LAS VEGAS -- A growing number of subscription-video and other services with many ways that advertisements can be delivered and multiple devices used to view content in a variety of ways has some stakeholders scrambling to catch up with people's changing habits, said CES panelists Tuesday. Amid consumer fragmentation and many programming choices, some see using voice commands to search for and discover video becoming increasingly popular. A sign of how technology is changing habits is that more people are watching full-length content and not just video clips on a plethora of devices other than TVs, said speakers including MGM's Epix Chief Digital Officer Jon Dakss.
Democratic state lawmakers are promising another run at ISP privacy rules this year as legislative sessions open. Legislators recently introduced fresh bills countering congressional repeal of the FCC broadband privacy rules in states including Florida, Kentucky, Vermont and Wisconsin (see 1801080044), and many of last year’s state bills that didn’t get final votes will carry over into 2018 sessions, said state legislative association officials. State lawmakers backing the bills told us they’re not daunted by 2017 failures or possible federal pre-emption. But the more recent controversial take-back of 2015 FCC net neutrality rules is spurring many state bills and could take attention from privacy (see 1712210034), some observers said.
"Quirks" in the must-vote deadline process mean items -- even noncontroversial ones -- can sit in limbo for a month or more, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly blogged Tuesday, pushing for changes in the agency's must-vote procedures. He urged replacing the 21-day time frame with a 14-day one, if not shorter, as a means of speeding up the process. Chairman Ajit Pai's office said it's reviewing the suggestion. The offices of minority Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel didn't comment.
The FCC plans to act this month to create an economics office, hold a July Connect America Fund Phase II fixed broadband subsidy auction, improve wireless emergency alerts, and take modest broadcast and media deregulation steps, as expected (see 1801080058 and 1801080057). The agency released draft items Tuesday that Chairman Ajit Pai circulated and put on the preliminary agenda for the Jan. 30 commissioners' meeting, which also includes an enforcement action.
LAS VEGAS -- Fifth-generation wireless will be a complete change from earlier generations, technologists said at CES. The move to 5G and the IoT have been top wireless themes at the conference. Erik Ekudden, Ericsson chief technology officer, said 5G will be like having a fiber connection in your pocket. Ekudden and others predicted the U.S. will face tough competition to be the leader on 5G.
LAS VEGAS -- Smartphones are getting more sophisticated, but the big change will come with 5G and all that the new generation of wireless brings, speakers said at a mobility panel Monday as CES kicked off here. Interest in the topic appeared to be huge, with people packing a large conference room at the event. CES isn't generally considered a major venue for smartphone announcements, with most of those coming at the Mobile World Congress in February. Meanwhile, other speakers said many questions remain about the IoT, a focus of much of the technology at CES.
The Supreme Court should strike down the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, said internet entrepreneur Daniel Berninger, who continues to pursue an appeal despite the current commission's rollback of the telecom regulation in that order. Without high court intervention, FCC authority over the internet won't be constrained by Congress or the Constitution, with its chairman effectively "a king," Berninger said at a Hudson Institute event Monday. Most legal experts we have heard from said they doubt justices will grant Berninger's cert petition seeking review of lower court rulings upholding the order (in Berninger v. FCC, 17-498, here), given the recent FCC net neutrality reversal (see 1712140039 and 1801050031). Some say he has a chance.
The FCC will tackle the 2018 quadrennial review of ownership regulations this year, and the item is expected to take up matters left over from the recent order on reconsideration (see 1711160054), industry and FCC officials told us. The remaining top-four network rule, AM/FM subcaps, disclosure of shared service agreements, and rules barring tri-opolies and the dual network rule could all be on the table, said industry and FCC officials. The quad review also could be used to respond to any issues over judicial review of the recon order, published in the Federal Register Monday (see 1801050049. “They may want to wait and see what happens in the courts,” said Georgetown University Institute for Public Relations Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who's involved in the ongoing appeal of the 2014 and 2010 quadrennial reviews in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. With so many ownership rules already rolled back under the recon order, the 2018 quadrennial review could be “anticlimactic,” said Pillsbury Winthrop broadcast attorney Scott Flick.
The FCC plans to take steps Jan. 30 to begin a Connect America Fund auction in July, said Jay Schwarz, wireline aide to Chairman Ajit Pai, in a speech Monday at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Palm Desert, California. He was referring to the CAF Phase II reverse auction of up to $2 billion in cumulative broadband-oriented subsidies over 10 years for fixed services in areas traditionally served by large wireline incumbent telcos. The agenda also is seen including items on a new FCC economic analysis office and on broadcasters' documentation.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order and presidential memorandum Monday aimed at improving broadband deployments in rural areas of the U.S., saying during an American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Nashville it will be the first of several actions aimed at expanding service. The order is aimed at “streamlining and expediting requests” for rural broadband projects, Trump said. The memo targets tower facilities at Department of the Interior-managed lands. "Those towers are going to go up and you're going to have great, great broadband," Trump said. The texts of the orders weren't available at our deadline. Industry lobbyists tipped the possibility of executive orders last week but said they would be a precursor to -- but separate from -- broadband proposals the Trump administration may include in an anticipated infrastructure legislative package. Trump committed last year to improve broadband connectivity as part of a wider strategy at bolstering rural infrastructure (see 1706220042).