A report by the World Teleport Association named resale rights and unlimited liabilities among the key areas to watch in contracting for satellite capacity. Prohibitions against non-video applications resale “can be challenging for teleport operators who purchase wholesale capacity,” WTA said. Uncapped liabilities in the event of trouble on the satellite “can be the single largest concern other than the basic commercial terms,” it said. The report is based on interviews with executives of teleport operators who buy capacity and satellite operators who sell it, WTA said.
The NAB TV board unanimously approved a proposal to integrate the Open Mobile Video Coalition’s (OMVC) functions within NAB, NAB said. An OMVC spokesman didn’t immediately respond to our query. Separately, NAB CTO Kevin Gage gave the board an update on its role in “exploring transmission standards options to ensure broadcast remains a robust and flexible platform that meets consumer demand and industry objectives,” NAB said.
Time Warner Cable wants the FCC to free it of video rate regulation in 14 Wisconsin local franchise areas that include Kenosha, Oshkosh and Racine. The LEC test for Media Bureau effective competition orders is met there because AT&T “provides its multichannel video service U-verse to households” in the areas, where it’s the incumbent LEC, the cable operator said. The petitions (http://xrl.us/bnboyg, http://xrl.us/bnboyi) were posted Tuesday in docket 12-1.
Free Press and 17 other groups urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to avoid including in an appropriations bill language that a House panel adopted last week. The House panel language would restrict the FCC’s ability to implement a new rule that would put some TV stations’ political file contents online (CD June 7 p2). “The laws that have been on the books for decades make clear that Congress intended the information in the political file -- which includes requests for and purchases of political ads -- to be made publicly available,” groups that also included Common Cause, Public Citizen and the Sunlight Foundation wrote (http://xrl.us/bnbot6). “Thus, the transition to an online public file will ensure that members of the public can enjoy fuller and more meaningful access to the broadcast records they already have a right to view,” it said. “That some broadcasters would in essence attempt to make it as difficult as possible for the public to access these records is inconsistent with their duties as licensees and trustees of the public airwaves.” Meanwhile, attorneys for and executives from a group of TV station owners who asked the FCC to reconsider the requirement met with an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake Monday to push for their alternative proposal, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnbow3). They told the officials that it appeared “arbitrary and capricious for the FCC to assume that all information required to be placed in the stations’ hard-copy, local files in the past should be required to be posted on the FCC’s website in the future,” the notice said. “In fact the Commission exempted correspondence from the public form the website requirement because it was concerned about the risks and consequences of such online disclosure."
A TV broadcaster and a cable network jointly lobbied the FCC to support the Digital Media Association’s request to give video programming distributors (VPDs) as much time as makers of consumer electronics to meet Internet Protocol captioning rules. “Enhanced Captioning features” can’t be available on “that same timeline” required of VPDs in the IP captioning order, Viacom and Disney’s ABC said. “We agreed with DiMA that providing VPDs only 6 months to implement these features was unrealistic, particularly in light of the fact that device manufacturers have significantly longer to implement these same features in devices.” VPDs should get an industrywide waiver until Jan. 1, 2014, as DiMA requested for enhanced features, given “providing this functionality in the online environment is much more complex than simply repurposing basic captioning,” executives of the companies reported telling an aide to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. “Even after the basic code is made available, VPDs customize their media players and will need to do substantial software development on their own,” Tuesday’s ex parte filing in docket 11-154 said (http://xrl.us/bnbow5). “Synching up the compliance dates for device manufacturers and VPDs is desirable because of the interrelationship between these parties in the provision of Enhanced Captioning features.” The NCTA, MPAA and NAB also last week lobbied commission staff for DiMA’s waiver (CD June 13 p16).
The FCC Media Bureau dismissed pending license renewal applications for FM translator stations and noncommercial educational stations licensed to Great Lakes and Great Lakes Broadcast Academy, both in Stanwood, Mich. The bureau determined that the licenses for NCE FM stations DWJKQ, Jackson and DWAQQ Onsted have expired and all authority to operate them is terminated, it said in an order (http://xrl.us/bnboye). The translator stations “have never operated in accordance with their licenses,” the order said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., asked four major carriers about their efforts to protect consumers from unauthorized third-party wireless charges known as “cramming,” in separate letters sent Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnbou3). Rockefeller said he was concerned that wireless cramming “has the potential to become a similar problem” to the “epidemic” of wireline cramming, which costs American consumers and businesses “billions of dollars.” Rockefeller said the positive steps that have been taken to curb wireline cramming will become “meaningless if cramming simply migrates” to wireless bills. Rockefeller noted that, of all cramming complaints received by the FCC, the percentage of wireless cramming complaints has nearly doubled, increasing from 16 percent 2008-2010 to 30 percent in 2011 alone. He said the “double opt-in” and opt-out processes for preventing wireless cramming are not working and consumers are complaining that cramming charges continue to appear on their wireless bills. Rockefeller asked Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T to answer seven questions about the proliferation of wireless cramming and what the companies are doing to prevent it. An AT&T spokesperson told us that the company plans to fully cooperate and respond to the letter. “AT&T takes deceptive third-party billing practices such as cramming very seriously. AT&T does not benefit from cramming -- quite the opposite. Anything that harms our customers harms us and our relationship with them.” A spokeswoman from Verizon Wireless said the company looks forward to cooperating with the committee. Sprint and T-Mobile did not comment.
Verizon Wireless opposed claims from DirecTV that the carrier’s decision to discontinue offering retail stand-alone DSL services “is a result of separate commercial agreements between applicants Verizon Wireless and SpectrumCo and Cox.” DirecTV’s assertions are unfounded “and its claims are not relevant to the license assignments at issue in these proceedings,” Verizon Wireless said in an ex parte filing in docket 12-4 (http://xrl.us/bnboop). DirecTV filed its comments last month (http://xrl.us/bnbotm) concerning Verizon Wireless’ proposed cable spectrum acquisition from the three cable operators that are part of SpectrumCo and from Cox. The decision was part of Verizon’s efforts “to comprehensively review and streamline our portfolio of services,” it said: The service was discontinued due to high costs of installation and maintenance difficulties, “which led to expensive and time-consuming truck rolls and calls to customer service.” DirecTV’s claims “appear to be rooted in its own displeasure that Verizon Wireless chose not to move forward on a contemplated project with DirecTV for a service offering that would have included DirecTV’s video service and Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE service,” the carrier added.
Seven House Democrats urged the FCC and Justice Department to carefully scrutinize the impact of Verizon Wireless’s proposed buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox Communications. The agencies’ review of the deals appears to be nearing its final stages, with approval likely, albeit with substantial conditions (CD June 11 p1). Lawmakers said Wednesday the deal could have “significant implications” for the policy objectives established in the 1996 Telecom Act, “including the promotion of competition and the expansion of consumer choice in the communications marketplace.” The letters to DOJ and FCC said the nationwide spectrum block is particularly valuable to Verizon Wireless because it has the effect of “potentially forestalling competition.” They were signed by Reps. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; John Conyers, D-Mich.; Barney Frank, D-Mass.; John Olver, D-Mass.; John Tierney, D-Mass.; Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.; and Niki Tsongas, D-Mass. A Verizon Wireless spokesman said it’s made a “strong case” that purchasing unused spectrum and putting it to use for consumers is “in the public interest.” Cox Communications will “continue to comply with the approval process,” a spokesman said. The other cable companies had no comment.
The American Cable Association withdrew a petition for the FCC to redo emergency alert system rules so small cable systems can get streamlined waivers of a requirement they be able to get EAS warnings in Common Alerting Protocol format by June 30. The April 20 petition for reconsideration of the CAP order “was not published in the Federal Register until June 8, 2012, initiating a comment cycle that ends July 3, 2012,” (CD June 11 p14) the association said in a withdrawal request posted Tuesday in docket 04-296 (http://xrl.us/bnboth). “It is now apparent that the comment cycle for the Petition for Reconsideration will extend beyond the June 30, 2012 EAS CAP compliance deadline."