PCCA Journal|4
th
Quarter 2010
14
says that Apple TV hopes to capi-
talize on its loyal and enthusiastic
customer base to fill a void that cur-
rently exists in the market. “Like the
music industry prior to iTunes and
the iPod, the online premium video
market still lacks a perfect provider
that can connect a service with a
device to create a great user experi-
ence,” Wu said. “With its new and
improved TV product, Apple is now
preparing itself to repeat the success
it has had in the music business in
the rapidly growing online premium
video market.”
NLRB Sides with Unions
in Two Key Decisions
T
he Coalition for a Democratic
Workplace (CDW) reported
that over the Labor Day
weekend the National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) was qui-
etly moving to circumvent the right
of workers to secret ballot elec-
tions. CDW said its review of critical
pending cases has revealed concrete
examples of the NLRB’s efforts to
implement card-check and curb
worker free speech.
“The board’s latest actions
validate what CDW has said all
along: Craig Becker’s recess ap-
pointment means that the board can
move autonomously to promote card
check without the need to pass the
unpopular Employee Free Choice
Act,” CDW Chairman Brian Worth
said.
Decisions in two key cases, an-
nounced in early September by
the board, underscore the effort to
undermine workplace democracy:
In Rite Aid Store #6473, the NLRB
•
announced that it will revisit the
2007 Dana Corp. decision, which
provided important protections to
employees facing so called “volun-
tary” card-check agreements.
In the second decision, Indepen-
•
dence Residences, Inc., the board
refused to set aside a union repre-
sentation election where New York
state had unlawfully limited the
employers’—but not the unions’—
ability to communicate with em-
ployees about the advantages or
disadvantages of unionization.
In both cases, Republican board
members Peter Schaumber and Brian
Hayes filed vigorous dissents.
“It’s critical that Big Labor’s
back-door attempt to advance the
principles of EFCA through NLRB
decisions be exposed,” Worth said.
“These cases are just a few examples
of how union bosses will push an
agenda that sacrifices the rights of
employees and job creators at the
altar of forced unionization by any
means possible.”
News Briefs
Continued from page 13
R
eflecting the evolution of performance
standards and goals for broadband, the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
has updated and released its latest report
on internet access service subscribership to better
monitor these trends.
Titled “Internet Access Services: Status as of
June 2009,” the new report includes for the first
time detailed data on the number of internet con-
nections at speeds that approximate the national
broadband availability target recommended by the
National Broadband Plan. The report also focuses
on multiple and higher speed tiers, rather than on
the commission’s historical categories of “high
speed” (any internet connection with speeds over
200 kilobits per second downstream) or “advanced
services.”
Report highlights include the following, as of
June 2009:
Out of a total of 71 million fixed—as opposed
•
to mobile—connections to households, only 44
percent met or exceeded the speed tier that most
closely approximates the universal availability
target set in the National Broadband Plan of 4
megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 1
Mbps upstream,
The number of mobile wireless service sub-
•
scribers with data plans for full internet access
increased by 40 percent over the first six months
of 2009, to 35 million,
Cable modem connections increased by 3 percent
•
to 41 million and aDSL by 1 percent to 31 million
in the first six months of 2009,
A 23 percent increase in fiber connections, to 4
•
million, was the largest rate of increase among
fixed-location technologies, and
Satellite internet connections increased by 6 per-
•
cent to 1 million.
The data are based on information submitted
to the FCC every six months by providers on FCC
Form 477. The full report can be downloaded at
www.fcc.gov/wcb/stats.FCC Releases New Data on Internet Access Services