The low-power TV industry, with a station shutting down almost daily, renewed a push to seek government help (CD March 3/08 p1) to make the digital transition and gain cable distribution, Community Broadcasters Association officials said. Meeting recently with all FCC members to present a survey showing most of the U.S.’s 2,822 low-power stations are minority and/or women-owned, they sought to revive a scuttled rulemaking and get action on a 2001 petition. Commissioners told us they want to try to help, but full- power broadcast executives said the low-power industry faces challenges in getting what it seeks.
All FCC commissioners expressed concern about possible DTV reception problems at Thursday’s open FCC meeting. It was devoted to the lessons from early analog shutoffs by about one-third of the nation’s 1,798 full-power stations. All agreed that some portion of viewers will lose at least one station in their market as analog and digital coverage areas diverge. Commissioners and industry officials said the Feb. 17 analog cutoff by 421 stations went well and offers guidance (CD March 2 p3) for switches to digital through the new deadline of June 12.
FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein appears headed to the Rural Utilities Service as the next administrator, a higher profile job than in the past because of the broadband loans and grants the agency will administer. Adelstein is not expected to be nominated an additional five-year term on the FCC, where he has been since 2002.
Broadband funds made available through the economic stimulus package and Universal Service Fund monies could play a big role in moving public safety answering points into a new world where they have to take a growing number of VoIP calls and otherwise modernize their systems, Greg Rohde, executive director of the E911 Institute said Wednesday. Rohde spoke at an FCC summit on the future of 911 and the problems local governments face trying to keep up in an IP era.
Broadband stimulus efforts may influence debates on the Universal Service Fund and pole-attachment fees, Medley Global Advisors said in a research note. As the FCC develops a national broadband strategy, required by the American Recovery Act, the commission probably will decide whether to expand the USF high-cost fund to cover broadband, Medley said. The effort could face obstacles, however, since it will come “on the heels of a large capital infusion of federal grant and loan money for broadband network investment entering the telecom market.” Meanwhile, the stimulus program could reinvigorate the debate over pole-attachment fees, because rural carriers “will need pole space and possibly more poles installed in rural areas to reach customers.” On the business side, stimulus should be a boon for broadband equipment makers, since the whole communications industry will need to buy gear for new network facilities, Medley said. That should translate into higher sales from Q2 through 2010, it said. Medley expects all sizes of broadband providers to apply for grants, it said. Even large incumbent phone companies will take part, to defend themselves against “cable applicants or municipal entities seeking grant money to build out their existing network footprint,” it said. The big telcos, and possibly large cable companies, “may decide to apply for grant money in certain areas and do so with a public sector partner” to increases their chances of getting an award, it said.
The American Bird Conservancy accused the FCC of dragging its feet on addressing harm that communications towers in Hawaii would likely cause to imperiled bird populations. The group noted in a tip sheet sent to media that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined a threat exists to the Newell’s Shearwater, Band-rumped Storm-petrel, and Hawaiian Petrel, and called for a formal consultation under the Endangered Species Act for tower projects. “Consultation allows wildlife experts to determine whether a project will harm an endangered species, and to recommend changes to the project,” the conservancy said. “However, four years later, the Federal Communications Commission, the agency in charge of licensing towers, has failed to initiate the process.” The conservancy said it was pleased the Federal Aviation Administration recently announced plans to conduct a study examining whether steady-burning lights on tall communications towers, which can attract birds and cause them to collide with the towers during night migration, can be safely eliminated without endangering air traffic.
The FCC took flak on Friday from federal court judges about two orders granting incumbent phone companies forbearance from dominant carrier requirements applying to the special access market. The exchange took place during oral argument at the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. The case concerns FCC decisions in 2007 to grant petitions by AT&T, Embarq and Frontier, which were submitted as “me too” requests following a deemed-granted ruling for Verizon. In oral argument, Judges David Sentelle, Brett Kavanaugh and Harry Edwards had far more questions for the FCC than for petitioners representing business end users and competitive carriers.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission has gone “hook, line and sinker” for Qwest in the carrier’s ongoing battle with SkyWi, the VoIP provider’s CEO, Alan Witters, said in a Feb. 19 letter replying to communications from the regulator (CD Feb 18 p12). The commission has “swallowed” Qwest claims that SkyWi is in arrears, ignoring SkyWi allegations of monopolistic behavior by the larger company, Witters said.
The FCC should open lines of communication inside and outside the agency, state and former agency officials said on a Wednesday panel at the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners meeting. They urged greater transparency and specific reforms to ex parte and rulemaking processes.
The FCC, states and cellular carriers should come to terms on early termination fees and remove that “distraction” for good, Nebraska Public Utility Commissioner Ann Boyle said on a panel Tuesday at NARUC’s winter meeting in Washington. The group seeks to draft consumer-protection standards for cellphone users.