The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., Fri. turned down a wireless industry challenge to the FCC’s decision to retain the number portability requirement on wireless providers. CTIA and Verizon Wireless had challenged the Commission’s order last year that denied permanent forbearance from enforcement of the 1996 wireless portability rules.
President Bush signed an executive memorandum Thurs. that created a task force to recommend how to stimulate more efficient spectrum use by govt. users. NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said the initiative would complement govt. efforts such as the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force with a single interagency group directed to examine how ideas such as receiver standards and secondary markets could apply to govt. users.
On the day after the FCC established new broadcast ownership regulations, companies, Wall St. analysts, consumer groups and others were picking apart the decision, and while some said they saw opportunities for deal-making, others said legal challenges to the decision might threaten those deals. All predicted increased consolidation, but there was some debate over whether the deal-making would begin immediately or would happen over time. Meanwhile, all 5 FCC commissioners were preparing to answer questions before the Senate Commerce Committee today (Wed.), where ranking Democrat Sen. Hollings (S.C.) was expected to be especially tough on the FCC’s 3-Republican majority.
The 3-2 vote by the FCC Mon. to ease some of its media ownership rules lay bare a deep ideological split at the Commission, evoking strong emotions and lofty rhetoric on both sides of the debate. Although Chmn. Powell described the Commission’s action as resulting from the most exhaustive and comprehensive review of broadcast ownership rules ever undertaken, he said the end product was a modest, though “very significant” change. On the other side, Comr. Adelstein called the decision “the most sweeping and destructive rollback of consumer protection rules in the history of American broadcasting.” As expected (CD June 2 p1) Republicans Powell, Abernathy and Martin voted for the changes in the Report and Order, and Democrats Copps and Adelstein voted against them.
Holding out little hope that the Republican majority of the FCC will have a sudden conversion on June 2, activists in favor of retaining limits on media ownership are formulating new strategies on how to challenge the FCC’s expected vote. Meanwhile, Commission sources said those activists probably were accurate in their assumptions that the Commission would adopt the proposals sent to the 8th floor in their original form. “All the cuts that [FCC Chmn.] Powell wanted are sticking,” one source said. Our sources say the Commission is likely to push the national ownership cap to 45% from 35%, that duopoly rules will be loosened considerably, that the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban will be eliminated in most markets and that the TV/radio cross-ownership rule will be similarly loosened.
Northrop Grumman said its Information Technology (IT) sector had petitioned the FCC to make an additional 10 MHz of public safety spectrum available to allow the deployment of advanced broadband wireless applications by first responders. It said that additional capacity would allow federal, state and local govts. to roll out advanced broadband wireless and high-speed data applications and would meet key interoperability requirements. Northrop Grumman asked the Commission to seek comment on making spectrum available for those applications at 747-752 MHz, 777-782 MHz or elsewhere at 700 MHz. “Any new allocation of public safety spectrum in the 700 MHz band must enable use of advanced, next-generation broadband technologies that are available today that Congress may not have envisioned when it allocated public safety spectrum in 1997,” Chief Technology Officer Michael Grady said. The company is seeking identification of spectrum for a national, IP-based interoperable communications network to support broadband services for public safety.
The Canadian govt. should create a $30 million-per-year fund to stop the loss of Canadian-made TV dramas to more popular U.S. productions, a report released Fri. by the Canadian Radio-TV & Telecom Commission said: “Despite every evidence of the power of drama, Canadian policy-makers have been more or less happy to leave it to the Americans. Of the drama we watch, 91% is American and 9% Canadian,” former CTV Pres. Trina McQueen wrote in the report. McQueen said Canadian broadcasters lost money on domestic drama they air because advertising didn’t recoup production costs. It’s cheaper, she said, to purchase ready-made U.S. series, which attract more viewers and therefore higher ad revenue. She said spending statistics on Canadian drama showed an “alarming picture,” with spending by CBC, the country’s national broadcaster, declining 26% in 2002 from the previous year and private stations 10%. Broadcasters had called on the federal regulator to ensure TV networks broadcast a minimum number of hours of Canadian dramatic programming, but McQueen said that would be “horrible public policy and against the interests of drama.” She recommended that instead of increasing the number of hours, broadcasters focus on attracting larger audiences, with the help of $30-million- per-year over the next 5 years in govt. funding and other incentives. The fund would replace the $25-million annual Canadian TV Fund that was cut in Feb. The media union blasted McQueens’s report as failing to tackle the real issue that public policy should require Canadian broadcasters to spend money on Canadian culture: “In the long run, it is our political leaders who must decide that culture is central to our nationhood and is worth funding appropriately both from the private sector which benefits from our public airwaves and from public coffers,” said Peter Murdoch, vp of the Communications, Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada. Without that commitment, “it is unlikely Canadians can begin to get as excited about the future of their TV drama as they are about their hockey teams,” he said. Instead of regulating broadcasters, McQueen recommended the govt. direct the funds to script development and producing pilots for series, “to put more horses in the race for audience success.” She said U.S. networks commissioned one new show our of roughly every 100 scripts and 10 pilots, while Canadian networks usually chose from among 3 or 4 scripts and couldn’t afford failed pilots. McQueen also suggested encouraging specialty channels to show dramas, giving broadcasters an extra minute of advertising for every hour of domestic drama aired and reducing their Canadian content quota by an hour per week if they had a hit drama with more than a million viewers. The investment would be rewarded with larger audiences, new jobs and increased tax revenue, McQueen said, and building Canadian drama would benefit the country culturally and economically: “If the audience- building strategy succeeds, the government’s investment would be well rewarded in public benefits.” Ian Morrison, spokesman for the Friends of Canadian Bcstg., noted that the report was released while Canadian broadcasters were in L.A. buying U.S. programming for the upcoming season.
NTIA told the FCC in comments this week that the Dept. of Transportation should conduct a follow-up study on how coordination zones were working for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) technology. The Commission last fall proposed licensing and service rules for 5850-5925 MHz for DSRC, which can provide short-range wireless links to transmit data between vehicles and intelligent transport systems (CD Nov 8 p9). NTIA said the proposed rules “strike a reasonable balance between establishing new services that will benefit the public and allowing for the continued operation of national defense radar systems used by federal agencies.” Some commenters urged the Commission to require prior coordination procedures when DSRC operations could conflict with systems such as fixed satellite services or high-power radar. NTIA said DoT “expended substantial effort” developing coordination zones to ensure Defense Dept. concerns on interference from high-power govt. radar systems were resolved. “NTIA believes that since many of the technical parameters for the DSRC equipment to be used in the United States have now been finalized, it is appropriate for the DoT to initiate another study to determine the effectiveness of the current coordination zones,” it said. As with the previous study, this would be done with DoD, working through the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee process, and would “take into account future government radar operations,” NTIA said. NTIA said site-specific licensing was appropriate for DSRC road-side units to meet the parameters set in a standard developed by the American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM). That standard offers a way of standardizing access to 5.9 GHz, which could help achieve national interoperability, NTIA said. It recommended the FCC authorize DSRC on-board units under its Part 90 rules instead of its Part 15 unlicensed rules. To bolster national interoperability, NTIA also recommended the Commission incorporate by reference an industry-developed ASTM standard into its Part 90 rules for that band. The FCC’s proposed rules would allow entities providing public safety DSRC operations to use that band and would put application, licensing and processing rules under Part 90 for public safety agencies. The proposal also would apply competitive bidding procedures if the FCC allowed nonpublic safety users in the band and if the licensing scheme resulted in mutually exclusive licenses.
Former FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue will lead federal and state govt. affairs for T-Mobile USA when he joins the carrier in mid-June, a spokeswoman confirmed: “He brings tremendous breadth and depth on all aspects of wireless communications and related policy issues.” Sugrue departed from the Commission in Jan. following a 4-year stint as the longest-running chief of the Wireless Bureau. At that time, he became special counsel for what was then the Office of Plans & Policy. Before being named Wireless Bureau chief, Sugrue was a partner in the firm of Halprin, Temple, Goodman & Sugrue and held positions at NTIA and in the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau, including as chief of the Policy & Program Planning Div.
The NAB has informed its members that it’s okay to air issue commercials asking listeners and viewers to write their congressmen and senators urging them to support President Bush’s tax cut proposal. The Democratic National Committee had urged stations not to air the spots, citing a provision in the Campaign Reform Act prohibiting labor unions and corporations from airing certain types of issue ads. The NAB said the spots “do not appear to be prohibited” by the campaign law, also pointing out the Federal Election Commission has ruled that stations aren’t required to “police ads for impermissible electioneering communications.” Meanwhile, the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., has stayed its May 2 order declaring parts of the campaign act unconstitutional until the U.S. Supreme Court can act. The NAB is among several groups that have appealed at least some part of lower court’s ruling.