NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling was grilled by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., over allegations that broadband grants pay for expensive, unnecessary telecom equipment for small libraries and schools in West Virginia. Walden told a subcommittee hearing Wednesday that he has two primary concerns with the Rural Utilities Service programs: “They appear to fund the same aims as the Universal Service Fund … and I am concerned about [their] performance.” Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and full Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., hailed NTIA’s decision to partially suspend seven public safety grants following the creation of FirstNet.
Cable operators are moving to use the public Internet cloud and their own private Internet Protocol clouds to pump out new video and business services, products and apps to subscribers much faster than before while keeping capital and operating costs down, executives said. Over the past several months, several major North American cable providers have started cloud-based initiatives to deliver network-based DVRs, interactive programming guides (IPGs), IP video streaming, VOD, interactive TV apps and phone service to companies.
Claims and counter-claims about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement flew Wednesday at a lively European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee workshop on the controversial treaty. Much of the criticism of ACTA is based on very selective readings of its text, said Anders Jessen, head of unit for public procurement and intellectual property (IP) at the European Commissioner for Trade Directorate. He constantly urged foes to cite chapter and verse on where the agreement allegedly violates fundamental rights.
Comcast mounted its lengthiest defense of exempting from broadband data caps Internet Protocol streams of VOD sent to videogame consoles over its managed network and not the public Internet. The cable operator said its exception for IP streams sent to Xbox 360s isn’t a violation of net neutrality rules or what it agreed to with the FCC and Justice Department to buy control of NBCUniversal. Netflix has said such exemptions are a violation of net neutrality rules, and Level 3 and others have expressed concern over Comcast’s policy (CD May 15 p3). Some nonprofits that back net neutrality rules have also expressed concern.
FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan wants to know if Verizon Wireless would abandon its plans to sell its lower 700 MHz licenses if the commission doesn’t approve the acquisition of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap. The carrier has less than a week to answer that and several other questions about the proposed sale of its 700 MHz A- and B-block licenses, said a letter sent Tuesday to Verizon Wireless Vice President John Scott (http://xrl.us/bm74mz). Kaplan also asked what the acquirer has done to build out its lower 700 MHz spectrum, and how the sale relates to the proposed acquisition of the AWS licenses.
LightSquared said it doesn’t expect its bankruptcy filing to affect the FCC’s decision on whether it will revoke its ancillary terrestrial component authority. The filing and ATC proposal “are not technically linked in any way,” a LightSquared spokesman said. House Commerce Committee Republicans meanwhile said the company’s decision to file for bankruptcy underscores the need for more answers on the commission’s handling of the license and waivers granted to support LightSquared’s plans to build a network. The company filed for bankruptcy Monday (CD May 15 p12).
Different entertainment industry quarters found different ways for the FCC Media Bureau to interpret the terms “multichannel video programming distributor” and “channel” as they relate to new entrants in the video distribution business. In comments responding to a Media Bureau public notice that asked how to interpret such terms (http://xrl.us/bm723b) cable operators largely opposed an expanded interpretation of the terms that would cover companies who use the Internet to deliver video to subscribers.
"We are at a key moment on addressing the spectrum crunch and now is a key time,” said John Leibovitz, deputy chief of the FCC Wireless Bureau. Capitol Hill aides and an NTIA representative also speaking at an event Tuesday hosted by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation made their case as to the need for a comprehensive spectrum inventory and greater commercial/federal sharing of spectrum. The next frontier of the commission’s approach to spectrum will include more testing of band sharing, small cell use and receiver performance, Leibovitz said. The FCC is particularly eager to “move the ball” on the federal sharing of the 1755-1780 MHz band, he said.
GENEVA -- The idea of new negotiations on expanding the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) to eliminate tariffs on new products won strong support during a two-day seminar and a meeting of the committee that deals with the agreement, officials said. Work on setting up a framework to best reach agreement on ITA expansion focuses in part on ironing out differences over, if and how the negotiations should address non-tariff measures (NTMs), participants said.
The full FCC put on hold implementation of an administrative law judge’s December decision requiring Comcast to carry the Tennis Channel as widely as sports networks owned by the cable operator. The new decision largely reflects an Office of General Counsel order earlier this month staying implementation of the ALJ decision in the program carriage complaint where the independent channel alleged Comcast discriminated against it (CD May 5 p3). The new stay said it “will preserve the status quo while the Commission has an adequate opportunity to examine the record and the ALJ’s disposition of each issue closely.” The cable operator challenged Chief FCC ALJ Richard Sippel’s decision, while the indie sought an order requiring the wider carriage.