A House Communications Subcommittee markup of spectrum legislation appears likely to get pushed into next week, with no markup scheduled so far, public safety officials said during a press conference Monday. A markup was expected Tuesday or Wednesday (CD Sept 28 p13). The bill before the subcommittee does not allocate the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, a top goal of many public safety officials.
State regulators are taking their case against preemption in intercarrier compensation regime reform to the Hill, telecom lobbyists and a NARUC official told us Monday. The FCC is weighing reform proposals from incumbents that would preempt state rates and lower them to $0.0007 per minute -- the so-called “triple-zero” option -- within five years for price cap companies and eight years for rate-of-return companies. State officials, having endorsed the FCC’s reform process, are now meeting with legislators, hoping to stall preemption, said telecom lobbyists and NARUC Legislative Director Brian O'Hara.
CTIA said the FCC should shorten the collocation approval shot clock imposed on local communities and permit tower collocations by right. The assertion came in reply comments on the commission’s April acceleration of a broadband deployment notice of inquiry. CTIA said the FCC has plenty of authority under the Communications Act to impose additional siting rules on local governments. Major associations representing local governments disagreed.
NPR’s incoming CEO Gary Knell must work to bring it out of political turmoil and to expand the reach of its public radio network, industry executives told us. NPR needs a leader who can bring the entire organization, including its headquarters, the business arm and the network of stations, into what’s necessary for the future of public radio, said Caryn Mathes, general manager at WAMU(FM) Washington: “It’s a complex organization existing in a really challenging climate right now.” To address the “exploding technological climate,” the changing demographics of the public radio audience and efforts to defund public broadcasting, the CEO needs vision, courage and a backbone, she said.
The FCC is looking at changing some broadcast regulations, leading to less oversight of how noncommercial stations raise money and possible rules for all types of stations to make disclosures online, not just on paper. Chairman Julius Genachowski has asked the Media Bureau to work on those areas, he told an FCC hearing in Phoenix about a June report by commission staffer Steve Waldman on the future of the new and old media industry. Those were the two concrete steps the commission said it’s taking to deliver on the recommendations of the report (CD Oct 3 p6).
Touting “original, premium programming,” a reach of 100 million people in the U.S. and an “innovative” opportunity for advertisers, executives from Yahoo and ABC News entered a strategic alliance. They said Monday it brings together Yahoo’s technology and reach and the journalism of ABC News, with the goal of becoming the “premier digital media company in the world.” The future of news and information “is completely up for grabs,” said Ben Sherwood, president of ABC News.
Federal agencies must do more to fortify their cybernetworks from attacks, said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. In a joint statement Monday, they cited a GAO report that said federal agencies’ cybernetworks have significant weaknesses due to their failure to implement information security programs. “There is perhaps no greater vulnerability that Congress has yet to address through legislation than the insecurity of cyberspace,” Collins said. “Today’s report points out too many serious vulnerabilities. We must fortify the government’s efforts to safeguard its own cyber networks from attack and build a public/private partnership to promote stronger national cyber-security.”
BRUSSELS -- There are “severe imbalances” in the growth rate of Internet traffic, with more revenue generated by traffic that’s not monetized by network operators, London School of Economics (LSE) Professor-Technology Management Jonathan Liebenau said Monday. Different business models apply to the different segments that generate traffic, and network operators aren’t part of the most profitable business activities, he told the Financial Times/European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association digital agenda summit. Given EU goals to boost broadband build-out, the reluctance to invest in next-generation networks threatens the ability of network operators to respond, he said. That won’t change until investors are sure network owners will eventually benefit from traffic growth, he said. Speakers also urged regulators to safeguard net neutrality.
BRUSSELS -- Telecom companies must stop bickering and speak with a single voice if they want to reach their potential as a driver of growth in the European economy, several speakers said Monday at the Financial Times/European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association digital agenda summit. Considering the “tremendous investments” needed to accomplish the digital agenda, “critical mass is required,” said ETNO Executive Board Chairman Luigi Gambardella. “The minor fights between incumbents and the cries of newer entrants over a few eurocents of access charges belong to the past,” because both sides have a common interest in rolling out the new networks needed to meet consumer demand for new services, he said. But incumbents and their rivals sparred at the meeting over a European Commission proposal to dictate access charges to copper networks.
Top FCC officials may decide to discuss ways the agency will implement some of the many recommendations in the report on the future of the media industry at an event Monday in Phoenix, agency officials watching the deliberations said. They said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Steve Waldman, who wrote the 478-page report finished in June, may talk about concrete steps the agency will take to act on its suggestions on the broadcasting industry. Genachowski’s office and Waldman appeared to be working out the details on Friday of the extent of the recommendations that will be implemented, with a view to possibly discussing some at the hearing, agency officials said. Waldman leaves the agency at week’s end.