government

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC last Friday granted DISH Network and its sister company, EchoStar, an "en banc" (i.e. full-court) review in the so-called "Time Warp" patent case brought against it by DVR vendor, TiVo. (Note: the case began back in 2004, when TiVo sued DISH Network--then called EchoStar--alleging that it was violating its US patent, number 6,233,389.

In a posting on its corporate blog, Tuesday, YouTube announced that, during and after President Obama's State of the Union speech--which will be live-streamed Wednesday on YouTube among other platforms, along with the Republican Party's response--users of its service will be able to ask follow-up questions, some of which will be answered live by the president himself next week as part of a special live event (whose exact time and date has apparently not yet been determined). "On Wednesday night at 9 p.m.

DVR vendor/service provider, TiVo, has strongly criticized the US cable industry in a response to a recently issued RFI from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that seeks "comment on how the Commission can encourage innovation in the market for video devices that will assist the Commission’s development of a National Broadband Plan" (note: for more on the RFI, see the article published on itvt.com, December 7th).

The Pentagon Channel (note: the channel, which is operated by the US Department of Defense, broadcasts military news and information for and about the 2.6 million members of the US Armed Forces) announced Monday that it is streaming its programming via live Internet broadcasting service, Ustream. A link to the new Ustream channel--which offers DOD news briefings, military news, interviews with DOD officials, short features on the work of the military, and "military lifestyle" programming--is featured on the newly relaunched Defense.gov Web site.

The new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, told a Senate panel Wednesday that he believes interactive TV advertising and sponsorship should not be allowed in children's programming without some kind of mechanism for parental opt-in. Genachowski's statement reinforced a tentative conclusion reached by the communications regulator back in 2004, that such advertising should be prohibited unless it provides such an opt-in mechanism.