The expectation by price cap LECs that the Connect America Fund should be responsible for paying pre-CAF expenses is “baseless and arbitrary,” the American Cable Association wrote the FCC Friday (http://xrl.us/bn5b8t). It responded to a Nov. 20 USTelecom filing describing ACA’s approach to the Phase II cost model -- limiting recovery for investments made prior to adoption of the CAF -- as “legally indefensible.” Price cap LECs’ expectation for recovery for prior investments is unreasonable because those investments served locations never supported by the high-cost USF fund, ACA said. Many of those investments in the voice network were likely made years ago, and may be fully depreciated, it said. “There is no economic rationale for providing recovery anew for already depreciated assets.” On USF-supported investments in networks where price cap LECs also deployed broadband capabilities, “the price cap LECs were under no regulatory obligation to use pre-CAF high-cost support for this additional purpose,” and they should have “no expectation of receiving guaranteed government support,” ACA said. “The price cap LECs have failed to demonstrate they are deserving of any capital recovery of legacy copper plant investment under the Phase II regime.” Ross Lieberman, ACA vice president of government affairs, told us the price cap proposal was “not really grounded in reality."
The FCC Media Bureau granted an application to assign the license of WBQI(FM) Bar Harbor, Maine, from WBIN Media to Blueberry Broadcasting over the objection of Yamster Communications President James McSorely, an Audio Division letter released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bn5b9m). The bureau said the proposed transaction complies with local radio ownership limits, the letter said. “McSorely has provided no support for his other allegations that this transaction would limit diversity and inhibit competition in the local radio market."
Sinclair’s top lawyer visited the FCC to ask it not attribute ownership of separately owned stations in the same market that are in TV joint sales agreements, as foes of consolidation opposed the same draft ownership rules on other grounds, filings in docket 09-182 say. The “stale” record from a 2004 rulemaking notice proposing to attribute such agreements shouldn’t be relied on in the forthcoming order ending the quadrennial ownership review due to Congress in 2010 (CD Nov 29 p5), Sinclair General Counsel Barry Farber told commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel and aides to Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell. “The FCC should open the proceeding for further comment in order to refresh” the record, the company said (http://xrl.us/bn5b9y). Four groups saying they're the largest U.S. civil rights organizations clarified they don’t back allowing newspaper/broadcaster cross-ownership. “We do not object to a relaxation of the NBCO if such a relaxation would not diminish minority ownership,” the Asian American Justice Center, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of La Raza and National Urban League wrote (http://xrl.us/bn5cac). The 30-day comment period through Jan. 4 on female and minority radio and TV station ownership figures isn’t “sufficient to analyze whether any relaxation of the NBCO will diminish minority ownership,” the four groups said. “The burden of proof is on the Commission to produce analysis for further public comment that any proposed changes to the NBCO or anything else in the 2010 Quadrennial Review will not diminish minority ownership.” There’s a “growing chorus of popular and political opposition to the course of action charted and the rule changes” in the draft order, Free Press reported (http://xrl.us/bn5cag) telling an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The order is expected to be voted on next year (CD Dec 5 p2).
The FCC fined James M. Lout $3,000 for failing to timely file a post-auction Form 301 long-form application after FM Auction 93, a Media Bureau order released Friday said (http://xrl.us/bn5b9d).
The FCC Media Bureau approved an assignment of license application for WOR(AM) New York from Buckley Broadcasting to a Clear Channel subsidiary. That was over the informal objection of Connoisseur Media of Long Island, which complained Clear Channel has done a slow and poor job of selling stations it was required by the commission to divest from a temporary trust when it was taken private in 2008. “We find that Connoisseur fails to establish a substantial and material question of fact that grant” of the applications would be counter to the public interest, a letter from Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle said (http://xrl.us/bn5b85).
Cablevision is in a difficult strategic position following Superstorm Sandy, leaving it with limited ability to increase rates on its products, Canaccord Genuity analyst Thomas Eagan wrote in a note to investors. Cablevision said Thursday it would increase by $5 a month its broadband service rates for customers not currently getting a promotional rate. “While this move will have a positive impact on revenue, we believe it will likely lead to lower customer growth as subscribers churn off at a greater rate,” Eagan said.
Reply briefs for Verizon and MetroPCS’s challenge to the FCC’s net neutrality order will be due Dec. 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Friday. The appeals court approved the carriers’ request to increase their word limit to 7,000 words for the joint brief. The court extended MetroPCS’s individual reply brief to 2,350 words. The FCC can submit a “surreply brief” by Jan. 4, not to exceed 1,350 words. Verizon and MetroPCS’s briefs were originally due last week, but they asked for additional time to “analyze and address the effect” of the same court’s decision upholding the FCC’s data roaming rules (CD Dec 5 p1).
The FTC will release Monday a follow up to its February report on children’s privacy in mobile apps, the agency said Friday (http://1.usa.gov/Voymap). The earlier report said mobile apps and mobile app platforms were failing to provide parents with information on what data the apps were collecting from children and who would have access to that data. The FTC will release the follow up during a media call at 11 a.m. Monday, and take questions on Twitter two hours later, the agency said.
The FCC International Bureau accepted applications from DirecTV and Sirius XM. DirecTV is seeking authority to construct, launch and operate a satellite to provide direct-to-home fixed satellite service from 76 degrees west in the 11.7-12.2 GHz and 14.0-14.5 GHz bands, the bureau’s Satellite Division said in a public notice (http://xrl.us/bn5b5y). Sirius XM wants to modify the authorization for its XM-3 satellite at 85.15 degrees west “by extending the eight-year license term for an additional eight years, through April 20, 2021,” the bureau said.