Those seeking guidance on what’s not acceptable on broadcast TV and radio are unlikely to get it anytime soon from the FCC, commission and industry officials predicted. They said agency staff from multiple offices are just starting to evaluate the agency’s options on indecency enforcement after Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down actions against fleeting nudity and cursing (CD June 22 p1). Even when the review by career commission staff is over, the agency is unlikely to issue broad guidance on indecency and instead probably would begin disposing of the 1.5 million complaints against programs, broadcast lawyers said. A group that backs indecency enforcement said such guidance isn’t necessary for the backlog to be reduced.
Tower company SBA announced its second big buy of the year Tuesday, unveiling an agreement to buy 3,252 towers, many in urban markets, from TowerCo for $1.45 billion in cash and stock. SBA will have a portfolio of 16,213 towers, the third largest among U.S. tower companies behind Crown Castle International (CCI) and American Tower (AMT). In February, SBA picked up another 2,300 towers in the U.S. and Central America when it bought Mobilitie LLC for $1.1 billion (CD Feb 22 p10).
PRAGUE -- Privacy took a center spot in the debate about new contracts between the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers and domain name registrars. The so-called registrar accreditation agreement (RAA) has been on ICANN’s table for several years, with governments putting their feet down in Dakar in 2011 to require the integration of a set of recommendations from law enforcement agencies into the RAA. Members of the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and of the board now urged that data protection officials be brought into the discussions.
New methods of analysis and study are needed to adequately address the critical information needs of and barriers faced by particular demographic groups in the U.S., said a panel of scholars who authored the Review of Literature Regarding Critical Information Needs of the American Public. The FCC issued a contract for the report that’s part of Section 257 of the Communications Act. Part of the draft study was released in conjunction with a workshop Tuesday hosted by the FCC Office of Communications Business Opportunities (http://xrl.us/bncyh6).
The cable industry isn’t trying to thwart the growth of online video services, said NCTA CEO Michael Powell during a media briefing at the association’s headquarters Tuesday. The Justice Department has been examining whether or not the industry is discriminating against online media providers. The Justice Department and FCC are also looking into the extent to which Comcast has been complying with or violating the terms of its DOJ consent decree that paved the way for its purchase of control of NBCUniversal (CD June 14 p7).
The U.K. Office of Communications unveiled a proposal for tackling online copyright breaches, but said Tuesday any move toward forcing ISPs to throttle or cut off suspected infringers will have to wait. The code, on which Ofcom wants feedback, essentially tracks a May 2010 version, with some key amendments, the regulator said. A second consultation document seeks input on proposed costs to copyright owners, ISPs and subscribers in breach proceedings. ISPs griped about having to pay any costs, while one civil liberties group called the proposed appeals process a “joke."
The FCC didn’t act Monday on the pricing flexibility petitions of AT&T and Windstream, which means the petitions are “deemed granted” according to existing rules, said a commission spokesman. The telcos had filed petitions to show they met the collocation triggers necessary to get out of special access rate regulation in the San Francisco/Oakland and San Antonio metropolitan statistical areas for AT&T, and the Lincoln, Neb.; Tulsa, Okla.; and Houston MSAs for Windstream.
The FCC faces a “daunting” task putting in place a system for calculating and paying the costs of moving broadcaster channel assignments following an eventual auction of TV broadcast spectrum, Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake said Monday during an agency workshop. February’s spectrum law requires the government to reimburse broadcasters for moving, up to a total of $1.75 billion. What the repacking plan will look like and how many broadcasters will have to move remain major question marks. Lake said the government must be scrupulous in ensuring that only actual costs are billed and paid. “This is not Christmas. It’s not winning the lottery,” he said. “It’s reimbursement of costs that are actually incurred by broadcasters.”
NASUCA passed resolutions Monday addressing the need for telecom regulation at a time when many states throughout the last year have embraced the industry-backed trend of deregulation. At its mid-year meeting in Charleston, S.C. the organization adopted firm stances on such controversial topics as VoIP regulatory oversight.
FCC options of scaling back program access rules drew no support from telcos, DBS providers and small cable operators, while operators that also own programming want the ban on exclusive deals for such content fully sunset. That’s according to initial comments on a rulemaking notice (CD March 22 p8). The document sought comment on whether to sunset the rules -- last extended for five years and expiring Oct. 5. Options the commission sought comment on other than keeping the rules or removing them in their entirety drew no support in docket 12-68. USTelecom and some others linked broadband service to keeping the rules, as cable rivals have in the past on video competition, saying subscription-video provider access to channels affiliated with operators helps them sell video and broadband.