Time Warner Cable and Discovery Communications reached a long-term renewal of their distribution agreement. The early renewal will let Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks “continue delivery of Discovery’s networks to their subscribers without interruption,” TWC said in a news release Monday. The multi-platform agreement allows for continued carriage of Discovery’s channels and their VOD content, it said. “The parties also expect Time Warner Cable customers to enjoy authenticated access to Discovery content in the near future,” said the operator. “We look forward to continually working with Discovery to provide more expansive out of home access to their content.” Discovery hadn’t been streaming program-length shows online, unlike other pay-TV programmers (CD Aug 15/12 p3).
Data protection issues topped the agenda at a Monday EU-U.S. ministerial meeting in Washington, the European Commission said. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, Lithuanian Justice Minister Juozas Bernatonis and Interior Vice-Minister Elvinas Jankevicius met U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Rand Beers, it said. Officials received an update on the ad hoc EU-U.S. working group set up to address European concerns about mass U.S. spying, the EC said. The group met three times and will report to the European Parliament and Council before year’s end, it said. A second topic was the ongoing discussion on an umbrella data protection agreement for law enforcement cooperation to fight terrorism and crime, it said. The ministerial meeting will be an opportunity to advance negotiations, it said. However, Reding recently complained that although there have been more than 15 negotiating rounds, the fundamental issue of the right of Europeans to judicial redress has yet to be resolved. A third item was an update on the data protection legislative processes in the U.S. and EU, the EC said. In a joint news statement Monday, EU officials said their meeting was “constructive and productive.” On data protection they noted that issues related to alleged activities of U.S. intelligence agencies have “led to regrettable tensions in the transatlantic relationship which we seek to lessen.” The EU and U.S. have committed, “as a matter of urgency,” to advancing talks on a meaningful and comprehensive data protection umbrella agreement in the area of law enforcement, they said. Officials said they're also committed to “working to resolve the remaining issues raised by both sides, including judicial redress,” a critical issue for the EU. The goal is to complete negotiations on the agreement before summer, they said. On the joint EU-U.S. working group, officials said they underlined the importance of the ongoing reviews in the U.S. of American intelligence collection activities. The access given to the EU side of the panel will help restore trust, they said. There were also constructive talks about oversight practices in the U.S., they said. “The EU welcomes that the U.S. is considering adopting additional safeguards in the intelligence context that also would benefit EU citizens,” they said.
The FCC should impose a strict emissions mask to protect public safety communications in the 800 MHz National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee band, the Telecommunications Industry Association said in comments filed at the FCC. In August, the FCC sought comment on an April 30, 2012, petition by Harris, which asked the agency to require that digitally modulated signals be certified under the stringent H-Mask for use in public-safety spectrum (http://bit.ly/150svh5). “As was noted in the initial Harris Petition, until recently, manufacturers generally have interpreted Part 90 rules to preclude use of Mask B in public safety frequencies due to the obvious and inevitable interference,” TIA said (http://bit.ly/183rzje). “To be specific, digital technology meeting the more stringent Mask H emissions requirements is almost universally utilized in public safety frequencies used by first responders and others protecting life, health, and property.” Motorola Solutions agreed with TIA. “Motorola Solutions urges the Commission to apply Emission Mask H to all digital technologies operating in the NPSPAC band,” said a filing by the company (http://bit.ly/1aN6wvG). “Motorola Solutions also urges the Commission to make clear that equipment designed to operate on designated public safety mutual aid or interoperability channels in the 800 MHz, VHF and UHF bands must have analog FM capability for interoperability purposes. These actions will promote interoperability, efficiency, and interference-free operations in crucial, and heavily-used, public safety communications bands."
Media General and Dish Network reached a carriage agreement resolving the dispute that resulted in a blackout of Media General TV stations in 17 markets. Terms of the agreement weren’t disclosed, Media General said in a press release (http://bit.ly/1aBnBMm). Programming from the stations was restored to Dish subscribers Saturday, it said. The stations haven’t been available through Dish since Oct. 1 (CD Oct 3 p13). The renewal follows the FCC approval of Media General’s merger with Young Broadcasting (CD Nov 12 p15) and Dish’s complaint against Media General to the FCC (CD Oct 21 p7).
The IP transition does not eliminate the public policy objectives of state regulators to provide affordable rates, high quality services, 911 access or broadband deployment, said a National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates paper Friday in response to an Internet Innovation Alliance paper from Anna-Maria Kovacs, visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public Policy. Kovacs’ paper (http://bit.ly/16vzCTf) argues that ILECs are not investing in broadband because of “alleged regulatory obligations that require wasteful investment in ‘duplicate’ copper-based circuit switched network,” said the NASUCA paper. She said the small volume of voice traffic, compared to all IP traffic, negates the importance of policy oversight of the IP transition, and competition gives consumers a “plethora of choices over various platforms” which undermines the need for regulatory oversight, said the NASUCA paper. Kovacs’ arguments on ILEC investment are based on the 2011 Atkinson study, and she misinterprets the study, said NASUCA. The study by Bob Atkinson, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information director-public policy research, came from a report on the state of broadband in the U.S. It shows that ILECs are targeting two-thirds of investment in next-generation technologies rather than the 47 percent identified in Kovacs’ paper, which ignored “substantial portions” of ILEC legacy facilities and investments shared by ILEC broadband facilities. The NASUCA paper said ILECs will operate on a single network during the IP-broadband transition rather than the duplicate networks needed to support broadband that Kovacs argues. Kovacs’ argument is that there are “so many non-voice bits circulating on IP networks” that the relevance of voice is diminished, which NASUCA thinks is unreasonable because the flood of IP-based video traffic does not diminish the importance of high-quality voice services. Kovacs’ assumption that consumers are capable of addressing issues of network reliability and access to emergency services on their own through the purchase of “multiple infrastructures” is unreasonable to NASUCA because not all consumers can afford multiple infrastructures, and wireless and next-generation IP-based technologies are not immune from simultaneous failure. Kovacs’ conclusion that “liberating” ILECs from regulatory oversight will produce additional investment and result in the optimal outcome is not reasonably supported, said NASUCA. Comptel also came out against Kovacs’ paper last month, saying the paper’s claims about ILECs were not supported by the underlying data (CD Oct 22 p6).
Dish Network’s complaint against Media General is the latest instance “of Dish’s irresponsible conduct during its negotiations with Media General,” said the broadcaster in a response to the complaint. Dish filed the complaint last month, saying the broadcaster didn’t negotiate in good faith for a renewal of its retransmission consent agreement (CD Oct 21 p7). When the parties convened a last-ditch conference call “to try to reach a deal before Media General’s stations went dark, Dish hung up on Media General’s negotiators in a fit of pique following several minutes of their negotiators yelling accusations and generally refusing to allow Media General’s negotiators to speak,” Media General said in an opposition in docket 13-246 (http://bit.ly/17zfYIe). The broadcaster asked the commission to dismiss the Dish complaint and consider sanctions “for Dish’s abuse of the commission’s processes and for its misrepresentations to and lack of candor before the commission.” The companies are engaged in a retrans battle, which resulted in a blackout of Media General programming for Dish subscribers (CD Oct 3 p13).
The FCC has to keep careful watch on health problems posed by radiofrequency radiation, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Friday at Global Coordination of Research On Electromagnetic Fields and Health (GLORE) meeting. “It is incumbent upon regulators to assure that the wondrous benefits of this new technology are made available in ways that are consistent with RF exposure standards and are based on policies using the best available science,” she said, according to her prepared remarks. “Although the FCC is not a health agency, we work closely with expert federal partners in this area. … While the FDA and other health agencies have stated that the present standards adequately protect against known biological effects, we all recognize that we must continue to monitor developments in this area.”
Comptel is questioning a rule adopted as part of the FCC’s rural call completion order that was not discussed in the rulemaking notice, it said. Comptel General Counsel Angie Kronenberg spoke to a Wireline Bureau official Thursday about the issue, an ex parte filing said (http://bit.ly/I4wGmI). “We expressed concern that the Commission had changed the small carrier exemption from the data retention and reporting requirements from carriers with 100,000 subscribers ... to carriers with 100,000 subscriber lines.” This change was made “without notice to the industry or an opportunity to comment on this significant difference,” Comptel said. The association said the order “does not explain the reason for the change."
"Congress should consider strengthening the current consumer privacy framework” because it doesn’t address new technologies or the “vastly increased marketplace for personal information,” said a study the GAO released Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1fHsup3). The study did say new laws must provide “appropriate privacy protections without unduly inhibiting the benefits to consumers, commerce and innovation that data sharing can accord.” This acknowledgement pleased the Direct Marketing Association, which works on self-regulation for data-driven marketers. “We're really pleased” the “GAO recognized the importance of the benefits of data sharing to consumers and commerce and innovation,” Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale told us. The study is “a great piece to start a dialogue” about data collection, data use and data access for users, he said. But DMA “doesn’t fully agree with their call for legislation,” he said. “A vibrant self-regulatory framework is much better in this technological age,” Cerasale said.
If the FCC adjusted the spectrum screen to allow for larger holdings, it would make it easier for Verizon or AT&T to buy Dish Network, said BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk Friday in a blog post. The FCC’s current screen only includes 55 MHz of Clearwire’s more than 160 MHz of spectrum, and does not include the 40 MHz of LightSquared spectrum to be auctioned Nov. 25, the 10 MHz of H-Block spectrum the FCC plans to auction in January or the 85 MHz to be included in the AWS-3 auction, Piecyk said. If the FCC included these holdings in the spectrum screen calculations, it would “clearly increase Verizon and AT&T’s flexibility to not only buy spectrum in upcoming auctions but to also make large acquisitions, with Dish being the most notable target,” Piecyk said. The FCC’s screen requires additional regulatory scrutiny when any operator’s spectrum ownership is above one-third of spectrum in a market -- and one-third of the 285 MHz of spectrum not currently included in the screen is 95 MHz, which is how much Piecyk estimates Dish will hold at the end of Q1 2014 (http://bit.ly/1d2SFcq).