Audio equalization technology that Gracenote is introducing at CES to enhance music playback in the car is based on offering automated help for people who don't know how to manually adjust their music players, or don’t want to fiddle with manual controls while driving, we found in a patent search from the unit of Tribune Media. Patent filings from September 2013 (US 20150073574) and January 2014 (US 20150194151) cover the automatic adjustment of audio playback settings to suit the environment. Music players problematically provide the same listening experience, regardless of type of music. Listeners may not know what audio content is coming up next, forcing them to make changes on the fly after the next song has already begun, it said. Gracenote’s idea is to help the music player identify music or speech by its mood or style immediately when it's played and automatically optimize the player controls by embedding a fingerprint of “profile information” in the content, it said. The content can be audio or video, and come over the air from a radio or TV broadcaster, from an ISP or from a download, it said. The company didn't comment Monday.

It “seems unlikely” the FCC’s role in media transactions will be limited “in the foreseeable future,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman in a blog post Monday about how such deals are regulated. “Industries within the FCC’s jurisdiction and their Congressional supporters frequently object to the fact that they are subject to two different enforcement schemes,” said Schwartzman, referring to review of such deals by both the FCC and either the Justice Department or the FTC. Though industry groups argue the current review process is too burdensome, that review is merited “given the important impact of these companies on the diversity of voices in the media, the pace of broadband deployment and the evolution of digital technologies,” Schwartzman said.

Streaming TV service FilmOn X and its broadcaster opponents asked Judge Rosemary Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to make it easier for FilmOn X to appeal a ruling that it isn't eligible for a compulsory copyright license (see 1512020060), according to court filings. A joint stipulation filed by FilmOn X and the broadcasters asked Collyer to enter as a final judgment her decision that FilmOn X isn't considered a cable system under copyright law, which would allow FilmOn X to move forward with an appeal on that issue to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. While the appeal moves forward the parties want to continue discovery on the amount of damages FilmOn X must pay for infringement of the broadcasters' copyright, the stipulation said. They ask the court not to reach an actual decision on those damages until the matter at the court of appeals is resolved, the stipulation says. The requests still require Collyer's final approval, but the judge granted an earlier request from the parties for more time to work out this joint plan, according to court documents.

An FCC decision on rules that would require radio stations and cable and satellite providers to keep an online public inspection file could come soon, Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford said in a blog post Thursday. The proposed rule change has moved quickly in the past, transitioning from a notice of inquiry to an NPRM with unusual speed, which caused speculation last year that the commission was working to get the rules changed in time for the 2016 election, Oxenford said. The item was put on circulation Dec. 21, and that could indicate approving a change before the election is still a goal, he said. “How quickly the FCC can provide the technology to host the thousands of radio stations that may be subject to any such rule may be a limitation,” Oxenford said.

With a week to go before CES, where high dynamic range figures to be a big issue, Philips appears to be inching closer to landing Patent and Trademark Office registration of the “hdr” trademark, agency records show. According to a Dec. 5 notification, the Philips application (serial number 79162105) is due to be published Tuesday in PTO’s Official Gazette, setting in motion a 30-day comment period during which outside parties may file oppositions. Barring such oppositions, PTO under its customary procedures would grant Philips registration of the “hdr” mark a short time later. The lower-case "hdr” is included in the image accompanying the application. It remains a mystery how Philips would use the trademark if granted the registration. The Philips HDR proposal, one of two proprietary systems along with Dolby Vision to be designated as HDR options in the Ultra HD Blu-ray format, is based in the same Philips Intellectual Property and Standards office from which the trademark application emanated. But Marty Gordon, a spokesman for the Philips HDR team, said that team has no plans to use the logo in its forthcoming activities to win adoption of the Philips HDR system. Representatives of corporate Philips or the various entities like Funai and TP Vision that have licensed the Philips brand for TVs and other CE products didn’t comment.

Ex parte filings at the FCC by the Consumer Video Choice Coalition on recent demonstrations of the coalition's downloadable security solution aren't specific enough about the technology and devices used, said NCTA in an ex parte filing in docket 15-64. “The Commission should not permit such obfuscation in any proceeding, let alone a proceeding like this one where highly technical issues should be fully disclosed and subjected to full analysis before the Commission takes further action,” said NCTA. “There is a reason that the Commission designated this proceeding as a 'permit-but-disclose' proceeding.” The specifics of the demonstrations need to be subjected to third-party scrutiny, NCTA said. The FCC “should subject this new information to analysis by experts and other parties to determine whether it is a real 'solution' as its proponents claim or just another Potemkin village in a series of ever-changing proposals submitted by AllVid proponents,” said NCTA.

A rulemaking on classifying over-the-top video distributors as multichannel video programming distributors could be “rolled into” other video proceedings expected to take place in 2016, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said during a news conference after the commissioners' meeting Thursday. The FCC “hit pause” on the OTT-MVPD proceeding after receiving information in response to its NPRM, he said. The OTT-MVPD rules could become part of a proceeding on content and “local rights,” he said. The FCC doesn’t want to obstruct innovation in video, he said. We had first reported that the proceeding was at a standstill (see 1510230025).

The FCC should move forward “expeditiously” with an NPRM proposing the competitive navigation device solution backed by the Consumer Video Choice Coalition, the CVCC said in a Friday meeting with staff from Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s office, according to an ex parte letter posted in docket 15-64 Wednesday. The CVCC also demonstrated its proposed technology for an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai Monday, said a second ex parte filing. Competitive third-party navigation devices could save consumers an average of $232 per year in leasing fees paid to multichannel video programming distributors, the CVCC said. Commissioners may soon have an NPRM to vote on (see 1512150072).

The Obama administration is willing to discuss transparency with journalists and others, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a Society of Professional Journalists news release Tuesday, shortly after he met with representatives of SPJ, the American Society of News Editors and the Society of Environmental Journalists. "This Administration isn't just committed to the principle of transparency, we've committed to engaging advocates and journalists to discuss legitimate ideas that advance it. We look forward to continuing this conversation." SPJ said among issues discussed in the hourlong meeting were "anonymous background briefings" and "other policies that prevent information from flowing to the public." Agencies such as the FCC routinely hold such briefings with groups of reporters, sometimes more often than on-the-record media events (see 1511200019). The White House didn't comment Wednesday.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said the possibility that journalist Matthew Keys, who was convicted in October under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for providing access to Tribune Co.'s content management system, could get up to 25 years in prison is another reason that updating the federal anti-hacking statute is "long overdue." Keys provided the content management system username and password to the hacktivist group Anonymous in an online chat room and an individual used those credentials to make "some relatively silly changes" to a Los Angeles Times story, amounting to "vandalism," said EFF in a Wednesday blog post. The federal government charged Keys with three felony violations under CFAA, including "conspiracy to cause damage to a protected computer, transmission of computer code that resulted in unauthorized damage, and attempted transmission of malicious code to cause unauthorized damage." His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20. EFF acknowledged the government may seek a five-year sentence but said many prosecutors and judges use the maximum punishment to indicate a crime's severity and also to put pressure on defendants to plea bargain or settle. The amount of damages claimed under CFAA could also result in a longer prison sentence, said EFF, saying the government said Tribune incurred nearly $930,000 in losses based on the 40 minutes that the vandalized article was posted. "How much of the claimed 'damages' are actually the result of 'hacking' and how much are part of an attempt to ratchet up loss to ensure a felony CFAA conviction?" asked EFF. It cited a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling (see 1512040036) in a different case that CFAA doesn't apply to violations of employer-imposed use restrictions. EFF also said the Keys case "is an illustration of prosecutorial discretion run amok."