Sennheiser urged the FCC to require the winners of the upcoming broadcast spectrum incentive auction to compensate the owners of wireless mic equipment that will become obsolete because of the planned spectrum repacking, the company said Wednesday. The repacking will render obsolete wireless mics and monitors that operate in the 600 MHz band, Sennheiser said (http://bit.ly/1hiZ8AQ). “The United States is the number one content creator in the world when it comes to broadcasting, film production and live events,” said Joe Ciaudelli, Sennheiser’s head of spectrum affairs, in a news release Wednesday. “The A/V professionals that produce this content, which is enjoyed by both domestic and international consumers, depend on the 600 MHz frequency spectrum each day. Now they are being told that they must vacate this UHF space, and with no contingency or recourse to recover their equipment investments.” The wireless mics won’t be able to be relocated in the lower portions of the UHF band “because it is already packed with replacement mics for ones rendered obsolete by the 700 MHz reallocation,” Ciaudelli said. “TV stations currently operating in 600 MHz will also be relocated to lower channels, exacerbating the congestion,” said the company, which petitioned the FCC Nov. 4 (http://bit.ly/IpWQBy).
Comments on the FCC’s proposed procedural updates to the CALM Act’s method for calculating the loudness of commercials are due Dec. 27, replies Jan. 13, said Wednesday’s Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1dBuzWh). The proposal is based on changes in March to the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) recommended practices, which updated the algorithm used to calculate loudness, said an FNPRM requesting comments. Because the old standard is referenced in the CALM Act legislation, the commission is proposing to update it with the new standard.
Several news organizations supported separate motions before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court demanding disclosure of FISC documents on phone surveillance. In an amicus brief posted Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1c97AyL), the groups backed November requests from the American Civil Liberties Union and ProPublica. The groups on the amicus brief include The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, American Society of News Editors, Atlantic Media, Bay Area News Group, Belo Corp., Bloomberg, Courthouse News Service, E.W. Scripps Co., the First Amendment Coalition, Gannett Co., Hearst Corp., Investigative Reporters and Editors, McClatchy Co., National Press Club, National Public Radio, The New York Times Co., The New Yorker, Politico, The Seattle Times Co. and The Washington Post. “Public access to court proceedings is the linchpin of public acceptance of the legitimacy and credibility of judicial institutions,” the brief said. It slammed recent FISC decisions as “problematic,” in particular the way the FISC limited the Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic from being included in a request before the FISC. “The public has an important interest in learning the justification behind the decision to allow the NSA to conduct its surveillance programs,” the brief said, and “the public needs to know more about how the FISA Court has set this important precedent” evident in recent disclosures.
Cablevision and the Game Show Network must submit a status report on their program carriage case by Dec. 6, said Chief FCC Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel in an order Wednesday (http://fcc.us/17V2Uen). The status report should describe their efforts to prepare for a hearing and possibly a proposal for a new hearing date, the order said. “It has been quite some time” since either company “apprised the Presiding Judge of their hearing preparations,” said the order. The Cablevision/GSN case has been on hold since June, while the parties waited for carriage disputes involving the Tennis Channel’s complaint against Comcast (CD May 29 p1) and a Time Warner Cable lawsuit against the FCC (CD Sept 5 p4) to be resolved. Cablevision and GSN have been required to submit periodic status updates (CD June 27 p21).
Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry and other CCA representatives told members of the FCC Wireless Bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force last Friday that the FCC should sell broadcast spectrum in the upcoming incentive auction based on “smaller geographic license sizes” like Cellular Market Area. CCA cited a study it commissioned with MIT and the Summit Ridge Group that details the “social and economic goals” that could be advanced by using CMAs or other small geographic license sizes in the incentive auction, CCA said in an ex parte filing Tuesday. CCA also said “the harms associated with larger or ‘wrong-sized’ licenses could be mitigated. While CCA reiterated its continued belief that CMAs are the best license size for maximizing competitive carrier participation, CCA committed to work with its members and the Commission to find a right size that will maximize participation among all carriers” (http://bit.ly/IjVp6U).
The deadline is Dec. 11 to file oppositions in WC docket 08-71 on the SureWest high-cost waiver order, the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1aZbfxH). The order denied a request by SureWest Telephone for a waiver of the filing deadline for the annual high-cost universal service certification. Oppositions are also due Dec. 11 in WC docket 10-90 on the Alaska Communications Systems application for review of paragraph 41 of the Connect America Fund Phase II service obligations order, the bureau said in another notice (http://bit.ly/1aZcihe). ACS asked the commission to “entertain challenges” from any competitive eligible telecom carriers “that otherwise meets or exceeds the performance obligations established by that order and whose high-cost support is scheduled to be eliminated during the five-year term of Phase II,” the notice said.
Proposed changes in the FCC Form 499-A instructions “impact attributing revenues from contributing resellers,” General Communications told FCC Wireline Bureau officials Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1aZaB3v). “Some filers must both produce certifications to upstream carriers from who they purchase wholesale services and obtain certifications from downstream resellers who purchase services from the filer,” GCI said. That could lead to difficulties, GCI said. The telco asked the bureau to amend the instructions to allow sampling, “especially where the number of circuits purchased is too large to track manually on the retail side.” GCI also suggested clarifications on the use of “other reliable proof” during the audit process.
TiVo may well offer features of its DVR service for integration into “tier one” cable user interfaces in a bid to land agreements with major U.S. cable operators that have eluded the company, said TiVo CEO Tom Rogers, after regular U.S. markets closed Tuesday, on an earnings call. TiVo has landed pacts with smaller operators including Atlantic Broadband, RCN, Ono, Suddenlink and Virgin Media, but it hasn’t gained traction in tier one U.S. cable systems, and control of the user interface, Rogers said. “There are large operators who have a particular interest in control of the user interface and we are certainly in a position that we could offer the TiVo service elements that are highly valued to a larger operator’s interface,” Rogers said. “The integrated solution is one of the most sought-after to date. But as to the views of how this is going to evolve and the importance of what we offer,” the potential for adding TiVo features to a cable operator’s user interface “exists for us.” TiVo has agreements with Comcast, under which the cable operator is selling a stand-alone TiVo DVR integrated with Xfinity on Demand in eight markets. And Charter Communications is continuing discussions with TiVo on possibly including its software as a cloud-based service’s interface option, Charter officials have said (CD Oct 11 p3). Among the features that TiVo could integrate into a user interface would be metadata, personalization that allows for the grouping of programs by individual interests, search and recommendation engines, Rogers said. TiVo also could add audience measurement and “certain” advertising capabilities, TiVo Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra said. It has moved search and recommendation to a cloud-based strategy, Rogers said. “There are going to be a very small number of tier one cable operators that can make very substantial investments that will carry them through with enough innovation for some period of time,” with internal R&D as their “primary path,” Rogers said. “I see that as being a very limited group and that mindset will be under constant challenges. People who really specialize in this effort can innovate faster than others in the marketplace and provide to other operators a superior service.” TiVo also is moving to have Netflix built into cable set-tops equipped with its software. Netflix in the past has had restrictions in its agreements with movie studios that prevent it from being distributed through cable set-tops in the U.S., but had no such barriers in international markets, Rogers said. While U.S. cable operators have had a “mixed view” of Netflix in the past, “we're hearing they want to include it in their distribution,” Rogers said. “To the extent those restrictions get worked out, we'll be in a position to help out partners implement on that front,” Rogers said. A Netflix spokesman declined to comment.
The FCC’s recent E911 phase-II location accuracy workshop demonstrated the commission should move forward with a rulemaking adopting requirements for indoor and vertical location accuracy, NextNav said in an FCC filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/IjEUb1). The workshop “revealed a substantial level of consensus among stakeholders regarding the critical gating issues that must be addressed to ensure that emergency first responders have access to highly accurate indoor location information for wireless callers to E911 emergency services,” the filing said, though specifying that not everything discussed should go into an NPRM. NextNav pointed to several “highly technical” issues raised that the FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council should look into. The workshop also raised policy questions “that may necessitate a balancing between the critical and immediate needs of public safety and the potential costs of deploying new technologies that can better ensure the welfare and safety of the public,” which the FCC should help resolve by seeking input from stakeholders via a notice-and-comments process, NextNav said. The NPRM should include “requirements for time-to-first-fix, yield, confidence, and accuracy in the X, Y, and Z axes,” the company said. It requested a “phased approach” with “initial implementation within two years and a suitable phase-in period and coverage beginning in urban core areas."
An “Upgrade Fund” in any revamp of the E-rate system would help facilitate widespread fiber investment, said the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute to an aide to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Monday, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/1aZ7M2l). If an upgrade fund is the “carrot” to encourage fiber investment, then a “stick” could be actual service requirements to ensure ISPs or communities “actually take advantage of the dedicated infrastructure funding available,” NAF said. It called for better data collection processes within the E-rate program and a review of support to “non-traditional” students in different states. “The FCC should seek to ensure students have the same access and opportunities for learning, regardless of the state in which they happen to reside,” NAF said.