The FCC Wireline Bureau is soliciting applications from eligible telecom carriers who want a share of the $25 million budgeted in the Lifeline Order for a Broadband Adoption Lifeline Pilot Program. The bureau’s goal is to test broadband adoption in different geographic areas using different technologies and variations of broadband service and discount plans, with “a particular interest in learning which discount plans are most effective in promoting broadband adoption and retention,” the public notice said. The money must be used to subsidize the services they provide to low-income consumers in the pilot program. At the conclusion of the Pilot Program, “the Commission will publicly recognize the ETCs and their partners that best succeed in meeting the Pilot Program goals,” the bureau said. The deadline for applications is July 2, in docket 11-42, and full details are listed in the public notice (http://xrl.us/bm5vs2). “Low-income Americans are disproportionately excluded from the $8 trillion dollar global Internet economy, and all of its benefits,” Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “The data we collect will help identify the best ways to close the broadband adoption gap and unleash the benefits of high-speed Internet for every American."
The American Cable Association’s assertion that blanket relief from certain buyout restrictions is necessary to allow cable companies to compete with much larger incumbent wireline carriers “represents a gross mischaracterization of the current domestic telecommunications environment,” the Independent Telephone and Telecommunications Alliance told the FCC in a letter Monday (http://xrl.us/bm5vq8). ACA made the statement in a joint letter with NCTA and CompTel supporting NCTA’s petition for relief from buyout restrictions between cable operators and certain CLECs, contained in Section 652 of the Communications Act. ITTA argued that ILECs are “hardly the ‘dominant’ providers of local exchange service,” as they face ever-rising non-ILEC VoIP subscriptions that had accounted for 28 percent of local wireline residential connections as of Dec. 2010, and a trend of consumers who “cut the cord” and subscribe exclusively to mobile telephone services. “It takes enormous audacity for ACA, et al. to argue that cable companies should be given a regulatory hand-out that would permit them to enter into cable-CLEC transactions without having to satisfy the statute’s public interest requirements as a means to ‘rekindle’ competition for local exchange service,” ITTA wrote. “The commission should refrain from taking action that would essentially provide wholesale approval of transactions that would eliminate a competitor from the market and create further disparities in regulatory treatment among service providers."
Public Knowledge and Free Press both raised concerns about a New York Post report that Hulu is planning to require visitors to authenticate a pay-TV subscription before viewing some broadcast network programming. “This move to tie Hulu to cable TV service merits close scrutiny from the government agencies that” approved the Comcast buying control of NBCUniversal, said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood. “This sudden move to big cable’s preferred business model raises serious questions about whether Comcast is violating the conditions of its merger.” Public Knowledge also has concerns with the plan, if it turns out to be true, it said. “We are concerned about restricting access to TV programming available free over-the-air,” said CEO Gigi Sohn. “It should be available online, regardless of whether anyone subscribes to cable or satellite TV.” Consistent with the conditions of the FCC and Justice Department approval of the deal, Comcast and NBCUniversal have no governance rights or board seat at Hulu, said a spokeswoman for the cable operator. “We have not been involved with the management of Hulu or in any buyout discussions with Hulu. Any hypothetical claims of violations of the FCC Order and consent decree with regard to Hulu are a fiction.” Hulu didn’t immediately respond to our queries.
Leverett, Mass., approved a proposal (CD April 11 p8) to build an open access municipal broadband network, the town said. The goal is to have a local network ready to connect to the Massachusetts Broadband Institute middle-mile infrastructure as soon as the latter is complete, scheduled for June 30, 2013. The Massachusetts Broadband Institute seeks to build a 1,338-mile broadband network that will connect 120 communities in western and north central parts of the state. The town is in western Massachusetts.
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on Sprint Nextel’s petition for declaratory ruling on a number of issues concerning the applicability of tariffed access rates to VoIP-originated calls. Sprint asked the commission to declare that before Dec. 29, “access tariffs filed with the Commission, including CenturyLink’s tariffs, did not impose compensation obligations on VoIP originated calls delivered over the public switched telephone network.” Sprint also seeks a ruling that “because the VoIP originated traffic is jurisdictionally interstate, intrastate access tariffs cannot impose compensation obligations with respect to that traffic, even if those calls originate and terminate in the same state.” Sprint wants the FCC to declare that it did not violate Section 201(b) of the Communications Act when it compensated CenturyLink at $0.0007 per minute, rather than at rates in CenturyLink’s switched access tariffs. The public notice (http://xrl.us/bm5tgi) said the petition was filed “to effectuate a referral” from a Louisiana district court, where CenturyLink filed a complaint against Sprint to enforce state and federal access tariffs with respect to VoIP-originated calls. Comments are due June 14 in docket 12-105, replies July 16.
Viacom said it will provide ad sales services for WhoSay, a website that helps celebrities manage their social media and Internet footprint. The terms weren’t disclosed.
U.S. statute requires all must-carry TV signals be delivered to all cable subscribers, even those who continue to receive analog-only service, Ion Media CEO Brandon Burgess wrote the FCC (http://xrl.us/bm5tep). “If the FCC, and therefore Congress by necessity, show an appetite to examine the premises of must-carry/retransmission consent regime, we will be as open minded as any broadcasters you will encounter,” he wrote. “But given the current overtly consolidated marketplace that is largely hostile to independents, we vigorously oppose a latent hallowing of what amounts to 10-20 percent of the must carry doctrine without examining, and in parallel, adjusting the corresponding retransmission consent rules.” The commission should keep the viewability rules, set to expire in June (CD April 30 p9), until the cable operators complete their transition to digital delivery, Burgess said. The commission heard from other smaller broadcasters too. “Our must-carry stations are competing aggressively for advertising revenue,” said Randy Nonberg, president of Una Vez Mas, which operates a handful of Spanish-language stations. “Our audience continues to be able to view them, and we must be able to assure our advertisers that our stations are distributed throughout the entire market if we are to generate sufficient revenue to sustain our operations,” he said (http://xrl.us/bm5tfh).
U.S. Cellular is partnering with Alltel Wireless to offer phones under Alltel’s U Prepaid brand at Walmart in 18 states starting this month, the carriers said. Depending on where customers live, the U Prepaid service will run on either U.S. Cellular’s national network or Alltel’s coast-to-coast network, they said. The service plans include unlimited talk and texting, they said. All plans are nationwide with no roaming charges.
Verizon Wireless and Comcast extended their cross-sold service bundles to six more markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Mo., Minneapolis-St. Paul and Salt Lake City, as well as markets in Colorado. Customers could qualify for a variety of offers and incentives, including: Visa prepaid cards valued between $50 and $300 and a “double your data package” offer, which provides a complementary 12-month upgrade to Blast!, Comcast’s broadband service that provides download speeds of up to 30 Mbps with PowerBoost, and a doubling of a 4G LTE data plan from Verizon Wireless. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless and Comcast launched cross-sold products in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Ore.
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials has three primary concerns when local officials shut down wireless service, as Bay Area Rapid Transit officials did Aug. 11 at a downtown San Francisco subway station. Comments were due Monday to the FCC on a March 1 public notice from the Public Safety Bureau on wireless service interruptions imposed by officials with an eye on protecting public safety. “APCO’s principal concern is that any such disruption that may be appropriate under relevant law and policy be as narrowly focused as possible to avoid disruption of (i) the public’s ability to call 9-1-1 for emergency assistance; (ii) the ability of government officials themselves to utilize CMRS; or (iii) mission-critical public safety radio communications that may be operating on radio frequencies in spectrum adjacent to CMRS frequencies,” APCO said in a filing (http://xrl.us/bm5tdw).