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The Telecom Digest for June 17, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 131 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
|
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime. - Geoffrey Welsh
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
|
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 15:46:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Aeronautical Frequency Leaks: A Potentially Expensive Problem for Non-Cable MVPDs
Message-ID: <5d60e119-7180-4b53-90f5-f8828499cb42@5g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>
June 11, 2013 by Paul J. Feldman, Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C.
Common Law Blog
| Citation issued to Florida motel serves as reminder of
| possible penalties for leaky cable systems.
|
| If you're a school, or a hotel, or a hospital, or some other
| operation offering in-house cable TV service, you may be
| subject to a six-figure FCC fine, even though you might not
| think that you're subject to the long arm of the FCC's
| enforcement machine. The Commission has been kind enough to
| issue us all a reminder of that - in the form of a "Citation
| and Order" directed to the Parkway Inn Motel in sunny Miami
| Springs, Florida.
|
| From its website you might not think the Parkway Inn (Motto:
| "Your Satisfaction is our Main Purpose") would attract the
| FCC's attention, but it did. According to FCC inspectors,
| the Parkway's video system was leaking big-time (in one case
| by a factor of more than 100 times the permitted level) on
| a couple of aeronautical frequencies. Yikes!
Continued:
http://tinyurl.com/nxg7wzw
Obtelecom: This relates to CATV, a subject that has been discussed
here on T-D in the past, most recently in connection with "Price-
gouging cable companies..."
http://tinyurl.com/mbeu6ol
More specifically, it relates to CATV signal leakage, a subject that
was hotly discussed here back in 2002.
http://tinyurl.com/krakhcm
Signal leakage from CATV (or non-cable MVPD) networks is caused by
physical breaks in the continuity of the cable shield. This breaks
allow cable signals to radiate ("leak") into the surrounding airspace,
possibly causing interference to communications services.
The FCC's principal enforcements efforts are aimed at channels that
overlap aircraft communications and control signals. Other channels
may interfere with other services, including amateur radio, as our
moderator can surely attest.
Like any industry, the CATV industry has its share of horror stories.
Here's my favorite signal-leakage horror story:
http://www.sbe24.org/archive/ltrs1998/dec98.pdf
Scroll down to bottom of page 1.
Neal McLain
Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:51:10 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: End of Cable Bundle Inevitable, With or Without Aereo: CEO
Message-ID: <810d30ef-9c5f-45b4-8b91-917210d0f404@w8g2000yqf.googlegroups.com>
Thursday, 13 Jun 2013 By Paul Toscano, Producer, CNBC.com
| Even if Aereo is ultimately unsuccessful, the unraveling of
| the cable bundle is "inevitable," CEO Chet Kanojia told CNBC
| on Thursday.
| Cable bundling, considered by many investors to be the holy
| grail for cable companies (including CNBC's owner, Comcast),
| is the process of selling a wide range of channels to
| consumers for one price. This has been criticized by many who
| want more choice for consumers and complain about paying for
| a number of channels that they do not watch.
| Aereo, which captures free over-the-air television signals
| and rebroadcasts them over the Internet to paying customers,
| is in the midst of a legal battle with major networks over
| the legality of their product.
Continued:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100813523
Well, if your business model is stealing (oops -- I mean "stealing") a
product from one party and selling it to another party, I guess that
argument make sense. After all, you don't have to comply with
programming agreements if you don't have any.
But cable and satellite operators have to comply with retransmission-
consent agreements (for broadcast programming) and license agreements
(for advertising-supported non-broadcast programming). These
agreements inevitably demand carriage on the basic tier (or possibly
on an upper tier, subject to a higher license fee).
If Aereo ultimately wins its case in the Supreme Court, and if FOX and
CBS actually go through with their threats to go cable-only, does
anybody believe that FOX and CBS won't impose the same demands as
cable-only channels that they now demand as broadcast networks?
Neal McLain
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:05:53 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Under the cloud of a spy scandal
Message-ID: <kplg36$jeg$1@dont-email.me>
Under the cloud of a spy scandal, AT&T and Verizon should speak up
Mitchell Schnurman mschnurman@dallasnews.com
Published: 15 June 2013 04:43 PM
Updated: 15 June 2013 05:35 PM
Maybe companies can't defy the federal government over national
security, but what about pushing back?
Don't count on much from the phone companies. AT&T Inc. and Verizon
Wireless refuse to weigh in on the spy scandal engulfing the country,
even though they're crucial to the secret programs. Together they have
about 200 million wireless customers and millions more who use their
Internet service and landlines. Yet they're issuing "no comments" and
saying they must comply with court orders.
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/columnists/mitchell-schnurman/20130615-under-the-cloud-of-a-spy-scandal-att-and-verizon-should-speak-up.ece
-or-
http://goo.gl/2GhhK
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:10:03 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Is the NSA Verizon Request Legal?
Message-ID: <kplgb1$l1u$1@dont-email.me>
Based On What We Know, Is The NSA Verizon Request Legal?
by EYDER PERALTA
June 15, 2013 6:48 AM
Here's what we know about a National Security Agency program that
collects vast amounts of data on the electronic activity of Americans:
While controversial, a leaked secret document authorizing the collection
makes it clear that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has
decided that the collection of metadata for every call made in and into
the United States is legal under Section 215 of the U.S.A. Patriot Act.
What we don't know is why. That's because the opinion of the FISC is secret.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/06/15/191619038/based-on-what-we-know-is-the-nsa-verizon-request-legal
-or-
http://goo.gl/Yj5F1
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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