Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., warned the FCC the set-top box NPRM that Chairman Tom Wheeler advanced earlier this year comes fraught with potential unintended consequences. She and officials affiliated with the Future of TV Coalition, which strongly opposes the NPRM, joined Thursday in the Longworth House Office Building to outline their concerns with the NPRM and argue for additional study they consider necessary. The briefing was hosted by Politic365.

NCTA voiced "significant concern" about last week's Incompas/Verizon proposal and supportive remarks Monday by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that suggest cable and other facilities-based competitors could have their business data services (BDS) subjected to "ex ante rate regulation" (see 1604070069 and 1604110065). "Any such proposal would reverse decades of bipartisan Commission policy and should be eliminated" from an item to be considered at the agency's April 28 meeting (see 1604080011), NCTA said in a Wednesday filing in docket 05-25 on meetings Monday with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn. Wheeler, O'Rielly and Clyburn staffers didn't comment.

AT&T objected to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed special access overhaul, suggesting it would increase regulation and decrease broadband investment and deployment. AT&T's top lobbyist said further investment in broadband facilities for 5G and in rural areas is needed. "But imposing regulation on special access prices and contract terms is not going to produce it," Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice-present-external and legislative affairs, said in a statement Tuesday responding to Wheeler's remarks to the Incompas Policy Summit Monday (see 1604110065). "The entire notion that more layers of FCC regulation will yield more broadband investment is absurd on its face, and proves that this FCC remains ‘an economics-free zone.’ The Commission’s proposals will instead lead to far less investment in broadband infrastructure -- especially in rural areas -- the very opposite of where we should be going as a nation." The FCC didn't comment Tuesday.

With FCC action apparently looming, Incompas and Verizon jointly proposed principles for a new regulatory framework for all dedicated business services, including ethernet. "We agree that we need a new technology-neutral model -- one that is legally sustainable, that recognizes the changes in the marketplace over the last ten years, that is flexible enough to accommodate new technology and new competitive circumstances going forward, and that will encourage the transition from legacy services to IP and more advanced communication services," said Verizon Senior Vice President Kathleen Grillo and Incompas CEO Chip Pickering in a statement Thursday that accompanied a letter to the FCC filed in docket 05-25. "While we don’t agree on everything, and there is more work to be done, these principles are an important first step towards bringing an end to this proceeding and reflect a balanced approach that incorporates the concerns of both sides of this debate."

A draft special access tariff order and Further NPRM are expected to circulate Thursday at the FCC for consideration at the agency's April 28 monthly meeting, informed sources told us Wednesday. The draft order flows from an FCC investigation of large incumbent telco tariff practices, and the FNPRM would propose a new regulatory framework, said one source, who said a delay is possible but unlikely. "We expect both items to be circulated" Thursday, said a telecom industry official. An industry attorney said there was some momentum for placing the items on the April meeting agenda, with slippage still possible.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called FCC rate-of-return USF changes a "win-win" for rural consumers wanting broadband and phone consumers paying into the USF. Clyburn said she was proud the FCC went beyond fixing a stand-alone broadband problem that prevented rural telcos from receiving USF support when customers with high-speed Internet access dropped traditional phone service. "We are also establishing a blueprint to connect unserved households and modernize the Connect America Fund to ensure that rate-of-return carriers use finite resources as efficiently as possible," she said in a statement that accompanied the 249-page Order and Further NPRM released Wednesday (see 1603300065).

The FCC voted 3-2 to approve a Lifeline modernization order that extends USF low-income subsidies to broadband service and streamlines the program's administration. But the agency didn't act until after its Thursday meeting was delayed three times, an attempted -- or apparent -- budget compromise collapsed, and Republicans dissented and cried foul. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly suggested personal relations had been "irreparably" harmed because the Democrats "will misrepresent, cut corners and welch on deals." Asked about certain Republican charges, Chairman Tom Wheeler said, "Balderdash."

The FCC revamped rate-of-return USF support mechanisms for the broadband era, in a 249-page order and Further NPRM released late Wednesday, with Commissioner Ajit Pai partially dissenting and partially concurring. The order gives rate-of-return telcos the option of receiving rural high-cost USF subsidies based on a broadband cost model over 10 years, which will be supplemented by $150 million in additional annual funding from existing USF reserves. For carriers not opting in to the model-based approach, the order updates a legacy mechanism -- renamed Connect America Fund Broadband Loop Support (CAF-BLS) -- to fund stand-alone broadband service to customers, which was a major driver of the reform effort. The changes include measures and incentives to spark greater broadband deployment, the order said.

Americans face a growing threat to their privacy as ISPs and leading Internet companies capture more data and find new ways to target consumers with data-driven personalized advertising, the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) said in a report released Wednesday. The FCC is to vote on its data privacy NPRM at its March 31 meeting (see 1603100019).

Major FCC policies could fundamentally tilt the communications playing field in favor of Internet edge and tech companies and against broadband providers, NCTA President Michael Powell said Wednesday. If the commission succeeds in its net neutrality, broadband ISP privacy and set-top box initiatives, the regulatory “bias” will facilitate the ability of edge/tech companies to enter telecom and video markets while restricting the ability of cable and telco providers to compete in the Internet space, said Powell, a former FCC chairman, at a Free State Foundation conference.