The FCC should ignore industry objections and keep current comment deadlines on the ISP privacy rulemaking, said nine consumer and public interest groups in a filing Monday. Industry groups asked for a 45-day delay (see 1604210048). Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero said Friday that the FCC will likely respond soon to groups seeking extended deadlines (see 1604220055).
The FCC is considering requiring New Charter to stick to its pledge not to charge for interconnection, along with other conditions from the commission and DOJ that would bolster online video. A draft order also would expand its high-speed broadband footprint by 2 million customer locations as a condition of Charter Communications being allowed to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the agency said Monday. In a statement, Chairman Tom Wheeler said an order is circulating on the eighth floor that contains some seven-year commitments by the cable company. That follows proposed Justice Department conditions that agency announced Monday as terms of a lawsuit it also filed Monday that would bar New Charter from any contractual alternative distribution method (ADM) limits on online video distributors.
The cost of complying with the FCC’s proposed privacy rules could vary widely, depending on the specific rules the agency ultimately approves, Bob Quinn, AT&T senior vice president-federal regulatory, told reporters after an FCBA seminar on ISP privacy Friday. “This is a very rigid regulatory structure that they’re talking about putting in place,” said Quinn, formerly AT&T chief privacy officer.
Though the proceeding is complicated, the FCC is unlikely to provide much more time, if any, for comments on its ISP privacy NPRM, teed-up by a divided commission at the March 31 meeting (see 1603310049), industry observers said. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) filed a letter last week asking the agency to extend the comment deadlines 60 days (see 1604130054).
Since the FCC seems to be leaning toward approving Charter Communications' buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable with conditions, public interest groups are pushing for one such condition to be a "most favored state" clause that would guarantee that any conditions Charter agrees to in any given state would automatically be a federal regulatory condition as well. In a filing Thursday in docket 15-149, the groups said such a condition would carry minimal incremental costs to New Charter, since the New York Public Service Commission's approval (see 1601080048) already includes similar most-favored-state language. The New York condition specifically applies to line extensions, broadband speeds and stand-alone broadband pricing, the groups said, but also should apply to such issues as net neutrality, data caps, participation in the modernized Lifeline program, diverse programming, channel placement and nondiscrimination against rival sports programming. Charter didn't comment. The public interest groups in the filing are the Alliance for Community Media, Common Cause, the Consumers Union, the Greenlining Institute, the Media Alliance, the Open Media and Information Companies Initiative, New America's Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge and the Writers Guild of America, West. A California Public Service Commission administrative law judge issued a proposed decision Tuesday that included a variety of California-centric conditions (see 1604130020).
The White House now backs FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a goal to unlock the cable set-top box market, senior officials said Friday. NCTA CEO Michael Powell expressed disappointment with the message of the administration, which said the look at set-tops is part of a broader initiative looking at competition. Powell slammed "bad government." Supporters of the Wheeler-backed NPRM approved 3-2 by commissioners applauded the White House support. DOJ previously backed the NPRM (see Communications Daily Bulletin Feb. 3).
Privacy Shield is a major improvement but raises concerns, said the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (WP29) Wednesday. The draft EU-U.S. agreement, announced in February (see 1602290003), is the successor to the safe harbor arrangement for trans-Atlantic personal data flows. "Our first reaction to it was very positive," said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, chairwoman of French data protection authority CNIL (Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés). But she said data protection regulators have problems with some provisions. Falque-Pierrotin said companies can continue to use binding corporate rules and model contract clauses for shifting data to the U.S. until the European Commission makes a decision on Privacy Shield. Industry and consumer reaction ranged from wariness to criticism.
Verizon workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), launched a strike Wednesday. CWA said workers are picketing in New York City, and across that state, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and across Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. Verizon said the company tried to avoid a strike, which was expected (see 1604110029).
The No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act (HR-2666) faced its first partisan floor vote Wednesday, ahead of a vote on the underlying measure Friday. House lawmakers adopted House Resolution 672 in a 242-182 vote Wednesday, setting up the terms of the Friday floor vote on the measure itself. Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., urged Democrats to vote no on the resolution.
The global music market achieved a “key milestone” in 2015 as digital became the “primary revenue stream” for recorded music, overtaking sales of physical formats for the first time, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in its annual state of the industry report, as it sought copyright-policy changes. By the end of 2015, digital sales generated 45 percent of total revenue, vs. 39 percent for physical formats, said the report released Tuesday. RIAA recently reported that in 2015, for the first year ever, streaming was the largest component of music revenue, slightly higher than downloads (see 1603220061), and said tech companies aren't paying their share of royalties.