communications

Google may be grabbing the spotlight in the upcoming auction of 700MHz wireless spectrum, but it's not the only nontraditional player that wants a valuable piece of the airwaves.

The Federal Communications late Tuesday released the names of applicants that plan to bid in the much-anticipated January auction, and Google competitors may include cable operator Cablevision, mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, and satellite TV provider EchoStar.

That Google was among the 266 companies filing an application by the December 3 deadline was no surprise. Google said earlier this year that it was willing to put up at least $4.6 billion for licenses … Read more

Just as girls (presumably) write in diaries more than boys, teen girls also tend to blog more than their male counterparts, a new study finds. But boys post more video, it says.

About 35 percent of all online teen girls blog, compared with only 20 percent of boys, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's "Teens and Social Media."

"Girls continue to dominate most elements of content creation," the study finds.

About 54 percent of the girls online post photos compared with 40 percent for boys, but boys are nearly twice as likely … Read more

Monday was the deadline to submit applications for a chance to bid on the 700MHz spectrum auction scheduled for January, and the lineup is taking shape.

Google, Cox Communications, Frontline Wireless, and AT&T all appear to have submitted an application Monday for a chance to bid on the spectrum, which is set to be freed up with the Federal Communication Commission's decision to move everyone to digital television in 2009. The 700MHz band is sought by companies that wish to build wireless voice and data networks, and is probably the last time for a while that such … Read more

Cable's fierce lobbying over the threat of expanded government control paid off late Tuesday night, as federal regulators approved a watered-down proposal that does not immediately open up the possibility of new regulations.

After a rocky day of closed-door negotiations, which delayed the scheduled 9:30 a.m. EST start time of the Federal Communications Commission's meeting by nearly 12 hours, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin caved to pressure from fellow commissioners over how to handle a contentious cable competition report.

That outcome could derail any future efforts by Martin to push through controversial new rules for cable operators--most … Read more

WASHINGTON--The Federal Communications Commission has postponed indefinitely the start of its monthly meeting, at which it's supposed to vote on a controversial report that could lead to new regulations on the cable industry.

Chairman Kevin Martin emerged briefly from closed-door deliberations at FCC headquarters here midday Tuesday to tell reporters that commissioners were still negotiating how to handle an internal report about the state of cable industry competition. The meeting, which was originally scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. EST, was bumped to 11 a.m. and now has no new projected start time.

The report's … Read more

Google is lining up financing to bid on wireless spectrum in the Federal Communication Commission's upcoming 700MHz auction, and it's already built a small high-speed wireless network at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., to test out what it could do with the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Journal cited sources saying the company is planning on bidding in the auction, set to take place early next year. Google has obtained a test license from the FCC that it's using to test technology on a small wireless network on its campus, the article said. … Read more

The cable industry is gearing up for battle against the Federal Communications Commission, as the head of its trade group calls the federal regulating agency "broken."

Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, stopped short of saying that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is picking on the cable industry, but he made it clear during a conference call with reporters Wednesday that he views the FCC's handling of cable-related issues as biased and hurtful to the industry. He also accused Martin of pushing his agenda on a la carte cable pricing at the expense of … Read more

Federal Communications Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday threw his support behind Google's Open Handset Alliance.

On Monday, Google officially unveiled Android, its new mobile phone software. It also announced the Open Handset Alliance. Thirty-four companies have said they will join the alliance, which will work on developing applications on the Android platform. Members of the alliance include mobile handset makers HTC and Motorola, mobile operators T-Mobile and Sprint-Nextel, and chipmaker Qualcomm.

It should come as little surprise that Martin would support the alliance. Earlier this year, he made open devices a requirement in the rules for the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction, … Read more

Members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition and Internet scholars from Harvard, Yale and Stanford law schools filed a petition and complaint with the Federal Communications Commission Thursday in response to claims that Comcast is blocking some kinds of peer-to-peer traffic.

The complaint comes after the Associated Press discovered, based on its own testing, that content was blocked on several Comcast broadband connections using the peer-to-peer filing sharing network BitTorrent. Other Comcast users have also complained that their BitTorrent content has been blocked.

In their petition, the groups claim that Comcast is violating the FCC's Internet Policy Statement, which essentially … Read more