The FCC agreed to modify its 76-meter height above average terrain (HAAT) limit on white-spaces antennas to a new maximum height of 250 meters. The Wireless Internet Service Provider Association had requested the change in a petition for reconsideration filed last year. But the FCC maintained a requirement that antennas be no higher than 30 meters above ground level. “We take this action because we find that the current rule, which limits fixed TV bands devices to sites where the ground HAAT is no greater than 76 meters, unnecessarily precludes the operation of fixed TV bands devices at many locations in the country, particularly in rural and other areas that are currently underserved by broadband services,” said the FCC order released Thursday. “Under the modification we adopt herein, a site with an elevation of up to 220 meters above average terrain could be used with a 30-meter antenna, or a site with a higher elevation above average terrain could be used with a shorter antenna, provided the sum of the site elevation above average terrain and antenna height above ground does not exceed 250 meters. These changes will result in lower costs and greater flexibility for fixed device operators by allowing the use of sites that were previously precluded by the rules and permitting greater coverage from each site.” The commission turned down a request by Motorola Solutions that devices be allowed to operate under looser adjacent channel out-of-band emissions limits from specified distances beyond the protected contours of adjacent channel TV stations. “We decline to relax the adjacent channel emission limits to prevent interference to authorized services in and adjacent to the TV bands,” the order said. “We conclude that our decision on this issue promotes more efficient use of the TV spectrum by both licensed and unlicensed devices.”
DirecTV and Tribune reached a retransmission consent agreement late Wednesday, they said. The deal restored carriage of Tribune’s 23 TV stations and WGN America network to DirecTV customers Wednesday night. DirecTV said the undisclosed rates reflected a fair market value similar to what it agreed to accept last week before the blackout began (CD April 3 p1). DirecTV has withdrawn is bad-faith retrans complaint at the FCC, said Andrew Reinsdorf, senior vice president-government affairs. Advocates for changing retrans rules said they hoped the impasse highlighted the need to revamp the rules. “To prevent further blackouts, ACA believes the Federal Communications Commission should complete action on the pending notice of proposed rulemaking and that the House and Senate committees should start hearings” to look at designing a new system, said American Cable Association President Matt Polka. The American Television Alliance said the “dispute set a new low, with Wall Street bankers and hedge funds needlessly abusing viewers for their own gains,” saying that will continue to suffer unless there is FCC or congressional action. Hedge funds and Wall Street banks are among the creditors of Tribune, which is in bankruptcy proceedings.
CTIA and three of its major carrier members urged the FCC to rebuff a move by RLECs to change the commission’s policy on how intraMTA traffic is treated. The FCC has long held that calls originated by or terminated to a wireless carrier should be deemed “local” and subject to the reciprocal compensation framework, not the access charges regime, the wireless carriers said. Representatives of CTIA, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile met with Michael Steffen, aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski and with Wireline Bureau staff. “The intraMTA rule has been in effect for more than 15 years, has been upheld numerous times in court, and has always governed all intraMTA traffic,” the wireless carriers said, according to an ex parte filing (http://xrl.us/bm2uh6). “Last year’s [USF] Order once again properly rebuffed RLEC efforts to repeal this rule in the context of traffic delivered by interexchange carriers. To the extent the RLECs’ arguments rely on any suggestion that the [USF] Order created new law, they are simply incorrect.” The changes RLECs seek would “upend” the long-standing framework, “basing compensation on whether or not a particular intraMTA call was routed through an IXC,” the filing said. “This approach would depart from decades of Commission precedent, and create endless opportunities for gaming and abuse.”
AT&T Mobility’s unionized workers in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas ratified a four-year contract that provides wage increases plus the return of at least 2,000 jobs over the four year agreement, the Communications Workers of America said in a news release. The contract covers around 9,300 AT&T Mobility workers. The tentative agreement calls for annual wage increases of 2 percent, 2.5 percent, 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent over the contract term, and maintains existing pension plans without any retrogressive changes. It also provides for a $1,000 ratification bonus, and creates a transfer plan for workers to move between Mobility and the core AT&T contract in District 6.
The FCC should not “perpetuate regulatory uncertainty” by deepening cuts to the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation programs, 44 House members said in a letter Wednesday to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski (http://xrl.us/bm2uhh). The letter, led by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., was similar to another letter this week by 19 senators (CD April 5 p2). “We are concerned that the FCC has set a stage of limited vision that has all but drawn out of the picture communications providers serving rural consumers,” the House members said. At minimum, the FCC should “allow the rural telecommunications industry sufficient time to adapt to the recent reforms before undertaking further substantial changes in the near future,” they said. National Telecommunications Cooperation President Shirley Bloomfield applauded the House and Senate letters, saying they “demonstrate the clear support in Congress for ensuring that small, community-based telecommunications providers can continue to attract capital, make sound investments in sustainable broadband networks, and offer advanced services that create jobs and bring needed economic development to our nation’s rural communities."
The FCC needs to move quickly to make more spectrum available for mobile broadband, Mobile Future Chairman Jonathan Spalter said in a letter to Ruth Milkman, who is leading the commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force. FCC data show “a spectrum crunch on the horizon as early as next year,” Spalter wrote (http://xrl.us/bm2uhb). “There is a sense of urgency among the mobile innovation community to ensure that we have enough spectrum to meet growing consumer demand, and the nation’s economic goals; particularly in a vibrant wireless ecosystem in which American consumers increasingly expect fast speeds and access to streaming video, audio, and millions of available apps."
The Florida Public Service Commission urged the FCC to streamline the Lifeline eligibility verification system by partnering with sister state agencies that offer assistance using Lifeline-qualifying programs. The FCC should continue to encourage public/private partnerships and non-profit sector initiatives to increase digital literacy, the PSC said in comments on Lifeline (http://xrl.us/bm2ufs). The implementation date of any rules eliminating Lifeline non-eligible telecom carrier resellers should be deferred to allow enough time for existing non-ETC resellers to obtain ETC designation, it said. If non-ETC resellers choose not to apply for or obtain ETC designation, ample time should be allowed to provide notice to their subscribers to allow them to change their provider to an ETC to maintain their Lifeline discount, the Florida commission said.
NTIA said the FCC should move quickly on initial follow-up steps mandated by the recently enacted spectrum bill toward launch of a nationwide first responder network. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling sent FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski a single-page letter (http://xrl.us/bm2udb). “The Department of Commerce and NTIA are working to implement the Act’s directives as expeditiously as possible,” he wrote. “Likewise, we encourage the Commission to work with dispatch to reallocate the D Block spectrum and prepare the 700 MHz spectrum license for grant to FirstNet as soon as possible.” NTIA will notify the commission “when FirstNet is prepared to accept the Commission’s grant of the 700 MHz license,” the letter said.
Harbinger Capital Partners CEO Phil Falcone said he’s considering seeking bankruptcy protection for LightSquared. “While no decision has yet been made, the rationale behind a voluntary filing would be to give us the necessary time to continue with our vision, build the network and protect the company from creditors who are more interested in a quick flip,” he said in a written statement Thursday. LightSquared awaits the FCC decision around whether its ancillary terrestrial component authority is to be revoked (CD April 2 p18). Moving toward bankruptcy is unlikely to change how the commission will rule on the proposal, said Tim Farrar, president of TMF Associates. The assumption is they're likely to sue the government for compensation if the FCC rules against them, he said in an interview. He said bankruptcy allows LightSquared “to reduce its spending levels and preserve its resources, which is what they'll need to do to fund what will be a lengthy litigation battle.” A big uncertainty remains around Falcone’s relationship with creditors, Farrar said: “I would assume that creditors would want to engineer a transfer [of control] … but that can be a lengthy process.” Pressure from creditors “may have animated Falcone to concede at this time a bankruptcy option he heretofore has publicly refused to put on the table as he contemplates possible regulatory alternatives and legal action,” Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeff Silva wrote investors. “We do not believe that LightSquared’s chances for regulatory recovery are good,” Silva said: As long as there’s a GPS interference issue with LightSquared’s L-band frequencies, “the value of the company’s spectrum asset will likely remain diminished.”
An FCC HD carriage exemption for small cable operators “has worked as intended,” the American Cable Association reported officials told front-office staffers of the Media Bureau, considering whether to renew viewability rules for TV stations guaranteed cable carriage (CD March 26 p5). NCTA figures show many smaller systems have stopped relying on the exemption that lets them not distribute must-carry stations in HD, the ACA said in a filing posted Wednesday to docket 98-120 (http://xrl.us/bm2uf2). “Despite the success of the HD exemption, a number of smaller cable systems continue to rely upon it, and these systems need an extension of the exemption for the exact same reasons that the Commission originally adopted it.” ACA said the NAB’s request that the exemption be narrowed so it expires once systems carry any HD programs “should be rejected because NAB presented no evidence or theory demonstrating that these systems would not be significantly burdened by carrying the must-carry signals in HD."