January 2010

FCC Seeks Info on Wireless ETFs

Federal Communications Commission Consumer Bureau Chief Joel Gurin and Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman sent letters to AT&T, Google, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless to gather facts and data on the consumer experience with wireless early termination fees.

This inquiry follows last week's launch of the FCC's Consumer Task Force, which was established to promote cross-agency collaboration on the Commission's consumer agenda. In the letters, the FCC says it recognizes companies "may" have "various rationales" for the fees but says as an issue of transparency and consumer information, the commission wants to get the same set of information from each company on how they inform their customers about the fees.

"These fees are substantial (and in some cases are increasing) and have an important impact on consumers' ability to switch carriers," wrote Joel Gurin, chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Ruth Milkman, chief of the Wireless Bureau. " We therefore believe it is essential that consumers fully understand what they are signing up for-both in the short term and over the life of the contract-when they accept a service plan with an early termination fee." CTIA, the wireless association, said it agreed with the FCC that transparency and disclosure were keys, as was understanding what was in contracts.

The FCC requests responses by February 23, 2010.

NBCU Promises To Invest More In NBC

NBC Universal Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin said, "We probably took too much out of the broadcast TV business. We drained away a little too much to invest in the businesses we thought were more robust.... About 5% of our profits come from NBC but 95% of the perception about us comes from NBC. I am consistently amazed at how much the press covers broadcast, even though it has less influence on the industry than cable." Putting too many eggs into its cable basket had another downside, and that lay in its program development effort for NBC, Gaspin conceded. "You want the best producers and talent to work for you. You want the community to support you and help you to succeed," he said. "If the creative community feels we are all in it together, better projects will flow your way."

FCC's Copps, CPB Board discuss future of pubcasting spectrum

Will public broadcasters someday be made to give up their portion of the spectrum? That concern surfaced during a wide-ranging discussion on the future of broadband at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Corporation board meeting.

Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps visited the board to talk about the national broadband plan. One idea being floated is compensation for pubcasters that voluntarily turn over some of their spectrum to support the nation's growing appetite for broadband. CPB Board member Beth Courtney expressed concern that financially struggling stations may feel compelled to do so for monetary reasons. Copps said such issues would need to be taken into consideration before any decisions are made. The priority with any recommendations, he added, "is first do no harm."

Copps at State of the Net

Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net Conference, Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps warned that simply because the US has generally met its infrastructure challenges before that it will rise to the occasion concerning broadband.

"[W]ouldn't it be an awful irony if we short-change the present opportunity? If this liberating, dynamic technology that can make so many things better, ends by creating more and even wider divides in this country going forward than we have had in the past? If the Internet, rather than opening doors of opportunity for all, becomes yet another province controlled by, and serving primarily, the elite and affluent while the rest fall even farther behind? If, instead of closing the divides-digital and otherwise-that this technology can so clearly help us close, we end up instead with more and wider divides between us?"

He said the US must no longer tolerate digital divides and must continue to maintain an open Internet.

Baker at State of the Net

Speaking to the Congressional Internet Caucus' State of the Net Conference, Federal Communications Commission member Meredith Baker said she's "found that there is no agreed definition of 'net neutrality' and different people often end up talking past one another because they don't have a shared concept of what we mean by "net neutrality." There seems to be broad consensus that networks must be managed to control spam and prevent unlawful content, but there is not as much agreement as I would like to see about the role of network operators in protecting intellectual property on the Internet. There is broad agreement that consumers should be empowered to control their Internet experience and the benefit to consumers should be the focus of any rules that we may adopt. And perhaps most surprisingly to me, while the most extreme net neutrality advocates want to see a network of heavily regulated dumb pipes where innovation is isolated to the edge, many recognize that quality of service can be advantageous, even necessary, for consumers. Even though some advocates fear theoretical abuses, they concede that the Internet experience today wouldn't be what it is without network management by our network operators. And I think a particularly promising area of potential consensus is transparency. To me, transparency is what the Open Internet is all about. Done right, transparency rules could obviate the need for other regulations of network management altogether by empowering consumers with information to make more informed choices about broadband."

FCC Forum to Address Emergency Response Interoperability Center

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) will hold a public forum to discuss the creation of an emergency response interoperability center for public safety broadband communications.

The Bureau is holding this public forum in response to public comments the Commission received as part of the National Broadband Plan proceedings which identified the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation among public safety entities to achieve broadband interoperability and operability. The forum will examine ways in which this could be achieved, including the creation of an emergency response interoperability center to develop common standards and to provide interoperability and operating procedures for the public safety licensee authorized to construct, operate and use the nationwide wireless broadband network. The forum will solicit ideas and comments from interested parties on these topics. Discussions will focus on how the interoperability center should be structured, what its role should be and how it can accomplish critical tasks such as establishing a public safety interoperability profile, interoperability standards, authentication, encryption, roaming, priority access, application uses and interconnectivity. The forum will also focus on the role an emergency response interoperability center would play in establishing a national framework for gateway functionality and interface capabilities, as well as a national framework for interconnectivity and compatibility of user networks.

NOTE: THIS MEETING HAS BEEN POSTPONED

See http://www.fcc.gov/020910-postpone-forum.pdf

FCC Forum to Address Emergency Response Interoperability Center

Federal Communications Commission
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m

For additional information about the meeting, please contact:
Susan McLean at (202) 418-7868 or susan.mclean@fcc.gov
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295971A1.doc

Representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Public Safety Communications Research Program, and the Bureau will make brief opening remarks. The floor will then be open to the audience for questions and comments. Attendees who would like to speak will be given no more than three minutes to ask questions and/or make comments. Those who are interested in speaking at the forum must notify Susan McLean, PSHSB Outreach Coordinator, at Susan.McLean@fcc.gov no later than noon on Tuesday, February 9. Due to the limited meeting time, speakers will be given time to speak on a first come, first served basis. All information gathered in connection with this forum, whether submitted in person or over the Internet, will be made part of the record in the National Broadband Plan proceeding, GN Docket No. 09-51.

The forum will solicit ideas and comments from interested parties on these topics. Discussions will focus on how the interoperability center should be structured, what its role should be and how it can accomplish critical tasks such as establishing a public safety interoperability profile, interoperability standards, authentication, encryption, roaming, priority access, application uses and interconnectivity. The forum will also focus on the role an emergency response interoperability center would play in establishing a national framework for gateway functionality and interface capabilities, as well as a national framework for interconnectivity and compatibility of user networks.

The forum will also address how an interoperability center could help in resolving interoperability-related disputes between public safety entities, establishing standards for commercial providers to expand public safety's access to broadband services across the nation, and ensuring that grant funds are utilized efficiently.

The forum will be open to the public; admittance however will be limited to the seating available. Those individuals who are interested in attending the forum may pre-register on-line at http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/event-registration.html. Those who pre-register will be asked to provide their name, title, organization affiliation, and contact information. Individuals may also contact Deandrea Wilson at 202-418-0703 regarding pre-registration. The deadline for pre-registration is Monday, February 8, 2010.

Read more about POSTPONED: FCC Forum to Address Emergency Response Interoperability Center

Satellite Companies Sue Massachusetts Over Satellite Tax

DISH and DirecTV are filing suit today in Massachusetts Superior Court against the state of Massachusetts over its recent decision to levy a 5% state sales tax on satellite service.

They argue the tax is discriminatory because no similar tax is levied on cable. "The lower sales tax imposed on cable subscribers serves only the parochial economic interests of those businesses and deprives the public of sales tax revenues." DISH and DirecTV argue that that 5% difference could be enough to persuade the 275,000 satellite subs in the state to switch to cable, which already claims 1.9 million. It also points out that the state is forgoing another $80 million in revenue that it could use in the current economic crisis.

CBS Stands Behind Acceptance Of Focus On Family Spot

CBS Tuesday (Jan. 26) stood behind its decision to take a Super Bowl ad from Focus on the Family that has drawn fire from reproductive choice organizations.

The network said it does not reject advocacy ads out of hand, and added that it would consider "responsibly produced ads from all groups" for the "few" remaining spots in the broadcast. "We have for some time moderated our approach to advocacy submissions after it became apparent that our stance did not reflect public sentiment or industry norms on the issue," CBS said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. "In fact, most media outlets have accepted advocacy ads for some time. At CBS, our standards and practices process continues to adhere to a process that ensures all ads -- on all sides of an issue -- are appropriate for air. "We will continue to consider responsibly produced ads from all groups for the few remaining spots in Super Bowl XLIV," the network said. That came in response to the announcement that the Women's Media Center, National Organization For Women and more than two dozen other groups have launched a campaign to pressure CBS into pulling a Super Bowl "pro-life" ad bought by Focus on the Family. That campaign includes a letter it delivered to CBS today, according to a spokeswoman, and e-mails its members are sending today to CBS, the NFL, and advertisers in the game.

YouTube Hails State of the Union 'Milestone,' Citizens To Ask Obama Questions

YouTube on Wednesday will broadcast the State of the Union address on Citizentube and unveil a Google Moderator series that gives people the opportunity to submit questions to President Barack Obama.

People will have the ability to submit questions and vote on their favorites. Next week, YouTube will bring some of the top-voted questions to the president in a YouTube interview that will stream live from the White House on Citizentube. A YouTube representative from the News and Politics team will moderate the interview. "With this opportunity, everyday citizens will have the same type of access once only reserved for journalists," says Steve Grove, head of News and Politics at YouTube. "It's a new milestone for the State of the Union speech and demonstrates the way that platforms like YouTube can be used to increase transparency in government and access to world leaders."

Benton

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