Finishing the DTV transition is a step closer with release of an FCC rulemaking notice on setting deadlines for low-power broadcasters, about half of which already are going all-digital, to end all analog operations. Commissioners on Friday approved an item that proposed 2012 as the transition deadline for all low-power TV (LPTV) stations not operating in the 700 MHz band, as expected (CED Sept 14 p2). The regulator proposed LPTV outlets on channels 52-69, vacated in last year’s full-power analog transition, go all-digital by Dec. 31, 2011, in other slots, and submit an application picking another channel by June 30 of that year.

CEA, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) were among 182 groups and individuals who filed amicus briefs Friday at the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the game industry’s First Amendment position in Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association. The case centers on a 2005 California law banning the rental or sale of M-rated games to minors. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held the law unconstitutional, and the friend-of the-court briefs asked the high court to uphold the decision.

Siemens and Samsung are among the top five “global leaders” in carbon disclosure and performance in the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) 2010 Global 500 index released Monday. The report said U.S. companies lag their global peers in the “numbers and types of action they are taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” Managing carbon is becoming a “strategic business priority and competitive driver” for the largest global companies, even though there’s a lack of international agreement on climate change, it said.

While Rovi is offering few details of a new multiyear IP licensing deal with Apple Computer, the company is preparing to launch a customizable TotalGuide interactive program guide (IPG) inside CE devices and cable set-top boxes. Rovi provided few clues about the agreement with Apple, mentioned Monday in a short one-sentence SEC filing. But company officials have described TotalGuide as “highly customizable” to meet partners’ specific requirements. Rovi’s stock closed Monday up 9.2 percent at $46.51.

Sales of Yahoo Connected LCD TVs will hit 5-7 million units this year en route to creating an installed base for the Internet-capable sets of 8-10 million units by March 2011, Russ Schafer, Yahoo’s senior director of product marketing for connected TV and desktop, told us.

With historical AV revenue models in transition if not in serious jeopardy, electronic systems contractors (ESCs) attending this week’s CEDIA Expo in Atlanta will be scanning the aisles for ways to expand their portfolios and boost profitability. Green electronics -- including programmable systems that control temperature and integrate natural and artificial light, solar power and energy management -- will be among the disciplines integrators will evaluate as high-margin add-ons to their traditional AV portfolios.

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. -- The Nintendo 3DS handheld game system will be “a major” driver in the adoption of 3D, Al Lopez, chief operating officer at 3D technology company Spatial View, predicted at the 3D Entertainment Summit late Thursday. The system, which achieves stereoscopic 3D effects without the need for special glasses, will ship by March 31, Nintendo said. Lopez pointed to the Nintendo device as a potential major boost for the traditional handheld game market after Phil Eisler, general manager of 3D Vision at Nvidia, said mobile phones were the biggest threat to handheld game systems.

The nascent online video distribution market could be good for content owners because it adds competition among distributors seeking access to their programming, studio and network executives said last week at a Bank of America investment conference.

Forthcoming rules on fixing CableCARDs as an interim step toward adoption of gateway devices that let plug-and-play devices connect with any pay-TV provider and get online video on set-top boxes may reflect agreement among industry players on perhaps all but two significant issues, executives said. There appears to be agreement among consumer electronics and pay-TV companies on many of the ways cable operators can make it easier for subscribers to use CableCARDs to connect devices, like DVRs, that they buy from retailers to cable systems, executives of both industries said. They expect the agency will OK use of digital terminal adapters for cable operators with systems of any size to use cheap set-top boxes without CableCARDs. That would let subscribers get HD without two-way services like interactivity.

ViaSat is overhauling its WildBlue satellite-based broadband service, shifting focus to wholesale from retail as it prepares for the launch of a new satellite in 2011, Chief Operating Officer Richard Baldridge told us at the Kaufman Brothers investor conference in New York. Since it bought WildBlue last year for $568 million, ViaSat has maintained WildBlue’s 425,000 subscribers clustered largely around metro markets in the Northeast and Southeast U.S., Baldridge said.