Viacom sues another cable operator

Viacom Inc., the parent of powerful cable networks MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, is now fighting with two big cable operators over putting its content on tablet devices such as Apple’s iPad.

Viacom, which is already in a legal battle with Time Warner Cable, last week filed a similar lawsuit against Cablevision Systems Corp., saying the cable company does not have the right to put its channels on the iPad. Both suits were filed in federal court in New York.

Such disputes are becoming commonplace in the media industry. Distributors want to be able to offer their services on new platforms in an effort to fight cord-cutting by consumers, while programmers want to be compensated more if their channels are going onto those platforms.

Time Warner Cable and Cablevision launched their iPad applications this year, and almost immediately several prominent programmers, including Viacom, cried foul. The distributors say their agreements with the programmers give them the rights to exploit new platforms. Programmers argue that their deals are good only for television and that any other outlet requires renegotiation.

Cablevision fired back, saying its iPad service “falls within our existing cable television licensing agreements with programmers — including Viacom.” 

Lightsquared: GPS interference fixable

LightSquared, a Virginia-based company that plans to build a nationwide wireless broadband network, is proposing to adapt its network so as not to interfere with GPS systems.

The company plans to move some of its operations to a different slice of airwaves and to transmit signals at lower power levels to ensure that its network would not interfere with GPS systems that rely on nearby wireless spectrum.

The company outlined its intentions last week amid mounting concern that its new network would cripple GPS systems used for everything from aviation to public safety to military operations. The announcement follows the recent release of government test results showing that LightSquared’s wireless signals interfered with GPS receivers used by the Coast Guard and NASA, caused police, fire and Federal Aviation Administration GPS receivers to lose reception, and jammed other systems.

In January, the Federal Communications Commission gave LightSquared approval to build a nationwide wireless network that would compete with super-fast systems being rolled out by AT&T and Verizon. Lightsquared plans to sell wholesale access to its network to other companies that will rebrand the service under their own names.

The FCC sees the LightSquared network as part of a broad government push to bring high-speed Internet connections to all Americans. 

Ruling on Kodak patent is delayed

The U.S. International Trade Commission is postponing its ruling on photography pioneer Eastman Kodak’s patent dispute with tech giants Apple and Research in Motion.

The federal agency, which oversees trade disputes, said last week that it will now decide in one week on whether Kodak’s 2001 image-preview patent was infringed on by iPhone behemoth Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and Canada-based RIM, maker of the BlackBerry.

A favorable ruling for Kodak could force the smartphone giants into licensing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Kodak has tenaciously protected its intellectual property. It has amassed 11,000 patents, more than 1,000 of them in digital imaging.