Leased access rules changes on the June 6 FCC commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1905160066) will benefit cable operators and further the declining use of leasing access on their systems, industry members said in recent interviews. Cable "has great, great lobbyists," while leased access operators lack comparable resources, said Bruce Clark, co-owner of TV2, which reaches parts of Arizona and Nevada.
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
The digital divide is narrowing "substantially," with Americans without a 25/3 Mbps connection dropping from 26.1 million at the end of 2016 to 21.3 million a year later, the FCC said Wednesday in its 2018 broadband deployment report. But the agency's minority Democratic commissioners dissented, saying the report is built on a shaky foundation of invalid data -- sentiments echoed by some observers. "The rosy picture ... is fundamentally at odds with reality," Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said. The agency withdrew and reworked an earlier draft due to "drastically overstated" deployment data from one ISP (see 1905010205).
While questions have come from its own eighth floor and from the Commerce Department about the role the FCC should take in orbital debris oversight, space experts tell us it's not clear who, if anyone, could fill the agency's role. Also last week, Commissioner Brendan Carr noted his hopes (see 1905090031) the agency gets input from expert agencies like NASA. He called this literally "rocket science," speaking on C-SPAN's The Communicators. Who should be the orbital debris czar "is the central question of the entire space traffic management debate," said Secure World Foundation technical adviser Brian Weeden. He was among the experts we interviewed.
From more promotion of text-to-911 to better credentialing and verification of contractors, interested parties had an array of suggestions related to the FCC wireless resiliency cooperative framework. That's especially in light of recent hurricanes, in docket 11-60 replies this week. Industry groups have said the agency shouldn't impose new mandates and should rely on the voluntary approach that's working (see 1904300140).
While still hoping to see up to 300 MHz of the C band freed up for 5G use, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly on Saturday said he's amenable to clearing 200 MHz now and a structure that sees more opened up in the future. He said at the FCBA annual retreat that his top priority is clearing the band as quickly as possible. Panels at the event in Hot Springs, Virginia, also covered topics ranging from cybersecurity to autonomous vehicles.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), since it covers Californians no matter where they are and since industry hasn't been able to rally around one alternative, is set to become the default privacy protection rules for the nation, Harris Wiltshire privacy lawyer Becky Burr said Friday at the FCBA annual retreat. CCPA will apply to a broader and deeper data set than the EU's general data protection regulation, meaning "significant" reworking of systems needs to be done before it takes effect Jan. 1, she said. "There's a bit of a scramble going on." There's much industry consensus that federal pre-emption is needed to avoid a proliferation of competing state laws, she said in Hot Springs, Virginia. Among proposals in Congress, most agree on the need for a larger role for the FTC, but they disagree on other topics like private rights of action, she noted. Burr said federal legislation that pre-empts CCPA seems unlikely to come to pass, and meanwhile 30-plus states are kicking around their own form of privacy bills. While the California legislature also is looking at changes to CCPA, a risk is that a significant change could give rise to another ballot initiative like the one that prompted creation of the law in the first place, she said. She said the idea of eliminating the right to cure before fines kick in for violations is dead with state lawmakers, but other provisions moving through the legislature would clarify its non-applicability to employees and contractors, modify its definition of personal information and eliminate the requirement companies maintain a toll-free line for allowing consumer opt-outs.
Though the FCC has an August deadline to submit a recommendation to Congress for a national three-digit suicide prevention hotline number and its North American Numbering Council advising expanded use of 211 (see 1905080020), what the agency doesn't have is consensus among mental health community stakeholders and others about what number to use. Former NANC leaders tell us the agency typically follows its recommendations even in contentious issues.
The U.S. likely will be headed to the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference with an agenda that ranges from a possible fight over high-band spectrum to efforts again to reduce the problem of registration of nonexistent satellite systems, an FCBA event heard Wednesday.
As the FCC considers changes to its national broadband map, states are waiting to see what ramifications those changes have on their own maps. Minnesota's broadband map shares some of the same shortcomings as the FCC's Form 477-centric map, and it's worked with providers on improvements, emailed state Office of Broadband Development Executive Director Danna MacKenzie. "We will gladly give it up if and when the federal map improves and meets our needs."
The FCC shouldn't go it alone on updating orbital debris regulations but should coordinate with other agencies, numerous satellite interests said in docket 18-313 replies last week. The Commerce Department in initial comments asked the FCC to pause the rulemaking proceeding (see 1904080033). But commenters didn't reach consensus on issues like orbital spacing between large constellations and how best to assess risk.