The FCC is likely to act this year, perhaps soon after Election Day, on Charter Communications' petition to end two years early some conditions put on it from its Time Warner Cable/Bright House Networks deal (see 2006180050), stakeholders told us. The commission isn't likely to let the issue sit around because Charter and the parties that raised concerns (see 2007230015) are entitled to answers, said a lawyer with an interested client. He said Charter is likely to make a concerted push to get this done before 2021, though that could be shortsighted, because if the White House changes hands, the company might be better off with the conditions as a shield against other regulation.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
A hazy regulatory picture and broadcasters afraid their FCC licenses might go up in smoke mean big challenges for cannabis industry advertising, the marijuana industry told us. Sports betting advertising is seen having a somewhat easier path and big demand.
Dish Network and RS Access (RSA) arguments that 5G and incumbent direct broadcast satellite services can safely share the 12 GHz band are an attempt by terrestrial licensees to increase the value of their licenses at the expense of fellow incumbents, AT&T said in an RM-11768 post Monday. Given all the effort going toward preventing adjacent-band interference in the FCC C-band clearing proceeding, neither Dish nor RSA explains why the 12 GHz interference picture would be any different, especially when vastly more earth stations are in the 12 GHz band than in the C band, it said. RSA didn't comment. Dish Executive Vice President-External and Legislative Affairs Jeffrey Blum told us the company and others, including many public interest groups, see a neutral NPRM on 12 GHz being in the public interest and worthwhile, and it would be a missed opportunity to overlook 500 MHz of centimeter wave spectrum. Small government interest groups support expanded access to spectrum for 5G, but the 12 GHz petition would come "at a cost of severe interference to the latest generation of satellite broadband networks that are a year out or less from providing full service." They said such non-geostationary operators would have a tougher time providing service, especially in remote and rural areas "where 5G is a very, very distant reality." Signatories included Americans for Tax Reform, American Consumer Institute, TechFreedom, Digital Liberty and National Taxpayers Union. Dell CEO Michael Dell talked up the 12 GHz petition in a call with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, per a Monday posting. Dell met with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks earlier this month (see 2010090048).
An expected 3-2 approval of the net neutrality remand order on Oct. 27's FCC agenda (see 2010060056) will likely be met by a reconsideration petition and/or legal challenge, interested parties told us. Which route petitioners go will depend somewhat on whether the FCC stays in Republican control in 2021 or changes hands, said lawyers and industry and public interest representatives. The agency declined comment Thursday.
The 2021 Cable-Tec Expo is anticipated to be an in-person event and is scheduled for Oct. 11-14 in Atlanta, the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers said Monday. This year's Cable-Tec Expo Virtual Experience is underway. In a talk Monday, Cisco Cable Access business Chief Technology Officer John Chapman said there are "too many [technology] choices" for building future broadband networks. He said DOCSIS 3.0 and 3.1 systems are being deployed now, and the extended spectrum and full spectrum versions of DOCSIS 4.0 likely will be available in 2022 or 2023.
The FCC is getting no satellite industry consensus on whether collision risk standards should be looked at on a satellite-by-satellite basis or on an aggregated basis. There was broad, though not universal, opposition to indemnification and a post-mission disposal performance bond proposals in the orbital debris Further NPRM adopted in April (see 2004230040). Docket 18-313 comments were due Friday.
First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Sandra Lynch repeatedly challenged and expressed confusion about Massachusetts arguments on the FCC's LEC test, in oral argument Thursday. The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable (MDTC) is challenging the commission's finding that the AT&T TV Now streaming service is effective competition to Charter cable service in Massachusetts and part of Hawaii, thus ending basic cable rate regulation there (see 1912230063).
Don't expect the U.S. approach to C-band clearing for 5G to become the norm worldwide, with use of the spectrum here often being vastly different from how it's employed internationally, spectrum executives said Thursday in a Global VSAT Forum virtual panel. There's a push in many regions of the world to open the band to mobile, but alternatives for incumbent services are often a stumbling block, they said.
Recent Viasat and Hughes challenges to SpaceX's latency claims for its nascent Starlink constellation (for example, see 2009210012) are aimed at forestalling its being competition in the upcoming Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, we're told. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said it will be difficult for a low earth orbit constellation like SpaceX's to qualify (see 2006090031). An FCC official told us the qualified bidder list for the auction could be released as soon as Thursday. The FCC declined comment.
None of the net neutrality order issues remanded to the FCC by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1910010013) needs further consideration, concluded the draft order released Tuesday for commissioners' Oct. 27 meeting. Even if supposed harms the 2017 order had on public safety, pole attachment rights for broadband-only providers, and the Lifeline program could be substantiated, they're limited and hugely outweighed by the order's benefits, the agency concludes.