CBS said its board approved a 57 percent increase its share repurchase program and 20 percent increase in its dividend. CBS now plans to buy back a total of $4.7 billion, though it has already spent $1.7 billion under the authorization. “The company intends to accelerate the pace of the newly expanded program and complete it by the end of 2014,” it said.
GAO said improvements could be made to the FCC’s reform of the high-cost program within the Universal Service Fund. In a report published Thursday GAO said the FCC lacks a specific plan for the collection of carrier data and a mechanism to link carrier rates and revenues with support payments, and does not have the capacity to gauge the program’s effectiveness. GAO recommended the FCC establish a specific data-analysis plan for carrier data to determine the program’s effectiveness, and consult with relevant bodies to examine factors for calculating the carrier support payments.
TiVo asked the FCC for a waiver of certain home-networking requirements for cable set-top boxes (http://xrl.us/bniavj). TiVo said it needs to the waiver so it can continue to sell DVRs to cable operators who will then lease them to subscribers. TiVo said it will be prepared to implement an industry-standard home-networking technology when it is available, but “because TiVo is not itself a cable operator and has a very small share of the market for set-top boxes as supplied to operators, TiVo must wait upon the decisions of others before it can ascertain the necessary industry standards and begin implementation,” it said in the request for waiver and clarification of the rules. “TiVo’s share of the market ... is too small for TiVo either to anticipate or lead in the adoption of an industry standard,” it said. It asked to be let out to be let out of the requirement until a year after cable operators have deployed 100,000 compliant set-top boxes from each of the two major vendors, Cisco and Motorola that include the new standard. Without a waiver, cable operators “might feel obligated to suspend any dealings with TiVo” for fear of deploying non-compliant devices, it said.
Denying the CEA’s requests for a waiver of advanced communication services (ACS) accessibility requirements could result in higher prices and lower availability of IP-connected TV sets and digital video players, lawyers for the CEA told aides to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bniaun). During the meeting they presented an analysis by Greg Rosston, deputy director of the Stanford Institute for Economy Policy and Research, on the rules and CEA’s waiver requests. “Denying the requested waiver would likely result in either i) manufacturers increasing the prices of these devices or ii) manufacturers simply leaving any ACS features out of these devices, which have a primary purpose other than ACS,” the ex parte filing said.
The FCC should change the sports blackout rule to sunset automatically in two years. That’s unless leagues show the ban should remain on multichannel video programming distributors showing games not sold out that also are contractually kept off broadcast TV, a group aligned with some MVPDs said. The proposal’s from the Sports Fans Coalition, which had asked the agency to start a rulemaking on ending the 1970’s era requirement that leagues including the NFL want kept (CD March 1 p3). “Unless the professional sports leagues and their allies in the media industry prove on the record that the rule still is necessary to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” it should be junked in two years, the coalition said in a Thursday filing (http://xrl.us/bniavs). After the NFL made a “major” change to the rule to allow some teams to let games be broadcast when stadiums aren’t sold out, some franchises “opted out of the revised policy, leaving in place the current problematic blackout practice in some of the hardest-hit markets,” the filing in docket 12-3 said. “With a two-year time frame, the Commission may take into account any effects of the NFL’s new blackout policy. If the new policy fails after two years to curtail blackouts in the hardest-hit markets, the Commission can decide at that time whether the Sports Blackout Rule should remain in place.” Given 94 percent of NFL games were televised “locally last season, blackouts are near historic lows,” a league spokesman said. “While impacting very few games, the blackout rule is very important in supporting NFL stadiums and the ability of NFL clubs to sell tickets; keeping our games attractive as television programming with large crowds; and ensuring that we can continue to keep our games on free TV."
Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Herb Kohl, D-Wis., said the nomination of Bill Baer to be the assistant attorney general for the antitrust division comes at a “particularly crucial time” for antitrust enforcement. Kohl said in a written statement Thursday it is important that that the agency ensure that nothing in the pending Verizon/SpectrumCo harms the “competitive battle between Verizon and the cable companies for Internet and video service.” Baer is the head of the antitrust practice at Arnold and Porter.
LightSquared is operating its businesses and managing its properties as debtors in possession, the wholesale satellite capacity company said in an ex parte filing in docket 11-109 (http://xrl.us/bniaup). It is still funding its operations and necessary capital expenditures with “unencumbered cash on hand ... cash collateral of certain of its prepetition secured lenders ... and the proceeds of a debtor in possession financing in an amount up to $51.5 million,” it said. The company still intends to deploy a 4G wireless broadband network, a project that stalled when it was suggested that operations could impact GPS (CD Feb 15 p1).
Tribune said it renewed the Fox network affiliations of six stations: KCPQ-TV Seattle, WTIC-TV Hartford, Conn., WXIN-TV Indianapolis, KXTL-TV Sacramento, Calif., WXMI-TV Grand Rapids, Mich., and WPMT-TV Harrisburg, Pa. The deal involves a long-term commitment to pay programming fees to the network, Tribune Broadcasting President Nils Larsen said in a news release. “Our distribution partners in particular will benefit from Tribune’s continued FOX affiliation and we look forward to working with them to ensure the ongoing health of local television in their markets."
Within three years, 400,000 residents and small businesses in 37 states will have access to broadband through the Connect America Fund’s first phase, the FCC said. It released a new interactive map illustrating which U.S. areas will benefit (http://xrl.us/bniasn). “Through the FCC’s Connect America Fund initiatives, we're helping complete our nation’s broadband infrastructure, which will lead to job creation, economic growth, and innovation in the 21st century. The map is the latest example of how the agency can use mapping technology to spur innovation and to develop new products for the public,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a news release Thursday. Some telcos declined some or all CAF money they could have received to build out broadband (CD July 26 p3).
Prometheus Radio Project still wants the FCC to establish a 50-watt low-power FM class of service and adopt a second-adjacent frequency waiver standard for LPFM stations modeled after the rules used by FM translators. A reading of the “no interference” standard laid out in the Local Community Radio Act “supports this interpretation, as does the ‘equal in status’ language requiring parity between translators and LPFM stations,” Prometheus said in an ex parte filing in docket 99-25 (http://xrl.us/bniar4). The filing referred to conversations this week with Prometheus and Media Bureau Audio Division staff and with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. Prometheus also promoted the creation of a local programming mandate or “a dispositive point allotment because ... applicants willing to commit to locally-originated programming should be preferred over other applicants.” It said a mandate would deter applicants “that have no intention of offering any locally-originated programming."