Don’t impose video device interoperability rules on cable operators, because they and other multichannel video programming distributors are providing increasing amounts of content from pay-TV networks and other sources over IP to devices bought from firms besides MVPDs, said NCTA. Criticizing a request last month for a rulemaking from high-technology companies and makers of consumer electronics that seek interoperability rules (CD Jan 21 p12), NCTA CEO Michael Powell wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who used to run that group. In what some CE officials told us they see as a possibly defensive move, Powell cited the array of content at last month’s CES that’s available on many devices and not just set-top boxes that receive encrypted cable content. Powell’s predecessor Kyle McSlarrow, who later went to work for NCTA’s biggest member, Comcast, sent a similar letter to then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski after the 2011 CES (http://bit.ly/1eYX6zS) (CD Jan 28/11 p5).
A top Senate Democrat challenged industry to resolve problems of distracted driving before the Senate takes a try at it. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., aired his concerns as part of a daylong summit Thursday, which had three panels of debate, devoted to distracted driving. He presided over an afternoon panel, starting off with heavy scrutiny of any technology that distracts or may be proposed as a way to curtail distraction.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency’s primary goal in the IP transition is to make sure consumers are protected. Wheeler fully supports the notion of a “sandbox” such as used by software developers for testing software, and the trials are essentially a big regulatory sandbox, he said at a National Journal-sponsored conference Thursday.
The FCC Satellite Division intends to make life easier for satellite operators and providers by streamlining and eliminating outdated rules, said Jose Albuquerque, Satellite Division chief, at a Federal Communications Bar Association event at Bingham McCutcheon in Washington. For the division, the big topics include updating the software for submission of licensing applications and fostering more-efficient use of spectrum, he said.
Advocacy for performers to be paid terrestrial royalties is expected from the newly selected ranking member of the House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said performance advocates and copyright holders in interviews. Nadler was named to the subcommittee Jan. 28 (http://1.usa.gov/Mb4Szu) to replace ranking member Mel Watt, D-N.C., who was appointed by President Barack Obama to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Nadler is considered a keen observer of copyright issues, due mainly to his home district being Manhattan, home to many copyright industries.
E-rate modernization is “at the top of my agenda,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler told the Digital Learning Day conference at the Library of Congress Wednesday. “During my tenure as chairman of the FCC there will be no bigger and more significant issue than making sure our schools and libraries are connected to high-speed broadband networks.” A public notice due out in the coming weeks will seek comment on “how to appropriately phase out legacy services, including low-bandwidth connections, and reprioritize on broadband,” Wheeler said. “My goal is to have this process completed before students return to classrooms in the fall.” One former agency chairman called Wheeler’s speech the “most important” chairman’s speech about schools and libraries ever delivered.
The Department of Justice and the FCC have signaled, in what some see as an unprecedented manner, deep concerns about Sprint’s possible purchase of T-Mobile. But no deal has been disclosed. Industry observers said in interviews that by clearly signaling a deal would face tough sledding in Washington, regulators can save themselves and the companies time and trouble. Observers also raised concerns about what one termed “regulation by raised eyebrow.”
The FCC in the next few months may look to require that Internet video clips be captioned, whether by a draft order requiring it or a rulemaking seeking comment on such a rule, said agency, industry and public-interest officials in interviews Wednesday. They said that’s even though all industry filings opposed new rules in initial comments that were due Monday (see separate report below in this issue) (http://bit.ly/N458Bf) on a Media Bureau public notice (http://bit.ly/MtDRaK) on whether to require such captioning (CD Feb 5 p10). Chairman Tom Wheeler has signaled he’s interested in acting on disabilities access issues, and ensuring short videos online have captions so they can be understood by the hearing impaired could be an issue drawing his attention, said stakeholders opposed to such a requirement, those favoring it and those without policy stances.
As states grapple over what role they should play in regulating IP technologies, a free-market advocacy group that helps connect industry with legislators on a variety of issues said states should just stay out of it. The American Legislative Exchange Council issued a report (http://bit.ly/1jgJjM5) Wednesday on promoting broadband in states. ALEC’s first recommendation: Exempting “Internet protocol-based technologies from state utility regulation.” The group said it backed preserving “several rights and responsibilities for states and providers, while also respecting” FCC jurisdiction. State regulators told us they disagreed with the report.
The House Homeland Security Committee unanimously approved the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (HR-3696) Wednesday, advancing the bill to the full House. The bill, supported by both parties’ committee leadership, would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s existing public-private collaboration on cybersecurity issues without extending the agency’s powers. The bill would also allow critical infrastructure companies to seek liability protections under the Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act (SAFETY) Act for cybersecurity efforts.