John Eggerton

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's Emergency Alert System (EAS) revamp has been pulled from the Dec 15 meeting agenda. In fact, the FCC has dispensed with almost all of the items that had been on its Dec 15 meeting agenda for vote, either having already been voted or in the case of EAS and one other, removing them from the lineup. That will provide time for some goodbyes since it is expected to be the last meeting of Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel and potentially FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The current January meeting is scheduled for Jan 20, after which Chairman Wheeler would no longer be chairman and probably will no longer be at the commission. The EAS item according to the FCC, "improves alerting organization at the state and local levels, builds stronger community-based alerting exercise programs, and protects the EAS against accidental misuse and malicious intrusion." It was also planning to vote on an EAS further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on "proposals to leverage technological advances to improve alerting and additional measures to preserve EAS security."

Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly of the Federal Communications Commission says he shares many of the policy positions of President-elect Donald Trump and advised that while the FCC still has important functions—like spectrum management—how those are handled going forward is an open question. What is not is whether a Republican FCC, if Commissioner O'Rielly has anything do about it, will take a whack at the regulatory underbrush and the Title II-related actions—on broadband privacy and zero rating, for example—of the current administration.

Commissioner O'Rielly says the commission in a Trump Administration should focus on four main things: 1) remove regulatory underbrush, which he said were regulations that have been on the books "for a long time" but make no sense in the current marketplace; 2) undertake structural reforms of the commission itself, saying that structure has "broken down"; 3) undertake a pro-growth, pro-innovation agenda, for example antenna citing for wireless nets; and 4) undo bad and partisan policies, where he said he and his fellow Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai's input was not "even given the time of day."

A bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators has asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to extend the waiver the FCC granted to smaller cable operators in 2015 from the enhanced transparency requirements in the FCC's Open Internet Order. Those smaller operators have argued that the reporting—on network performance particularly—are an undue burden.

The FCC's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau granted the waiver in 2015 for systems under 100,000 subscribers and there were bills in the House and Senate to do the same, while upping the sub trigger to 250,000. But the bills did not make it into law, and the waiver expires Dec. 15 unless the FCC takes action. The legislators—including incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV)—urged the chairman to extend the waiver. "Without commission action, small businesses soon face regulatory uncertainty and will potentially be subject to burdensome requirements," they wrote. "Before the current extension expires, the Commission should extend the enhanced transparency exemption and begin the process of considering whether the definition of small business entities to which the exemption applies should be modified [i.e. expanded to match Congress' 250,000 or perhaps another figure]."

Broadband capital expenditures (capex) was down almost $1 billion—to $76 billion—in 2015 over the year before, according to USTelecom’s annual broadband investment report. Of that, wireless accounted for 43%, wireline 35% and cable at 22%. By contrast, from 1996 to 2015, cable's slice of the pie was 17%, wireless 33% and wireline 51%, so the landscape is changing as wireline's share of capex has declined and wireless and cable's have grown.

Internet service providers, including USTelecom, have argued that the imposition of Title II regulations would result in decreased investment, though Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has suggested that would not and has not been the case. USTelecom pointed to a Progressive Policy Institute report earlier in 2016 that showed sluggish growth and attributed it in part to regulatory uncertainty. The uncertainty now is just how long it will take either a Republican FCC or Congress to reverse the Title II decision. The report shows modest increases in capex between 2012 and 2014 before 2015's decline. Over the 20 years the report covers, broadband industry capex has totaled $1.5 trillion.

CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications have filed their merger (license transfer) applications with the Federal Communications Commission and their pre-merger notification to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department.

The merger is valued at $34 billion including debt. Along with the AT&T-Time Warner merger, it will be one of the first big media mergers to be vetted primarily under the Donald Trump Administration. Trump has talked about reducing regulations but also about blocking consolidation among media outlets. The FTC or DOJ—they divide those reviews but DOJ almost always handles media mergers—will vet the deal for antitrust issues and either give it a green light, a green light with conditions agreed to by the parties, or file suit to block it. The FCC will vet the deal for public interest issues that go beyond a straight antitrust review but will look at competition issues as well and consult with DOJ—they coordinate their reviews and stay in touch. As the companies pointed out, that is the first regulatory step toward the merger. Among the pro-consumer benefits the companies are touting are better service, more competition, more broadband deployment and investment.

In advance of President-elect Donald Trump's planned meeting with computer/tech company leaders Dec 14, music licensing organizations, unions and others whose livelihoods depend on getting compensated for their content, called on Trump to press upon those companies the importance of better preventing illegal access to music and paying a fair market price for legal play.

In a letter to the President-elect dated Dec. 13, the groups, which include SAG-AFTRA, ASCAP and BMI, gave Trump shout outs for his support of intellectual and private property rights and wanted to make sure he was on the same page in meetings with Google and Apple and others. "As partners, many in the technology and corporate community should be commended for doing their part to help value creators and their content," said the groups. "Some have developed systems to promote a healthy market for music and deter theft. However, much more needs to be done. Search engines, user upload content platforms, hosting companies, and domain name registrars and registries should follow others’ example to effectively stop theft and assure fair payment." They said that "Surely the world’s most sophisticated technology corporations," which would include the nine-plus participating in the Trump tech meeting, can do a better job of preventing illegal access and paying free-market prices for content.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) slammed Republicans Dec 12 for not voting on the re-confirmation of Federal Communications Commission Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel.

“Over the weekend, Senate Republicans turned their backs on consumers by failing to reconfirm FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel for a second term," Ranking Member Pallone said. The Senate exited without holding that vote, which was the decision of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). "Her integrity and advocacy has helped shape the Commission’s work over the past four years,” said Ranking Member Pallone. “Commissioner Rosenworcel has been a champion for hard-working Americans, including schoolchildren at risk of falling into the ‘homework gap.’ Her tireless efforts to protect consumers and lift up those in need exemplifies the type of first-rate public servant that Americans deserve.”

Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists released dueling reports, with different totals, on journalists in captivity, but the bottom line was the same: the numbers are on the rise.

According to Reporters Without Borders, there are 348 journalists currently being detained, held hostage, or missing worldwide, up 6% from this time in 2015. Turkey is a major offender, with the number of journalists detained there up 22%, even after quadrupling following the failed coup attempt there, according to the group. More than 100 journalists and "media contributors" are in Turkish jails, with 41 of those having a direct link between their incarceration and their activities as a journalist.

The group says 52 journalists are currently being held hostage, with ISIS holding 21 of those, and is calling for the creation of “Special Representative for the safety of journalists” within the UN (attached to the Secretary General's office)—saying "many UN resolutions on protecting journalists and combatting impunity for crimes against them have yet to produce satisfactory results."

The Better Business Bureau's ad review arm has advised Charter to stop using broadcast ads that make what it says are "unsubstantiated” claims about the impact of the AT&T-DirecTV merger on customer service.

"NAD [National Advertising Division] determined that the depicted conversation in the 'Transfer' commercial conveys the substantive message that DirecTV’s merger with AT&T has had a deleterious effect on the company’s ability to provide customer service. Because such a claim was not supported, NAD recommended that the advertisement be discontinued," it said. The fact that the ads are funny does not remove the obligation to support the claims they make, NAD concluded.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Sen Shelley Capito (R-WV) asked that broadband deployment be a "core component" of Trump's infrastructure plan. Sen Capito pointed out that as many as 74% of the residents of her state lack what she called "proper access" to broadband services.

“West Virginia needs to grow and diversify its overall economy, and Internet access is fundamental to that transition," she said. "It is essential that all communities have access to Internet platforms that will help them connect and compete on a global scale. Small, rural communities across my state lack this fundamental infrastructure – and lack access to vital opportunities as a result." Sen Capito suggested that deregulation and increased accountability were the way to go, including "reducing barriers to investment in infrastructure, streamlining the regulatory environment for wireless providers, encouraging public-private partnerships, and ensuring accountability on behalf of the taxpayer for federally funded projects."