NAB hires Tea Gennaro, ex-Associated Builders and Contractors, as executive vice president-chief financial officer, taking over from CFO Trish Johnson, "who recently transitioned to a consultancy role" ... Patent and Trademark Office appoints David Berdan, ex-Gaming Arts, general counsel ... Ogilvy Government Relations promotes Alissa Clees to principal, with clients including RIAA and Verizon; she "manages the firm’s social media initiatives" and is on the board of Jenkins Hill Society, a female fundraising group supporting Democratic women in Congress.
Country of origin cases
Rhapsody said Friday its Powered by Napster audio platform service is the engine behind Sonos' original stations on Sonos Radio and Sonos Radio HD (see 2011120038). It’s an expansion of an existing partnership. The Powered by Napster platform offers licensing and rights holder management, media streaming and download infrastructure, applications, personalization, recommendations, customer billing and royalty administration capabilities, said the company.
NAB wants the FCC to clarify that among broadcasters working together to host one another’s signals during the ATSC 3.0 transition, “the licensee who originated the programming, rather than the licensee whose facilities are being used to distribute the programming, is responsible for the programming,” said a petition for declaratory ruling and petition for rulemaking posted in docket 16-142 Monday. The FCC should make clear that “its existing regulatory framework for the hosting of simulcast primary programming streams also applies to simulcast multicast streams,” NAB said. NAB also pushed the agency to act expeditiously on a pending NPRM on distributed transmission systems, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in the same docket on a call Thursday with Media Bureau staff. “Certainty regarding this additional flexibility will help broadcasters finalize plans for additional ATSC 3.0 deployments in the coming year,” the filing said.
NARUC’s Telecom Committee supported lowering phone rates for the incarcerated and asking the FCC to share network outage reporting system (NORS) information with states. At the NARUC virtual annual conference Tuesday, the panel also created a subcommittee on states' eligible telecom carrier authority, as expected (see 2011050051). The committee tweaked the inmate calling service resolution to appease some members’ concerns about lobbying legislatures. A day earlier, ICS providers differed on whether and how the California Public Utilities Commission should regulate intrastate rates.
COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through Jan. 8, the Copyright Office said Monday. Originally to expire May 12, adjustments were previously extended to July 10, Sept. 8 and Nov. 9 (see 2009020031).
Zoom deceived users about encryption services, circumvented browser security features and exposed consumers to third-party surveillance, the FTC alleged Monday in a nonmonetary settlement with the company. The commission voted 3-2 with Democrats Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter dissenting.
A restored minority tax certificate would be a useful tool for minority and female would-be broadcast station owners, but the main barrier is lack of access to capital, agreed panelists at the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment’s virtual symposium Friday. “We have to look at how you create more access to investment capital and other instruments that will allow owners to have the resources to participate in this industry,” said Sara Lomax-Reese, CEO of AM station WURD Philadelphia.
General Motors' self-driving subsidiary Cruise “continues to make progress” with launch of the Origin shared-ride autonomous vehicle, said CEO Mary Barra on a Q3 call Thursday. The Origin will be built at GM’s “Factory Zero” in Hamtramck, Michigan, she said. GM began testing the Origin’s Ultium battery system at its Milford, Michigan, “proving ground,” and "pre-production” Origin vehicles are expected next year, she said. Cruise AVs will be tested in San Francisco by the end of 2021 “without backup drivers” after California regulators give GM gets the “go-ahead,” she said. “Cruise will be the first company to test autonomous vehicles with no backup driver in a dense and complex urban driving environment.” GM and Cruise in "coming months” plan to file an “exemption petition” with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “to deploy Origin vehicles without steering wheels or pedals,” said Barra. Cruise is working with an epidemiologist and using health research “to identify measures that may help maintain a healthy ride environment,” free from risks of COVID-19, she said.
In any revision of launch and re-entry licensing processes, designate spectrum for such uses and adopt service rules, said Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Sierra Nevada, SpaceX and Virgin Orbit in a docket 13-115 posting Tuesday. Streamline the coordination process with other users such as through blanket coordination agreements, they asked the FCC. They urged automation of the special temporary authority application and review process.
FCC nominee Nathan Simington’s Senate confirmation hinges on Tuesday's elections, lawmakers and other officials told us. Many of the hurdles for his confirmation would likely clear if President Donald Trump is reelected, but his prospects will likely be greatly diminished if Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins, lobbyists said.