Globecast and Measat signed an agreement with France’s Mezzo Live HD to deliver Mezzo programming to the Asia-Pacific region on the Measat-3 satellite. Mezzo Live HD Asia “is a new around-the-clock TV channel for the Asia-Pacific region,” Globecast said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1kwOQtZ). Broadcast in French, the channel will be subtitled in 11 regional languages, it said. Globecast will receive the channel’s signal at its technical operations center in Paris, it said. Then the channel is sent via fiber to a Hong Kong teleport for uplink onto the Measat-3 platform, Globecast said.

The new version of the FCC Process Reform Act is “a bipartisan compromise” but not without its disappointments, said House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in her opening statement at the bill’s markup late Tuesday afternoon. “While I appreciate the inclusion of the bipartisan/bicameral FCC Collaboration Act of 2013 (HR-539), I'm disappointed that this provision will not take effect immediately upon enactment,” Eshoo said. “For years, current and former FCC Commissioners have called on Congress to pass ’sunshine reform.’ A delay in implementation is the unnecessary delay of a much needed reform.” The bill should be changed in the House or possibly in the Senate, she said. The House Commerce Committee plans to vote on it Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in 2121 Rayburn. Eshoo praised FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s own process review initiative, started since his confirmation. She backs the Federal Spectrum Incentive Act (HR-3674), introduced Monday, which she co-sponsored. “Passage of this legislation is a win-win for federal agencies, the wireless industry and most importantly for consumers,” she said. In his markup opening statement, Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., cited pride in both the process reform and spectrum legislation, backing their passage. The spectrum bill “would incent agencies by offering a percentage of net auction proceeds to agencies willing to do the hard work of making their systems more efficient,” Walden said. He urged his colleagues to back the bill and “work on creative ways to bring additional spectrum.”

Tribune Broadcasting requested a license for a Ku-band transportable transmit-only earth station. The facilities will be uesd to provide news and event coverage “via digital video and audio carriers to WTIC-TV, Hartford, Conn., and WCCT-TV, Waterbury, Conn.,” it said in an application to the FCC International Bureau (http://bit.ly/1iTnpiv). WXMI Grand Rapids, Mich., also applied for a Ku-band transmit-only earth station (http://bit.ly/1e3njCM).

The FCC cap on inmate calling service rates, intended to make it easier for prisoners to stay in contact with families, will likely lead to the elimination of phone privileges in a North Carolina jail, Forsyth County Sheriff William Schatzman told the commission Monday (http://bit.ly/1dmazCF). The new rules make “no provision for local detention facilities to recover inherent costs associated with providing inmate calling services,” such as monitoring calls for security purposes or blocking numbers for “citizen safety concerns,” he said. “Our detention facility must be allowed to recover our costs for this service or there may soon come a time where we are no longer able to provide any inmate calling service here."

Sorenson began rolling out a change in its Telecommunications Relay Services that it says will prevent unregistered softphones from dialing 911, the company told the FCC Monday (http://bit.ly/1jJ2g8C). A softphone is computer software that allows VoIP calls. The ability to dial 911 will be activated as soon as the user registers the softphone, Sorenson said.

In nearly half of all designated market areas in which DirecTV carries local signals, DirecTV “must negotiate with a party controlling multiple Big Four affiliates, often through arrangements that circumvent the commission’s ownership rules,” DirecTV said in an ex parte filing in docket 10-71, which included an analysis of DMAs (http://bit.ly/18wXczt). The analysis focused on DMAs where broadcasters are able to negotiate for two or more Big Four affiliated stations, it said. The filing recounted a meeting with FCC commissioners Ajit Pai, Michael O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn and staff from Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office. DirecTV representatives also stressed “the spiraling fees being demanded by broadcasters for retransmission consent,” it said.

The Michigan Public Service Commission reversed an arbitration panel determination, in an order Friday, and it will now require AT&T to initiate IP interconnection with Sprint (http://bit.ly/1aP7Y0K). AT&T Michigan argued in the arbitration that it was unable to provide Sprint with IP interconnection because the applicable equipment was owned by a “separate, but affiliated, out-of-state” company, said the order. Without intervention from the PSC, Sprint in the order said “it will be forced to use inefficient and expensive TDM technology to the financial detriment of the company.” According to Section 251(c)(2) of the 1996 Telecom Act, AT&T Michigan is required to provide IP-to-IP interconnection in the same way that it requires TDM interconnection, said Sprint. AT&T said this interconnection requirement does not extend to IP interconnection, and this legal question is “currently pending” before the FCC in a rulemaking proceeding. The PSC acknowledged the FCC’s rulemaking, but it said the FCC did not ask state commissions to “refrain from deciding on the issue.” State commissions are not required to delay their decisions on IP interconnection pursuant to the 2nd Circuit Court’s decision in Southern New England Telephone Company v Comcast Phone of Connecticut, Inc., decided earlier this year, said the PSC order. The PSC said AT&T Michigan failed to provide a reasonable argument on why Sprint’s proposed IP interconnection is not technically feasible, said the order. AT&T Michigan alleged that the softswitch used to provide IP service to its customers was owned by its out-of-state affiliate SBCIS, and is not part of the AT&T Michigan’s network. The PSC said AT&T Michigan and SBCIS work together to operate a network for IP and TDM-based telephone exchange service, and AT&T Michigan is still required to provide Sprint with IP interconnection. In addition, AT&T Michigan can’t use the location of IP softswitch as a reason to deny Sprint access to IP interconnection, said the order. “Based on the Commission’s view of the facts in this case, it appears AT&T Michigan is feigning inability to provide IP interconnection in order to avoid its Section 251(c) obligations,” said the order. The Michigan PSC should be congratulated for promoting “modern and efficient” IP technology implementation, said Charles McKee, Sprint vice president-government affairs, in a statement. “By ruling that AT&T must allow carriers to interconnect using IP, the Commission has taken an important step in providing customers the benefits and efficiencies of IP technology,” said McKee. “Sprint is also pleased that the Michigan PSC ruled favorably on other pro-competitive provisions of Sprint’s proposed interconnection agreement that will allow Sprint to exchange traffic with AT&T more cost-effectively.” Comptel General Counsel Angie Kronenberg said she also applauded the Michigan PSC for siding with Sprint. “As the PSC found, there is no reason why states should wait for further action from the FCC,” she said. “It is critical that states use their authority granted by Congress to address interconnection when parties cannot agree.” AT&T Michigan did not comment.

The Utility Reform Network (TURN) filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission Friday asking the PUC to put a stop to AT&T’s “unreasonable” rates (http://bit.ly/1bsKeTJ). Since Jan. 1, 2011, AT&T’s basic service rates have been deregulated, and AT&T’s flat and measured service rates have increased 40 percent and 73 percent, said the TURN complaint. Since the PUC granted major increases to the price caps of ILEC basic service rates on Jan. 1, 2009, AT&T’s flat and measured service rates have increased 115 percent and 222 percent, it said. “Competitive forces are not imposing sufficient constraints to ensure that AT&T’s basic service rates meet the requirement of Public Utilities Code Section 451 that ‘all charges demanded or received’ by a public utility such as AT&T ’shall be just and reasonable,'” said the complaint. TURN’s complaint was signed by 35 California customers. The complaint calls for the PUC to order a reduction in AT&T’s rates to make them comparable to other carriers, at $20 for flat service and $14 for measured service. AT&T did not comment.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., will introduce a bill to limit how law enforcement agencies can make bulk data requests and to require warrants for geolocation information requests and wireless data protections, his office said Monday in a news release (http://1.usa.gov/18iSsQd). He released responses from eight carriers which gave him information about the requests they receive. The carriers received more than a million requests for wireless data from law enforcement agencies in 2012, Markey said in a statement. Markey said he backs legislation “so that Americans can have confidence that their information is protected and standards are in place for the retention and disposal of this sensitive data.” The carriers Markey queried were U.S. Cellular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Leap Wireless /Cricket Communications, MetroPCS, Verizon, AT&T and C Spire Wireless. The proposed bill would force the FCC to create rules limiting how long carriers can hold onto customers’ data. Law enforcement agencies would also have to be more up front about how many requests they issue. Markey’s queries and proposed law also target “'cell phone tower dumps,’ in which carriers provide all the phone numbers of mobile phone users that connect with a tower during a specific period of time,” said his release. There were about 9,000 such tower dumps in 2012, it said. Markey also outlined the money the carriers receive as compensation for requests: “AT&T received $10 million; T-Mobile received $11 million; and Verizon less than $5 million in just 2012 alone.” Markey criticized the unclear policies on data retention and pointed to AT&T holding data for five years. Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, wrote a Slate op-ed (http://slate.me/1gTx58i) slamming the practices and said it’s “long past time for Congress to update our electronic privacy laws.” The quantity of agency requests to carriers is “staggering,” she said, lamenting the lack of clear policies on how the data are used. The ACLU slammed the practices in its own separate news release (http://bit.ly/1bszip4). “There is an easy fix to part of this problem,” said ACLU Washington Legislative Counsel Chris Calabrese. “President Obama and members of Congress should pass legislation that updates our outdated privacy laws by requiring law enforcement to get a probable cause warrant before service providers disclose the contents of our electronic communications to the government."

House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., planned to have introduced legislation Monday to stop people from talking on their cellphones on airplanes, he said, delivering on a threat other lawmakers have made in recent weeks. Shuster calls his bill the Prohibiting In-Flight Voice Communications on Mobile Wireless Devices Act and posted online a bill copy (http://1.usa.gov/19wPeDy). The legislation focuses on domestic commercial flights and forbids any phone conversation when the plane is in flight. Shuster’s office cited the FCC draft NPRM to review whether, from a technical perspective, such phone conversations should be allowed. “For passengers, being able to use their phones and tablets to get online or send text messages is a useful in-flight option,” Shuster said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/1ktm4uo). “But if passengers are going to be forced to listen to the gossip in the aisle seat, it’s going to make for a very long flight,” he said. “For those few hours in the air with 150 other people, it’s just common sense that we all keep our personal lives to ourselves and stay off the phone.” The bill doesn’t mention the FCC or the Federal Aviation Administration, and directs the secretary of transportation to issue rules banning inflight conversations.