NEW YORK, NY -- The streaming industry is headed for consolidation, but executives disagree over whether it should embrace cable-style bundling, according to panelists at the NAB Show New York’s Streaming Summit Tuesday. “Cable was a great product, people just didn’t want to pay for it anymore,” said Greg Barnhard, Vizio director-content acquisitions and strategy. After a streaming service has spent “an insane” amount of time and effort to create premium content, it shouldn’t “devalue” that content by sticking it in a bundle, said Archana Anand, chief business officer for South Asian content streaming service Zee5 Global.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and subpanel members from both parties voiced growing frustration during a Tuesday hearing with DOJ’s perceived reticence in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes and eyed the FCC’s Further NPRM giving consumers more choice on the robocalls and robotexts they will receive (see 2306080043). There was more uneven interest among Senate Communications members and witnesses at the hearing in pursuing additional legislation to address ongoing robocall problems amid those enforcement shortcomings.
The FCC will take additional steps during its Nov. 15 open meeting to provide survivors of domestic violence with safe and affordable access to communications services, wrote Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a Tuesday note. Other items on the agenda include the adoption of digital discrimination rules (see 2310240008), the use of AI in fighting robocalls, SIM swap and port-out fraud, and amateur radio.
Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T told the FCC it should move with care on a 5G fund, especially given the perilous state of the USF. Groups representing small carriers said the fund is critical to connecting millions of Americans on the wrong side of the digital divide. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 20-32 in response to a Further NPRM approved by commissioners 4-0 in September (see 2309210035).
Industry welcomed the FCC's efforts to establish a sustainability framework as part of its review of the future of its USF high-cost programs. Comments posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 showed widespread support for a contribution revamp and ensuring ongoing support for operational expenses remains available.
Draft digital discrimination rules to be voted on at the FCC's November meeting address both intentionally discriminatory conduct and conduct that produces discriminatory effects, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday at the annual United Church of Christ (UCC) Parker Lecture in Washington. The agency has seen disagreements among interested parties about using discriminatory intent vs. discriminatory impact when defining digital discrimination (see 2302220045). Rosenworcel said Tuesday the draft rules create a specific path for lodging digital discrimination complaints. She said the item also seeks comment on reporting requirements regarding new deployments, upgrades and maintenance projects, with the aim being the removal of what could lead to impediments to equal broadband access.
The FCC will consider an order next month that would implement requirements set by the Safe Connections Act, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Sunday at the National Conference on Domestic Violence. The item for the agency's Nov. 15 open meeting would also build on previous efforts to expand access to communications services for survivors of domestic violence (see 2207140055).
The FCC will look at ways to use AI, machine learning and patterns of use to help identify fraud in robocalls and robotexts, said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel during an AARP webinar Monday. The FCC will launch a proceeding this week, she said. AI can also potentially be used to simulate the voices of friends or family, and the FCC needs to understand those dangers, Rosenworcel said. One of the ways policymakers get “in front of” problems is by starting a proceeding, she said.
States' broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program initial proposals before NTIA show varied levels of openness to satellite broadband and fixed wireless. Some states specifically say they will entertain satellite or FW as broadband delivery options in extremely high-cost areas, but others say satellite and FW won't be eligible under any circumstances, according to BEAD initial proposal second volumes filed with NTIA. That volume covers states' selection processes for deciding what ISPs will be subgrantees of BEAD funding.
The Biden administration is expected to seek about $4 billion in additional money for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program as part of a second part of the supplemental federal funding request it will send to Congress this week, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Democratic leaders are already highlighting the to-be-announced money as a priority alongside the stalled regular FY 2024 appropriations process once the chamber can elect someone to replace ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.