A Pandora request that the FCC issue a declaratory ruling that it complies with foreign ownership rules could have implications for future tests of the FCC’s newly relaxed policy toward foreign ownership (CD Nov 15 p3), and could end up decided by a commission vote rather than a bureau-level decision, said broadcast attorneys in interviews this week. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly condemned the wording of the commission’s declaratory ruling at the time for being too vague, and it’s not clear what sort of precedent approval of Pandora’s petition would set, the attorneys said. The rule was partially intended to provide access to capital for minority station owners -- a situation that doesn’t apply to Pandora, attorneys said. “We were hoping the first few filings would be minority broadcasters seeking new financing,” said Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig, who had been a strong supporter of relaxing the foreign ownership restriction.
The conservative debate on whether copyright is a property right or a government granted privilege (CD May 14 p11) continued at an American Enterprise Institute panel Tuesday. Four academics -- two on each side of the debate -- argued about whether and to what degree copyright protections support “liberty” and “innovation.” Telecom industry officials and think tank leaders expressed concern that the “government privilege” argument could be a detriment to the free market. There’s a “wide a variation among free market individuals” on copyright, said Stan Liebowitz, University of Texas-Dallas (UTD) economics professor. “The question is whether copyright should be treated as real property.”
The FCC is expected to take up proposed rules for designated entity (DE) participation in the TV incentive auction this summer, to encourage more minority bidders in what many expect to be the last major spectrum auction for years to come. FCC officials said Chairman Tom Wheeler has been consistent in indicating the agency would start a DE rulemaking this summer, possibly at the Aug. 8 open meeting.
"I'm not going to endorse any effort to do otherwise,” Leahy said at the field hearing. “The open Internet principles are the bill of rights for the online world."
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) told the FCC in reply comments it’s “well qualified” to be a certified frequency coordinator for Business/Industrial Land Transportation (B/ILT Pool) frequencies in the 806-824/851-869 MHz and 896-901/935-940 MHz bands. In May, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on AAR and National Frequency Coordination (NFC) requests to be frequency coordinators (http://bit.ly/1lvJEXa). Replies were due Monday in docket 14-75. The NFC application met with resistance from public safety groups.
The U.S Supreme Court’s decision on Aereo (CD June 26 p1) may have a bigger effect on new technology than majority opinion author Justice Stephen Breyer intended, especially for tech related to TV, said representatives from several trade associations in interviews. By saying companies with an end-product that resembles cable TV should be treated similarly to cable TV by copyright law, the court’s opinion is likely to chill investment interest in tech that appears to deliver a similar product to cable, said American Cable Association President Matt Polka. ACA filed a brief in the case in support of Aereo. “This is not a good thing for consumers,” Polka said: The decision “really calls into question the ability of companies to innovate.” Aereo said over the weekend it’s shutting its service. (See separate report in this issue.)
France’s call for more international control over ICANN at the organization’s conference in London last week is precisely why political considerations should be divorced from the Internet’s technical questions, said Internet governance experts Monday. House Commerce Committee member and Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act sponsor John Shimkus, R-Ill., said the French proposal reaffirmed the need for HR-4342. ICANN 50 was dominated by discussions on the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and Internet governance (CD June 30 p10; June 27 p7; June 24 p7).
Inmarsat’s Global Xpress Ka-band network is operational for government customers, it said. Inmarsat is providing service for “a handful of government customers,” who are using the new system for air and ground applications for custom configurations, said Peter Hadinger, Inmarsat Global Services president. Next-generation satellite systems are encouraging the government to work more comfortably with the private sector for its satellite capacity needs by allowing the government flexibility in use, some satellite companies said. New systems, like Global Xpress or Intelsat’s forthcoming Epic NG, will need to have efficient in-flight broadband service and increase broadband speeds to be attractive to government and private consumers, a satellite consultant said.
The Obama administration is expanding public interest group representation on the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, which was created under President George W. Bush to improve management of the airwaves. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld will join longtime member Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Project at the New America Foundation, as a public interest group member of CSMAC. Both have been strong advocates of unlicensed spectrum. Feld had sought to become a member in the past but had been turned down.