Watertown, Wis. – TDS Telecommunications has launched TDS Fiber service in Watertown, Wis., marking a milestone in the company’s construction of a high-speed, all-fiber Internet network. The first Watertown customers, Robert and Barbara Schuett, were connected to super-fast reliable Internet on Friday, Aug. 18.
Since breaking ground last spring, crews have worked to build a network that features Internet speeds up to 8Gig, plus TV and phone service. Service becomes available neighborhood by neighborhood as work is completed.
Approximately 9,300 homes and businesses are expected to have access to TDS service when construction is finished.
“We continue to make great progress on our project that will better connect Watertown homes and businesses and upgrade a key part of the community’s infrastructure,” said Drew Petersen, TDS Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs.
Community partnerships are a key part of TDS’ efforts. The company has already been active in supporting local nonprofits through sponsorships such as the Watertown Area Chamber of Commerce Golf Outing, Watertown Community Celebration and Vendor Fair, Watertown Farmers Market, and Riverfest.
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State Reports Roundup for the Week Ending August 18, 2023
States having broadband coordination meetings occurring or planned are: Alabama, Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico. More details about the activities occurring in the states named above and those that follow can be found in updated state reports that are now posted on the BEAD State/Territory Implementation Tracker: Michigan, New York, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
HOT TOPICS: Important updates in the reports include the close of comments to the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) relating to the Pennsylvania five-year action plan, and publication of the Vermont Community Broadband Board five-year action plan draft, which is open for comment.
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USDA
The Biden administration on Monday continued its push toward Internet-for-all by 2030, announcing about $667 million in new grants and loans to build more broadband infrastructure in the rural U.S. “With this investment, we’re getting funding to communities in every corner of the country because we believe that no kid should have to sit in the back of a mama’s car in a McDonald’s parking lot in order to do homework,” said Mitch Landrieu, the White House’s infrastructure coordinator, in a call with reporters. The 37 new recipients represent the fourth round of funding under the program, dubbed ReConnect by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another 37 projects received $771.4 million in grants and loans announced in April and June. USDA list of new awards is here.
USF
Over the past 26 years, the Universal Service Fund – a federal subsidy pool collected monthly from American telephone customers – has spent close to $9 billion a year to give Americans better phone and Internet connections, wiring rural communities in Arkansas, inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago, and public libraries and schools across the country. Now it faces the biggest crisis of its existence, and Congress appears paralyzed in the effort to fix it. But despite support from both influential Republican and Democratic politicians, the fund now faces significant court challenges, thanks to lawsuits by conservative activists who claim it’s an unconstitutional tax. Many observers think at least one of the cases has a chance of convincing some judges to kill the fund.
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FCC
Former Republican FCC Chairman and broadcast licensee Alfred Sikes today joined the Media and Democracy Project (MAD) and media veterans Ervin S. Duggan and William Kristol to support a petition to deny the broadcast license renewal application for Fox Corp.-owned WTXF Philadelphia. Sikes said: “The FCC has allowed the public interest responsibility of broadcast licensees to become a bureaucratic construct. The behavior of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, highlighted in the MAD petition, raises a first principles question. Is truthful conduct a part of the standard?” Nominated by President George H.W. Bush, Sikes was FCC chairman from 1989 to 1992. Prior to that, he was nominated by President Reagan to become assistant secretary of Commerce and director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
BIG TECH
Meta is facing severe criticism for its policy of blocking news content in Canada while wildfires rage in British Columbia. “Right now, while wildfires are causing evacuations in the NWT and endangering lives, Meta is blocking news about them on Facebook and Instagram,” tweeted Chris Bittle, Liberal MP for St. Catharines, Ontario. “They did this in Australia, and it made dangerous situations worse. Meta’s actions to block news are reckless and irresponsible.” Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez commented, “People don’t have access to information – information that is absolutely crucial,” according to DH Canada. The threatened news blockage was instituted earlier this month in response to passage of The Canada Online News Act, C-18. The law requires that tech platforms compensate publishers for linking to their content.
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TV SPORTS
The NCAA and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh had a deal on a four-game suspension, until they didn’t. In the absence of an agreement, Michigan has decided to impose a punishment on its own. The school will suspend Harbaugh for three games to start the season. The punishment flows from allegations that Harbaugh was not truthful with the NCAA during an investigation. He’ll be able to coach during the week, but he’ll miss games against East Carolina, UNLV, and Bowling Green. He’ll be back for the game against Rutgers, Michigan’s Big 10 opener.
INDUSTRY
A collective bargaining agreement between Frontier Communications and about 1,400 workers in West Virginia and Ashburn, Virginia, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) expired Saturday night. But those employees have agreed to report to work "and maintain the status quo" as negotiations toward a new agreement continue, the CWA said Sunday. The current agreement expired at 11:59 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 19, after a recent two-week contract extension. This latest dustup arrives about five years after Frontier workers represented by CWA in West Virginia and Ashburn, Virgnia, went on strike for three weeks before signing off on the deal that just expired.
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CABLE NEWS
If Vivek Ramaswamy wants to appear on Newsmax, he should pay to do it.
That was the message that network chief Chris Ruddy delivered to the Republican presidential candidate during a private call earlier this summer, according to two people to whom the candidate described the conversation. Ramaswamy had complained that the right-leaning network was sticking him in little-watched midday slots or ignoring him outright. Ruddy also suggested a solution, Ramaswamy told associates: buy more television ads on the network. Ruddy, Ramaswamy told them, noted that such a transaction had helped Republican businessman Perry Johnson, a gadfly candidate who has thus far garnered only passing attention among mainstream and even conservative outlets covering the 2024 presidential cycle. In a statement, Newsmax spokesperson Bill Daddi told Semafor that the insinuation “that Newsmax is asking candidates to advertise in order to ensure coverage as some quid pro quo … is categorically untrue and incorrect.”
MARKETING
It appears the wireless industry in the U.S. is gearing up to support "branded calls." Such calls will allow businesses to insert things like their name, the reason for their call, and even potentially their corporate logo into a smartphone's calling screen. According to the companies promoting the technology, branded calls can help reduce the nuisance of spam calls, and can create more trust in the nation's overall calling system. However, the technology may also allow voice calling providers to make more money by charging businesses to access this kind of Rich Call Data (RCD). "Branded communication gives you complete control of your business name, identity and reason for call," touts branded calling vendor First Orion. "Branded communication is for businesses of all sizes. Our client portfolio includes call and contact centers, major retailers, financial institutions, automakers, concierge services and much more."
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
Art generated entirely by artificial intelligence cannot be copyrighted because "human authorship is an essential part of a valid copyright claim," a federal judge ruled on Friday. The U.S. Copyright Office previously rejected plaintiff Stephen Thaler's application for a copyright because the work lacked human authorship, and he challenged the decision in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Thaler and the Copyright Office both moved for summary judgment in motions that "present the sole issue of whether a work generated entirely by an artificial system absent human involvement should be eligible for copyright," Judge Beryl Howell's memorandum opinion issued Friday noted. Howell denied Thaler's motion for summary judgment, granted the Copyright Office's motion, and ordered that the case be closed.
REMOTE WORK
Mark Zuckerberg, once a champion of fully remote work, has doubled down on Meta’s crackdown on working from home—with the company threatening to discipline anyone who doesn’t abide by the looming rule changes. ate last week, the Facebook and Instagram parent company laid out the precise details of its return-to-office mandate in a staff memo, the details of which were published by Insider. Describing the shift as an “In-Person Time Policy,” Meta’s head of HR Lori Goler reiterated that from Sept. 5, it would be mandatory for all employees—except those with management-approved exemptions—to be back in the office three days a week.
PEOPLE
Bloomberg LP is naming product head Vlad Kliatchko chief executive and appointing former Bank of England governor Mark Carney as chair of its new board of directors, according to an internal memo sent to employees by founder Michael Bloomberg and seen by Reuters. The company’s elevation of the head of product “reinforces the foundation that Michael Bloomberg has had for the company since he founded it: he puts the product first, which has been primarily the terminal,” said Douglas B. Taylor, analyst at douglasbtaylor International Consulting who covers Bloomberg LP.
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