White House tariffs on steel are beginning to increase prices for companies involved in the post-incentive auction repacking, but the tariffs aren’t pushing up costs as much as competition for crews and resources is, said antenna and tower industry officials in interviews. “The main thing increasing the costs are the crew prices,” said Electronics Research Inc. Vice President-Marketing Bill Harland. “It’s an impact,” said FDH Infrastructure Business Development Manager Don Doty of the tariffs. “But the repack itself -- the demand -- is raising prices higher.”
California agreed not to enforce its new net neutrality law (SB-822) while appeal of the FCC’s order rescinding the 2015 national rules is pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and possibly the Supreme Court. The state agreed to delay enforcement in a pleading with the U.S. District Court for Eastern California. The state was scheduled to respond to the motion for a preliminary injunction Friday, but the parties informed the judge they had reached a deal. ISP groups (see 1810030036) and DOJ (see 1809210059) challenged the California law in cases before that district court.
LOS ANGELES -- With the CBS All Access over-the-top service, “we’re looking at higher resolutions right now,” Robert Seidel, CBS vice president-engineering and advanced technology, told the SMPTE conference. Streaming content at 4K resolutions increases “storage requirements quite a bit for a typical file,” he said Wednesday.
With Sky under Comcast's belt, analysts see the obvious next big step a major leap into over-the-top offerings. NBCUniversal CEO Stephen Burke, in an earnings call Thursday, said while the world pivots toward more streaming, the company wants to "protect and nurture" its pay-TV business. He said industry has rushed into streaming, but economics are challenging.
Consumer groups are asking the California Public Utilities Commission to reconsider a recommendation to deny consumer advocates’ petition for rulemaking to update privacy rules for wireless carriers. The CPUC postponed by two weeks votes that had been scheduled Thursday on denying stricter consumer proprietary network information (CPNI) rules (see 1809210037), and separate items approving Frontier and AT&T reparations for 2017 service-quality violations (see 1809180013). Commissioner Carla Peterman announced Thursday she won’t seek reappointment when her term expires at year-end.
Judges pressed the FCC to justify tribal Lifeline support limits and procedures, while questioning arguments of industry and tribal petitioners challenging the rules. A three-judge merits panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral argument Thursday on the 2017 order that barred resellers from receiving enhanced tribal Lifeline subsidies and targeted the USF support to rural areas (see 1711160021) in National Lifeline Association v. FCC. No. 18-1026. A separate motions panel of three Democratic appointees Aug. 10 stayed the tribal rules pending review by the merits panel (see 1808100027).
A First Amendment challenge of FCC kidvid rules could be successful yet politically fraught, broadcast attorneys told us, reacting to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's remarks at a Media Institute event Wednesday evening. In a speech on First Amendment threats, O'Rielly cautioned opponents of the proceeding that they “might want to reconsider” opposing his deregulation effort because a successful First Amendment challenge could lead to the rules being struck down altogether. Legal scholars "quite convincingly" have made the case kidvid rules are content-based restriction that don't fulfill a compelling government interest, and thus are contrary to the Constitution, he said.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and others at a 5G Americas technology forum Thursday welcomed President Donald Trump directing development of a comprehensive national spectrum policy (see 1810250018). Trump also rescinded two Obama administration spectrum policy memos. The Trump memo requires all government agencies report to the Commerce Department on their current and anticipated spectrum requirements. Reports will be due at the White House in 180 days, with a strategy due 90 days later.
SiriusXM’s agreement offering free three-month trials of its streaming services to Amazon smart speaker owners (see 1810180004) isn't exclusive but is a “great first step” in other possible collaborations “we’ve talked to Amazon about,” said CEO Jim Meyer on a Wednesday earnings call. Meyer wants the SiriusXM service “to be as easy to listen to on anything and on any platform,” and won’t close the door on similar collaborations with Apple or Google, he said.
AT&T said it will be the first U.S. carrier to offer mobile 5G, with launch in weeks. Verizon was first with a fixed wireless 5G product earlier this month (see 1810010028). AT&T reported a 346,000 Q3 net loss in DirecTV subscribers and earnings below expectations. The stock closed down 8.1 percent at $30.36.