The House passed the Federal Communications Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-3310) by a voice vote on Wednesday evening. The bill (CD May 30 p8) would amend the Communications Act of 1934 to consolidate eight reports on the state of the communications marketplace into one biennial report. The bill would repeal 12 different reports that are “no longer used,” said sponsor Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. The bill also contains an amendment proposed by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., which would require the FCC to consider “all forms of competition” in its reporting. The bill is a “common sense approach” that won’t require companies to have “massive compliance departments to comply with things that nobody reads,” Scalise said. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., called the bill “a step forward to further ensuring transparency.” Commissioner Ajit Pai commended the passage of the bill and said the legislation would assist the FCC in producing reports to Congress in a timely manner. NCTA hailed Scalise’s effort to reduce the reporting burden on telecom providers, while CTIA urged the agency to further streamline its reporting processes.
The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled a hearing on “The Future of Audio” Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. in 2322 Rayburn. Witnesses have not yet been announced.
Comcast’s thePlatform is working with TiVo on RCN’s TV Everywhere service, the companies said. “We've experienced tremendous success with the TiVo user experience with both our DVR and whole home offerings and we are excited about extending that proposition to our entire video subscriber base,” said Jim Holanda, RCN CEO. The three companies said they'll deploy the system later this year in phases.
FairPoint Communications met with FCC Wireline Bureau officials last week to urge prompt action on its petition for limited relief to convert the petitioning LECs’ special access services to price cap regulation, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm9ue8). No oppositions were filed, and the petition should be granted by the end of September to facilitate the necessary filings by FairPoint in December, it said.
E.W. Scripps Co. said it developed smartphone severe weather alert apps it will sell for $5 each in the iOS and Android app stores. “Most smartphone owners keep their devices nearby all the time, including while sleeping, so there is no better platform to take over for this kind of alerting and information,” said Adam Symson, the company’s chief digital officer. The storm shield app will deliver weather alerts for five locations, and push texts along with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration audible messages.
The FCC should consider more than simply the occurrences of blackouts when assessing whether the retransmission consent marketplace is properly functioning, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance wrote the agency. “Blackouts should not be a primary measure by which the Commission determines whether there is a marketplace imbalance that requires regulatory intervention,” ITTA said. “Smaller and new entrant MVPDs cannot afford the prolonged blackouts that larger incumbent providers often experience,” it said, pointing to lengthy disputes between some broadcasters and distributors such as Time Warner Cable and Dish Network. “ITTA member companies could not withstand the subscriber defections and other harms that accompany these kinds of protracted disputes.” The commission should consider collecting retran fee data from broadcasters so it knows each market’s fees and ensures certain distributors aren’t charged discriminatory rates, ITTA said. The commission should also suspend the network non-duplication and syndicated programming exclusivity rules during “unresolved or unsuccessful retransmission consent negotiations,” it said.
Verizon Wireless doesn’t plan to rush to deploy a Voice-over-LTE service, said Chief Technology Officer Tony Melone. There’s no reason to force customers to VoLTE, he said at the Nomura Media & Telecom Summit Wednesday, while noting VoLTE would bring low latency and better service quality vs. other VoIP services. Verizon will start deploying VoLTE on a large scale after customers get used to the service, he said. Meanwhile, as LTE and data roaming expands in the next couple of years, devices could support multiple spectrum bands, he said. While Wi-Fi offloading might be a good option for customers to use in places where capacity might be a constraint, it’s not a practical solution for macro network capacity management, he said. Melone claimed Verizon’s spectrum position allows its network to operate without extensive use of Wi-Fi. He also urged looking at every option for bringing more spectrum online for commercial use and increasing spectrum efficiency.
AT&T Mobility appears interested in moving to data sharing plans. Customers would welcome a data plan that allows them to connect multiple devices to the network, said Chief Financial Officer John Stephens during a Nomura investor conference Wednesday. He noted the majority of the carrier’s postpaid device sales in Q1 were smartphones. Meanwhile, consolidation in the telecom industry is inevitable, according to Stephens. Consolidation is logical given the capital intensity of the industry, he said.
Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan is leaving the FCC, and being replaced by his predecessor as chief, Ruth Milkman, the agency said Wednesday. Kaplan led the bureau’s review of AT&T’s failed attempt to buy T-Mobile and was leading the review of Verizon Wireless’s proposal to buy AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. The FCC has a target deadline of Aug. 7 to wrap up work on the transactions. The bureau is also working on developing rules for an upcoming auction of broadcast TV spectrum, among other major issues. Kaplan told us he will likely stay about three more weeks, and conceded it’s hard to leave the job with some big items unfinished. “The bureau will obviously be in great hands with Ruth,” he said. “I wouldn’t have left it under any other circumstances.” Kaplan has been at the commission since 2009, including as a top aide to both Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Chairman Julius Genachowski. Milkman, who originally worked with Genachowski as an aide to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, was Wireless Bureau chief from August 2009 to June 2011. Milkman has been special counsel to the chairman for innovation in government.
Correction: The Federal Communications Commission Consolidated Reporting Act (HR-3310) unanimously passed the House Commerce Committee in March (CD May 30 p8).