Conn. Dept. of Public Utility Control (DPUC) approved plan by Southern New England Telephone (SNET) Personal Vision competitive cable unit to exit cable business in state by May. DPUC approved SNET’s cable departure because carrier backed wrong technological horse with its hybrid fiber-coaxial network for full-service phone/cable system and it would be prohibitively costly for company to adopt newer technologies. To ensure orderly transition for Personal Vision customers, DPUC draft decision requires SNET to credit customers $50 to defray their costs of switching to incumbent cable company, to either transfer coaxial drops to incumbent or remove them from customer premises without charge to customer, accept mail-ins of leased set-top boxes, and support its public access affiliates’ move to incumbent cable companies with subsidies until May 2002.
FCC reaffirmed its Aug. 1999 decisions on TV ownership and attribution rules in decisions late Fri. Among rules reaffirmed were local TV ownership limits, national TV ownership, mass media attribution.
Mobile TV production van owner National Mobile TV (NMT) said it would provide production services and end-to-end solutions for Webcasting from remote sites. Under agreement, programming would be produced using NMT trucks, and distributed to Web by digital media infrastructure company Activate.
Advanced Tracking Technologies (ATT) announced TravelEyes2 device that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) to track location of vehicles for uses such as tracking mileage for reimbursement, counting time spent at each stop, tracking speed and location of vehicle. Device is update of software consisting mainly of improved graphics, although it now can track tax-deductible mileage compared with other mileage.
XM said Mon. it had signed manufacturing contract with Visteon for digital radio service and audio entertainment technology. XM also signed programming agreements with National Lampoon, Firesign Theater and Discovery Channel.
Nicholas Wodtke, ex-Columbia TriStar International, named senior vp-interactive TV, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment… Allison Remsen, former NCTA staffer, promoted to press secy., House Minority Whip Bonior (D-Mich.)… Changes at NBC: Barry Stoddard promoted to senior vp-program research, West Coast; Rosalyn Weinman, exec. vp-broadcast content policy and East Coast entertainment, leaves network… Changes at CNBC: Steve Sherman promoted to vp-research; Andrew Warren, NBC, moves to vp-CFO… Philip Lelyveld promoted to vp-digital industry relations, Disney… Changes at Discovery Networks International: Rex Recka promoted to vp-programming & sales operations; Tony Harvin, ex- Motown and Arista Records, named dir.-program sales… James Clifford promoted to senior vp-CDMA technologies, Qualcomm… Promotions at Verizon: Wajeeha Aziz to dir., operations-western N.Y. region; Tarita Miller to dir., operations-N.Y. midstate region… Changes at EMS Technologies: Jay Grove, ex-ViaSat, appointed vp-gen. mgr., EMS Space & Technology Group-Atlanta; Michael Gulledge, ex-Glenayre Electronics, named vp-mktg., Wireless Div… Promotions at The National Telephone Cooperative Association: Marlee Norton to vp-international programs; Barbara Ritter to vp-human resources; Ron Precourt to dir.-training & development; Eleanor Baird to dir. of meetings… Sarah Foss promoted to dir.-mktg., Bcst. Communications Div., Harris Corp… Thomas Hicks III, ex-Greenberg, Traurig, becomes partner, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering.
BT N. America said it opened new Digital Switching Center at Teleport in Washington. New facility will provide customers with international gateway to IP connectivity, digital transmission services and access to BT’s infrastructure.
FCC strengthened its line sharing rules in an order released Mon. that acts on petitions for clarification or reconsideration of rules agency adopted last year. Among changes adopted in new order: (1) Line sharing applies to entire loop, even where portion of loop is on fiber facilities. (2) ILECs must provide line splitting so competing carrier can provide voice and data over same line either by itself or in partnership with data carrier.
Nokia Neu CommTech, joint venture of Nokia in China, and Beijing and Hubei arms of China Mobile Communications (CMM), reached agreement for delivery of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology, terms not announced. Companies said gear would be used to start wireless Internet services to northern, central and western regions of China. Nokia said deliveries had begun and system would start operating next month. CMM plans to offer WAP- based services to more than 1 million customers. Separately, Nokia signed $160 million pact to deliver GSM 900 MHz and 1800 MHz network equipment to China’s Yunnan Mobile Communications Co. Nokia said it would provide high-capacity mobile switching equipment and base station controllers. Companies said network upgrade would increase capacity of network for Yunnan’s nearly 2 million subscribers in southern China.
Sprint is using 2-way system from Hybrid Networks to deploy Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service in Melbourne, Fla. Hybrid said it was providing head-end equipment to manage data transmission and bandwidth. Companies didn’t disclose financial terms.