Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, intend to file their bill aimed at easing barriers to 5G and other broadband deployments soon after the Thanksgiving recess, Schatz confirmed to us. A post-Thanksgiving filing of the legislation was widely anticipated because Senate Commerce staff have been collecting feedback on the bill for weeks, several communications sector lobbyists said. Thune and Schatz circulated a draft of the bill in October (see 1710310057).
The FTC said Wednesday it's "closely evaluating the serious issues raised" in Uber's announcement of a data breach that occurred in 2016, exposing private sensitive information of 57 million Uber customers around the world. "We are aware of press reports describing a breach in late 2016 at Uber and Uber officials’ actions after that breach," an FTC spokesman said. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi blogged Tuesday that hackers stole names and driver’s license numbers of around 600,000 people in the United States, but it has not found evidence that customers' "trip location history, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, Social Security numbers or dates of birth were downloaded." The breach occurred just three months after Uber settled a complaint with the FTC for allegedly failing to protect sensitive customer information in a 2014 breach (see 1708150010).
A paragraph in the FCC’s draft Blue Alerts order set for the December agenda gives the nod to a change in the way emergency alerts are handled that could have effects beyond the order's creation of a single BLU emergency alert system (EAS) code for law enforcement officers in danger. “We encourage EAS manufacturers and EAS Participants to take technical steps to facilitate the delivery of IPAWS [Integrated Public Alert Warning System]-based EAS Blue Alerts to the public where an alert is first delivered to an EAS Participant via broadcast,” the draft order said, giving EAS participants permission to favor the internet-based, more-information rich common alerting protocol (CAP) alerts over the more simple alerts transmitted by the legacy “daisy-chain” system.
Several small rural telcos are citing programming costs, particularly retransmission consent costs, as reasons for their exits from the video business. More likely will follow, said WTA Vice President-Government Affairs Derrick Owens. The group, in comments last month in the FCC's state of video competition proceeding in docket 17-214, said many members are "on the precipice of leaving the video marketplace" and becoming broadband only.
An FCC draft ruling and orders would undo 2015 net neutrality regulation and Title II broadband classification under the Communications Act, as Chairman Ajit Pai and staffers outlined Tuesday (see 1711210020). The 210-page draft declaratory ruling, report and order, and order released Wednesday would "reverse heavy-handed utility-style" broadband regulation "and return to the light-touch framework" that promoted a "free and open internet" before Title II classification, it said.
The American TV Alliance blasted CBS’ “massive consumer blackout” of 28 stations in 18 markets Tuesday after the company and Dish Network were unable to agree on terms for a distribution deal. The blackout would leave viewers in 26 states without CBS programming on Thanksgiving, including the Dallas Cowboys' NFL game -- this year against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The FCC will use the first five years of ATSC 3.0's voluntary deployment “to monitor how the marketplace handles patent royalties for essential patents, but we will not require reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) licensing at this time,” said a footnote in the order it released (see 1711200055) in Tuesday's Daily Digest. Commissioners approved the order Thursday in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1711160060).
Congressional Democrats expressed anger at FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to lift net neutrality rules (see 1711210020), as some Republicans and industry groups sought congressional action. The Commerce committees' Republicans sought a legislative solution, while praising Pai’s light-handed approach. ISPs and free-market groups endorsed the plan as helpful for consumers, and tech groups predicted harmful impacts. State and local officials told us of concerns about likely pre-emption of state and local broadband regulation (see 1711200054) setting off alarms in several mostly blue states.
Antitrust experts think DOJ's litigation seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner faces an arduous uphill climb in court. Some stakeholders applauded the lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia (see 1711200064). If fully litigated, "it will define antitrust for years to come," said Gus Hurwitz, co-director, Nebraska College of Law space, cyber and telecom law program. A Justice win would reshape views on vertical transactions, while a loss opens the floodgates to more such transactions, he said.
A draft NPRM on the national broadcast ownership cap contains no tentative conclusions, seeks comment on broad questions about altering the cap and is seen as unlikely to lead to concrete agency action, FCC and industry officials said in interviews Tuesday. Both FCC Democrats issued statements Tuesday opposing proposed alterations to the cap, and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly appeared to reaffirm his previous comments that the agency doesn’t have authority to alter the cap, though expressing support for the NPRM. “While I have outlined my thoughts on the authority to alter the cap and UHF discount, I support the Commission asking these questions and look forward to seeing the issue be litigated out,” he said.