NAB: What Spectrum Shortage?

 
In the grand old tradition of The Emperors' New Clothes, the NAB said the FCC's claims of wireless spectrum shortages are illusory ... and that Congress should investigate who "may be sitting on unused airwaves."  That suggestion came from NAB president Gordon Smith after TWC COO Rob Marcus told Communications Daily that his company "has no plans to sell, lease or use its AWS spectrum license."

Writing to top dogs on the Senate and House Commerce Committees (Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Reps. Fred Upton and Henry Waxman), Smith said, "If there truly is a ‘spectrum crisis,’ then allowing companies the size of Time Warner to hoard airwaves should not be permitted.”

Firing back, CTIA-The Wireless Assn. CEO Steve Largent noted that the US has a wireless penetration of 93% while broadcasters "only serve about 10% of the US population over the air." Wireless services need more spectrum, he argued, and "are willing to spend tens of billions of dollars more to the government so that we make sure that we can continue to lead the wireless revolution."

Meanwhile, we're wishing we could be the proverbial fly on the wall in the TWC executive suite.•

MediaCensus Boosts Real World Data via Copyright

MediaBiz (parent company to The Morning BRIDGE) has completed a major breakthrough in its data offerings by incorporating copyright subscriber data as compiled by Cable Data, the leading copyright filing acquisition company.  Long considered the gold standard for basic subscriber data, copyright filings are required for every content distributor.  "Our exclusive licensing agreement with Cable Data gives our MediaCensus subscriber data an unparalleled level of accuracy," noted MediaBiz president Robert Lehmann.  "By marrying this data to our own best-in-class provider footprints, we can offer a real world view unseen since the old days of SkyTRENDS (a MediaBiz project that gathered actual ZIP level DBS subscriber numbers as required by the 1992 Cable Act)." For more information on this MediaCensus enhancement, contact Robert Lehmann at lehmannr@mediabiz.com.•

Etc: OTT Thumbs Down; Google Boosts TV Ad Inventory; Burke Exits COO Position

Analyze This:  A small (five family) OTT experiment conducted by the Hill Holliday agency found the concept less than popular with participants.  One key complaint:  The time and brain power employed to constantly chose programming via OTT devices, rather than just letting the TV run on and on.  For the company's blog post, go here.

Strategic Moves: Google has a new deal with Viamedia, a TV ad sales firm which will provide inventory covering 2M households in cable and telcoTV markets.  That extends Google TV Ad's reach to 37M total pay TV HH. --- Sprint says it has become the first US wireless carrier to offer international 4G roaming with services in Jamaica and Global Mobile.  --- Charter has unleashed its second free high-speed boost for customers across the past year.  Low end Charter Internet Plus subs will get speeds of up to 12Mbps (v. 8 Mbps previously); high end business customers will go from 75 Mbps to 100 Mbps. 

Around the World:  Shaw Communications has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a license to launch Shaw Media Sports, a national English language sports channel.   They'll have lots of competition from CTV’s The Sports Network and Roger Communications’ Rogers Sportsnet channels. --- The Egyptian government has moved against Al Jazeera, yanking its broadcast license and seeking to shut down its Cairo bureau. 

People: Steve Burke handed in his COO papers at Comcast as he moves into CEO digs at NBCUniversal.

Programming:   CBS nixed a "Let Us Play" ad from the NFL League Players Assn, the group says.  The ad was set to run Feb. 5 on CBS College Sports. --- DIRECTV CINEMA will show Hilary Swank flick "The Resident" on the same day as its theatrical debut, Feb. 18.  Cost is $5.99 for HD; $499 for SD.

OTT: More chatter on the web about a possible Netflix competitor coming from Amazon; no concrete proof yet.  Wrote BTIG's Richard Greenfield, "We suspect Amazon Prime is not launching in the immediate future (based on content shown on the web).  This implies that Amazon is still working on its movie/TV content deals with all the majors."  For more, go here.  (Registration required.)

SkyREPORT: Congrats to Hughes Network Systems whose HN8=9400 dual band satellite router received a 2010 Satellite Spotlight Product of the Year award from global media company TMC.   The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) has elected Executive Committee for 2011. including Leslie Blaker of Rockwell Collins chairman of the board; Jennifer Warren of  Lockheed Martin as vice chairman and Susan Eid of DIRECTV as treasurer.

In The Courts:  DIRECTV is under fire for allegedly installing its equipment on rental buildings without the owner's consent.  Connecticut's Jacen Management has filed a federal class action suit in the matter.•