Lauren Frayer
Congress Promises DTV Action for Emergency Communications
Emergency communications would get a major boost if Congress passes digital television transition legislation freeing spectrum for public safety uses, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said at a hearing examining needs of first responders. If the bill doesn't pass, Sen Stevens said, future funding for interoperable communications would be difficult to get through Congress in coming years. He promising a DTV bill markup Oct. 19 in preparation for delivery to the Senate Budget Committee Oct. 26. The House DTV bill is likely to be marked up the same week as the Senate, after an Oct. 10-14 break, industry sources said. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report Wednesday that first responders are challenged by a lack of interoperable emergency communications. Its recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies: 1) Complete a database on communication frequencies; 2) Determine the status of wireless public safety communications nationwide; 3) Tie grant funding to statewide interoperability plans; and 4) Review the interoperability functions of Safety Interoperable Communications Program (SAFECOM). DHS has agreed to take some, but not all, of the corrective actions we recommended, the report said.
(Not available online)
See also:
* Link to House Commerce Committee Hearing
http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/09292005hearing1648/hearing...
* FCC Chairman Kevin Martin at House Commerce Committee Hearing
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-261417A1.pdf
* Link to Senate Commerce Committee Hearing
http://commerce.senate.gov/hearings/witnesslist.cfm?id=1622
* FCC's Kenneth P. Moran Director at Senate Commerce Committee
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-261418A1.pdf
House Panel Planning Vote On DTV Bill In Mid-October
A senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said that the committee would vote on digital television legislation during the week of Oct. 17 when Congress is scheduled to return from a Columbus Day recess. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who chairs the Energy and Commerce panel's Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, also said that he and Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) would stick with a subsidy of less than $1 billion for set-top converter boxes -- which are necessary to allow viewers with analog televisions to receive digital signals over the air. By comparison, committee Democrats have pushed for a more generous subsidy plan in the range of $2.5 billion or above. Up until now, the Republicans have tended to favor limiting the subsidy by imposing an income test -- while Democrats have been skeptical of a means-testing approach. But Rep Upton said that committee members were now gravitating toward a subsidy scheme that does not include requirements that set-top box subsidies be based on an individual's income -- or dependent on whether a viewer is a subscriber to a cable or satellite system. Once the transition to digital broadcasts takes place, cable or satellite subscribers would still be able to receive programming on an analog set even without a converter box. Upton said the committee would likely favor a policy that allows two "vouchers" per household for the purchase of a set-top box. In an interview after a subcommittee hearing on communications issues related to Hurricane Katrina, Upton also said that a requirement that cable operators carry broadcasters' multiple digital channel streams -- so-called multicasting -- "is not going to be part of the base [DTV] bill, and the prospects for adding it as an amendment in the House are probably pretty dim."
* Stevens Sticking With 2009 Date
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6261512?display=Breaking+News...
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U.S. Refuses to Relinquish Control of Net
The United States will not cede control of the computers that direct traffic on the Internet to the United Nations, the State Department's coordinator for international communications and information policy told diplomats in Geneva on Thursday. Ambassador David Gross said the issue of who controls the Internet has become contentious because some countries say that no single nation should be the ultimate authority over such a vital part of the global economy. The United States has been the principal overseer of the Internet since it was invented as a Defense Department project.
New Orleans Still in the Dark about Internet, Phones
As New Orleanians begin to re-enter their neighborhoods, telephone and Internet service remains spotty at best, and the major service providers say they don't know when connections will be restored. Neither BellSouth Corp., the local telephone giant that also offers high-speed Internet service, nor Cox Communications, the region's biggest cable television service, have been willing to say how many of their New Orleans area customers have high-speed Internet service or how many are still waiting for it to be restored.
Schools' Tech Plans put on the Back Burner
This was to be the year teachers at Gulfport High School went completely digital, which meant some older teachers would have to give up their grade books and transfer that information onto district computers. But Hurricane Katrina put those plans on hold. The storm crippled the city school district's computer network. Katrina's tidal floods and heavy rains have played havoc with millions of dollars of computer technology. And as schools reopen on the Gulf Coast, many are doing so without the benefit of much technology.
Satellite Said Under-Utilized in Disaster Recovery
Amid 2005's storms, lawmakers, U.S. agencies, and state and municipal governments are seeing the need for backup tools for when terrestrial systems fail and local wireless networks are down or overwhelmed. To address such needs, satellite communication services [satcom] firms say they’re adjusting their business strategies. Even so, they said, the system needs a makeover.
Sprint Nextel seeks More Time to Find 911 Callers
Sprint Nextel on Thursday asked the FCC for more time to meet a December 31 deadline that 95 percent of its customers' wireless phones be capable of identifying the location of a user making a 911 emergency call. The No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier will only reach 80 percent by the end of this year and will need until the end of 2007 to reach the 95 percent goal. FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat, had urged that the approval of Sprint's acquisition of Nextel be conditioned on the companies complying with the deadline or coming up with a plan to do so. But no such condition was attached.
TV Brouhaha in Iowa
Every few weeks, 15 or so Cedar Rapids, Iowa, residents huddle at the library to plot another attack on one of the country's biggest TV- station owners. Iowans for Better Local TV is taking aim at the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates 60 stations nationwide, including local CBS affiliate KGAN. Frustrated by what the group says is inadequate local-news and community involvement, they are noisily pressuring Sinclair. “We want to put Iowa values back into the product,†says Arron Wings, one of the group's founders.
Gingrich-izing Public Broadcasting
On September 26, the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting elected its new chairperson and vice-chairperson, and the eight-member board--which contains only two Democrats--selected two conservative Republican funders for these posts. Cheryl Halpern will succeed the embattled liberal-hunter Kenneth Tomlinson as chair. Gay Hart Gaines will be vice-chair. The board chose Gaines over an independent. As press accounts have noted, Gaines, who was first appointed by George W. Bush to the CPB board in 2003, is an interior decorator by training.
Subway Buys Role on 'Will & Grace'
In the latest sign that product placement is finding its way into some of TV's most valuable shows, Subway Restaurants, owned by Doctor's Associates, launched a new sandwich last night by having it written into the story line of NBC's "Will & Grace." In the episode, Karen's maid, Rosario, talks about Subway's chicken parmigiana sandwich. Subway says it worked with its media-buying firm, WPP Group's MediaCom, and General Electric's NBC on an ad package that involved both the product placement and a 30-second commercial to run during the episode.