Seamless measurement methods of streaming TV need to catch up with new technology, said industry experts at a CableFax conference Tuesday in New York. Nielsen will expand its ratings system to smartphones and tablets in 2014, said Brian Fuhrer, senior vice president. The challenge with streaming across multiple platforms and TV Everywhere is monetizing the content, said cable executives. “Moving from live linear to online on-demand is a tremendous opportunity for a new layer of advertising and how we are going to track is going to be a big challenge that is going to require more collaboration,” said Fuhrer.
Russia export controls and sanctions
The use of export controls and sanctions on Russia has surged since the country's invasion of Crimea in 2014, and especially its invasion of Ukraine in in February 2022. Similar export controls and sanctions have been imposed by U.S. allies, including the EU, U.K. and Japan. The following is a listing of recent articles in Export Compliance Daily on export controls and sanctions imposed on Russia:
GENEVA -- Talks on introducing a continuous timescale to stem the costly and error-prone process of inserting leap seconds are widening beyond the technical community in the hope of finding an acceptable solution before the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), which will decide on the matter, participants said during a two-day workshop held by the ITU and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. The frequency and complexity of inserting leap seconds is expected to rise in the future, participants said. Currently a leap second is inserted about once every 18 months. The potential leapsecond pitfalls also appear bigger as communications and other systems grow in complexity, they said.
Russia joined the ranks of signatories to the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement, said the WTO Friday in a news release (http://bit.ly/18p33SG), becoming the 78th country to accede to the ITA pact. To join, Russia reduced tariffs on information technology products from 5.4 percent to zero. ITA signatories export 97 percent of global information technology products. “The ITA continues to be one of the most important trade agreements for the global [information and communications technology] industry,” said the Telecommunications Industry Association in a news release, applauding Russia’s decision (http://bit.ly/150w5rT).
The Internet has made it substantially easier for the LGBT community to connect, learn and engage in self-expression, said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and others at an LGBT Technology Partnership event Thursday. Panelists said there’s a need for rural communities to access broadband through the National Broadband Plan and the need for security and privacy online for LGBT youth. “We have to ensure that the Internet, with all its power and promise, continues to thrive for all people, including those in the LGBT community,” said Pai.
Row 44 and Hughes expanded Row 44’s satellite coverage area to Russia and the North Atlantic region. The companies signed three multi-year contracts, “which include the provision of space segment, network operations center operations, maintenance and other ancillary services,” said Row 44 parent Global Eagle in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/14C8hzz). The agreement also includes significant capacity increases to Row 44’s leased bandwidth, “which now supports customers on four continents,” it said. “Installations of the Row 44 connectivity platform now exceed 500 aircraft on four continents."
Microsoft’s plan to acquire Nokia’s Devices and Services business for $7.2 billion is the first step in the acquirer’s steep climb to gain solid share in an increasingly brand-driven market dominated by iOS and Android mobile operating systems, analysts said Tuesday. “The branding of the phones to date has been the primary means of success” in the smartphone market, NPD analyst Stephen Baker told us. “The fact that Samsung stepped so far up in front of all the other Android brands shows that more and more the market for phones is a brand market versus an operating system market."
Mobile operators should take a three-step approach to creating heterogeneous networks (hetnets) to boost coverage and capacity to meet user demand for data-hungry services, said Ericsson Mobile Broadband Director Hanna Maurer Sibley in an interview. The first is to “improve” existing macro cells with more spectrum, advanced antennas and advanced radio base stations, she said. Operators should then “densify” the macro network with a small number of strategic cells to improve capacity, she said.
The White House is in a “tough space” when it comes to finding a way to make cybersecurity standards effective without making them mandatory, said Andy Ozment, White House senior director of cybersecurity. The administration’s plan has been based on an understanding that “there is reasonable concern that a top-down approach to regulation will be harmful rather than helpful,” he said Thursday. Ozment outlined the White House’s existing priorities for cybersecurity and discussed the legislation the White House has pushed for, at a keynote address to network security professionals at a conference organized by an association called USENIX. He also emphasized to the audience that though the administration was doing all it could to prioritize cybersecurity, real progress could only come through their individual efforts.
RigNet, a remote communications provider, will acquire Inmarsat’s Energy Broadband business for $25 million. RigNet also will be a key distribution partner of Inmarsat’s planned Ka-band network and L-band services, RigNet said in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/18UZElt). The energy broadband assets sold to RigNet include very small aperture terminal interests in Russia, the U.K. and Canada, and a global L-band mobile satellite services retail energy business, it said.
The U.S. must take action to ensure the long-term success of its weather satellite system, said the Space Foundation in a report released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/17BfkWl). The research was conducted by Mariel Borowitz, a research analyst for the organization, it said. The foundation made recommendations, including increasing international cooperation on weather satellite programs and working with commercial weather satellite data providers, “to augment current weather satellite capabilities and improve weather forecasting,” it said. Weather satellites provide an excellent opportunity for international cooperation, “because all countries require the same types of global data for numerical weather forecasting models,” it said. The report suggested joint constellation planning, “in which each partner is responsible for developing satellites for one portion of the constellation.” Russia and China could be included in the nation’s current polar orbiting agreement with Europe, which could promote cost-sharing and other benefits, it said. Despite strong interests from industry, there are numerous challenges to using commercial data sources to supplement the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s core satellite systems, the report said: The agency’s open data policy “may conflict with the proprietary data management incentives of the commercial space sector.” Despite the challenges, benefits from partnerships with industry are still possible, it said: Commercial entities are thought to be more efficient, “with incentives to reduce operating costs to increase profits.” The U.S. also should provide accurate and stable budget estimates, “choose forward-looking budget savings rather than shortsighted options and provide full and stable funding for existing programs,” it said. With billions of dollars of property and productivity, the U.S. “must determine whether it is providing the correct level of funding, management and strategic direction for its weather systems,” it said.