State regulators praised the Senate for its attention to rural call completion problems. A bipartisan group of 36 senators, in a recent letter called for the FCC to act, a move prominent state regulators hailed Thursday. “The FCC should, through its enforcement actions, ensure that each telecommunications provider, including the least-cost routing companies who may work for them, are complying with its rules and providing their essential services,” said Philip Jones, president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, in a statement (http://xrl.us/bn46qm). “As the Senators note, ’these problems have continued for far too long.'” He applauded their letter and warned of the problem’s implications for “safety, security, and consumer welfare.” Telecom Committee Chair John Burke said in a statement that he looked forward to working with the senators, spoke of his association’s concern about the issue and said the “letter sends an important message to the Federal Communications Commission and telephone providers in rural areas.”
Makers of consumer electronics and sellers of pay TV expanded a multi-year power reduction effort begun a year ago (CD Nov 21 p6) to include the country’s DBS providers and three largest telcos. Those five companies agreed to join the existing six top U.S. cable operators that had been deploying set-top boxes capable of partly shutting down when not in use. The 11 multichannel video programming distributors now will work with four CE companies on such light-sleep devices.
The delay of a media ownership deregulation vote following FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s concerns about lack of action on diversity may lead to a slightly rejiggered order early next year addressing some minority issues, officials inside and outside the agency predicted. Clyburn apparently played a key role in getting Chairman Julius Genachowski to hold off on a decision until at least Jan. 4. That’s when replies are due on a public notice the Media Bureau issued Tuesday night for feedback on minority and female ownership of radio and TV stations (http://xrl.us/bn4tzh). Some industry officials who reviewed the notice and accompanying blog post (http://xrl.us/bn4tzm) by bureau Chief Bill Lake, titled “Going the Extra Mile for Transparency,” said they came off as defensive. They said that’s unusual especially for official staff decisions like a public notice.
International governmental bodies and public interest groups urged Syria to restore its citizens’ access to the Internet after the nation allegedly instituted a blackout Thursday, days before the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) was set to begin. ICANN confirmed the outage Thursday, saying “service dropped from 100 [percent] to zero almost immediately.” However, Syria’s two country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), .sy and .syr, are functioning, which indicates a local problem, it said. ICANN said it will continue to monitor and will provide further clarification.
Hurdles to updating the Telecom Act include an increase in partisanship in Congress since the 1996 legislation passed on a bipartisan basis, said industry officials aligned with minority broadcasters Friday. Those and other speakers at a Rainbow/Push Coalition telecom conference who represented a broader array of companies said a “do-no-harm” approach is needed, without statutory micromanagement of what the FCC and other agencies can do. The commission is likely to again recommend Congress reinstate tax certificates for communications assets sold to firms of a type that could include those owned by minorities when it releases a triennial report on eliminating market-entry barriers, said an agency staffer working on the document due to Congress Dec. 31.
Republicans on the House Communications Subcommittee questioned whether new receiver performance requirements would encourage more efficient use of the nation’s spectrum assets, during a hearing Thursday. A handful of GOP subcommittee members acknowledged the harm caused by interference issues but said they remain concerned that any FCC rules for receiver standards could retard innovation and increase costs to manufacturers and consumers. Federal and industry witnesses said they're waiting on the forthcoming FCC Technological Advisory Council (TAC) recommendations on receiver performance, as well as the forthcoming Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on receiver performance and spectrum efficiency.
Comments on requirements to support apparatus like set-top boxes with accessible emergency information for people with problems seeing are due Dec. 18, replies Dec. 28, in docket 12-107, an FCC notice in Wednesday’s Federal Register said (http://xrl.us/bn3v3r). A commission rulemaking notice last month sought comment on accessibility issues for emergency information for subscription-video providers, TV stations and makers of consumer electronics under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CD Nov 20 p1).
The FCC will hold field hearings to scrutinize communications resiliency in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Chairman Julius Genachowski announced. The storm hit the East Coast starting Oct. 29 and knocked out a quarter of the cell sites in affected areas, with outages lingering long after. The hearings will begin in early 2013, starting in New York, and focus on access to 911, how resources are shared, emergency permitting and dependency on electric power and fuel, the FCC said. The agency will look at wired and wireless resiliency and produce recommendations for a stronger network, it said. Questions of new technology and jurisdictional tension remain concerns, officials told us.
House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both California Democrats, expressed their concern that the FTC is preparing to expand its powers to regulate antitrust violations. The issue was raised in a letter made public Monday (http://xrl.us/bn2jqt). Eshoo and Lofgren, who represent districts in or around Silicon Valley, urged the FTC to reconsider expanding its jurisdiction under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act to include antitrust actions. The commission, in coordination with the Department of Justice, is currently investigating Google for alleged antitrust violations. Eshoo and Lofgren said expanding Section 5, which prohibits unfair and deceptive practices, “could lead to overbroad authority that amplifies uncertainty and stifles growth. These effects may be most acutely felt among online services, a crucial engine of job creation, where technological advancement and small business innovation are rapid,” they said. The FTC had no comment.
An FCC rulemaking notice proposed establishing provisions under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) for making emergency information accessible to visually impaired people. The provisions would require TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors to use equipment capable of delivering video description and emergency information to those individuals, the notice of proposed rulemaking said (http://xrl.us/bn2kai). Under the CVAA, the commission is required to complete its proceeding on access to emergency information by April 9, and its proceeding on Section 203 of the CVAA pertaining to apparatus requirements for video description and emergency information is due Oct. 9.