Broadcasting&Cable

AT&T Fiber, the new brand for an fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) effort previously called AT&T GigaPower, said it has expanded its footprint to parts of 17 more metros. The latest cities to get access include Birmingham (AL), Charleston and Colombia (SC), Chicago (IL), Greensboro (NC), Huntsville and Mobile (AL), Houston (TX), Indianapolis (IN), Kansas City (MO), Little Rock (AR), Los Angeles (Jurupa, Los Angeles and Orange County) (CA), San Diego and Sacramento (CA), Memphis (TN), New Orleans (LA), and St. Louis (MO). In markets such as San Diego and New Orleans, AT&T Fiber is selling a symmetirical 1 Gbps service starting at $80 per month, with a 12-month commitment, rising to $119 per month after that introductory period. AT&T is also pitching TV bundles with DirecTV and U-verse TV.

The Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017 was introduced late March 23. The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), would make the position a presidential appointment, requiring confirmation by the Senate, and with a term limit of 10 years.

Currently it is an appointment of, and reports to, the Librarian of Congress and has no term limit. The Register of Copyrights oversees the Copyright Office, whose opinion that online video streamers aren't pay-TV providers when it comes to compulsory license eligibility was just deferred to by the Ninth Circuit in ruling against streamer FilmOn X. The duties of the registrar include "legal interpretation of the copyright law...promulgating copyright regulations; advising Congress and other government officials on domestic and international copyright policy and other intellectual property issues."

The Department of Justice has reached a settlement with DirecTV parent AT&T in which it agreed not to share "confidential, forward-looking information with competitors." The antitrust division filed suit Nov. 2 and alleged that DirecTV was the lead entity in "information exchanges" with competitors — Cox, Charter and AT&T — during negotiations for Time Warner Cable-owned SportsNet LA and its Dodgers games.

The agreement stipulates that "when DirecTV and AT&T negotiate with providers of video programming, including negotiations to telecast the Dodgers Channel, they will not illegally share competitively sensitive information with their rivals." There will also be mandatory monitoring — by the companies, not the government — of communications between programming execs and rival companies, as well as compliance programs and "antitrust training."

Warning that Senate Republicans are pushing for a vote on rolling back Federal Communications Commission broadband privacy regulations as early as March 23, Public Knowledge is trying to get supporters of the regulations to ask their Congresional members to push back. Apparently, a vote in the Senate is likely the week of March 20.

Sens Ed Markey (D-MA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) wrote President Donald Trump to register their opposition to defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “Any funding cuts to the CPB could create a content deficit where the public no longer has access to enriching educational, civic, and entertainment shows for all Americans, regardless of ethnic, racial or socio-economic background,” they wrote. “With its near universal footprint, CPB provides virtually all Americans with access to this educational content and top-caliber local, regional, and national news. Approximately 99% of all Americans can enjoy this public media, regardless of how much money they earn or where they live.” They made a point of supporting independent sources of news. They pledged to oppose any attempt to decrease funding, much less eliminate it.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will address the American Cable Association's annual policy summit in Washington (DC). Chairman Pai will speak on the morning of March 30, before the attendees fan out to the FCC and Hill to carry their message of keeping the needs of smaller and mid-sized operators top of mind.

The Competitive Carriers Association says the Federal Communications Commission has plenty of reason for undoing the October 2016 broadband privacy order, which Internet service providers, advertisers, congressional Republicans and others are pushing for. In reply comments this week on petitions for reconsideration and those opposing them, CCA said those opposing the rule rollback rely on arguments that "deny the reality of the broadband marketplace" and either "ignore or minimize" the authority the FCC will still have over privacy after the order is dispensed with. One of those realities, CCA says, is that the order is uniquely burdensome on smaller providers, who get "very limited relief" from the rules, and only those with 100,000 subs or fewer, which they argue is too narrow a definition.

The FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai in a separate proceeding expanded the carve-out from Open Internet enhanced transparency rules from systems with 100,000 subs or fewer to 250,000 or fewer to accommodate smaller carriers. CCA applauded the Pai FCC's vote to stay the data-security provisions of the broadband privacy order, saying it prevented them "from investing substantial and potentially unnecessary resources towards compliance."

Silicon Valley giant Oracle has asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to rethink the FCC's broadband privacy framework, saying former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's characterization of Internet service providers as gatekeepers was off the mark and to "repudiate" what it said was the Wheeler FCC's policies "favoring one technology sub-sector over all others." That came in a letter to Chairman Pai asking the FCC not only to rethink the broadband privacy rules but to reclassify internet access as an information service to "eliminate unnecessary burdens on, and competitive imbalances for, ISPs while still preserving the free and open Internet."

The commission is currently collecting comments on a petition by ISPs, advertisers and others to rethink the broadband privacy rules, passed by a politically divided FCC last October with Pai and fellow Republican Michael O’Rielly dissenting. The company praised Chairman Pai for the FCC's vote to stay implementation of the data privacy portion of the broadband privacy rules as well.

Apparently, 21st Century Fox, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, is weighing options to help thwart a potential takeover of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Fox is deliberating over possible choices after having been approached by several parties, which are interested in acquiring Tribune directly or as part of a consortium, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. One of the parties that has talked with Fox is activist investor Starboard Value LP, which owned a 4.4 percent stake in Tribune as of March 15.

While Sinclair recently approached Tribune about a possible merger, the companies aren’t close to a deal, other people familiar with the matter said. Nexstar Media Group is also weighing a bid, although it hasn’t hired a financial adviser yet, the people said. Nexstar has a history of laying in wait for a potential deal, striking an agreement to acquire Media General in 2015 only after Media General had announced plans to merge with Meredith Corp. While some of the parties eyeing Tribune are interested in teaming up with Fox for a bid, Fox doesn’t want to acquire the broadcaster, the people said. Murdoch’s company may ultimately decide not to intervene at all, apparently. A combination of Tribune and Sinclair, two of the country’s biggest TV station owners, would give Sinclair control of 28 percent of the Fox-affiliated channels that Murdoch’s company doesn’t own directly, the people said. That would give Sinclair a stronger negotiating hand in future talks with Fox about how to split fees from cable providers, the people said.

House Commerce Committee Democrats have introduced a quintet of tech-related, particularly broadband-related, bills that would, among other things, help displaced workers get broadband for re-training, address the "homework gap," better target broadband subsidies, and boost tribal access. The 21st Century Worker Opportunity Act by Rep Debbie Dingell (D-MI) would give workers "displaced by automation" a credit toward broadband service for job retraining and distance learning; The Innovation Corps Act of 2017 by Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) would provide grants for that retraining and forgive a portion of debt of recent grads who would help with that retraining; The Wi-Fi Capable Mobile Devices Act by Rep Peter Welch (D-VT) would allow low-income students to use a parent's Lifeline connection for homework by accessing it through a Wi-Fi connection using unlicensed spectrum; The Rural Wireless Act by Rep Dave Loebsack (D-IA) would require the Federal Communications Commission to use "more reliable" data when determining where to spend on increased deployment; and The Tribal Digital Access Act by Rep Raul Ruiz (D-CA) would add "Indian Country" to the definition of areas eligible for Universal Service Fund Lifeline support. It remains to be seen how far the bills get in a Congress controlled by Republicans with their own ideas about how to deploy broadband and spend federal subsidy dollars.