Verizon added 16 channels to its FiOS Mobile App, the company said Thursday (http://yhoo.it/IHMADK). Verizon customers who have the free app can now live-stream AXS TV, beIN SPORT, beIN SPORT Espanol, Bloomberg Television, Cine Sony Television, Cooking Channel, Encore, FEARnet, NFL RedZone, Showtime, Showtime Extreme, Sony Movie Channel, Starz, Trinity Broadcast, Universal Sports and TV Guide Network. FiOS TV customers who are FiOS Internet customers can also use their mobile devices and tablets to watch up to 91 live linear national channels at home, said Verizon. The mobile app also offers more than 45,000 on-demand movie titles, it said.
The Michigan Senate approved a bill to update the Michigan Telecommunications Act to eliminate a requirement for a Public Service Commission proceeding for telecom providers to discontinue basic local exchange or toll service to an exchange starting on Jan. 1, 2017, said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Mike Nofs (R), in a news release Thursday (http://bit.ly/1jun4Rb). Instead, the provider would have to notify the PSC, the provider’s customers, any interconnecting providers and the public in addition to filing a petition with the FCC, said the bill fact sheet (http://1.usa.gov/1gKdyqL). Senate Bill 636 would change the Michigan Intrastate Switched Toll Access Restructuring Mechanism (ARM) by requiring the PSC to recalculate it on March 13, 2018. The PSC would be required to reduce the amount of monthly disbursement from the ARM to an eligible provider on a pro rata basis for each exchange in which the provider has discontinued basic local exchange service. Nofs said: “This legislation establishes the process for transitioning to new technology while ensuring citizens’ continued access to reliable home phone service. This legislation will not remove landlines, it will modernize them.” SB-636 could potentially affect the availability of basic service for all customers, said Melissa Seifert, AARP Michigan associate state director-government affairs, in testimony before the Senate Energy and Technology Committee (http://bit.ly/1d5ntEX). “While it’s good that the commission can determine whether another provider is incapable of providing reliable service with access to 911, it has no real authority to ensure that consumers continue to receive affordable, reliable service as the commission may only issue an order ‘allowing’ the current provider to provide service,” said Seifert. The Michigan PSC took a neutral stance on this bill, and it did not provide comments to the committee, a PSC spokeswoman told us. The bill is under review by the House Energy and Technology Committee, said Nofs.
The U.S. Small Business Administration opposes AT&T’s proposed special access tariff revisions, its Office of Advocacy told the FCC in a filing Thursday (http://bit.ly/195zdrH). The SBA is “greatly concerned that the change will result in significant downstream cost increases for small business customers, including both small competitive local exchange carriers as well as end users,” it said. SBA also has “persistent concerns regarding the state of competition in the special access market,” it said. SBA characterized AT&T’s proposed tariff revision (CD Nov 26 p3) as an attempt to “shift demand toward more expensive IP-based offerings by artificially increasing the price of its TDM services.” An all-IP network is something for small businesses to look forward to, but “it should not be financed through artificial price increases in the special access market,” SBA said.
In 18 months, $18 million was saved in Medicaid costs through the FCC’s Rural Healthcare Pilot program in South Carolina for a “tele-psychiatry” initiative, said Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at the agency’s mHealth Expo Friday. “Psychiatric consults are now available 24/7, saving time and delivering better, more responsive service for care providers and patients, while conserving resources for the entire healthcare system.” Clyburn addressed wireless “micro power networks” that the FCC is promoting due to rule changes. Micro power networks “use implant devices to employ micro-stimulation techniques that can restore sensation, mobility, and other vital functions, to limbs and organs,” which could help more than 5 million Americans dealing with paralysis or other “neuromuscular” disorders, she said, according to prepared remarks. Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs), adopted by the FCC last year, “provide a ‘last meter’ wireless link to eliminate the wires and cables that currently tether a patient to the monitor,” she said. MBANs “should improve patient care and reduce overall healthcare costs,” said Clyburn.
The FCC scheduled its monthly meeting for 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the Commission Meeting Room, the commission said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1eVbpqV). The starting time was pushed back from 10:30 a.m.
Correction: Replies on 3.5 GHz band licensing models and technical requirements are due Dec. 20, the FCC said in a corrected a Federal Register notice (CD Dec 4 p11).
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $20,000 fine for the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission for violations of the commission’s equal employment opportunity rules at six public television stations in the state, said a notice of apparent liability issued Thursday. The stations -- WMPB(TV) Baltimore, WCPB(TV) Salisbury, WFPT(TV) Frederick, WGPT(TV) Oakland, WWPB Hagerstown and WMPT Annapolis -- failed to notify job referral sources about vacancies, to assess their own EEO performance, and provided “incorrect factual information of a material nature to the Commission without a reasonable basis for believing that the information was correct and accurate,” said the NAL. Between June 2008 and May 2010, the Maryland Public Broadcasting Commission filled 11 vacancies at stations, without notifying a broadcasting school that had requested notice of vacancies about the job openings, the NAL said. The commission requires licensees to provide information about vacancies to organizations that request them, said the NAL. MPBC told the FCC it hadn’t received any such requests, but in its public file listed CSB Broadcasting School as having requested that information. MPBC said the contact information for CSB had been misplaced during an employee change, said the NAL. A $20,000 NAL for EEO violations was also issued against AMFM Broadcasting Licenses, licensee of Illinois stations WNUA(FM) Chicago, WGCI Chicago, WKSC-FM Chicago, WGRB(AM) Chicago, WLIT-FM Chicago, and WVAZ(FM) Oak Park, said an NAL. Between August 2009 and July 2011, AMFM filled 36 vacancies without notifying several organizations that had requested the information.
The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on Key Bridge Global’s proposal that it be designated a database manager for link registrations by licensees in the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz and 92-95 GHz bands. Federal and non-federal users currently share the three bands on a mostly co-primary basis, but the government holds the 94.0-94.1 GHz portion on a primary basis, the FCC said. Key Bridge is asking the FCC to designate it as an additional manager under the 2004 WTB proposal or waive Key Bridge from the original 2004 filing deadline. Key Bridge says it will comply with the duties and responsibilities included in the 2004 FCC order. Comments are due Dec. 12, reply comments Dec. 23, the FCC said (http://bit.ly/1aDIinM).
The FCC is far short of the “critical mass” of broadcasters necessary to make its broadcast incentive auction a success, Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition, plans to tell the Senate Commerce Committee in testimony next week. The full committee plans a hearing on spectrum auctions Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell. Without broadcaster participation, there will be no spectrum to auction, Padden plans to say. Fostering participation should be a top FCC priority, according to Padden’s prepared testimony, which says the FCC’s scoring design runs “contrary to the statutory directive” on how market forces should influence the auction. The coalition, a recipient of no money from carriers, opposes restricting AT&T and Verizon participation, Padden will also say. He will also argue that the FCC must “permit, and even encourage, innovative ‘out-of-the-box'” channel sharing proposals.” Stations need to know the starting prices the FCC will offer, Padden will add. Witnesses for the hearing have not yet been announced.
An FCC oversight hearing of the House Communications Subcommittee will take place at 10 a.m. on Dec. 12, Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., told reporters Thursday. Walden met separately with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly this week, and those meetings included “good” discussion focused on public policy, Walden said. “We look forward to a productive relationship in the years ahead,” Walden said, citing this as important in the subcommittee’s oversight work. The hearing will feature all five FCC commissioners, who also will hold an FCC meeting later that same day from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Walden and House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., have been “passionate” about FCC process overhaul for three years, House Commerce Committee Republican Chief Counsel David Redl said during a Practising Law Institute event in Washington Thursday, pointing to the FCC Consolidated Reporting Act that unanimously passed the House earlier this year. But Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., “publicly stated that he does not intend to move those measures in the Senate,” said Committee Democratic Senior Counsel John Branscome during the same panel discussion. “In terms of FCC process reform legislation, Sen. Rockefeller will be looking at how this legislation ultimately strengthens the FCC’s consumer protection role. I think that’s how he'll judge any measure.” Redl and House Commerce Democratic Chief Counsel Shawn Chang, both pointed to the incentive auctions as a major concern and said they remain optimistic the FCC can meet its deadlines. Chang cautioned, however, that observers should be “mindful of the Healthcare.gov experience,” which was fraught with problems. “We've got to get this right.” Redl described various known “hurdles” and questions: “What’s the repacking process going to look like?"