The Supreme Court’s Aereo ruling lends further support to the petition to declare AT&T’s offering of public, educational and government access channels on U-Verse inadequate, said the Alliance for Community Media in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday to dockets including 09-13(http://bit.ly/1sXJKR5). The decision “lends further support to ACM’s position that AT&T’s U-verse video service is in fact a ‘cable service,'” it said. Therefore, AT&T is subject to Communications Act Title VI, which sets provisions for cable systems and franchise procedures, it said. ACM opposed AT&T’s stance that it provides a multichannel video service and not a cable service. U-Verse is “in fact engaging in one-way transmission of video programming to subscribers,” said ACM. It began to revisit arguments for its 2009 petition last month after AT&T announced its intent to buy DirecTV (CD June 6 p6).

Globecomm will deliver high-definition digital broadcast technologies to an Asian broadcaster and a U.S. state university’s broadcast journalism facility. For the broadcaster, Globecomm will design and integrate a multi-studio facility that includes a fiber distribution network, content contribution system and disaster recovery facility, it said Wednesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1ml8dfw). The deals combined are valued at $17 million, it said.

Comments on an FCC public notice on the aggregate interference cap and use of proxy channels in repacking stations were due Wednesday, the same day the item appeared Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1lU9gBZ). The lack of notice stems from a mix up in delivering the information to the Federal Register, an FCC official told us. The commission will likely be lenient in accepting late comments on the item, the official said. The public notice announcing the call for comments was released by the FCC June 2 (CD June 4 p17). Replies are due July 22.

The Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent for Video Call Center, a live talk TV start-up venture by former cable analyst Tom Wolzien. The technology allows a TV host “to take the reins of a show without the normal control room,” Wolzien said Tuesday in a news release (http://bit.ly/1olyx7I). It handles multiple video callers at the same time, “with many screened and simultaneously ready for the TV host to select to air,” it said.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Aereo backs up Comptel’s argument that interconnection rights and obligations are “technology neutral” and don’t change with the transition to IP technology, said CompTel CEO Chip Pickering in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1lPkoA7). The high court rejected Aereo’s argument (CD June 26 p1) (see separate report above in this issue) that its technology distinguishes it from a cable operator and takes it out of the reach of the Copyright Act, said Pickering. Aereo’s arguments are similar to those used by incumbent phone companies, Pickering said. “A change in the transmission technology used to deliver a telephone call from one party to another does not alter the statutory obligations of the network providers to interconnect in order to enable the delivery of the call.” Since the end result of an IP transmission is the same to the customer as a TDM transmission, the regulations shouldn’t see a difference between them, Pickering said. “Interconnection is the lynchpin that allows customers of one provider to communicate with those of a different provider and remains as necessary today as it was 18 years ago.” The FCC should clarify that “large incumbent phone companies must interconnect on an IP-to-IP basis for managed VoIP traffic,” Pickering said Monday.

The Society of Motion Picture and TV Engineers extended to July 7 the call for papers for its Technical Conference and Exhibition Oct. 21-23 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. SMPTE describes the conference as the “premier annual technology event” for current and future developments in media technology, content creation, image and sound, over-the-top and related arts and sciences. Papers are sought on such topics as Ultra HD, second screen and alternative content, AV compression, content security and display technology (http://bit.ly/VC15jZ).

Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia, responding to subscribers’ “overwhelming and touching” support, sent them an email Tuesday urging them to “raise your hands and make your voices heard.” Tweets, emails and Facebook posts “have made it clear how important it is for so many Americans to have access to a cloud-based antenna” for viewing live broadcast TV, he said (http://bit.ly/V8gpUW). He asked subscribers to tell Congress “how disappointed you are that the nation’s highest court issued a decision that could deny you the right to use the antenna of your choice to access live over-the-air broadcast television.” He urged them to tell their stories of why having a cloud-based antenna is important to their families and to “show them you care about this issue.” He asked subscribers to “stand together for innovation, progress, and technology” and directed them to ProtectMyAntenna.org. A company spokeswoman said the email “will be the only statement from Aereo at this time.” The company shut down its streaming video service Saturday (CD July 1 p6).

VOD users watch more TV than non-VOD users, said Nielsen in a news release Monday about its Q1 2014 cross-platform report (http://bit.ly/1qr5RNS). People in homes with VOD watch an hour and five minutes of live TV per day compared with 54 minutes of live TV per day among non-VOD users, said the media viewership measurement firm. VOD is available in 60 percent of households, Nielsen said. “As mobile device penetration coupled with On Demand options continue to grow, viewers spend more time watching.” Consumers who don’t have a DVR or missed recording an episode of a show they favor often use VOD, Nielsen said. “Recently Telecast VOD contributes between 4 and 5 percent in the coveted 18-49 demographic” on average, Nielsen said. Consumers’ daily time spent watching time-shifted content has “continued to rise” along with viewing on the Internet on computers and mobile devices, said Nielsen. “With Nielsen incorporating mobile viewing in traditional television ratings as well as digital ratings in the fall, next year’s Upfronts and Newfronts will be fueled by new data,” said Nielsen Senior Vice President-Insights Dounia Turrill.

The BBC’s second Ultra HD trial of the summer will be part of a public showcase in the Glasgow Science Centre, where viewers can watch a live 4K production of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, scheduled for July 23 to Aug. 4. It will be the first event to be produced and delivered entirely over IP networks, the BBC said. The BBC previously announced plans for trial broadcasts of three World Cup matches live in Ultra HD, including the final July 13 from Rio de Janeiro (CD June 6 p13).

The rights afforded to copyright holders are aligned with “laissez-faire capitalism” and shouldn’t confer the sense of a “monopoly” on content creators, said George Ford, Phoenix Center chief economist, in a paper Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qwlwZI). It responded to claims by some conservative copyright scholars who believe current copyright regulations are antithetical to free market capitalism, said a Phoenix Center news release (http://bit.ly/1pOqNMR). Some conservatives are divided over whether copyright is a traditional property right or a government privilege (CD May 14 p11). “A landowner has a ‘monopoly’ right over his or her land, but this ‘monopoly’ right conveys no real market power,” wrote Ford. “The term ‘monopoly’ in the context of copyright is merely referring to an exclusive property right over an item with possibly thousands of close substitutes,” he said. “Its use does not imply the presence of market power."