The House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee approved a Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) extension Thurs. that could result in rate increases for DBS providers. While the Satellite Bcstg. & Communications Assn. (SBCA) said the “committee print” version of the bill -- not yet introduced -- would be a “one-sided increase,” Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) told reporters he thought there would be “little if any rate impact.” Smith said the purpose of the bill was a SHVIA reauthorization “achievable this year.” No amendments were offered, and the bill passed on voice vote.
The House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee approved a Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) extension Thurs. that could result in rate increases for DBS providers. While the Satellite Bcstg. & Communications Assn. (SBCA) said the “committee print” version of the bill -- not yet introduced -- would be a “one-sided increase,” Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) told reporters he thought there would be “little if any rate impact.” Smith said the purpose of the bill was a SHVIA reauthorization “achievable this year.” No amendments were offered, and the bill passed on voice vote.
As Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Deal (R-Ga.) said Wed. they would search for ways to get an “a la carte” or tiered pricing package bill through Congress this year, activist groups said they had the money and will to carry the issue forward to next year if Congress fails to act. Deal has proposed an amendment to the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), but acknowledged his amendment would likely have to apply only to DBS providers. McCain said he would try to move a la carte through an amendment, but said it was looking less likely that anything but the most essential legislation would move this year.
The broadband over power line (BPL) industry opposed as “unduly burdensome and unnecessary,” the FCC’s proposal to require that BPL operators develop and maintain a public database on the location, operational frequencies and modulation type of BPL systems. Its purpose would be to speed resolution of interference issues (CD Feb 13 p9). DSL and cable modem operators aren’t subject to notification and database requirements, and that would put BPL at a competitive disadvantage, the Power Line Communications Assn. (PLCA) said in comments on the FCC’s rulemaking on changes to its Part 15 rules to promote BPL. The United Power Line Council (UPLC) said utilities were concerned about disclosure of what could be considered “protected critical infrastructure information” under the Homeland Security Act. Meanwhile, public safety groups called for a year-long, industry-funded demonstration that BPL systems cause no or only rare interference.
Wireless carriers urged the FCC to exempt them from the requirement to seek express prior authorization before sending mobile service commercial messages (MSCMs) to their customers, as long as customers weren’t charged for them. “A requirement to seek such ‘opt-in’ consent would raise a serious constitutional issue as to whether such a requirement would be an unlawful restriction on commercial speech,” Verizon Wireless said in comments: “There is no reason to reach that issue because an exemption for wireless carriers to communicate with their own customers is warranted.” Cingular Wireless said the wireless data industry was “in its infancy,” and the Commission should be “especially careful to adopt no rules that would interfere with the relationship between wireless service providers and their customers.” Nextel agreed, but said the FCC shouldn’t exempt small businesses from the prior-express-authorization requirements.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a notice announcing that it has issued the second edition of its Questions and Answers (Q&A) on the prior notice requirement for imported food. This revised guidance is entitled "Questions and Answers Regarding the Interim Final Rule on Prior Notice of Imported Food (Edition 2)" and is dated May 2004.
CTIA floated a compromise plan at the FCC Fri. in the contentious 800 MHz proceeding, seeking what it called a “legally sustainable” outcome to a rebanding plan for mitigating public safety interference. CTIA Pres. Steve Largent outlined the proposal in a letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. It would entail Nextel’s paying $3 billion in a trust fund for relocating public safety and other incumbents. The plan, which Nextel called “astonishing,” allocated it 10 MHz at 2.1 GHz, instead of the replacement spectrum at 1.9 GHz it has sought.
Congress should “redefine” the purpose of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and what kind of “tax” should be used to support it, Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert said Wed. at a Progress & Freedom Foundation lunch. Policy-makers should decide what they really want to fund through the USF -- for example, low income households or expanding broadband coverage -- he said. Then they can define how the money is raised because “there are better ways to do it,” he said. Regulators keep adding uses for USF and “never say, ‘We've done it, let’s move on,'” Notebaert said. USF is a tax now, whether regulators care to call it that or not, he said: “We ought to call a tax a tax.”
ILECs were pushing for “significant price increases” in negotiations with CLECs over UNE-P, a CLEC executive and representative of ALTS told the Senate Commerce Committee Tues. The increases “would not allow us to sustain our business,” said Cbeyond CEO James Geiger at the hearing on “lessons learned” from the Telecom Act: “The assumption of the incumbent is that unbundling elements are gone.” Geiger also suggested that ILECs weren’t even putting the local loop on the table, though Qwest Chmn. Richard Notebaert said he didn’t object to loops’ remaining an unbundled element.
SBCA said the House Telecom Subcommittee would consider raising rates for distance broadcast signals as part of its markup of Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA), scheduled today (Wed.), 2123 Rayburn Bldg. SBCA said the Cable Data Corp. showed in 2003 satellite providers paid 21.4% more per subscriber for distant broadcast signals than did the largest cable providers. SBCA said satellite could be forced to pass these rate differences on to customers, which would put “cable’s only real competitor at a further disadvantage.” “Before Congress raises the rates that satellite companies pay for distant network signals they should carefully consider whether this action will hurt consumers and how it will change the competitive landscape,” said Richard DalBello, SBCA pres. DalBello said the draft of the bill “has a lot to offer the broadcasters but very little for the satellite industry and the consumers.”