Rulemaking notices seeking comment on preserving white space channels and on the mechanics of the incentive auction are next “in the immediate pipeline” in the FCC’s march toward the auction, auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein said at an FCBA brown-bag lunch Thursday. Though Epstein and Incentive Auction Vice Chair Howard Symons said no specific dates are available for when the items would be issued, Epstein suggested the items would be out “this fall” and affirmed that they were still working toward holding the auction in 2015. The task force heads also discussed their upcoming “road show” outreach effort to induce broadcasters to participate in the auction, which is also expected to begin soon. “We won’t have an auction unless broadcasters come to participate,” Epstein said.
Netflix for three years has been predicting that HBO "would be our primary long-term competitor, particularly for content," said CEO Reed Hastings and Chief Financial Officer David Wells Wednesday in the company’s Q3 letter to shareholders (http://bit.ly/1oaQFoD). That referred to the development hours earlier, when HBO CEO Richard Plepler used Time Warner’s investor meeting in New York to drop the news that the company will offer a "stand-alone HBO streaming service" in 2015.
A hearing before California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Administrative Law Judge Jean Vieth set for Thursday is likely to clarify CPUC’s schedule for its review of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal and associated TWC Information Services and Bright House Networks deals, industry stakeholders told us. The hearing is also likely to clarify the scope of discovery requests sought by the commission’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA), stakeholders said. The CPUC temporarily paused its review last week pending Thursday’s hearing. The delay is in part a reaction to the FCC’s decision to pause its own review of Comcast/TWC until at least Oct. 29, but it’s also due to an ORA request that CPUC revise its review timeline because of the extensive outstanding ORA data requests that Comcast, TWC and others need to fill 1410140022.
LOS ANGELES -- Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) representatives from Brazil, Indonesia, Iran and Portugal argued against the scope of ICANN’s accountability process, during a panel discussion with the ICANN board Tuesday. Those representatives took issue with the fact that the board has the power to overturn the community’s accountability proposal and said international law should oversee ICANN’s affairs. ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade tried to clarify some of the concerns and rebutted any notion of an “intergovernmental organization” in place of ICANN.
With FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler apparently moving toward subjecting mobile broadband to the same net neutrality regulations as wireline 1409190024, CTIA President Meredith Baker and some academics on Wednesday urged the agency to continue to treat wireless differently, as it did in dealing with the 2010 Open Internet order. The discussion was hosted by the Penn Wharton Public Policy Initiative.
Media coverage of net neutrality issues including the FCC NPRM is uneven, agreed experts on all sides. They said major publications often accurately portray most nuances of the issue. Smaller newspapers and some websites and blogs can miss important policy and technical nuances, leaving readers misinformed, generally agreed FCC, nonprofit and journalism officials at a panel Tuesday night sponsored by Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and the Society of Professional Journalists (http://bit.ly/1ng7uh8). The stakeholders included those from organizations backing reclassification of broadband as a Title II Communications Act service, those supporting rules that leave broadband as an information service and an opponent of any net neutrality rules.
The FCC Wireless Bureau told a federal appeals court that the FCC was justified and acting within its rules in 2012 when it decided FiberTower had not demonstrated that it was providing substantial service for 689 of its 24 GHz and 39 GHz licenses and the licenses should be revoked. The case is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The government and the telecom and technology industries must aggressively begin paving the way for the emergence of 5G LTE, said government officials and network operators. Major carriers have begun rolling out enhanced services to meet growing needs of data capacity, while preparing for the advent of 5G and other emerging technologies, they said Tuesday at a 4G Americas event in Washington. The wireless industry is investing in and creating new network technology to increase speeds and use spectrum more efficiently, said wireless executives. The industry also should work to find ways to make handling the next-generation networks less complex, a service provider said.
Aereo is likely to face some form of preliminary injunction against its streaming TV service, after oral argument on the matter in U.S. District Court in Manhattan Wednesday, said attorneys and attendees at the roughly hourlong hearing in interviews. U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan didn’t issue a decision on the nationwide preliminary injunction against Aereo requested by broadcasters, but said she would rule on the matter soon, noted officials connected with the case. Aereo some broadcaster plaintiffs declined to comment on the oral argument, which wasn't webcast.
The Senate may no longer advance its own Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bill for unanimous-consent floor consideration, industry lobbyists told us. After a botched attempt to hotline a Senate proposal in September, there’s no longer time or appetite for Senate passage of the measure, though it remains possible, some lobbyists argued. Instead, informal bicameral staff conferencing already may have begun, many believe, with significant energy focused on the set-top box integration ban provision responsible for derailing the Senate hotline.