December 2013

Committee Leaders Urge FCC to Suspend Work on “Fairness Doctrine 2.0”

House Commerce Committee leaders, along with every Republican member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, wrote to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler urging him to suspend the FCC’s efforts to conduct a field study that could lead to a revival of the Fairness Doctrine.

Members cited similar concerns with respect to the original Fairness Doctrine and committee leaders urged then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to remove the statute from the Code of Federal Regulations in 2011. The doctrine was eliminated in August 2011. “Given the widespread calls for the commission to respect the First Amendment and stay out of the editorial decisions of reporters and broadcasters, we were shocked to see that the FCC is putting itself back in the business of attempting to control the political speech of journalists. It is wrong, it is unconstitutional, and we urge you to put a stop to this most recent attempt to engage the FCC as the ‘news police,’” wrote the members. “The commission has no business probing the news media’s editorial judgment and expertise, nor does it have any business in prescribing a set diet of ‘critical information.’ These goals are plainly inappropriate and are at bottom an incursion by the government into the constitutionally protected operations of the professional news media.” The letter asks seven questions about the FCC’s study and requests an answer from the FCC by January 10, 2014.

US Cellular Eyes FCC for Cues on Upcoming Auctions

How the Federal Communications Commission manages the upcoming 600 MHz incentive auctions is on everyone’s mind, including LeRoy Carlson, CEO of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS). Carlson said TDS, which owns regional wireless carrier US Cellular, is interested in bidding in the upcoming AWS-3 auction, as well as the 600 MHz incentive auction in 2015. But Carlson also said a smaller operator like US Cellular has concerns that are unique to its size.

“We are very concerned that the FCC will make sure that there are two things that happen. Interoperability among all the AWS-3 bands that will be offered and interoperability among all the incentive auctions bands, those 600 bands,” Carlson said. “And then also small license area sizes. For a company like us, who is a regional company, we need to have license area sizes that will enable us to compete to overlay our existing footprint without having to buy licenses that extend far beyond our footprint size.” Possible interference with Dish’s nearby spectrum was also a concern. “So when you have uncertainty, you are less likely to be willing to bid for something like that. So we passed on that one,” Carlson said.

Stephenson: AT&T would accept limits to spectrum purchases during incentive auctions

AT&T is open to rules for the 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum incentive auctions that would limit how much spectrum any one carrier could acquire, but wants such rules applied evenly, according to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.

Stephenson said it was very wise that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler decided to push the start of the auctions back to mid-2015. But he said it is "still going to be a heroic effort to get this put together," because the auction involves incentivizing broadcasters and carriers to participate. "We would be supportive of rules around the auction that would limit the amount of spectrum any one company could garner," Stephenson said, as long as "everyone is bound" to that rule. The AT&T chief added that "the more restrictions you begin to put on the auction participants" the more it will drive down the revenue the auction will produce, and the more it will increase the risk of an auction failure.

NBCU Awards $1.2M In Grants To Nonprofits

The NBCUniversal Foundation, in partnership with the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, announced $1.2 million in grants for local nonprofit organizations in 10 markets. In its second year, the 21st Century Solutions grant program recognizes and supports innovative, high-impact initiatives in civic engagement, education, environment, jobs and economic empowerment, media arts and technology.

911 Location Accuracy Group Calls Out Wireless Industry

As more people transition to smartphones as their only communications device, pinpointing a 911 caller’s exact position can be challenging using GPS, particularly if the person is indoors or in an urban area where the signal may be weaker. While the wireless industry uses various technologies and procedures to ensure call location accuracy, a new advocacy group isn’t satisfied with the results and is pushing the Federal Communications Commission for stricter regulations.

The Find Me 911 Coalition is filing a petition with the FCC to urge the commission to adopt indoor accuracy requirements through the commission’s rulemaking process. Led by Jamie Barnett, former chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Find Me 911 claims that half of the 911 calls from cellphones in North Carolina over the past year did not include accurate location data to find a caller. In addition, the group recently released a report showing similar struggles in Texas based on FCC data.

History Will Forget The Obamacare Website's Bungled Launch

[Commentary] How many voters remember the Medicare Part D rollout? It's the nature of the news industry to focus on what's gone wrong as opposed to, say, what's working or what's moving in the direction of progress. It was true in 2006. It's true today. It will likely be true in the future.

That's not, however, how history gets written -- or how people think over the long haul. Democrats know this and are counting on the media's narrative being tossed. "The Dec. 1 deadline was important, but there won't be chapters in the history books written about Dec. 1," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Michael Czin. "I think it's important to look at this holistically." That's what you always say when you're losing on the particulars. Look at the big picture, the long arc of history! But this isn't just wishful thinking. Yes, HealthCare.gov may well have consequences for Democrats in 2014. But anything much beyond that is hyperbole. Americans and the media have already forgotten the supposedly "horrendous" rollout of Medicare Part D, and it happened just seven years ago, when most seasoned members of the Washington press corps were already in Washington. If the White House is alarmed by the outlandishness of the various "Obamacare is as bad as…." Comparisons -- Iraq, Katrina, the sinking of the Titanic, the Battle of Waterloo, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger -- it should be heartened by the fact that the media can't even remember the more recent and germane example. If the media can't remember 2006, will voters a decade from now, confronted with the possibility of some new government program, really stop and say, "Remember how that website didn't work right in 2013?"

House Majority Outlines FCC Oversight Hearing Focus

According to the majority staff memo for the Dec 12 Federal Communications Commission oversight hearing in the House Communications subcommittee, the top issues for Republicans are the broadcast incentive auctions, government spectrum policy, universal service, and the IP transition.

The subcommittee is scheduled to hear from all five commissioners. On the incentive auction front, the memo says the FCC has not answered a number of fundamental questions. Those include "broadcast station valuation," coordination with Canada and Mexico on border issues, and suggestions that the FCC may limit the aggregation of low-band spectrum. The memo also makes a point of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s move to delay the auction timetable, pointing out that “recently, Chairman Wheeler stated that although the broadcast incentive auction is among his top priorities, the Commission will aim for an auction in 2015, one year later than Chairman Genachowski’s planned timeline.” But the statute also gave the FCC until 2022 to complete the auction process, so the commission is not pushing up against a deadline. It does have to auction 65 MHz of spectrum by February 2015, with the first of two auctions coming in January 2014.

NimbleTV Brings TV Everywhere to New York, Without Permission From the TV Industrial Complex

Want to watch the TV you’ve already paid for, anywhere you want to watch it, whenever you want to watch it? You can’t. But NimbleTV says it can change that. The startup, which wants to attach itself to the TV Industrial Complex by delivering pay TV over the Web, says it is now open for business in the New York City area, following a year-long trial. Nimble’s consumer offering, and its underlying business, have been challenging to explain. However, to sum it up: NimbleTV offers portable TV, at a price, in a way that might appeal to some people who are ok with paying for TV, and will pay a premium for flexibility. But the setup seems pretty precarious for the time being.

Doctor On Demand App Gives $40 Medical Consultations From the Comfort of Your Smartphone

Today, it’s becoming expected that a smartphone should be able to do anything and everything useful, well beyond the gimmick of a few years ago, “There’s an app for that.” For instance, you should be able to open an app, make a video call to a doctor, show and describe what’s wrong with you, and get good advice. Of the various companies trying to do just that, one is launching called Doctor On Demand with $3 million in seed funding from investors including Venrock, Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Athena Health CEO Jonathan Bush.

Patriot Act author: Feinstein's bill ‘a joke’

Rep James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) doesn’t mince his words. He says the House and Senate Intelligence committees have become “cheerleaders” for the National Security Agency.

“Instead of putting the brakes on overreaches, they’ve been stepping on the gas,” he said of the committees, which are led by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). Rep Sensenbrenner -- who has offered legislation to rein in the NSA -- called rival legislation “a joke.” He said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper should be prosecuted for “lying” to Congress on the nation’s surveillance programs. The 18-term lawmaker claims Congress fell down on the job of overseeing the NSA. He said the failure in oversight occurred after Congress reauthorized the Patriot Act in 2006, just as he was stepping down as Judiciary Committee chairman.

Benton

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