The FCC program access order approved 4-1 Wednesday takes a “balanced and legally sustainable approach to provide new video competitors with access to must-have programming,” USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick said late that day. Some analysts predicted the order will be overturned (CD Jan 21 p2).
The FCC was flooded with more than 100,000 comments and other filings on its October rulemaking notice that would deepen the FCC’s oversight of net neutrality as well as expand the rules to cover wireless. There were few surprises, with lines long drawn in the battle. Some major industry players including AT&T and Verizon are hinting at a legal challenge if the rules are adopted as proposed. A few traditional opponents found room for compromise.
Three changes in a draft FCC Media Bureau program access order (CD Jan 13 p9) that’s scheduled to be voted on Wednesday are being considered by FCC members, and further tweaks are possible, commission officials said. An unexpected change was the addition of a standstill provision to the order, whose first draft was circulated Dec. 16, they said. The provision would allow pay-TV companies whose contracts with a cable-affiliated programmer expire to ask the commission to order carriage to continue while a complaint is being handled, FCC officials said.
Making additional spectrum available and using all other available resources are crucial to offering broadband connections everywhere all the time, industry officials said on a webinar by the Yankee Group research firm Thursday. The trend of connecting additional devices to the network is moving forward quickly, requiring the use of all technologies and assets, said Glenn Lurie, AT&T president, emerging devices. The goal is to enable a platform for more users in more situations, said Sriram Viswanathan, vice president of Intel’s Architecture Group, urging the use of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Network capacity and spectrum will be the issue as demand increases, Lurie said, urging policymakers to help make additional spectrum available. Connected devices have seen opportunities in emerging markets like Kenya and India, improving health care, growth of small businesses and literacy, said Yankee Group CEO Emily Green. Tremendous opportunities come when devices are used across industries, Lurie said. A policy environment that encourages investment in broadband is needed to maintain growth, said USTelecom CEO Walter McCormick.
Changes in the Dec. 16 FCC Media Bureau’s draft program- access order still hadn’t circulated on the eighth floor Tuesday afternoon, commission officials said. They had been expected Friday and then Monday or Tuesday (CD Jan 12 p11). A commission official said the revisions could circulate later Tuesday. Lobbying on the order continues (CD Jan 8 p4). Representatives of NCTA, RCN, USTelecom and Verizon have taken part in ex parte meetings since Thursday, filings in docket 07-198 show.
Financing broadband projects in rural America is a major challenge and lenders need a stable cost-recovery mechanism and help from the government to see that loans get repaid and networks are expanded, financial companies and organizations said in comments at the FCC. The comments were in response to the 28th public notice for the National Broadband Plan, on deployment financing. They were the last comments due at the commission on a notice for the plan.
Communications Daily associate managing editor Anne Veigle moves to USTelecom as vice president for media affairs, starting Feb. 1 … Greg Regis promoted to Travel Channel senior vice president, ad sales … John Kelsey left media banking and research firm BIA/Kelsey … BSkyB names Andrea Zappia, ex-Sky Italia, managing director, customer group, starting Feb. 1 … GCI names Christopher Nierman, ex- Wiltshire & Grannis, director, federal affairs … Arts+Labs adds Internet entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen to board.
A draft order would allow deals giving some subscription-video providers exclusives to serve entire apartment buildings and other multiple-dwelling-unit complexes, FCC officials said. The Media Bureau item would allow multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) to make exclusive deals with private cable operators -- companies that aren’t owned by major cable operators and that often serve apartments -- and direct broadcast satellite providers, they said. Under the draft, circulated Dec. 23, other pay-TV sellers could enter into more limited exclusive arrangements with apartment and other residential buildings, they said.
DirecTV and USTelecom said the FCC has authority to close at least part of what’s called the terrestrial loophole that exempts cable operators from having to sell to subscription-TV rivals channels affiliated with the cable operator when those channels are transmitted terrestrially, not by satellite. Regional sports networks “are indisputably ‘Must-Have’ programming,” said a USTelecom ex parte filing reporting on a meeting last week with aides to Commissioner Michael Copps. “The Commission has an enormous record upon which to find that video competition is significantly hindered or prevented without access to RSNs. HD channels have become essential to competitive entry.” DirecTV believes that the commission “has the statutory authority to close the ’terrestrial loophole,’ and sufficient evidence upon which to do so immediately with respect to regional sports network programming,” said filings reporting on meetings with aides to Commissioners Meredith Baker and Mignon Clyburn. An order on the exemption is expected to get a vote at the Jan. 20 commission meeting (CD Jan 8 p4).
An NCTA proposal being eyed by the FCC to shrink the Universal Service Fund met with resistance from rural carriers that could lose high-cost support under the plan. The cable petition, which would set up a two-step process by which parties can ask the FCC to reassess universal service support levels for specific geographic areas, is one of several cost-saving measures under consideration by the FCC broadband team (CD Dec 10 p1). In comments last week, rural ILECs said adopting the proposal would undermine the National Broadband Plan.