Sprint doesn t want anything to get in the way of the company s plans to merge with Clearwire to build a massive WiMax network. Anticipating potential hassle from wireless service provider iPCS, Sprint has made the first move and asked a judge to declare that the new network does not violate any exclusivity agreements that the company has with iPCS. Sprint has cause for concern considering the history of the companies; iPCS won in court after the company sued over exclusivity violations when Sprint acquired Nextel. However, Sprint believes that the fact that the WiMax network is on a different frequency from the wireless network should negate any exclusivity issues. Should the court issue the declaration that Sprint seeks, Sprint would avoid future court battles with iPCS over the issue.
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If there was any doubt that online advertising works, that doubt is diminished with the findings of a new study which show that fifty five percent of America s business elite will make a purchase based on an Internet ad. This group of people is making high-end personal purchases as well as bulk purchases for their businesses which means that they re flooding the market with their money. While they still rely heavily on print media and network TV, their buying is beginning to be highly influenced by digital media (especially via email and broadband video). This makes these people the target for advanced digital marketing efforts as well as for the growing interest in cell phone marketing.
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Taking a cue from recent efforts by a small Las Vegas television station, the FCC has plans to test out the switch to digital television as part of a goal to make sure that all consumers are ready for the change. The test will take place in North Carolina television markets in September and is designed to shed some light on any remaining concerns that exist about the transition. Broadcasters in the area will shut off their analog signals on September 8th in order to determine whether TV consumers who still use rabbit ears realize that they re going to lose service in February. The National Association of Broadcasters agrees that the test is a good idea but warns that results will need to be reviewed carefully to determine whether or not they really apply on the national level.
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As in-flight broadband becomes a reality, concerns continue to be raised about how to monitor and control the use of the service. Concerns have included that customers would talk excessively on VoIP services and browse porn while seated next to children. Different airlines around the world have instituted different rules for monitoring the content, use and features available on their planes. However, experts seem to believe that we can trust society to more or less behave appropriately when it comes to using in-flight Wi-Fi.

Aircell s chief executive has been quoted as saying that decency, good sense and normal behavior will prevail in the use of the service. Wireless news editor Glenn Fleishman notes that public Internet surfing generally doesn t raise issues of content like porn because people censor themselves when they know others are watching. And professors at major universities believe that social norms will develop that make it safe to leave the responsibility for self-control primarily in the hands of the consumers.
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Cell phone spam is on the rise with one prediction being that wireless customers are going to receive one and a half billion unsolicited text messages this year (double what the rate was for 2006). Wireless companies have been accused of supporting phone spam because they make a profit off of those people without text message plans who receive these messages. However, the companies respond that they are opposed to cell phone spam because it makes their customers irate. It s also because they want to exploit the opportunity for cell phone marketing in the future and don t want customers completely turned off to the idea of cell phone spam.

As a result, wireless companies are implementing actions to protect customers from cell phone spam. Sprint has a filter in place to catch spam before it gets to your phone; reportedly two thirds of all text messages sent on the network are identified as spam and blocked. Verizon uses a combination of blocking mass spammers and filing lawsuits about the issue to protect its customers. And AT&T notes that all three major wireless companies have agreed to share information about text spammers to make solving the problem more efficient.
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Congress has been considering a bill called the PRO-IP Act since late last year and the House of Representatives has now decided to pass that bill. The bill, heavily supported by RIAA and MPAA, originally had a controversial section which would allow for fines on compilation CDs to be unusually excessive. That portion of the bill was dropped before the bill was passed but there remain several areas of concern about the impact the bill will have on filesharing. The biggest area of concern is the fact that the bill creates a new position in the White House called the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative. This new position helps to make sure that organizations like RIAA can continue to gain legal ground even after the presidential election changes major players in the government. The main goals of the act are to strengthen copyrights, make it easier to prosecute people who violate copyrights and increase fines associated with copyright infringement.
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It appears that several mid-sized VoIP companies are failing to realize their potential and being edged out of the market. One of the biggest of these companies is Jangl, a VoIP business that began by offering anonymized online calling and then moved on to the development of click-to-call VoIP widgets for social networking sites. Despite having done moderately well in these areas, the venture capitalists backing the business aren t interested in continuing their support. Talks of acquisitions came to a standstill this week and major players in the organization resigned. It appears that many of them are going to be moving over to work at Jajah, a company that has done significantly well for itself in the VoIP industry over the last year or so. It is unclear what will be happening with Jangl at this time but it seems safe to say that it s not a name we ll be hearing much of anymore.
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An analyst with In-Stat has released information about a problem that most people are already aware of the difficulty of getting 3G coverage for mobile broadband inside of many homes. The analyst confirms that macro-level solutions are not the way to go in solving this problem and says that companies instead need to look at developing base stations that can boost indoor coverage. We re already seeing that take place with the development of femtocell technology. What s interesting about this article is that it also points out the benefits of microcell and picocell technology. These two technologies are used today to boost Wi-Fi in small areas (such as sporting events) and play a key role in the development of femtocell technology.
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BitTorrent tracker TorrentSpy was punished with one of the largest fines in copyright infringement history ($111 million) after a lengthy battle with the MPAA last year. TorrentSpy s lawyer wants people to know that the business is bankrupt (after closing shop in March) and won t actually be paying the fine. The reason he considers this important is he wants other businesses in this position to realize that the MPAA may flaunt this as a win but that it s not necessarily so cut-and-dry. In addition to the fact that the MPAA won t be getting any money from TorrentSpy, it s notable that the fine was imposed only after TorrentSpy refused to turn over documents to the court and not as the result of what was actually found to be copyright infringement. This means that the case shouldn t be considered precedent for other torrent sites that are battling the big guys. A case that could set precedent is the case against ISOhunt which is currently pending; the operator of the site says that the TorrentSpy decision has caused him some concerns about his chances in court but that he s not about to give up the fight.
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Whenever the FCC does anything controversial related to media ownership, they are quick to announce that their intention is to further three main goals: competition, diversity and localism. That third goal could cause some serious problems for local television networks if the FCC moves forward with a series of proposals that are intended to further that goal.

A proposal of primary concern is one which would require local broadcasters to move their studios to the city in which they are licensed. This was an FCC rule twenty years ago after which it was changed due to changes in transportation and technology that make it unnecessary to keep the buildings within a certain geographic area. However, the FCC seeks to return to that old rule in the interest of promoting localism and many stations fear that the cost to relocate would be too high. For example, ABC spent $100 million to move its KABC Los Angeles station to Orange County and believes that a move back to L.A. would cost millions more.

Combined with the cost of the forced migration from analog to digital viewing, television stations fear that they can t afford to continue to compete with cable and satellite TV. Apparently one way not to try to raise that money is for TV stations to make their content available on the Internet; a new study shows that is going to cost the stations $66 billion in revenue and suggests that it's a mistake for stations to go that route.
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Students taking a class at MIT this year have been working on developing different applications for Google s Android. Using little-to-no funding, they managed to create a series of seven apps that have the potential to be of interest to the wireless market (or so it would seem considering that representatives from Google, Sprint, Verizon and HTC all showed up at the class presentations to find out what was going on). One of the applications, Locale, was a Top 50 winner in the Android project competition; it s a dynamic settings manager that lets you program the phone to forward calls, go silent or show different screens at specific times throughout the day. Other applications included social networking and geo-location apps as well as an application that lets you control your car from your phone.
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There was a bill supported by RIAA that was put forth towards the end of last year in the House of Representatives which would have effectively required colleges to play copyright police in order to insure that there was no illegal filesharing happening on their campuses. That bill has been held up as lawmakers debate the details of what would and wouldn t be required by the bill (as well as what the consequences would be for schools failing to comply). In the meantime, RIAA now appears to be pushing for similar legislation at the state level in multiple areas of the nation. The first such bill has just passed in Tennessee.