An intervention by the Federal Communications Commission just days before nearly 500 television stations had planned to turn off their analog signals has resulted in 43 stations delaying their cutoffs until June, the agency said late Friday.
Stations that are postponing their analog shutdowns from Feb. 17 until June 12 are in and around Bakersfield, Calif.; Billings, Mont.; Charleston, W.V.; Dayton, Ohio; Eugene, Ore.; Lincoln, Neb.; Mobile, Ala.; Wichita, Kan., among others.
While most of the country’s 1,796 full-power TV stations accepted an extension of analog transmissions until June 12 voted through by Congress and signed into law this week, 491 applied to keep the original cutoff date.
About 190 stations have already cut their analog signals.
Concerned that the number of stations sticking to the Feb. 17 shutdown would mean that some areas would be left without major-network broadcasts in analog, the FCC on Wednesd ay imposed extra conditions on 106 stations planning to go early. It had originally said 123 would turn off early.
Of the 106 stations, 53 said they would comply with the conditions for an early shutdown. Ten more pleaded that economic hardship or technical reasons forced them to go early.
The agency said it would review those pleadings over the weekend.
The reversal of the 43 stations’ plans means that about 35 percent of U.S. full-power TV stations would be digital-only on Feb. 18. Big-city stations are largely keeping their analog signals until June.
Markets where many or all major-network stations still plan to turn off analog transmissions next week are San Diego and Santa Barbara, Calif.; Providence, R.I.; La Crosse and Madison, Wis.; Rockford, Ill.; Sioux City, Iowa; Waco, Texas; Macon, Ga.; Scranton, Pa.; and Burlington, Vt.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More