The Spectrum Act provides for cable operators to be “held harmless” for costs that result from the spectrum incentive auction repacking, said NCTA in a meeting with Media Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/15tE7eJ). A cable operator would be entitled to reimbursement “for the reasonably incurred costs of carrying a broadcast station that has must-carry or retransmission consent rights on the cable system, regardless of whether that station had previously been carried on the system,” said NCTA. Costs to cable operators associated with the repacking could come from the need to buy new antennas, reposition existing ones, or change software, NCTA said. Although NCTA conceded the Spectrum Act refers to the “reimbursement of costs ’to continue’ to carry a broadcast signal,” NCTA said this passage is “best understood” as referring to reimbursement for the costs of fulfilling a station’s continuing carriage rights following repacking or channel sharing. “The right to continued carriage may be on the system currently carrying the station or it may be on a different system, if as a result of repacking or sharing the station is permitted under the Commission’s rules to move to a new location,” said NCTA. Not reimbursing cable operators “acting to fulfill the broadcaster’s right to carriage” would create an “asymmetry” in favor of broadcasters, NCTA said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission should not have a carveout in S-607, the bill from Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, that seeks to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a group of House Republicans said in a statement Tuesday. The group -- including Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan, Joe Barton of Texas, Tom Graves of Georgia, Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Kevin Yoder of Kansas -- said the Senate should oppose the SEC’s request to access without a warrant electronic communications stored by service providers. Earlier this year, Yoder and Graves introduced HR-1852, the Email Privacy Act. “The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution requires the SEC to get a warrant to read postal mail -- why should it be any different for email?” Yoder said in Tuesday’s statement. “If we carve out one civil agency, every civil agency would clamor for an exemption and email privacy reform would be rendered meaningless."

The FCC granted a blanket license radio station authorization to ViaSat, allowing it to provide in-flight Ka-band services. The 15-year license permits operation of a low-profile airborne antenna on the ViaSat Ka-band fleet, which includes ViaSat-1, WildBlue-1 and Anik-F2, said the company in a news release Tuesday. The license will help ViaSat provide its Exede In The Air service to JetBlue, it said. ViaSat supported the FCC NPRM to establish an allocation for earth stations providing in-flight broadband service in the Ku band (CD May 24 p13). Demand for such services will likely lead to similar action in the Ka band, said Daryl Hunter, ViaSat director of regulatory affairs. “If industry has an interest in moving towards the creation of new service rules in the Ka band, the FCC would follow industry’s lead,” he said in an interview. ViaSat works with other satellite companies to develop service rules internationally for Ka-band mobility, he said. Their efforts led to an Electronics Communications Committee decision on earth stations on mobile platforms, he said. “It opens up all of Europe to mobility in the Ka band.” The industry is still working toward an official status at the global level from the ITU, said Hunter.

The FCC’s incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum should include a significant amount of spectrum for unlicensed use, representatives of Google said in meetings with key FCC officials. Among those representing Google was former FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick, who joined Google last year. “We expressed Google’s support for a balanced spectrum policy that relies on both licensed and unlicensed approaches,” said an ex parte filing on the meeting (http://bit.ly/13wibvm). On the incentive auction, “We ... advocated that unlicensed operation should be permitted in the guard band(s)/duplex gap, Channel 37, and the two broadcast channels currently used exclusively by wireless microphone users. Finally, we observed that national uniformity in a band plan will minimize device costs and co-channel interference concerns and maximize the value of repurposed broadcast spectrum.”

Seven percent of American TV homes “rely solely on an antenna for their television programming,” said a study released Tuesday by CEA (http://bit.ly/14gwz2j). “This study provides yet another reason why it is time for broadcast spectrum to be reallocated, and quickly,” said President Gary Shapiro in a release. The study, U.S. Household Television Usage Update, is a follow-up to a 2010 CEA report that showed 8 percent of TV households relying solely on an antenna. Consumers “have moved away in droves from traditional broadcast television thanks to a surge in programming alternatives” available over broadband, said Shapiro. “According to historical CEA research, there has been a gradual decline in the percentage of TV households using antennas since 2005,” said the study. CEA’s findings “strain the bounds of credibility,” said NAB in an emailed response. An NAB spokesman attacked the study for not being conducted independently, and for its small sample size: There were 1,009 adults interviewed over the phone, CEA said. CEA analyst Kevin Tillmann, who worked on the study, called NAB’s comments “wildly inaccurate” in an email. The telephone survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corp., not CEA staff, he said. NAB pointed to a larger study released last month by market researcher GfK which showed an increase in broadcast-only homes in 2013 to 19.3 percent of TV households (CD June 21 p20). “We're confident that GfK’s research is far more credible than that of a trade association with a track record of anti-broadcasting bias,” said the NAB spokesman. CEA’s report also points out that a 2012 Nielsen study showed 9 percent of households as broadcast only, similar to CEA’s figure. There was a 5 percentage point decrease from 2010 to 83 percent in people who get TV from cable, satellite or fiber. “The use of non-TV consumer electronics devices (such as laptops, desktops, tablets and smartphones) in the home to consume content is likely affecting pay-TV subscriptions,” said CEA. The association also pinned that decline on “increasingly accessible Internet sourced television programming.” It found that 28 percent of U.S. TV households receive programming on their TVs through the Internet, and 4 percent of TV households report using the Internet exclusively as their source of television programming for their TVs. The FCC also found increased penetration of Internet connected TVs in its recent Video Competition Report (CD July 23 p7). “This is why Congress had it right when they authorized the FCC to hold voluntary broadcast spectrum incentive auctions to reallocate broadcast television spectrum to greater uses, like wireless broadband,” said Shapiro, referring to CEA’s findings.

The FCC should adopt a 45 percent designated-entity bidding credit for future auctions, including the incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum, and waive or eliminate a 25 percent restriction on wholesaling/leasing spectrum capacity to one entity, said George Laub, managing director of Council Tree, in a meeting with aides to acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. Getting rid of the secondary market restriction would “eliminate the last remaining rule from the FCC’s DE rules adopted in 2006,” Council Tree said in an ex parte filing on the meeting (http://bit.ly/13wqyY2). “Council Tree emphasized that wholesaling/leasing is an integral part of the business model for new entrant DEs and non-DE’s alike, providing an important measure of revenue certainty necessary to quickly and efficiently finance and deploy operations,” the filing said. “DEs need the flexibility to build viable business plans in order to provide competition and innovation, benefiting consumers and the public interest.” Council Tree sought to overturn the results of the FCC’s AWS-1 and 700 MHz auctions, because of DE restrictions imposed in 2006, in a case before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2010 decision, the Philadelphia-based court tossed out two of the DE rules in place during the auctions, but let the auction results stand (CD Aug 25/10 p1).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau settled an investigation against Townsquare Media of El Paso and Regent Broadcasting of El Paso, over a failure by Regent in 2010 to disclose the sponsorship of paid advertisements when it was licensee of El Paso stations KLAQ(FM) and KROD(AM), said an order issued Tuesday (http://bit.ly/14gpVZY). The stations were airing ads for a store called The Cigarette Outlet, and omitting the word “cigarette” and the name of the store from the ad to avoid running afoul of FCC rules against cigarette ads, said the enforcement bureau order. However, the failure to identify the ad’s buyer violated sponsorship rules, the bureau said. Townsquare acquired the stations in 2010, but “assumed liability” for the outcome of the Enforcement Bureau’s investigation, and has agreed in a consent decree to pay $15,000 and follow a detailed compliance plan, the order said.

"The FCC’s decision provides an outlet for integrated boxes that were stranded by the integration ban when the Bureau ruled in June 2007 that cable operators could not treat refurbished set-top boxes as new,” said Davis Wright attorney Paul Hudson, who represented ACE. The client, Adams Cable Equipment, on Friday got a Media Bureau waiver of some CableCARD rules (CD July 30 p11). The company may one day ask the commission to lift the 50,000-box restriction on the waiver, he said. “If 50,000 of these boxes would be good for consumers, then 200,000 refurbished boxes would be that much better.” There’s “no risk of refurbished boxes undermining the cable industry’s common reliance on CableCARDs now that they have deployed 40 million CableCARD devices,” Hudson said. The bureau’s public notice referenced previous CEA concerns that a waiver for ACE could undermine the commission’s CableCARD rules. CEA didn’t comment on the waiver being granted.

Pandora strongly believes in its legal position on its purchase of a terrestrial radio station in South Dakota, a spokeswoman told us. She responded to a petition to deny the purchase that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers filed with the FCC (CD July 30 p10). The company bought the station to qualify for the same publishing royalty rates as one of its largest competitors, iHeartRadio, which is owned by Clear Channel, Pandora said then (CD June 17 p6). “We are reviewing the filing and will respond per the standard procedure,” the Pandora spokeswoman said Monday night. “We have confidence in the process and strongly believe in our legal position. Our purchase of KXMZ will better serve the community by offering a broader selection of music and artists customized to local tastes. We look forward to providing an enhanced listening experience to the community.” ASCAP said in its petition that Pandora failed to fully disclose its ownership and to adequately demonstrate that it complies with foreign ownership rules.

Time Warner Cable and CBS agreed to an extension of their retransmission agreement until Friday at 5 p.m. EDT. The companies are continuing their negotiations, a TWC spokeswoman said. It’s the second extension agreed to by the companies since a dispute ensued over renewing a contract, which was set to expire July 17 (CD July 26 p8). TWC briefly pulled CBS networks and broadcast stations from its lineup Tuesday, TWC said in a press release (http://bit.ly/163Q3mL). Sooner or later, “CBS will threaten others and go dark, just as they have with Dish in the past and with us today,” it said.