Data limitations make it difficult to measure progress of projects funded under the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and Broadband Initiatives Program, the GAO said in a report Friday (http://xrl.us/bnpsgv). Though NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service have disbursed nearly $3 billion through the programs, it’s been difficult for the agencies to collect reliable data from awardees on subscribership for the BTOP and BIP projects, the report said. GAO recommended that RUS “take steps to improve the quality of its data on the number of fiber miles and wireless access points created by BIP project.”
WaveDivision Holdings and Oak Hill Holdco asked the FCC for special temporary authority to close Oak Hill’s buyout of Wave’s Astound Broadband by Oct. 1, even though other federal agencies are still reviewing the proposed transaction. The Justice Department filed a deferral request on the matter in July, saying the so-called Team Telecom agencies wanted to review the deal, Wave and Oak Hill said in a filing with the commission (http://xrl.us/bnpsds). “As of the date of this filing, the Team Telecom review process is ongoing ... [and] may not conclude prior to the scheduled close date of October 1, 2012,” the filing said. “If the Applicants do not close on a timely basis, they will face significant financial difficulties including the continued accrual of interest, ticking fees and other potential liabilities ... which could ultimately have an impact on end user customers,” it said. “A grant of this request will not prejudice action by the Commission or other reviewing agencies” it said.
An FCC pay-TV competition report was said by a second foe of regulation at the same think tank (CD Sept 7 p14) to show the competitiveness of telecom, which they both said belies the agency’s application of older rules. The July report to Congress “devotes an entire section to online video services” and “describes online video as ‘a thriving industry’ that has ‘undergone dramatic transformation’ in just the last few years,” wrote Free State Foundation fellow Seth Cooper Friday (http://xrl.us/bnpsdu). “Given the rapid rate of change that now drives the video market, one can expect even more online video price and service offerings are likely to emerge in the years ahead. But the once largely unregulated Internet is already being subjected to network neutrality mandates bearing resemblance to Title II legacy telephone regulations. And now a slate of legacy cable regulations poses a new threat that could significantly constrain the future of online video."
The FCC ordered a Miami man to pay $15,000 for running an unlicensed radio station there at 88.7 MHz. Jeffrey Darius didn’t respond to a bureau notice of apparent liability (CD March 7 p13) for the repeated violations, said a forfeiture order to him released in Friday’s commission Daily Digest (http://xrl.us/bnpr9m).
Halo Wireless is still keeping the Arkansas Public Service Commission busy despite the company’s July liquidation, a Thursday filing showed (http://xrl.us/bnpr8z). Halo had challenged its Arkansas tax assessment in early July, prior to its liquidation, and claimed it was being assessed for several hundred thousand dollars more than what it possessed in the state. The PSC established a schedule of proceedings for the tax division and the now-liquidated company in early September, but the tax division has shot back. “Halo bears the burden of proof to show that the Tax Division’s assessment is manifestly excessive or clearly erroneous or confiscatory,” the Arkansas tax division said Thursday, saying it should only have to present proof once Halo does. “If Halo fails to meet its burden, the Commission is obligated to affirm the assessment.”
A new website has gathered resources about online safety for teenagers, “the likes of which has never been put together,” said Stephen Balkam, CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute, which created the site. The site, Platform For Good (http://xrl.us/bnpr8v), launched Wednesday and has privacy policies of major websites and social networks frequented by teenagers, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google. “It’s there in an easy to find and use way,” Balkam told us Thursday. FOSI’s partners for the site include Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. Those competitors have “all shown an extraordinary willingness to work together,” Balkam said. Privacy’s a top priority for FOSI, he said. The group has many U.S. and European ISPs and websites as members, including AOL, AT&T, BT, Comcast, Facebook, Sprint-Nextel, Telecom Italia, Verizon and Yahoo and some of their associations (http://xrl.us/bnpsbb). Privacy has also been a top issue for some members of Congress and FCC members, Balkam said: “There’s been considerable interest in” the site on the part of lawmakers. The new site’s not just a place to get information, “it’s a change of the conversation,” Balkam said. In addition to being “a place to help parents, teachers and teens connect to share and do great things online,” it’s an effort to highlight the good that can come out of the Internet, rather than the dark side that tends to dominate the news cycle, he said. “Let’s shift the conversation from a rather fear-based approach ... and let’s foster instead an informed discussion.” For parents, the site has a daily blog with guest writers and a resources page, he said. Teachers can access a resource page specific for them as well as information on how to integrate social media and online content in classroom learning. Teens will find resources, a quiz asking them what they think their parents should know about the Internet and information about online volunteering opportunities, such as building websites for local charities, Balkam said. FOSI wants young Internet users to think about digital citizenship, which he said is “your rights and your responsibilities when you're online.” The difference between the real and virtual worlds is in the latter people don’t always know how to intervene when someone’s being hurt, he said: “There are plenty of train wrecks online,” and the site’s meant to empower people to think about how they can help.
A TV station in Ventura, Calif., asked for a waiver of the FCC’s CALM Act rules limiting commercial loudness. KJLA-TV said it needs a one-year delay to come into compliance with the rules because it would cost too much to implement them. The station submitted an equipment cost estimate of $44,000 and said it can’t afford it on annual station revenue of less than $14 million, which is the threshold under the Small Business Act for qualifying as a small business. “The acquisition of this equipment constitutes a financial hardship given the annual gross revenues and expenses associated with operation of the Station,” it said (http://xrl.us/bnpr8t). “A one-year delay in KJLA having to acquire this equipment represents a meaningful limitation on the financial hardship that the CALM Act imposes on the Station,” it said.
Cox said KSQA-TV Topeka, Kan., shouldn’t be allowed to use the station’s new Program System Information Channel Protocol channel (PSIP), if it receives one, to demand carriage on that channel on Cox’s cable systems until after Jan. 1, 2015. “Cox takes no position on the ultimate question of whether the Commission should grant KSQA’s requested waiver” seeking a new PSIP channel, it said (http://xrl.us/bnpr6z). “KSQA’s PSIP Channel Change Request apparently is designed solely to give KSQA the right to demand immediate cable carriage on Channel 12,” Cox said. Cox has opposed the station’s efforts to gain must-carry status on that channel on Cox’s cable systems in Topeka (CD July 16 p12). The station’s RF signal broadcasts on channel 12 but its current PSIP channel is 22. “Cox objects to KSQA’s efforts to retroactively manipulate the outcome of the pending must-carry proceeding by attempting, at this late date to have the Commission change the station’s PSIP channel designation,” it said. “If KSQA wanted the right to demand mandatory carriage on Channel 12 for the current 2012-2015 election period, it should have requested a PSIP channel change in a timely fashion before the October 2011 election date,” it said.
A federal appeals court for the second time in a month upheld an FCC fine (CD Aug 21 p14) and the government’s effort to collect it against an unlicensed radio station in Texas. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a U.S. District Court decision that a $10,000 forfeiture order against Raymond Frank for unauthorized transmission in the Austin area at 100.1 MHz wasn’t unreasonably high, and that he had to pay it. Frank “above all” argued before the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit “that the FCC lacked authority under the Commerce Clause to regulate intrastate radio broadcasts and that Section 301(a) of the Communications Act only applies to targeted ‘point to point’ intrastate communications,” said an unpublished 5th Circuit order dated Sept. 7 and posted last week on an FCC website (http://xrl.us/bnpr8e). “His arguments are foreclosed by our recent decision in the related case, United States v. Stevens ... where we held that district courts do not have jurisdiction to review legal challenges to government actions in 47 U.S.C. Section 504(a) proceedings to enforce forfeiture orders issued by the FCC.” Frank, who represented himself in U.S. v. Frank, didn’t answer the phone at a number listed for him in 5th Circuit docket 11-50848. Judges Stephen Higginson, Carolyn King and Jerry Smith were listed in the Frank decision.
Former FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was named Friday as the new president of the Personal Communications Industry Association, effective Monday. The move leaves an opening at the Rural Utilities Service, where Adelstein, a Democrat, had been administrator since July 2009. John Padalino, who has been acting administrator for Business and Cooperative Programs under the Agriculture Department’s Rural Development program, was appointed Friday to replace Adelstein on an acting basis. At RUS, Adelstein had overseen the Broadband Initiatives Program, which funded broadband infrastructure projects. Michael Fitch, PCIA president since 2005, is leaving the association. “PCIA continues to grow and ably represent the rapidly evolving wireless infrastructure industry,” said PCIA Chairman Marc Ganzi, CEO of Global Tower Partners. “Our next great challenge is to address the wireless data crunch.” “It’s the ideal opportunity for me to continue my efforts to maximize wireless broadband everywhere,” Adelstein said.