Broadcasting&Cable

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."

The National Association of Broadcasters is praising a bipartisan effort by a handful of senators to make sure there is enough money to cover the costs of TV station moves after the spectrum auction and that stations can't be forced to meet a moving deadline for reasons beyond their control. But it would also impose a "penalty" on stations that did not meet the deadlines of a phased transition absent those extenuating circumstances. There is currently a $1.75 billion relocation fund, which is looking larger every time the Federal Communications Commission reduces the amount of spectrum it is reclaiming from broadcasters in the auction and thus increases the space in which to repack stations—the FCC is now in its third reduction.

But in case that does not prove sufficient, Sens Jerry Moran (R-KS), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tom Udall (D-NM), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have drafted a bill, the Viewer Protection Act of 2016, that would create a Viewer Protection Fund. Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) proposed a similar discussion draft last January, putting a figure of $1 billion on the fund. The senators did not have a figure in mind, at least not in the draft NAB supplied, but simply such sums as "are necessary to provide reimbursements for relocation costs to 1 or more broadcast television licensees" if the initial funds are exhausted.

The Federal Communications Commission is hoping the fourth time is the charm. The commission said that it will start stage four of the reverse portion of the broadcast incentive auction Dec 13, as planned, and when it is done that spectrum will be uniform across all markets and totally unimpaired.

The FCC is also goosing the process with shorter rounds to begin with (one hour instead of two) and will move more swiftly (starting Dec. 19) from two rounds to three rounds per day. In this round, the spectrum-clearing target is 84 MHz, down from 108 MHz in stage three, 114 MHz in stage two and 126 MHz in stage one as the FCC tries to find a clearing target/price point that broadcasters and wireless companies can agree on. The auction is designed for multiple rounds.

Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman says his company supports the principles of network neutrality, but the current fight is about "the jurisdictional hook the [Federal Communications Commission] used to get there." He also says zero rating is nothing new and likens it to Amazon’s free shipping. Verizon was a key player in the ongoing fight, having filed a court challenge to the initial, compromise, non-Title II approach to net neutrality rules that the FCC struck with other Internet service providers under then FCC chairman Julius Genachowski.

But Silliman pointed out that before the court decisions, Verizon had favored Congress weighing in and codifying the net neutrality principles to "put the whole Title II debate behind us." He suggested that the end game for some activists had always been Title II, so they fought a congressional solution. He said in hindsight—that being a new Donald Trump Administration almost certain to roll back Title II—that was probably a "bad political calculation." He said net neutrality principles are still important but can be protected in a "much smarter, much more efficient way" than the FCC's effort, which he characterized as trying to put square pegs into round holes and said applies broadly to issues of FCC jurisdiction, the sort of issues congressional action could have cleared up.

The Republican National Committee is getting in on President-elect Donald Trump's media bashing. The Trump campaign committee and the RNC have teamed up on a funding solicitation offering a Trump Inaugural Membership Card for a minimum donation of $35 toward paying off campaign expenses for the general election. The pitch is that "membership" will help provide funds to "fend off the media’s attacks, deliver our message to the voters, and help advance President Trump’s first 100 Days agenda." Trump has not let up on his disparaging comments about the media since being elected, taking aim at CNN, the New York Times and SNL, among others.