The FCC launched an investigation into lawfulness of tariff revisions Aureon (Iowa Network Access Division) filed Sept. 24 (transmittal 38), focusing on cost support. Aureon's direct case is due Nov. 28, oppositions Dec. 5, rebuttal Dec. 12, said a Wireline Bureau order Friday in docket 18-60. Issues for investigation: "(1) whether the increase in Aureon’s central office switching equipment investment in Transmittal No. 38 as compared to Aureon’s February 2018 tariff filing (Transmittal No. 36) represents investment that is used and useful in Aureon’s provision of regulated interstate service; and (2) whether the annual network lease expense of $4,299,4274 (Filed Lease Expense) complies with the Commission’s affiliate transaction rules."
Telecom sector interests told us they'll closely watch midterm results for early clues about how telecom policymaking will fare in next Congress. The margin of control for whichever party holds a majority in the House and Senate is particularly important for indicating whether there will be legislative gridlock on issues like net neutrality and whether compromise is possible on matters like broadband infrastructure funding, said lobbyists and officials.
The FCC said more than 8 million speed tests were submitted during the Mobility Fund II challenge process. Of the 106 entities with access to the MF-II Challenge Process Portal, “38 are mobile service providers required to file Form 477 data; 19 are state government entities; 27 are local government entities; 16 are Tribal government entities; and six are other entities that have filed petitions requesting, and have each been granted, a waiver to participate,” said Friday's report in docket 10-90. It was by the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force and Wireline and Wireless bureaus. Some say FCC broadband maps are inaccurate (see 1811010031).
CBS is standing by its forecast of signing 8 million paid subscribers combined for its CBS All Access and Showtime over-the-top direct-to-consumer services in 2019, “a full year ahead of our original schedule,” said President-Acting CEO Joe Ianniello on a Thursday Q3 earnings call. The forecast doesn’t include direct-to-consumer subs CBS is just beginning to sign on internationally, including for its Australian service, 10 All Access, launching this quarter, he said. “We will continue to expand into new territories in 2019, and we’re confident that digital distribution on a global scale will be very lucrative.” The “world of OTT has opened up so many options with what we can do with data analytics and really unlock and target our marketing,” said Chief Financial Officer Christina Spade. “As we get further educated and learn more about our consumer” through the CBS All Access and Showtime OTT offerings, “the scale of the business is huge,” she said. CBSN, the network’s 24/7 ad-supported news service, is averaging more than a million daily streams, said Ianniello. The average age of the CBSN viewer is 38, “decades younger than the average broadcast and cable news viewer,” he said. Later in Q4, "local versions" of CBSN will debut, “featuring content from our owned and operated stations across the country,” starting with New York, with Los Angeles and other markets to be added in early 2019, he said.
Public Knowledge and the FCC traded words over whether telecom deregulation is hampering service restoration efforts after Hurricane Michael. PK said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) failed to "take responsibility for how their radical deregulation of telephone service has contributed to this unfortunate situation." The FCC said it's "disappointing but not surprising that a left-wing special-interest group is making cheap and false political attacks while people in the Florida Panhandle are suffering." Pai plans to visit the area Friday. Verizon Wireless said it continues to make progress restoring service.
As 86 percent of global listeners consume music through on-demand services, 38 percent obtain music through copyright infringement, reported the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. On average, consumers listen to music 2.5 hours a day, and three-quarters of listeners use smartphones for it. Stream ripping is the most common copyright infringement method for music at 32 percent. Roughly 23 percent of consumers download music via cyber lockers or peer-to-peer services and 17 percent of consumers use search engines to locate “infringing content,” it said. Stream-ripping users “are more likely to say that they rip music so they have music to listen to offline,” said IFPI, so they can avoid paying for a premium streaming subscriptions. Radio remains “resilient,” said IFPI. Some 91 percent of U.S. listeners report listening to music via radio.
Earth observation-via-radar satellite startup Capella Space received $19 million Series B funding led by Spark Capital and Data Collective, it said Wednesday. It said the money will go toward the first operational launches of its cloud-penetrating radar satellites. It said the first test launch is scheduled for November, with the first operational launches of its 38-satellite network for 2019.
There are 102 entities with access to a Mobility Fund Phase II challenge process portal of Universal Service Administrative Co., said an FCC public notice Tuesday in docket 10-90 citing data as of Friday. That's up from 80 on June 30 (see 1807020054). The parties include 38 mobile service providers that file Form 477 data, 17 state government entities, 25 local government entities, 16 tribal government entities and six others that received waivers to participate. Challengers submitted data including almost 3 million broadband speed tests (up from 399,390), the PN said.
U.S. households with subscription VOD service from Amazon Prime, Hulu or Netflix grew to 69 percent, from 52 percent in 2015, said a Monday Leichtman Research Group June-July survey of 1,153 adults. Among those with SVOD, 63 percent have more than one vs. 38 percent before. Overall, 43 percent of U.S. households have more than one vs. 20 percent earlier. Thirty percent of adults stream an SVOD daily, and 52 percent of viewers of ages 18-34 stream one service daily compared with 31 percent of viewers 35-54 and 11 percent of viewers above 55. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said their Netflix subscription is shared outside their household vs. 22 percent with Hulu and 10 percent with Amazon Prime. Some 53 percent of TV households said they subscribe both to a pay-TV service and an SVOD service, 25 percent subscribe only to a pay-TV service, 16 percent get only get an SVOD service and 6 get neither.
Fight for the Future, Free Press Action Fund and other groups that support a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval aimed at rolling back the FCC's 2017 order to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules sent out a questionnaire Thursday to 38 House members and their challengers in the November elections about their position. Targeted districts are largely ones election observers pegged as the most vulnerable Republican-held seats, including six districts in California and four in Pennsylvania. Absent from the list is Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., who in July became the only Republican (see 1807170048) to sign on to a discharge petition aimed at forcing a floor vote on House Joint Resolution-129. The petition has 177 signers, 41 below the 218 minimum needed to force a vote. The Senate passed its version in May (see 1805160064). The CRA supporters' questionnaire asks incumbents whether they signed the discharge petition or will commit to sign it within the next 30 days. It asks challengers if they would have signed the CRA discharge petition and supported the measure if it came up for a vote.