Some cable operators expressed interest in the $16 billion Phase I Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction, including Charter Communications, but broadband consultants don't expect other big operator to participate. It's less clear what the FCC might do about Charter tying its possible RDOF participation to pole attachment rules (see 2007170023).
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
Numerous C-band earth station operators, especially small broadcasters, will likely opt for the lump sum option in the C-band clearing, we were told by industry and law experts. Sept. 14 is the deadline for lump sum election. ACA Connects, protesting the lump sum's not including integrated receivers/decoders, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay that deadline (see 2008270052).
Not including the cost of integrated receivers/decoders (IRD) from the C-band lump sum amount available to earth station operators is contrary to regulatory plain text and common sense, ACA Connects said in a writ of mandamus application Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to stay the Sept. 14 C-band lump sum election deadline. Lawyers involved in the C-band proceeding said ACA's ask faces an uphill challenge at the D.C. Circuit, but the cable group had seemingly no other option given the rapidly approaching deadline. The FCC didn't comment.
Vertix Consulting isn't likely to challenge the FCC legally if the agency opts not to override a search committee, even though the firm opposes the team chosen as C-band clearinghouse to manage and distribute the relocation payments (see 2008190045), Vertix Partner Greg Weiner told us. "We will have spoken our piece," he said, adding if the agency agrees with its challenge about the CohnReznick team, the agency's choice apparently will be between the Vertix team and a third one. The FCC didn't comment.
C-band incumbent earth station operators got more time to choose whether to take the lump-sum reimbursement option as part of the FCC's band-clearing, as some had expected. The Wireless Bureau's moving the lump sum election deadline to Sept. 14 in response to a Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) extension request left hanging a stay sought by ACA Connects and thus ACA's possible legal challenge to the FCC's lump-sum formula, we were told. ACA didn't comment.
The FCC's local franchise authority (LFA) order 12 months ago (see 1908010011) opened the door for cable operators to renegotiate their cable LFA agreements to account for the expense of in-kind services they provide, but few have done so, lawyers and localities interests told us. Some expect cable operators will try to come up with valuations for such services as institutional networks (I-Net) and free service to public buildings, while others wonder if the industry isn't that interested in getting into what could be protracted fights with local communities over cable franchise fee amounts.
Eutelsat now anticipates not having to launch any additional C-band satellites as part of the C-band transition. A revised C-band transition plan posted Monday in FCC docket 18-122 anticipated "that prudent management of capacity and demand for C-band satellite services during and after the transition" will let it provide comparable services without any new satellites. It said it doesn't expect to need to do any earth station technology upgrades such as compression encoding or modulation equipment. Its cost estimate is now $14.9 million, instead of its previous $170.9 million that included one new satellite (see 2006220006). It said its plan could be further revised, depending on how many of its satellite earth station customers elect for lump-sum reimbursement of their clearing costs. It initially thought roughly 1,000 earth stations were potentially or actually communicating with its C-band satellites, but the number appears to be closer to 1,250. Telesat, in a revised band clearing plan, also lowered its cost estimate to $704,000 to $1 million, instead of its previous $1.08 million-$1.56 million. It said it potentially could be done by June, six months ahead of the first-phase deadline of December 2021. Claro's updated plan, made on clarification, said its moving proposal covers all earth stations it's obligated to serve. SES' amended plan didn't change the $1.67 billion figure. Intelsat, in an update last week, explained its process for repacking customers not offering service in the contiguous U.S. and clarified its thinking about "reasonable costs."
The FCC might not be as aggressive on pirate radio enforcement and curbing cable local franchise authorities (LFAs) after Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's expected departure from his seat Jan. 3 at the latest, experts and insiders told us. Some wonder if O'Rielly will be a quieter presence on the commission in his remaining weeks; he issued no statements at its August meeting though he did for the C-band auction rules approved on circulation (see 2008060069). O'Rielly's office and the FCC didn't comment.
Broadband satellite interest in the coldest parts of the Northern Hemisphere is heating up, with a variety of constellations targeting Alaska and other markets north of 55 degrees latitude expected to come online as soon as 2021. Consumer broadband and the digital divide for rural Alaskans is part of what's driving demand but so is a maritime marketplace opening up due to climate change, we were told.
The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund order on reconsideration put on circulation last week rejects the Illinois Office of Broadband and Vermont Department of Public Service petitions for reconsideration of the RDOF order (see here and here), an FCC official told us Monday. The recon order wouldn't affect the RDOF auction, one said.