Broadcasting&Cable

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.

The Free State Foundation, a free market think tank focused on communications and content rights issues, has told the Federal Communications Commission it needs to scrap its new privacy rules for Internet service provider data collection and sharing—or at least amend them to square with the Federal Trade Commission's approach to regulating edge provider collection and sharing. That came in comments in opposition from ISPs, advertisers and others, who asked the FCC to reconsider the new broadband privacy framework adopted by a Democratic-led FCC back in October over the dissents of both Republicans, which includes current FCC chair Ajit Pai.

In its comments, Free State said the framework was both beyond the FCC's legal authority and arbitrary. "The Commission's imposition of intrusive privacy rules on ISPs – but not on non-ISPs that also collect personal information and data, and much more of it – is contrary to the principle that laws should be applied equally to all, absent compelling reasons to the contrary," it said. The FCC rules require opt-in consent from consumers for collecting and sharing a broad category of "personally sensitive" information, including app use and web surfing histories, neither of which are opt-in for edge providers under FTC oversight.

Common Sense Kids Action has joined with educational groups to champion the restoration of Lifeline eligibility for nine companies. The eligibilities, granted in the waning days of the Federal Communications Commission under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler, were rescinded by the Wireless Competition Bureau and returned to "pending" status by new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, saying he wanted to boost prevention of waste, fraud and abuse before expanding the program. Chairman Pai pointed out that only one of the companies was even providing service yet. Common Sense et al. filed comments at the FCC in support of a petition by Free Press asking the commission to reconsider that decision.

CSN Chicago plans to air an original documentary about Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, in which the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in extra innings to win their first championship in 108 years. The documentary, Reign Men: The Story Behind Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, will air March 27 at 9:30 pm CT.

The White House was not taking issue with a Washington Post story saying the President planned to slash the funding for public broadcasting in his budget, expected to be released March 16. In fact, the White House press office was trumpeting the story in an e-mail March 14 issued by White House press secretary Sean Spicer. In the story—the White House included a link to the online version—the Post says: "Aides say that the president sees a new Washington emerging from the budget process, one that prioritizes the military and homeland security while slashing many other areas, including housing, foreign assistance, environmental programs, public broadcasting and research."

The American Cable Association has filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of 38 small and mid-sized Internet service providers asking the FCC to remove the overbuild condition in the Charter-Time Warner Cable merger.

"[W]e all have plans to invest in improved network technologies to offer greater performance or to expand our networks into unserved areas. Unfortunately, the merger condition requiring Charter to overbuild other providers has undermined those plans to provide improved services and reach new customers," the ISPs told the FCC. "We write to encourage the Commission to act in the best interests of millions of unserved and underserved customers by eliminating the overbuild condition." The letter went to all three commissioners, but ACA is definitely preaching to the choir when it comes to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and likely Commissioner Michael O'Rielly.

Mozilla (Firefox) is adding two cities to its Gigabit Community Fund. The fund is awarding $300,000 in grants to leverage gigabit fiber networks in Eugene (OR) and Lafayette (LA) the company said. The money will go to things like ultra-high definition in the classroom and VR field trips, taking a page or two from existing Mozilla gigabit cities Austin (TX), Chattanooga (TN), and Kansas City (MO). The fund is a collaboration with the National Science Foundation and US Ignite. The two cities were added based on various criteria, including widely deployed high-speed broadband and a "critical mass" of anchor institutions.

The Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Ajit Pai has struck a blow for cultural programming. The FCC has denied a complaint by Beasley Broadcast Group against a Tampa (FL) noncommercial low-power FM station for airing an all-music lineup when it promised a range of educational and cultural programming when it applied for the license. But the FCC did find it had aired one ad and the station's owner, Hispanic Arts, agreed in a consent decree to pay a $2,000 fine.

Beasley, which owns seven stations in Tampa, most of them all-music formats, alleged the licensee had violated the terms of its license and the FCC should review its status. In its construction permit for the station, WVVF-LP, filed in November 2013, Hispanic Arts had contended that its mission was "promoting the rich history and culture of Hispanics in the Tampa Bay area" through a variety of broadcast programs, including poetry, cultural programs, news and weather, live broadcasts of local events, community calendar, history, interviews politics, discussion, and music programming."

Republicans are going after the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy rules with both barrels. House Communications Subcommittee Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced her version of a Congressional Review Act resolution invalidating the FCC's Oct 27 order. That follows a similar CRA resolution introduced this week by Sen Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The CRA allows a simple majority of Congress members to invalidate recent regulations, in this case rules approved by the FCC back in October.

Like the Sen Flake resolution, HJRes 86 "provides congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to "Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunications Services." “The FCC’s decision last October to unilaterally swipe jurisdiction from the FTC by creating its own privacy rules for ISPs was troubling,"Rep Blackburn said March 9. "The FTC has been our government’s sole online privacy regulator for over twenty years. A dual regulatory approach will only serve to create confusion within the Internet eco-system and harm consumers. This is a bi-partisan issue, as Democrats have also voiced concerns about the potential for consumer harm resulting from the FCC’s overreach. We look forward to rolling back these anti-consumer rules and returning jurisdiction to the FTC.”

The State Privacy and Security Coalition has asked the Federal Communications Commission to grant the petitions of Internet service providers, advertising agencies and others to reconsider its broadband privacy rules. It is preaching to the choir when it comes to the Republican FCC majority, which voted recently to stay part of the rules implementation and signaled they wanted to revamp the rules, or deed broadband privacy authority back to the Federal Trade Commission.

In a filing with the FCC, the coalition, which identifies itself as representing 25 leading communications, technology, retail and media companies and six trade associations (business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, according to ProPublica), took particular aim at the breach notification deadlines in the order, which it says are "confusingly out of kilter" with state and Federal Trade Commission deadlines—the FTC deadlines are for edge provider data collection, rather than ISPs, which the FCC privacy rules apply to. The coalition says none of the 47 state breach notification laws require the seven-day notice to law enforcement and 30-day consumer notification deadlines. It says most states have no consumer notice deadline and those that do have at least 45 days.