A bipartisan bill to use Universal Service Fund (USF) money for broadband while curbing USF growth won high marks from the phone industry at a Thurs. press conference by bill authors Reps. Boucher (D-Va.) and Terry (R-Neb.). The 2 House Commerce Committee members offered similar legislation last Congress, but committee leadership never advanced the bill. Boucher said “conversations have not begun yet” with Subcommittee Chmn. Markey (D-Mass.) on the bill.
Republicans are eager to work with Democrats on broadband deployment legislation, Sen. Smith (R-Ore.) said Wed. at a new conference announcing the agenda of the GOP high-tech task force. Smith, task force chmn., said GOP goals mesh with Democrats’ efforts, such as House Speaker Pelosi’s (D-Cal.) innovation agenda released Tues. “Democrats are starting to mimic us,” Smith said, calling many of Pelosi’s ideas derivative of Republicans’.
John Branscome leaves FCC Comr. Copps’s staff to return to Spectrum & Competition Policy Div…. Glenn Reynolds, ex- BellSouth, moves to USTelecom as vp-policy… RIAA Communications Dir. Jenni Engebretsen to leave group in May to become Deputy CEO for Public Affairs for the Democratic National Committee convention in Denver Aug. 25- 28… Raytheon names Travis Slocumb, ex-SAIC, vp-strategy & business development, space & airborne systems.
Carriers are expected to challenge in court the FCC’s decision to require them to get customers’ consent before sharing customer proprietary network information (CPNI) data with joint venture partners or independent contractors for marketing, sources said Tues. Under the rule change, customers must “opt in” to give carriers permission to share the data.
The FCC should ban exclusive deals between multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and program services, RCN said. The company called for expansion of FCC rules that bar exclusivity among networks owned by cable operators. The section of the cable program-access rules that prohibits, for instance, Time Warner from withholding CNN or HBO from other MVPDs is set to expire in Oct. Most companies filing comments this week in the program access docket asked the FCC to extend the rules. NCTA, Comcast and the America Cable Assn. said the ban should expire as planned in Oct. RCN cited a recent deal between Major League Baseball and DirecTV as evidence of the need to ban exclusivity across MVPDs. “Denial of unaffiliated ‘must have’ programming is clearly just as detrimental to competition as affiliated programming,” RCN said.
The FCC could regulate exclusive deals between cable operators and apartment building owners when the pacts are found to be anticompetitive, under preliminary conclusions of a rulemaking approved by the FCC Thurs. After declining to address the issue as recently as 2003, the FCC reversed course out of concern that such deals slow telco TV and broadband deployment, said staffers and commissioners. Commissioners voted to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comment on what Media Bureau lawyer Holly Saurer called a tentative finding.
Jonathan Banks, ex-BellSouth, becomes USTelecom gen. counsel… Ex-FCC Chmn. Michael Powell joins board of CMWare… Vonage promotes Martin Hakim Din to senior vp- Vonage Broadband… Hands-On Mobile names David Saitta, ex- Mobile ESPN, vp-sales & mktg… Mari Katsunuma, ex-AOL, becomes Bravo vp-digital… NBC TV Networks Distribution promotes Brian Hunt to senior vp-mktg. & sales strategy… Andrew Rosenberg, ex-Comcast, moves to Time Warner Cable as vp-programming… Rachael McLean, ex-MTV, joins GoTV Networks as vp-music… Alice Muntz leaves GlobeTel Communications board, will remain consultant.
NCTA comments on cable ownership caps were criticized by telcos. Late Fri., NCTA said FCC Chmn. Martin’s plan for a 30% cable ownership cap is unneeded since there’s ample video competition, and Bells, including AT&T, don’t face limits in the number of landline subscribers they serve (CD March 19 p11). TV4Us, whose members include AT&T, called NCTA’s FCC filing “the cable industry’s latest mudslinging,” a spokeswoman said: “Unlike the cable industry’s yearly rate hikes and lack of competitive choices, consumers have real choices for their voice services” from phone companies. USTelecom made similar comments. “Fierce competition in the voice market has resulted in more choices and lower prices for consumers,” a spokesman said: “The telecom industry wants to bring that same level of competition to video services. We believe that the free market, not more government regulation, is the best way to accomplish that goal.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau has been asking industry parties to withdraw petitions that have languished for years without FCC action. The bureau wouldn’t comment but sources said they received phone calls and e-mails asking if they would be willing to pull the long-pending petitions. The FCC electronic filing logs for the last 2 weeks show more than a dozen industry notices of withdrawn petitions.
Phone and wireless industries Fri. demanded clarification of a House Commerce Committee pretexting bill (HR-936) to make sure marketing isn’t impeded. Ranking Member Barton (R-Tex.) said he had trouble understanding the industries’ objection, but said the committee might be able to address their concern.