The FCC wouldn’t distribute Universal Service Fund cash for broadband in areas where any ISP already sells Internet service, under a USTelecom-brokered industry agreement that could be made public as early Friday (CD July 22 p3), industry and FCC officials told us. Talks are still going on, they said Monday. Under the agreement, which USTelecom has been calling a “framework,” VoIP wouldn’t be classified either as telecom or information service, and VoIP carriers would be required to pay interstate access rates for all non-local calls, the officials said. Comcast and other major cable operators continue to evaluate the USTelecom proposal, and it’s possible they'll join it, industry officials said.
Invitations to serve on the FCC’s diversity committee will be made shortly, as work on the Universal Service Fund “soon” will culminate in a comprehensive order, Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus told minority and women communications entrepreneurs Friday. A day earlier, Commissioner Robert McDowell told the Minority Media and Telecom Council conference (CD July 22 p7) he worried about delays in changing USF to also fund broadband and in rejuvenating the Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age. Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff told the Federal State USF Joint Board last week that the order on USF and intercarrier compensation (ICC) will be ready for the October meeting, an FCC official told us.
The FCC has made significant progress in reducing a backlog of cable company requests for local rate deregulation, according to agency records and interviews with lawyers who file petitions for operators or oppose them on behalf of municipalities. There were 56 requests for Media Bureau findings of effective video competition pending as of June 30, agency figures show. That’s the lowest figure in any Communications Daily review of such requests in the last six years (CD June 3/10 p4, Feb 2/07 p3, Sept 29/05 p1), although exact data for earlier periods is unavailable. Recent recipients of effective competition findings include the four largest U.S. cable operators.
The FCC does have a role to play in speeding up broadband deployment beyond its zoning “shot clock,” Verizon and Verizon Wireless said in a filing at the commission in response to an April notice of inquiry asking for comments on improving government policies for access to rights of way and wireless facilities siting. Numerous local governments told the FCC to back off (CD July 19 p 7). But several companies and trade associations also filed, suggesting that the FCC has more to do to help industry deal with too slow zoning and siting decisions.
Republican candidates received more than Democrats in political action committee contributions from the communications industry in the early part of the 2011-2012 election cycle. The Communications and Electronics sector has made $3.2 million in federal contributions, and 57 percent of the contributions have gone to the GOP, said the Center for Responsive Politics, citing July 5 data from the Federal Election Commission. That’s a reversal from the 2009-2010 cycle, when the sector spent 53 percent of nearly $25 million raised on Democrats. A spokesman for the center cautioned that only some PACs have filed data for April and May.
Local governments essentially told the FCC to back off, in response to an April 7 notice of inquiry seeking comments on improving government policies for access to rights of way and wireless facilities siting. The National Broadband Plan last year concluded that rates, terms, and conditions for access to rights of way can have a significant impact on broadband deployment. In late 2009, the FCC imposed a “shot clock” on local zoning decisions for cell towers and other wireless facilities, which met with similar push back from local governments.
Frequent updates at the FCC by News Corp. and the addition of internal watchdogs are good ways to guard against the kind of illegality in the U.S. that continues to swirl around the company and its newspapers in the U.K., said industry executives. News Corp. closed its News of the World newspaper two Sundays ago after it was revealed its reporters hacked into the phone systems of politicians and private citizens. The FBI and Justice Department have reportedly opened investigations into the scandal after several U.S. lawmakers pushed for increased scrutiny based on potential violations of the Federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (CD July 14 p7). News Corp. recently hired Williams & Connolly, a prominent Washington, D.C., criminal defense firm, as the legal stakes of the scandal continue to grow.
Division over the 700 MHz D-block is the main barrier to bipartisan spectrum legislation in the House, lawmakers said at a Communications Subcommittee hearing Friday. The Commerce Committee’s top Democrats and top Republicans have signed onto separate draft bills. The Democrats want to reallocate the D-block to public safety and the Republicans seek to auction it to commercial providers. While both sides voiced optimism about reaching consensus, debt limit negotiations threaten to suck up a key component of the legislation: Voluntary incentive auctions. (See separate report in this issue.)
WealthTV asked the FCC to reconsider the dismissal of its complaint (CD June 14 p10) against four cable operators alleged to have favored affiliated programming over the independent network. The indie now alleges that what it contends is a pattern of FCC personnel including Commissioner Meredith Baker leaving to work for the cable industry raises fresh questions about the agency’s handling of its program carriage complaint. The defendants were Bright House Networks, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable. WealthTV said the commission’s response to its Freedom of Information Act request (CD May 13 p1) for materials on Baker’s recusal during the time she was a commissioner and considering employment with Comcast, where she went to work, was incomplete. “Answers have not been provided” about the involvement of Baker’s staff on the program carriage case during her month-and-a-half-long recusal, WealthTV said in a petition for reconsideration filed Wednesday in docket 08-214 (http://xrl.us/bkz22j). “Unfortunately, questions pertaining to Commissioner Baker’s or her staff’s otherwise prohibited participation seriously underscore questions about the ‘revolving-door’ involvement of Commission employees in this matter, which have risen to a level that cannot be ignored. For example, in addition to the situation of former Commissioner Baker, Christina Pauzé, a former Legal Advisor for Media Issues to Commissioner McDowell and now working at Time Warner Cable was personally and substantially involved in the WealthTV complaint proceeding and had numerous interactions with WealthTV.” The agency should review the conduct of Baker; Pauzé; Rudy Brioche, a former aide to ex-Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein who now works for Comcast; and Rick Chessen, ex-aide to Commissioner Michael Copps who now works for NCTA. Spokespeople for the NCTA and Time Warner Cable had no comment. “Wealth TV’s program carriage claims and multiple ancillary motions and filings have been fully litigated and rejected at every stage of the proceeding,” a Comcast spokeswoman said. That includes “a strong, comprehensive opinion by the independent administrative law judge.” Richard Sippel issued the recommended decision against WealthTV and for Comcast and the other three cable-operator defendants in 2009, and the commission’s decision last month to uphold his recommendation wasn’t voted on by Baker because she had recused herself from all proceedings. The regulator should see if their “actions run afoul of the letter or spirit of the federal ethics rules,” WealthTV said of the former commission personnel. “Given known facts, reconsideration of this matter is appropriate to ensure that the Commission’s ‘adjudicatory processes remain above reproach'” A spokeswoman for the Media Bureau, which wrote the WealthTV order dismissing its complaint, declined to comment. WealthTV asked the regulator to reopen its decision to adopt an administrative law judge’s finding against the program carriage complaint “and remand the matter for further proceedings, including re-hearing, as may be appropriate, or such other proceedings as may be necessary or appropriate."
A draft spectrum bill similar to S-911 is circulating in the House courtesy of Commerce Committee Democrats. By proposing reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, the bill stands in opposition to a Republican draft bill (CD July 14 p2) released Wednesday. With a legislative hearing scheduled for Friday morning, Democrats have told staff to continue talks with Republicans.