LightSquared: GPS Industry to Blame For Interference

In its final comments to the Federal Communications Commission, LightSquared said any GPS interference caused by the company's planned wholesale LTE network is actually the fault of the GPS industry itself. Not only is the blame for potetial interferences solely that of the GPS industry, the company says it's also responsible for the two sides' current impasse.

Filed with the FCC this week, LightSquared's position on the potential disruption of GPS services is "unequivocally... caused by the GPS device manufacturer's decision over the last eight years to design products that depend on using spectrum assigned to other FCC licensees." The company claims to be moving forward in an attempt to resolve the problem but "GPS device manufacturers, unlike relevant government agencies, have been largely uninterested in finding a win-win solution."

The GPS industry, represented by the Coalition to Save Our GPS, disagrees with LightSquared's assertion, saying that because the company's spectrum was originally designed for satellite transmissions with ancillary terrestrial components, GPS receivers were specifically designed not to interfere with those transmissions - not those made from base stations.

The FCC said there will be a 30-day public comment period on the report and a 15-day reply period.

In related news, LightSquared signed a multi-year, wholesale agreement with VoIP service provider netTalk to help the company develop its own brand of voice and high-speed mobile data services.

Broadcasters Seek Amendment Amendment

When the Senate Commerce Committee adopted a bill permitting the Federal Communications Commission to sell TV spectrum given up by broadcasters, the idea was to incentivize said auctions by sharing the proceeds. Additionally, these spectrum auctions were intended to be voluntary for broadcasters.

However, an amendment to bill S.911 by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) has caught the attention of the National Association of Broadcasters who say its language makes the auctions involuntary. The portion in question lies in Cantwell's terminolgy which says that certain spectrum (84 MHz) "shall be assigned via a competitive bidding process."

"We want to make sure that voluntary stays voluntary," says Dennis Wharton, NAB's EVP for media relations. "Any provision that would force broadcasters to involuntarily relinquish spectrum would be strongly opposed by NAB."

Both sides are reportedly working to clarify the amendment's language.

Executive Dissent at RIM - Twitter Under Investigation? - Women's Hot Dog Eating Contest(!)

Rumor Mill: A confirmed yet unidentified senior executive at Research In Motion (RIM) wrote a scathing open letter to company management saying, "I have lost confidence" and "my passion has been sapped." Sources have authenticated the letter addressed to RIM co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis which goes on to say that the writer's feelings are shared "across a huge percentage of your employee base" and "things have never been more chaotic" at the Blackberry-maker. The letter can be read in its entirety here. --- Business Insider says the Federal Trade Commission is "actively investigating Twitter" for the way the company deals with developers of applications and services for its platform. Neither Twitter nor FTC officials commented for the story, but details can be found here.

From the Portals: The FCC granted Comcast two more weeks to formally respond to Bloomberg's complaint that the cable giant violated conditions of its NBCU merger regarding 'neighborhooding' news channels. --- The FCC is also sending notice to the Federal Register that the agency has completed its review of the reporting requirements of its net neutrality order.

Research: A new Yahoo! study says peak online video viewing is now taking place during the cherished primetime evening hours of 6-9pm. The online company's data says 18% of the online videos are full length TV shows, up from 11% just two years ago. Eight percent are full length movies (up from 5% two years ago).

SkyREPORT: Both DirecTV and DISH Network stock prices hit 52-week highs during trading yesterday. DirecTV closed at $50.82 (previous high of $50.80) - DISH closed at $30.67 ($30.14).

Ratings: MTV said the third season premiere of its (now) flagship series Jersey Shore was the third highest rated original cable series in Q2 and pushed the net to its sixth consecutive quarter of ratings growth. (Editor's note: the end is nigh.) --- On a redeeming note, FOX Soccer's coverage of the US v. Mexico Gold Cup final earned a 1.43 HH rating - the net's first telecast to top 1.0 with 954K viewers.

Technology: A new iPhone app called BlinQ reorders the channel lineup of a user's cable system from its numerical order to a list of the most popular shows (on that system) and allows users to change channels from their mobile device.

Programming: The first-ever Women's Hot Dog Eating Championship will be on ESPN3.com on July 4th at 11:30am ET. The perplexingly-popular annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest will air on ESPN at noon, in addition to coverage on ESPN3 and ESPN Mobile. --- ESPN 3D will air the men's tennis Wimbledon final live today at 7:45am ET and again at 8pm ET on delay.

Up, Down and Over There: The Chinese government is facing new accusations that it is blocking news websites in Ethiopia and jamming Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) and other broadcasters including the Voice of America and German's Deutsche Welle Amharic services. --- Broadcasting solutions provider Net Insight will partner with SHM Broadcast GmbH to deliver a nationwide cable TV network in Germany.

Folks: Univision named 30-year NBC veteran Randy Falco as its new CEO after joining the Spanish-language company in January as COO.

July 4th: From all of us here at MediaBiz, we wish you a safe and delightful Fourth of July holiday weekend. The Morning BRIDGE will return with regular news coverage on Tuesday, July 5.