The costs and complexities of bringing broadband to rural areas “require a new way of thinking for the FCC,” Broadband for America said Friday in a blog post that was no longer online at our deadline. The group did not have an immediate comment. It’s “inherently unsustainable” to fund build-out of rural broadband through one-time subsidies, Broadband for America said. “Private demand is needed to ensure continued investment,” the group said. “Moreover, [the FCC is] failing to deliver the goods that are being rolled out.” The newest generation of satellite broadband Internet has been delivering speeds of 12 Mbps for “far cheaper” than the federal government’s $775 per household subsidy, Broadband for America said. There are now more than 1,200 wireless Internet providers in the U.S., and 82 percent of American homes now have the potential to access the Internet at speeds of 100 Mbps, the group said. Members include major U.S. ISPs -- AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others (http://bit.ly/YixQgA).
The FCC granted petitions from Comcast Cable to be excluded from municipal rate-setting for basic-video and some other prices in six communities in Oregon, said Media Bureau orders Friday. Comcast’s petition cited competition from DirecTV and Dish Network. The deregulation will affect close to 57,000 households in the communities of Damascus, Fairview, Gresham, Happy Valley, Troutdale and Wood Village (http://fcc.us/123SrJX).
The FCC upheld two Media Bureau decisions dismissing applications for review for AM broadcast stations. The commission denied Jet Fuel Broadcasting a waiver of a deadline to submit a showing for a new AM radio station, it said in a memorandum opinion and order (http://bit.ly/Zrep4H). The commission also dismissed JFB’s tech box application for the new station at Cutten, Calif., filed during the Auction 84 filing window, it said. The commission concluded that JFB “has failed to demonstrate that the bureau erred,” it said. To the extent JFB contends that the bureau’s action was “untimely,” JFB “fails to articulate any specific prejudice it has suffered as a result of any delay in the bureau’s action,” it said. Fireside Media urged the commission to review the dispositive preference given to Colleen McKinney’s mutually exclusive application for a station at Braham, Minn., it said in a separate memorandum opinion and order (http://bit.ly/12Vnuqd). Fireside’s argument criticizing the bureau’s failure to consider McKinney’s challenge to its financial qualifications is without merit, the FCC said. “Even if we were to consider Fireside’s arguments on the merits, we find them to be unpersuasive as an alternative and independent basis for our decision."
The heads of cable, telecom and wireless trade associations endorsed the amended Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) (HR-624), in a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The bill, which was sent to the House for floor consideration last week, will “help us to better protect our customers’ data and our networks, and will serve the broad public interest in a more secure cyber environment,” the groups said. The letter was signed by NCTA President Michael Powell, CTIA President Steve Largent and USTelecom President Walter McCormick.
The Department of Justice okayed Arris Group’s proposed $2.35 billion buy of Google’s Motorola Home set-top box unit, setting the stage for closing the deal Wednesday, Arris said. Arris agreed to the deal in December. Arris will pay $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in stock, and it gets the right to license Motorola Mobility patents, the company has said. Arris appears to have satisfied concerns raised by Justice, which in February requested more information. In addition to acquiring the Motorola unit, Arris also has an agreement with its major gateway customer Comcast, which paid $150 million for 8 percent of the set-top/gateway supplier.
The FCC and the State Department are still in negotiations with telecommunications authorities in Canada and Mexico related to the spectrum incentive auction, they said Friday in an emailed release. An FCC official declined to comment on the status of the negotiations but said they're the same talks that have been taking place since the spectrum incentive auction process began. “Spectrum coordination with our neighbors to the north and south is a key component to the Commission’s spectrum management mandate,” said Gary Epstein, chair of the FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force. Concern over coordination of spectrum repacking with the two border countries is one of many issues with the auction raised by broadcasters at the recent NAB conference (CD April 10 p9). According to the FCC, the negotiations with Canada have taken place via several teleconferences over the past month. “Historically, this process has resulted in mutually beneficial understandings on efficient, interference-free use of the spectrum in the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico border areas,” said the release.
Comedy video website FunnyOrDie.com began showing a sketch on its website Friday, starring Varsity Blues star James Van Der Beek, that promotes HTC’s HTC One smartphone as part of a multiplatform promotional campaign. The sketch, which the website developed with Turner Broadcasting, HTC and NCM Media Networks, will extend across Turner’s portfolio of comedy television networks and digital screens, including brands TBS, Adult Swim and TeamCoco.com. The sketch will also appear in top movie theaters nationwide through NCM Media Networks. “A multi-screen approach has been at the core of our global media strategy for the HTC One and this is the perfect integration to deliver this strategy in a unique and relevant way -- through the creation of original entertainment content,” said Erin McGee, HTC North America’s vice president- marketing, in a news release (http://bit.ly/12Ss8cd).
There were 15,256 full-power U.S. radio stations licensed by the FCC on March 31, and 1,781 full-power TV stations, said an agency news release Friday (http://bit.ly/YwAyDI). There were 454 Class A TV stations, which are low-power but have similar obligations and protections as full-power outlets, and 802 low-power FMs. Figures for Dec. 31 weren’t available from the bureau. Counting other types of low-power stations and translators, it said there were 30,390 broadcast stations licensed in the country on March 31.
A coalition led by Public Knowledge filed a joint petition with the FCC to deny hedge fund ABRY Partners’ proposed buy of Securus, which provides phone services to prisons. The FCC should deny the proposed purchase because Securus’s business model relies on charging “usurious” rates to prisoners’ families, with a single 10-minute call costing more than $20, the groups said in the petition (http://bit.ly/ZRz2a2). The other groups involved in the petition are Free Press, the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) Office of Communication and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. “Under the law, no one is entitled to buy a telephone provider unless the FCC finds the transaction will serve ’the public convenience and necessity,'” Public Knowledge said in a news release. “The organizations filing the Petition to Deny argue that because the [rates] charged by Securus are ‘unjust and unreasonable,’ the FCC must block the sale” (http://bit.ly/ZlTil7). Predatory prison phone rates are “a moral issue for the faith community -- these types of businesses should be stopped, not allowed to expand,” said Cheryl Leanza, policy adviser for UCC’s Office of Communication, in a statement. “Companies that invest in these predatory businesses risk endangering their public reputation.” Securus had no immediate comment.
An advocacy group for Class A stations said FCC policies in the lead-up to the spectrum incentive auction are discouraging participation in the spectrum auction and forcing low-power stations out of the broadcast industry. “This is an attempt to exterminate low-power stations,” said Greg Herman, president of advocacy group Spectrum Evolution and owner of several Class A stations, in an interview Friday. Herman said the FCC has stepped up enforcement of Class A public file obligations, while simultaneously offering not to penalize stations if they don’t participate in the upcoming incentive auction. “If you read between the lines, they're doing everything in their power to revert Class A stations to low power,” Herman said. According to a Spectrum Evolution release emailed Thursday, part of Class A station owners’ dissatisfaction with the FCC comes from a lack of clarity about the spectrum auction. In the release, Herman wrote that the FCC needs to tell stations which markets will be eligible, release information on prices and how they'll be determined, tell stations that want to sell when they'll be allowed to shut down, and clarify when auction compensation will be paid. “You simply have to provide clarity and honesty in the process,” said Herman. “The present regulatory uncertainty and lack of transparency clouding the process, in effect, are encouraging stations to stay away, reducing the amount of spectrum available for repurposing."