The Google-Verizon deal takes wireless off the table in the FCC effort to reclassify broadband to be regulated under Title II of the Telecom Act because wireless is different, Verizon Executive Vice President Tom Tauke explained in remarks at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum. The exclusion of wireless, at least for now, was one of the most controversial aspects of the agreement when it was unveiled two weeks ago (CD Aug 10 p1).
The FCC is putting out feelers to industry leaders and interest groups on the Universal Service Fund contributions formula, industry lobbyists said and records show. The commission said in April it was overhauling broadband regulations and overhauling the service fund and has said it plans a rulemaking notice in the fourth quarter. In recent days, lobbyists and industry leaders have been at the FCC for various ex parte meetings.
Congress shouldn’t require mobile devices to include FM-radio chips, six manufacturers and wireless service providers said in a letter Monday to House and Senate Judiciary Committee leaders of both parties. CTIA, CEA, TechAmerica, the Telecommunications Industry Association, Rural Cellular Association and Information Technology Industry Council questioned the NAB’s and MusicFirst’s right to make the proposal in the groups’ performance royalty talks. The CEA and CTIA had objected to any legislation sought by radio broadcasters and music labels requiring chips in cellphones (CD Aug 16 p5).
Questions about what kinds of pay-TV distributors are entitled to use the FCC program access rules to seek carriage of vertically integrated-programming are better answered in a separate rulemaking, rather than in the context of a condition to approval of the Comcast-NBCU merger, Time Warner Cable argued in its reply comments in the merger review. Such a rulemaking could also answer questions about online distributors’ duties to provide closed-captioning and the emergency alert system, it said. “To the extent these issues need to be addressed, the full range of OTT [over-the-top] providers’ regulatory responsibilities should be considered in a proceeding of industry-wide scope, instead of adopting a standalone condition that would purport to give online entities rights under the program access rules,” it said.
A record spectrum donation of as many as 155 low-power TV stations from a non-profit religious broadcaster to a group that trains women and minorities to run stations points up the sagging market for TV stations of all types, said brokers and executives we interviewed. That Trinity Broadcasting Network, the world’s largest Christian TV network, is giving up most of its low-power TV (LPTV) stations to the Minority and Media and Telecommunications Council illustrates the recent dearth of deals for LPTV and full-power broadcasters, they said. Trinity will keep about 95 of its LPTV stations and upgrade them to digital, said attorney Colby May, who represents the broadcaster. He estimated it may cost $100,000-plus to upgrade from analog each station being donated by Trinity, which had been assessing its portfolio of 250 LPTV stations.
Sorenson was alone seeking one compensation rate for all video relay service providers under the interstate Telecom Relay Service fund, in comments at the FCC last week. Sorenson is the biggest VRS provider and is paid the least under the current system. Responding to a notice of inquiry about taking a “fresh look” at the VRS program and reducing fraud, Sorenson’s rivals and consumer groups representing the deaf urged the FCC to maintain the current tiered approach, with some minor changes.
The FCC needs to act to enact network neutrality rules, said Commissioners Michael Copps, Mignon Clyburn and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. At a community gathering sponsored by Free Press in Minneapolis late Thursday, they also criticized the Verizon-Google proposal and warned of the proposed Comcast-NBC Universal merger. Meanwhile, members of the Information Technology Industry Council met multiple times this week seeking a joint understanding of net neutrality, a spokeswoman confirmed Friday. The group represents companies like Microsoft and Cisco.
The burgeoning market in online video is “highly unlikely” to become a full-fledged pay-TV competitor anytime in the “foreseeable future,” Comcast, NBC Universal and NBCU parent General Electric told the FCC. Consumers and programmers alike see Web video as a complement to and not substitute for service from multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD), they said in the last round of comments on commission review of Comcast’s planned purchase of control in NBC Universal. Union and telecom foes of the deal represented by ex-FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and companies including EarthLink disagreed with Comcast and NBC Universal in filings posted Friday to docket 10-56. They and direct broadcast satellite companies contend the rapid growth of online video, in some instances including over-the-top Web programming seen on TVs, is making it more of a competitor to cable.
Hughes Network Systems, WildBlue, EchoStar and Spacenet won some of at least $100 million in federal stimulus money that the Rural Utilities Service is giving to satellite projects to expand broadband’s reach. The funding came in the second round of the Broadband Initiatives Program (CD August 19 p1). Satellite projects may get additional money, said a RUS spokesman. Many winners learned of the awards Wednesday, but many of them said they're still waiting for details, including which of their applications was approved by RUS, executives said. The stimulus money can cover upfront equipment and installation charges and must reduce service fees to $50 a month or less.
The restart of discussions on a net neutrality agreement seems to have at least the tacit approval of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, industry officials said. Commission officials have made it clear that the agency probably won’t hold another round of discussion, after negotiations brokered by Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus collapsed two weeks ago. By keeping discussions going, Genachowski will at least be able to show Congress that the commission isn’t moving rashly to reclassify broadband transmission as a Title II service, executives said. They said the talks don’t give him an escape hatch for the conundrum he faces in which public-interest groups are unlikely to join the talks and so he may still need to decide whether to promulgate rules or wait for Congress to do so.