October 2009

FCC Floats Cash-For-TV-Spectrum Scheme

Blair Levin, head of the Federal Commission Commission's efforts to write a National Broadband Plan, met with leading television broadcasters in Washington to discuss the nation's urgent need for more spectrum for wireless broadband access to the Internet and the possibility of broadcasters' relinquishing most of their spectrum to help meet that demand. According to sources familiar with the October 8 meeting with the board of the Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV), Levin suggested broadcasters might want to consider returning their spectrum in exchange for a share in the billions of dollars that would come from the auction of the spectrum to the wireless industry. Broadcasting would retain just enough spectrum so that each station could provide a lifeline standard-definition service to the millions of TV viewers who still rely on over-the-air reception. Broadcasters could no longer offer over-the-air HD and second channels and mobile video would be off the table, but they could continue to provide a single channel of TV to every home in their markets as they do today — in full-blown HD via cable and satellite carriage and SD via the over-the-air lifeline service. There seems to be consensus among the broadcasters to hang on to the spectrum they have now and move ahead with plans on monetizing it further through multicasting and mobile video.

706 Joint Conference Says "Pick Me, Pick Me" for National Broadband Clearinghouse

The state members of the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advance Telecommunications Services filed comments on the creation of a broadband clearinghouse for easy access to broadband best practices. They strongly support a broadband clearinghouse and suggest the Federal Communications Commission. They note that the Joint Conference was convened in part to perform this clearinghouse function: "The activities of the Joint Conference will include monitoring the ongoing deployment of advanced services throughout the nation to determine where and what advanced services are being deployed and to identify a set of "Best Practices" that promote rapid deployment," reads the order creating the body. Recognizing both that: (1) the full Joint Conference would not be operational until some time after Chairman Genachowski and newly appointed Commission colleagues were nominated and confirmed, and (2) that the effort could provide useful information for the FCC in its efforts to create a National Broadband Plan (NBP), the State Members of the 706 Joint Conference, acting on the recommendation of the State Chair, initiated an project to create an interactive "best practices" webpage.

Barriers to Broadband Adoption

New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute focuses on older Americans and people with disabilities and four sectors -- health, energy, education, and government -- that stand to benefit greatly from more robust utilization of broadband but, for the reasons discussed herein, face a number of barriers to further adoption of broadband and broadband-enabled technologies. For senior citizens, a general lack of adequate education and training are key contributors to a relatively low broadband adoption rate; For people with disabilities, widespread negative perceptions regarding the accessibility of broadband impedes further adoption and use of this technology; In the telemedicine sector, a number of outdated legal and policy frameworks hinder more robust adoption and use of broadband-enabled telemedicine services by patients and healthcare providers; In the energy arena, the highly regulated and conservative nature of many energy utilities challenges the dynamic nature of broadband and the ecosystem of innovation that it fosters; In the education space, lack of targeted funding and inadequate training impede further adoption and usage of broadband and broadband-enabled educational tools in schools across the country; and For government entities, institutional inertia and a lack of cross-government collaboration regarding best practices has slowed the effective integration of broadband into many government processes.

First white space broadband deployment in Virginia

The nation's first wireless broadband network operating in unused TV channel "white spaces" is now live in an unlikely spot -- Patrick County, Virginia (population 20,000). Rep Rick Boucher (D-VA) chairs the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, and his office helped to arrange the trial rollout. The TDF Foundation built a small computer lab in Claudville back in September and turned to Spectrum Bridge, one of the companies it invests in, to set up a white spaces link to the center of town, where the signal would then be fed to traditional WiFi routers at the local school and the cafe. White spaces broadband has not been finalized by the FCC, however, so special permission was needed to do the trial project. Dell and Microsoft contributed equipment and software.

The Rise of Broadband Video and the Future of Digital Media

Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker spoke at the Silicon Flatirons Center October 12, noting that more than 161 million U.S. users watched 25 billion online videos in August 2009, 10.2 billion more than those viewed in January. Overall, the average viewer watched 582 minutes (9.7 hours) of video. The push of video content onto the Internet is welcomed by the FCC, she said, since it can "only increase the richness of the material available and therefore enhance the attractiveness of broadband use to consumers." But noted that the trend presents regulatory challenges: 1) digital video is subject to cheap and easy reproduction and distribution, so it is a challenge to create an environment that respects the rights of the members of the creative community; 2) video is one of the most bandwidth-consuming applications, so the National broadband Plan must include spectrum policy that provides sufficient speeds and quality of service for video services, 3) the proliferation of online video means parents will need information and tools to restrict access by their children to material that they deem inappropriate.

Governor Pawlenty recommends broadband stimulus applications

Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) has decided that the communication issued by a state agency to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) relative to the administration's funding priorities for federal broadband stimulus projects in Minnesota is not considered a "public document." According to a staff attorney in the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the sequestering of the state's recommendation document to the NTIA, and of the review process that generated the submittal to the federal agency, was directed by the Minnesota Department of Administration. The Department, headed by Commissioner Sheila Reger, a Pawlenty appointee, acts as a central services arm of government. Washington DC-based broadband and telecom attorney Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt of the Ghatt Law Group said, "At the outset, the state of Minnesota has to realize that others have elected to release their rankings. Given that it was never a secret and was quite "public" that NTIA sought the rankings from all of the states in the first place, it is unclear why the ultimate rankings would be considered "non public". It is also unclear whether Minnesota can keep the letter hidden for long."

More Details on FCC's Media Ownership Proceeding

To assist in structuring the Federal Communications Commission's 2010 quadrennial media ownership review process, the FCC's Media Bureau will hold workshops on November 2, 3, and 4 to discuss the scope and methodology of the proceeding and the analytical framework the Commission should use for conducting its review. The FCC will explore these issues during three half-day sessions with: 1) a panel of policy scholars, 2) a panel of public interest groups, and 3) a panel of broadcasters and media trade associations. The moderator of each workshop will invite the panelists to present their views on questions relating to the scope and analytical framework of the media ownership review process. The review includes: 1) the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule, 2) the radio/television cross-ownership rule, 3) the local television ownership rule, 4) the local radio ownership rule, and 5) the dual network rule

Marketers salivating over smartphone potential

The majority of people who participate on social networks do so from their PCs. Yet a growing number — many of whom can't afford a PC or would rather not use one — are using mobile devices to tell their friends where they are and what they're up to and for sharing pictures. Mobile users are an important part of the mix for behemoths Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. But many folks are migrating to a new crop of mobile-only social networks such as MocoSpace, Mig33 and Peperonity. MocoSpace has emerged as a favorite in the U.S., where it is available in 22 cities, including New York, Seattle and Los Angeles. It offers chat, instant messaging, photo- and video-sharing, and games. The number of people who use social networks from their smartphones skyrocketed 187%, to 18.3 million unique users, in July, compared with the same month a year earlier, says Nielsen. Social networking is among the fastest-growing activities on mobile devices, along with search and checking news, says Jon Stewart, Nielsen's research director for technology and search. With so many eyeballs increasingly fixated on mobile devices, opportunities for advertisers abound. Visiongain Research predicts mobile-social-network-related revenue will reach about $60 billion in 2012. Gobs of money is to be made from consumers buying virtual gifts when playing mobile games, for example, says Doug Bewsher, Mig33's chief marketing officer. A potentially fertile opportunity is with users of iPhones and Google Android-enabled devices, who have shown an affinity to view ads from large screens.

Congress escalates battle over radio royalties

Members of Congress, already bruised by the struggles over the health care overhaul, had better get ready for another bitter fight, this time over the future of the music business. Record companies and radio stations are battling over a legislative proposal, called the Performance Rights Act, that would require broadcasters to pay royalties to air recorded music. A showdown appears inevitable, possibly by year's end, after the Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the bill last week. The House Judiciary Committee approved a similar bill in May. That's the furthest advocates of the proposal have gotten after decades of attempts to change the law. If the bill passes, it could force stations to pay about $500 million a year — some estimates go as high as $1 billion. The actual amount would be determined by the federal Copyright Royalty Board. Prospects for a compromise look bleak.

FCC's International and Consumer Affairs Bureaus Get New Leadership

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski appointed Mindel De La Torre to be Chief of the International Bureau and Yul Kwon to be Deputy Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.

Since 1998, De La Torre has been the president of the consulting firm Telecommunications Management Group, Inc. (TMG). Prior to joining TMG, De La Torre was the deputy chief of the Telecommunications Division at the International Bureau, which she joined in December 1994. De La Torre also worked at the Department of Commerce -- for over four years at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and for three years in the General Counsel's office. She has been a member of various U.S. delegations to International Telecommunication Union conferences, such as World Radiocommunication Conferences, World Telecommunication Development Conferences, and Plenipotentiary Conferences. De La Torre has a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Texas. Having lived overseas most of her life, she speaks fluent Portuguese, French, and Spanish, and is proficient in Italian.

Kwon's diverse career spans across law, technology, business, and media. His government experience includes lecturing at the FBI Academy, drafting science and technology legislation as an aide to Senator Joseph Lieberman, and clerking for Judge Barrington D. Parker on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. In the business and technology sector, Kwon has held positions at McKinsey & Company, Google, and the Trium Group. He also practiced law as an attorney at Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis and at Venture Law Group. In 2006, Kwon became the first Asian American to win the CBS reality show, Survivor. His subsequent media activities include working as a special correspondent for CNN and as a co-host for the Discovery Channel. Mr. Kwon obtained his B.S. degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal.

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