and as a link to this press release. (FTC File No. 1210045)

Universal Music Group's planned $1.9 billion purchase of EMI's music labels is still under review by both the FTC and the European Commission.

FTC Report: Many Consumers Believe "Up To" Claims Promise Maximum Results

The Federal Trade Commission released an FTC-commissioned study indicating that when marketers use the phrase "up to" in claims about their products, many consumers are likely to believe that they will achieve the maximum "up to" results.

The study describes what a test group of consumers thought about ads for replacement home windows that purportedly would provide "up to 47%" savings in energy costs. The FTC believes the report will help guide advertisers to avoid the use of misleading "up to" claims. It reinforces the FTC's view that advertisers using these claims should be able to substantiate that consumers are likely to achieve the maximum results promised under normal circumstances. The report summarizes the results of a test conducted in conjunction with investigations of five companies that, in February, settled FTC charges that they made unsupported claims about their windows' energy efficiency and how much they would reduce consumers' heating and cooling bills. The cases are part of the agency's efforts to ensure that environmental marketing is truthful and based on scientific evidence.

News Corp Split, Buffett’s Bet Top Year of Big Media Ownership Changes

In May, 2012 Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Company announced the purchase of 63 newspapers, including 23 dailies, from the debt-ridden Media General Company. The transaction was a course reversal for Buffett, who earlier had said he wouldn't buy newspapers, and created a major new player in the industry. It also left Media General-whose history with newspapers dates back to the mid-1800's-with only one remaining daily, the Tampa Tribune, which many predict it will still try to sell. The purchase, seen as a rare vote of confidence in a struggling industry, also capped a period of intense change in U.S. newspaper ownership. In the last 18 months many better known newspaper companies divested most or all of their holdings while a number of new entities, including hedge funds and private equity firms, jumped in.

According to the investment banking firm of Dirks, Van Essen & Murray, which monitors newspaper transactions, a total of 71 daily newspapers were sold as part of 11 different transactions during 2011, the busiest year for sales since 2007. And newspapers were not the only media to undergo major changes. The last 18 months also saw local television sales reach new heights, the merging of Newsweek and the Daily Beast, Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal, the Huffington Post's movement into web TV and further reach among U.S. broadcast companies into the Hispanic market.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism has compiled a new interactive database to help users make sense of the changes at the highest levels.

6 ways to make mobile networks perform better

To achieve higher download and upload speeds, vendors and operators are planning to use a number of different technologies over the coming years in both HSPA and LTE networks. At their core, many of these technologies are related to better coordination among base stations, and the introduction of smaller base stations to help networks keep up with an increasing volume of data. However, many of these technologies will put even more strain on smartphone and tablet batteries. Another area where some smart thinking will be needed to ensure devices keep up with networks is antenna design.

Use multiple antennas at the same time
Use more antennas on the uplink, as well
Take advantage of spectrum in different frequencies
Download data from two base stations
Better Wi-Fi integration
Use a mixture of small and large cells

The Future of Smart Systems

By 2020, experts think tech-enhanced homes, appliances, and utilities will spread, but many of the analysts believe we still won’t likely be living in the long-envisioned ‘Homes of the Future.’

Benton

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