News Blog

The Pioneer Inno

(Credit: Pioneer)

EMI Group is the latest major music label to reach a settlement with XM Satellite Radio over the Pioneer Inno device, the companies announced Tuesday.

EMI, one of several music labels that filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against XM in May 2006, is withdrawing from the complaint. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The initial lawsuit stems from XM's Pioneer Inno, which has the capability to record and store music delivered over satellite radio. EMI, along with other major music labels, had contended that the device could violate their copyrights.

With the settlement, EMI is joining Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, which in December also reached a settlement with XM. Last February, Sony BMG and XM also settled.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday he expects the agency to make a decision soon about the Sirius Satellite Radio merger with rival XM Satellite Radio.

Martin said during an interview on CNBC's Squawk on the Street Thursday that he expected the commission to "do something soon." But he defended the long review process by saying that the deal was "extraordinary" and raised difficult issues. Specifically, he said the FCC already had a rule in place that prohibited the merger of the two satellite radio companies.

Originally, the agency barred satellite radio companies from combining. But the rule could be changed, especially as satellite radio faces more competition from Internet music services, music playing phones, and online music stores like Apple's iTunes that allow people to play music on iPods.

Martin acknowledged that the two companies had made pricing concessions in order to get the deal approved by regulators. In March, the Justice Department concluded that the deal would not "substantially lessen competition."

The FCC is the final regulatory hurdle the companies need to move the merger forward. The deal, which was valued at $13 billion in February 2007 when it was announced, was approved by XM and Sirius shareholders last December.

Martin had indicated at the end of March that the agency was inching closer to a decision on whether the deal passes muster. But two months later, the FCC still hasn't announced a decision.

Meanwhile, XM and Sirius have been burning cash as competition from online video and music sites has grown over the past year and a half. Critics wonder what's taking the agency so long to decide. When asked during the CNBC interview if the commission was under an obligation to make its decision sooner rather than later, Martin had this to say:

"I think we are under an obligation, but this is an unusual circumstance...This was unlike any other merger that's come in front of us. We have a rule that would prohibit it from going forward. I think they're asking for something extraordinary, and the commission is taking a look at it. We'll get back to them soon."

(Credit: Verizon)

On Tuesday, the Franchise and Concession Review Committee (FCRC) of New York voted unanimously to approve Verizon's proposal to provide Fios TV service in all five boroughs. The vote moves the service closer to becoming an option for customers in New York to choose over cable or satellite TV.

"If we are successful in the last steps of the approval process, we will deliver on our promise to begin offering Fios TV in parts of each of the five boroughs later this year," Monica Azare, Verizon senior vice president for New York and Connecticut, said in a press release. ... Read more

With many years of experience in GPS and in satellite technology generally, Lockheed Martin is now charged with leading the development and deployment of the next-generation GPS III system.

(Credit: Lockheed Martin)

If you haven't already joined the rush to buy a handheld GPS device, you probably will soon. Or maybe your next new car will come with built-in navigation capabilities. It's increasingly likely, too, that your cell phone has GPS built in.

For all the attention on the millions of gadgets that use GPS, the heart of the Global Positioning System really is the network of satellites orbiting the globe and relaying signals to your Garmin. That network is now due for an upgrade, starting in the middle of the next decade.

At Lockheed Martin's Valley Forge, Pa., plant, a GPS IIR(M) satellite gets packaged for delivery to Cape Canaveral in anticipation of its June launch date.

(Credit: Stephen B. Griffith/Lockheed Martin)

Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin announced that it had been awarded a $1.4 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the next-generation system, known as GPS III. The goal is to deliver better accuracy and availability for both civilian and military users of the navigation technology (which, after all, was born as a military innovation).

In the first round of the undertaking, lead contractor Lockheed, along with ITT and General Dynamics, will build eight GPS IIIA satellites, the first of which is due to go into orbit in 2014. Later increments--for which no dates were specified--will see the construction and deployment of eight GPS IIIB and 16 GPS IIIC satellites, with progressively advanced capabilities.

One advance that Lockheed is promising: eventually, all of the 32 satellites will be able to receive simultaneous updates from a single ground station through a cross-linked command and control architecture. The artificial constellation will also feature "a new spot beam capability for enhanced military (M-Code) coverage and increased resistance to hostile jamming."

The Air Force is set to launch its final two Lockheed-built GPS IIR satellites, one in June and the other in September. That will make for a total of 20 IIR satellites, which are more autonomous than earlier models, put into service over the span of about a decade. These last two are among eight IIR(M) models, which provide both M-Code and L2C (for civilian use) signals. The satellite launching in June also will transmit on a frequency called L5, intended primarily for aviation safety-of-life applications.

Whatever the new satellites deliver in specific functions, they'll certainly be sending signals to a wider audience. In January, the Swedish analyst firm Berg Insight said the number of GPS-enabled handsets is set to more than triple during the next five years, reaching an expected worldwide total of 560 million handsets by 2012.

The European rival to GPS, called Galileo, is expected to be fully operational by 2013.

The proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio may have sailed through a U.S. Department of Justice review without conditions, but key congressional Democrats are urging the Federal Communications Commission to impose limits designed to protect consumers.

In a letter on Thursday (PDF), Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said they're not taking a position on whether the FCC should clear the deal, but they believe the regulators should consider certain steps as they weigh whether the union of the only two U.S. satellite radio operators satisfies the "public interest." Dingell and Markey are the chairmen of two House of Representatives panels that oversee the FCC.

Here's the relevant portion outlining what they'd like to see:

First, the Commission should require the merged entity to adhere, at a minimum, to the pricing constraints that XM and Sirius have already submitted to the Commission. Such a condition would ensure that a combined entity does not take advantage of consumers by leveraging its position as sole provider of satellite radio services by raising prices.

Second, the Commission should require the merged company to permit any device manufacturer to develop equipment that can deliver the company's satellite radio service. Device manufacturers should also be permitted to incorporate in satellite radio receivers any other technology that would not result in harmful interference with the merged company's network, including hybrid digital (HD) radio technology, iPod ports, Internet connectivity, or other technology. This principle of openness would serve to promote competition, protect consumers, and spur technological innovation.

Attorneys general from 11 states have made similar recommendations. In their effort to win over regulators last year, the two companies unveiled plans to offer new packages of channels at reduced rates and committed, at least informally, to not raise their monthly subscription fees.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in late March that the agency is inching closer to a decision on whether the deal passes muster.

The Justice Department, for its part, concluded that the merger would not "substantially lessen competition," and XM and Sirius shareholders approved the transaction last December.

The FCC has already suggested that its bar for approval is higher. In 1997, the agency adopted an order prohibiting such a merger when it would result in only one operator controlling all satellite radio spectrum. In addition, terrestrial broadcasters and some consumer advocacy groups oppose the merger.

The European Union on Sunday launched Giove-B, the second (and last) test satellite in its $5.3 billion Galileo project, according to Reuters.

The first test satellite, Giove-A, was launched in December 2005. Giove-B will test the program's high-precision atomic clock and signal transmission, Reuters reported.

Galileo is Europe's upcoming satellite radio navigation system, and it's the EU's largest space program. Galileo will eventually become an ultraprecise system of 30 satellites, but it has hit a few bumps along the way.

The fully deployed Galileo system planned will consist of 30 satellites, positioned in three circular Medium Earth Orbit planes.

(Credit: European Space Agency)

The project's launch date has been pushed back several times, from the original goal of 2008 to the current goal of 2013. And unlike the United States' Global Positioning System, or GPS, which was designed primarily as a military system with a free public side to it, Galileo was initially conceived of as a largely commercial venture. But the project proved too ambitious to be sustained by the original public-private partnership.

After some companies pulled out of the project, the EU voted to put more public funding toward it. Now even that support isn't guaranteed. Fears that the project might spiral out of financial control prompted some U.K. lawmakers last November to call for a complete review of the United Kingdom's involvement in the program.

Uncertainty about when Galileo will actually be up and running, and how effective it will be compared to GPS, has reportedly caused confusion among some companies in the mobile industry, who have been unsure which technology to support in their products (or whether they should support both).

And while Galileo is still getting off the ground, demand for phones with GPS services is skyrocketing. The number of GPS-enabled handsets is expected to more than triple during the next five years, according to analysts. The rise of such devices in Europe will increase 18-fold by 2012.

Although it has been a rocky road for the Galileo program, EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot told Reuters that high demand for navigational services means that Galileo has the potential to be profitable from the get-go.

The Canadian government has put the kibosh on the $1.3 billion sale of a Canadian satellite company to a U.S. firm for fear that such a deal would give the U.S. government too much control over sensitive satellite images.

The government said Thursday that it was blocking Alliant Techsystems' bid for MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates to protect Canada's sovereignty. The New York Times noted this was the first time in 23 years that the Canadian government has blocked such a sale to a foreign company.

The satellite, called Radarsat2, is owned by MacDonald Dettwiler, but the Canadian government financed a good portion of the construction and launch. It is uniquely positioned over the Arctic with views of the Arctic sea passage ways that could one day be used for shipping. In exchange for its investment, the Canadian government has access to images from the satellite.

Opponents of the deal fear that if the company were sold, U.S. officials would be able to ask Alliant Techsystems to let them see images of ships traveling through the Arctic. Canada has long claimed sovereignty over the Arctic sea passages, but the U.S. maintains that those waters are international.

Alliant Techsystems has 30 days to appeal the government's decision.

The U.S. government has been keeping watch from space for almost 50 years, starting with the Corona program overseen by the National Reconnaissance Office. In September 1967, a Corona camera in orbit took this picture of the Pentagon.

(Credit: National Reconnaissance Office)

WASHINGTON--A plan to expand the number of government police and security agencies that can tap into detailed satellite images is proceeding, despite concerns from Congress, the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday.

During a roundtable discussion with bloggers and journalists here, Secretary Michael Chertoff said a "charter has been signed" to create a new office, which will serve as a clearinghouse for requests from law enforcement, border security, and other domestic homeland security agencies to view feeds from powerful satellites. It will be called the National Applications Office.

"I think the way is now clear to stand (the office) up and go warm on it," said Chertoff at Homeland Security's headquarters here.

Right now, these spy satellites are more commonly used for things like monitoring volcanic activity, hurricanes, floods, and various environmental and geological shifts. But the agency has said it sees important applications for the images in other areas within its purview, such as terrorism investigations and illegal immigration busts.

Originally, the but those plans were delayed after congressional Democrats raised privacy concerns. They said they wouldn't be able to support the program until the agency lays out exactly what legal framework it will be using to fulfill requests by, say, state and local police, and how it will protect Americans' civil liberties.

Chertoff said Wednesday that the department has completed the privacy impact assessments for the new office and should be releasing them within a few days. He said that members of Congress have received briefings and that he thinks there's a "good process in place to make sure there aren't any legal transgressions."

This photo shows the Soviet Union's Dolon Air Field in August 1966. The NRO calls Corona the "first operational space photo reconnaissance satellite."

(Credit: National Reconnaissance Office)

In the past, Homeland Security officials have downplayed the implications of allowing more agencies to access the satellites, arguing that in addition to scientific applications, the technique has already been employed from time to time by the Secret Service and FBI. For instance, when a well-publicized series of sniper attacks swept through the Washington, D.C., area in October 2002, the CIA and FBI were permitted to use images provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to look for places snipers might hide along highways along the east coast.

"I think we have fully addressed everybody's concerns," Chertoff said Wednesday. "We've made it clear this is not going to be interception of communications, verbal or oral or written. That's still going to be done under the traditional way."

The Homeland Security secretary, however, may not have that easy a time persuading congressional overseers.

Within the next few days, Reps. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Christopher Carney (D-Penn.), who lead Homeland Security subcommittees, are planning to send Chertoff a letter that says the new scheme still isn't ready for launch, a Democratic aide to the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, which oversees the department, told CNET News.com on Wednesday.

Committee leaders say the charter for the National Applications Office is "wholly inadequate," said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the letter is still being drafted. They plan to criticize the department for allegedly failing to outline the legal framework and other "standard operating procedures" governing the program.

Furthermore, the Government Accountability Office has not yet vetted the program's privacy guidelines, which was made a condition for the National Applications Office to receive congressional funding, the aide said.

On cybersecurity
Also at the roundtable discussion, Chertoff attempted to defuse concerns that Homeland Security's cybersecurity arm plans to "sit on the Internet," as he put it, and monitor traffic in a manner reminiscent of the Chinese government.

As part of its efforts to detect network intrusions in real time, Homeland Security has said it plans to expand use of an existing system known as Einstein, that will, among other things, monitor visits from Americans and foreigners visiting .gov Web sites. The set-up is in place at 15 federal agencies, but Chertoff has asked for $293.5 million from Congress in next year's budget to roll it out governmentwide.

In addition to outfitting federal networks with those tools, Chertoff said the government also plans to help companies to fend off cyberattacks by offering some of its "classified" intrusion detection tools--but such aid will be purely optional.

As for the department's broader strategy, "in some ways, it's more and better of what we're doing," Chertoff said. "In some cases, it may involve some additional things I can't talk about."

In addition, Chertoff spoke about the Real ID Act and the department's May 11 deadline--see our separate story.

Attorneys general from 11 states urged the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to impose conditions on the proposed union of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio should the agency decide to approve the megamerger, according to Reuters.

The state leaders said they were disappointed by Monday's decision by U.S. Justice Department antitrust regulators to let the deal go through without conditions. They suggested restrictions that would preserve competition and protect consumers, such as requiring "Sirius and XM to make interoperable radio receivers available to customers, offer different packages of channels on an a la carte basis, and divest some radio spectrum that would allow another competitor into the business," according to the story.

Sirius' proposed acquisition of XM--an all-stock deal now valued at $5 billion--still needs approval by the FCC, which had warned that the companies had high hurdles to surmount before gaining approval. Among other things, that's because in 1997, the FCC adopted an order prohibiting such a merger when it would result in only one operator controlling all satellite radio spectrum.