Consolidated Communications resolved issues leading to service-quality probes in Maine and Vermont, and is investing in the northern New England territory it acquired from FairPoint in 2017, executives said in an interview. Customer calls to utility commissions in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont declined, after a surge in late summer 2018, commission data shows. The states heard more gripes after the FairPoint sale (see 1810020045).
The draft report and order opening spectrum above 95 GHzfor new commercial technologies is expected to be approved 5-0 by commissioners Friday, with few if any tweaks, FCC and industry officials said. Many questions remain about the treatment of passive bands in the “spectrum horizons” order, and those concerns are likely to surface during the discussion Friday, the officials said. Other questions could be on spectrum policy and spectrum enforcement. House Science Committee leaders raised similar concerns about the 24 GHz auction that starts Thursday.
SiriusXM CEO Jim Meyer “wouldn’t have done” the $3.5 billion all-stock deal to buy Pandora if not for the “decent price” he thinks was deflated from the streaming service’s steady declines in listener hours the past three years, he told a Deutsche Bank investment conference Monday. It’s “going to take work” to reverse Pandora’s decline and boost the brand’s stature inside the car, he said.
As cord cutting erodes the advertising-supported TV model, Vizio and media companies banded together to develop an open standard for “addressable advertising” on connected TVs. Project OAR, for Open Addressable Ready, is working to define technical standards for TV programmers and platforms to deliver “more relevant” ads within linear and on-demand on smart TVs, it said. The standard is designed to deliver “enhanced advertising products to brands, making the ad-supply chain more efficient, and giving audiences advertising content they are more likely to watch and enjoy,” it said.
Agencies must improve broadband data collection, mapping and coordination to better target funding and prevent government-backed network overbuilding, said lawmakers and witnesses at a Senate Communications Subcommittee rural broadband hearing Tuesday. The FCC and Rural Utilities Service need better coordination to ensure they don't fund duplicates, said Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., noting broadband data and mapping shortcomings. Better maps are needed to prevent overbuilding, agreed ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, also suggesting the FCC overhaul USF contributions to tap broadband connections.
Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Chris Coons, D-Del., formed a Senate Judiciary Committee privacy working group, Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Blumenthal and Coons told us. Judiciary heard testimony from Google, Intel, DuckDuckGo, Mapbox and others during a privacy hearing Tuesday.
The House Judiciary Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee plowed into T-Mobile’s proposed buy of Sprint Tuesday. T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure defended the deal against skepticism, mostly from Democrats. Legere faced questions on why T-Mobile executives logged so many nights at the Trump International Hotel Washington since the deal was announced.
The House Communications Subcommittee appears likely to press forward with a markup of the Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) despite a divide among members during a Tuesday hearing. HR-1644 and Senate companion S-682, filed last week, would add a new title to the Communications Act that says the FCC order rescinding its 2015 rules “shall have no force or effect.” The bill would retroactively restore reclassification of broadband as a Communications Act Title II service (see 1903060077).
Rural telco interests voiced concerns about FCC proposals to auction off their subsidies in areas completely or almost completely served by unsubsidized broadband competitors. They opposed such reverse auctions or backed limiting their use to areas with 99 or 100 percent competitive overlap, and sought "reasonable" transitions, continued support for broadband-only lines, and a tribal broadband factor. Fixed-wireless and cable groups backed the thrust of a Further NPRM approved unanimously in December (see 1812120039) but urged auctioning RLEC areas with as little as 50 percent competitive overlap. Comments were posted through Monday in docket 10-90.
The FCC WRC-19 Advisory Committee (WAC) wrapped up work Monday, after finalizing nearly 100 recommendations to the World Radiocommuncation Conference this fall in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. In some cases, as is typical for WRC meetings, the WAC wasn’t able to develop a single unified position. The FCC is to release items addressed at the meeting for comment by Friday, agency officials said, so they can be ready for submission to the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL).