The Senate antitrust committee has scheduled a March 21 hearing on Verizon Wireless’ $3.9 billion deal to buy a nationwide swath of AWS spectrum from four cable companies. Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, who heads the committee, said earlier this month he planned to hold a hearing on the transaction but waited until yesterday to place […]
Telecommunications
New law could free up TV airwaves for mobile use
NEW YORK (AP) — A new law could result in fewer TV stations on the air, in exchange for faster wireless data services for smartphones and tablet computers. Before you rush out to download “Bad Teacher” from iTunes, though, keep in mind that several things need to happen over the next few years before people […]
Revenue up, net profit down in Cablevision’s Q4
Cablevision Systems reported increased revenue in its fourth quarter, though its net profit was down 47 percent. The company lost 14,000 video subscribers but compensated somewhat by attracting a net of 20,000 broadband activations and 31,000 voice accounts. Overall, Cablevision lost a net of 11,000 customers in the quarter. The company ended the quarter with […]
After LightSquared flop, FCC chief talks policy at MWC
The head of the FCC touted the agency’s pro-wireless policies during a speech today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona but made no mention of its decision to block AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile USA or the failure of LightSquared’s LTE plans. Chairman Julius Genachowski’s speech was delivered two weeks after the agency moved to block […]
Charter pushes back TiVo launch
In this morning’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call, Charter Communications executives said the company was pulling back on the reins for its planned deployment of TiVo’s Premiere box. Charter has a trial underway in Fort Worth, Texas, with TiVo, and a couple more are in the works with employees in other markets, but company executives said […]
Sprint raises $2B in debt, stays mum on MetroPCS rumors
Sprint plans to raise $2 billion in new debt funding today that it said could be used to defray the cost of upgrading its network, pay off its debt or pour additional cash into Clearwire. The wireless operator is overhauling its network, a project that proved more expensive than originally planned after Sprint accelerated its […]
Ericsson, Qualcomm show new wireless video tech
Ericsson and Qualcomm are set to show a combined approach to delivering live and on-demand video content over LTE wireless networks, not only to mobile devices, but also to set-tops and gateways. The two are collaborating on a more efficient way to deliver video over cellular networks using the evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) […]
Isis adds options ahead of mid-year launch
Isis has added three new banks to its mobile wallet ahead of its mid-year debut in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas. The company, a three-way joint venture formed in late 2010 by AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, said today that credit and debit cards from Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard would be included […]
Google sells off Clearwire stake for $47M
Google is selling off its entire stake in Clearwire for $47 million, well below the market value of the shares. The Internet search giant is shedding all of its 29 million shares for $1.60 a pop, according to documents filed today with the SEC. The sale price for the shares is considerably less than Clearwire’s […]
Rogers debuts TV + Web whole-home service
Rogers Communications has started offering a combination whole-home PVR and TV Everywhere-style service based on Cisco’s Videoscape architecture. Rogers’ NextBox 2.0 service wraps together whole-home PVR; in-home streaming, via Wi-Fi, of more than 20 channels of linear TV to tablet computers; and a new interactive program guide (IPG). NextBox 2.0 will initially be available only […]