Broadcasting&Cable

Sen Dean Heller (R-NV) has called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to delay his planned Sept 29 vote on proposed new set-top box rules. Most of the Hill pushback on Chairman Wheeler's proposal has centered on copyright and app licensing issues, but Sen Heller is pulling out a different stop, saying his main sticking point is consumer privacy, that and the FCC process that produced the plan.

"I have concerns about how the FCC’s proposal requiring this approach will impact my constituents’ privacy and whether it is technology neutral," said Sen Heller in a letter to Chairman Wheeler. The FCC is said to be planning to require device manufacturers to have to comply with cable privacy regulations to get access to pay-TV user data, since the FCC does not have authority over device privacy, but that bifurcated privacy oversight does not appear to sit well with Sen Heller. "[T]his rule will result in [multichannel video programming distributors] handing over consumers’ personal information to third-party developers using their own platforms without addressing how that information can be utilized and what recourse consumers have if there is a data breach of third-party developers," said Sen Heller. "This is not technology neutral and not beneficial to consumers. That is why I request that you delay voting on this proposal until these privacy concerns are resolved." He also has problems with the process. "These issues also stem from the lack of transparency in the process leading up to the final proposal, the text of which has not been released to stakeholders, Congress, and the American public prior to a vote," he opined. There were calls from both sides of the aisle to publish the text before the vote, including in a further notice of proposed rulemaking, which would have had the effect of delaying the vote for weeks if not months.

Apparently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's apps-based set-top box/navigation device proposal is getting a major tweak to get programmers on board. While the proposal was to have had the FCC backstop an app licensing body to make sure agreements were reasonable and not anti-competitive, industry sources said the FCC will no longer have that explicit oversight role and, instead, would review the app standards process after a couple of years and step in then, if necessary.

For the Hollywood studios, having the FCC potentially change the terms of contracts is a nonstarter, as it was for various Hill Democrats, especially on the Justice committees that deal with copyright. The item is still in flux, apparently, but it was moving toward that major adjustment. Chairman Wheeler signaled two weeks ago there would be further stakeholder talks and that he was willing to tweak his proposal to address concerns about the licensing body and copyrights.

Sens Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) have introduced a bill to boost rural broadband in rural and tribal areas. The Broadband Connections for Rural Opportunities Program Act is meant to close the rural digital divide by providing new federal grants for high-speed broadband buildouts to supplement the money already available through the USDA's Rural Utilities Service. It would also double the RUS broadband program funding to $50 million.

Sens Capito and Gillibrand cited Federal Communications Commission stats saying that 40 percent of rural and tribal areas do not have access to broadband, but also suggested their bill was about competition, not just providing access where none existed. "When high-speed broadband is available, consumers often have only one choice for service and pay more for high-speed plans than consumers in some other advanced countries," they said in a joint release announcing the bill. Internet service providers have long argued that government funds should be targeted to areas without service first, not where government money underwrites competition to existing privacy investment and service.

The Open Debate Coalition said that ABC and CNN have agreed to consider the top questions submitted to its PresidentialOpenQuestions.com for the Oct 9 presidential town hall debate at Washington University in St. Louis (MO), the second of three scheduled presidential debates. ABC's Martha Raddatz and CNN's Anderson Cooper are co-moderating the town hall. The coalition said that the agreement came after discussions with ABC and CNN debate producers. The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is requiring moderators to ask questions based on input from the Internet.

"The commission was watching closely as the Open Debate Coalition tested out their innovative bottom-up question submission and voting platform in the primaries this year, and we were impressed with the results,” said Mike McCurry, co-chair of the CPD. “2016's presidential debate moderators will have a rich pool of voter-submitted questions they can draw on that carry greater weight because they are backed by votes from the American people." The CPD is also teaming with Twitter to boost social media involvement around the debates. Coalition members include Americans for Tax Reform, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, FreedomWorks, NARAL, the National Organization for Women, Color Of Change, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

Rep Jerry McNerney (D-CA) has introduced a bill to boost broadband access for veterans, saying they should not be left behind in the push for broadband adoption. Rep McNerney is a member of both the House Communications and Veterans Affairs subcommittees. The bill, the Improving Broadband Access for Veterans Act of 2016, would require the Federal Communications Commission to launch a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) into veterans' current access to broadband and what can be done to increase access.

Boosting that access could conceivably piggyback on current Universal Service Fund subsidies since Rep McNerney's office says the NOI would focus on low income veterans and those in rural areas. "Veterans, who fight tirelessly to protect our country, face many challenges when they return home. Not having internet access makes what is already an incredibly difficult transition process even harder,” said Rep McNerney. The congressman cited a Pew Research study that found that less than half of those living below the poverty have broadband access at home. He also cited National Telecommunications & Information Administration figures showing rural adoption lags urban.

The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is calling on the presidential candidates to talk about how to "reform" the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies during their debate Sept 26.

The White House came out strongly against the Require Evaluation Before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act of 2016 (HR 3438), joined by public interest group Public Knowledge. The House bill would require federal agencies to postpone the effective date of any high-impact rule until it had been reviewed by the courts. In other words, it would prevent a "high-impact" agency rule—like potentially the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet order—from being enacted until all avenues for legal challenge were exhausted or, if no legal challenges were filed, until a set amount of time had passed.

The bill, which was proposed by Rep Tom Marino (R-PA) and has 32 cosponsors, would define high impact as any bill that would have an annual economic cost of "not less than" one billion dollars. In its official "statement of administration policy" on the bill, the White House threatens a veto, saying the bill will "promote unwanted litigation, introduce harmful delay, and, in many cases, thwart implementation of statutory mandates and execution of duly enacted laws." The idea is that opponents of “high-impact” rules could delay implementation for years, perhaps, by taking them all the way to the Supreme Court. “If enacted, The REVIEW Act would undermine Congress’ intent for expert agencies to do their jobs, negate years of work by expert federal agencies, and waste billions in taxpayer resources by likely requiring that agency efforts to protect consumers and promote competition be delayed for years," said Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge.

AT&T says the Verizon/INCOMPAS compromise business data services (BDS) proposal is "a sleeves off the vest" giveaway to Verizon that will slash AT&T prices and prove a "death knell" to broadband investment and 5G fiber deployment. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler as recently as Sept 20 argued that the BDS revamp was needed for the competitive backhaul pricing needed for 5G and thus key to universal wireless coverage.

In a filing with the FCC, which is basing its BDS reform proposal on the "compromise," AT&T said that proposal is "comically one-sided" in favor of Verizon. It said that while Verizon is supposed to represent the incumbent exchange carriers (ILECs) in the proposal, it has been getting out of the wireline business and is "almost certainly" now a net purchaser of BDS, so its interests are more aligned with INCOMPAS, which represents competitive carriers, than with AT&T, which is the other major ILEC. It says Verizon charges more for BDS than AT&T and would continue to be able to do so, while AT&T's rates would be cut well below the market price, and the competitive carriers (CLECs) INCOMPAS represents would be able to seek deep discounts of AT&T's lower rate. Given that Verizon's BDS footprint is shrinking, says AT&T, the CLECs are willing to accept Verizon's higher rates in exchange for Verizon's support of forcing rate reductions on everyone outside Verizon's shrinking footprint. “It is no surprise that Verizon’s business continues to evolve and focus on new technologies and new services that customers want," said a Verizon spokesperson. "The balanced compromise we reached applies a common framework to competing services.”

As advertised, the Wi-Fi Alliance has released its final plan for testing the co-existence of LTE-U and Wi-Fi. The idea of the test is to show how the two technologies—the Wi-Fi cable broadband providers use for mobile connectivity and the LTE-U (U for "unlicensed") that cellular companies want to use to offer a similar service—can share unlicensed spectrum. "Delivering a cross-industry coexistence testing solution was an unprecedented and difficult task, and the outcome will help ensure the billions of people who rely on Wi-Fi every day will continue to benefit from the same great user experience they have enjoyed for more than 15 years," said Ed Figueroa, president of Wi-Fi Alliance. "Wi-Fi connectivity underpins our daily lives, and Wi-Fi Alliance has an obligation to represent the needs of Wi-Fi users worldwide."

LTE backers have been somewhat at odds with the forces of cable Wi-Fi over opening up spectrum currently used by cable providers for their primary Wi-Fi play to telcos looking to create their own broadband hot spots via LTE-U. Cable CTOs—including from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Cablevision—and computer company execs have told the FCC that they don't oppose LTE-U, but that it has so far "avoided the long-proven standards-setting process and would substantially degrade consumer Wi-Fi service across the country."

On the heels of a letter they joined on asking Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to release the text of his set-top plan, the bipartisan leadership of the House Judiciary Committee have signaled they are going to hold hearings on that plan. "We will be conducting oversight over this matter in the weeks and months to come," said Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Rep John Conyers (D-MI) in a joint statement out of the Judiciary committee. "Regardless of whether one supports or opposes the FCC’s efforts to create set-top box alternatives"—most Democrats and Republicans will say creating set-top competition is a good thing—"we have very serious concerns that this should not be accomplished through a compulsory copyright licensing process that may well exceed the FCC’s jurisdiction," said Reps Goodlatte and Conyers.

FCC press secretary Kim Hart said the item does not create a compulsory license. "The proposed text of the FCC’s revised set-top box proposal has not been given to Congress, but published reports indicate that the FCC is considering a licensing body to develop a one-size fits all standard apps license. There are many unresolved questions about this proposal, not the least of which is the fundamental question of whether the FCC even has the authority to create such a regime." Chairman Wheeler indicated he would not be making that plan public before the Sept. 29 vote and that he was still committed to that date.