August 4, 2014 (Paid Peering; Cellphone Unlocking; Diversity and Media Ownership)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2014
The agenda this week: http://benton.org/calendar/2014-08-03--P1W/
AGENDA
FCC Open Commission Meeting Agenda August 8 - public notice
INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC asked six more ISPs, content providers to reveal paid peering deals
A Gigabit Broadband Land Grab is Underway: Is it for Publicity or Subscribers?
Fast Lanes Saved the Internet - WSJ editorial
Can the AT&T-DirecTV merger end the Universal Service High-Cost Fund? - op-ed
Frontier Tries Out Prepaid Broadband [links to web]
Comcast revs up Internet speeds for customers in California, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas [links to web]
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Answering the Public's Call - White House press release
What the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act Means For You - Public Knowledge analysis [links to web]
Empowering Small Businesses - FCC press release
Many Apps Fail to Provide Information On Payment Dispute Mechanisms, Privacy - FTC press release
US Moves Closer to Formal Rules Barring In-Flight Cellphone Calls [links to web]
How T-Mobile’s Odyssey Could Still End in a Sprint Deal
Why an Iliad Purchase of T-Mobile Would Be an Easier Sell in DC
AT&T, Verizon Lead Wireless Industry’s TV Spending [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Black Caucus Wants Diversity Boilerplate in FCC-Vetted Mergers
Can the AT&T-DirecTV merger end the Universal Service High-Cost Fund? - op-ed
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Can Online Public Files Combat the Flood of Money in Elections? - Kevin Taglang analysis
EDUCATION
Schools Set to Adjust to Revamped E-Rate Policies
CONTENT
Apple $450 million e-book settlement wins court approval [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Senate bill strikes a balance between core intelligence needs and civil liberties - Washington Post editorial
To Be Where The Audience Is -- Report Of The Special Committee On The Future Of Shortwave Broadcasting - BBG press release [links to web]
POLICYMAKERS
House lawmakers formally rebuke leaders over phone ‘unlocking’ maneuver
COMPANY NEWS
Fox, Time Warner Prepare to Make Their Cases [links to web]
Time Warner Should Be Practicing Its Solo [links to web]
Tribune Publishing: A News Giant Going It Alone [links to web]
Apple’s $3 Billion Beats Purchase Now a Done Deal [links to web]
Sinclair’s Deal For Allbritton Closes [links to web]
Judge Waives Off Aereo's Emergency Motion About 'Bleeding to Death' [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
France to Probe Iliad
$3 a Month? The Discount Magic of Iliad, French Bidder for T-Mobile [links to web]
Austrian privacy campaigner files 'class action' suit against Facebook over privacy policy
Pro-Democracy Hackers Infiltrate Chinese TV Station [links to web]
Alibaba Is Investing Huge Sums in an Array of US Tech Companies [links to web]
Australia poised to reshape battered media sector [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Parks: Cloud DVR Sees Growing Interest, Legal Clarity [links to web]
AGENDA
FCC OPEN COMMISSION MEETING AGENDA AUGUST 8
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission will hold on August 8, 2014 an Open Meeting on:
Wireless communications. Streamlining and updating the rules governing the construction, marking, and lighting of antenna structures; and
Public safety & homeland security. The FCC will consider a Second Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that establishes deadlines for covered text providers to be capable of delivering texts to appropriate 911 public safety answering points, and seeks comment on proposals to improve text-to-911 service.
The FCC will consider the following subjects listed below as a consent agenda:
New Visalia Broadcasting, Former licensee of Station DKSLK(FM), Visalia (CA);
Nelson Multimedia for a Major Change to the Licensed Facilities of WSPY(AM), Geneva (IL);
Sunburst Media-Louisiana, Application for a Construction Permit for a Minor Change to a Licensed Facility, Station KXMG(FM), Jean Lafitte, Louisiana;
WDKA Acquisition Corporation, Licensee of Station WDKA(TV), Paducah (KY);
Colonial Radio Group, Applications for Minor Modification of Construction Permits, Application for License to Cover FM Translator Station W230BO, Olean (NY).
benton.org/node/198378 | Federal Communications Commission
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
FCC ASKED SIX MORE ISPS, CONTENT PROVIDERS TO REVEAL PAID PEERING DEALS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
The Federal Communications Commission investigation of how network interconnection problems affect the quality of Internet service began when the FCC obtained the paid peering deals Netflix signed with Comcast and Verizon. The FCC has asked another six Internet service providers and content providers for copies of similar agreements, a commission official said. The FCC will likely announce more details of its probe in the fall, but the public probably won't see any specific details of the contracts. The FCC official would not say which companies other than Netflix, Comcast, and Verizon got the requests, although Wheeler said in June that he would try to get information from the Google-owned YouTube. Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and other companies have direct connections with ISPs, the financial details of which have not been disclosed.
benton.org/node/198368 | Ars Technica | GigaOm
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A GIGABIT BROADBAND LAND GRAB IS UNDERWAY: IS IT FOR PUBLICITY OR SUBSCRIBERS?
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Bernie Arnason]
With so many gigabit announcements, it almost feels like a ‘land grab,’ particularly with AT&T. In a matter of months, AT&T is positioning itself as a major fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) gigabit broadband provider, at least in the context of the number of press releases they have issued. Time will tell whether those press releases actually translate into large numbers of AT&T FTTH subscribers.
benton.org/node/198352 | telecompetitor
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FAST LANES SAVED THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: L Gordon Crovitz]
[Commentary] "Net neutrality" has become a meaningless plaint of "Unfair!" Activist groups in Washington with benign names like Free Press and Public Knowledge want the Internet reclassified as a public utility, subject to the sort of regulations that micromanaged railroad monopolies in the late 19th century and the phone monopoly in the 20th. That would spell the end of permissionless innovation on the Internet. Bureaucrats would have authority to dictate how networks operate, which technologies can be used, and what prices can be charged. Regulators would approve or disapprove innovation in business terms as well as in technology. Broadband providers pledge in their terms of service with consumers that they will keep the Internet open. Antitrust and competition laws would apply if there were abuses.
benton.org/node/198434 | Wall Street Journal
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
ANSWERING THE PUBLIC'S CALL
[SOURCE: The White House, AUTHOR: Jeff Zients, Sen Patrick Leahy (D-VT)]
President Barack Obama will sign into law the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, and in doing so, will achieve a rare trifecta: a win for American consumers, a win for wireless competition, and an example of democracy at its best -- bipartisan congressional action in direct response to a call to action from the American people. As long as their phone is compatible and they have complied with their contracts, consumers will now be able to enjoy the freedom of taking their mobile service -- and a phone they already own -- to the carrier that best fits their needs. [Zients is Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy]
benton.org/node/198382 | White House, The | The Hill | GigaOm | FCC
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EMPOWERING SMALL BUSINESSES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Roger Sherman]
Federal Communications Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated a proposal to open new opportunities for small and growing businesses in the mobile marketplace. Although the proposal may sound technical – updating the Commission’s approach to small business participation in wireless auctions— the purpose is simple: To provide innovative, smaller companies the opportunity to build wireless businesses that can spur additional investment and bring more choices to consumers. Here’s one way: smaller companies may want to leverage business partnerships with larger companies through more flexible leasing arrangements to gain access to capital and cash flow, not to mention operational experience. Allowing structured entry into the wireless business make sense, especially given the billions of dollars it would take to build a new national network from scratch. With experience in operations and investment, smaller networks will have the prospect of progressing into more robust, facilities-based competition, which has been, and remains, a critical goal of the Commission. As promised in the Mobile Spectrum Holdings Report and Order, we now seek comment on whether and how we should restrict the ability of wireless companies to combine their bids during an auction. [Sherman is FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief]
benton.org/node/198380 | Federal Communications Commission | Washington Post | B&C | | Revere Digital | GigaOm | Multichannel News
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MANY APPS FAIL TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON PAYMENT DISPUTE MECHANISMS, PRIVACY
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
A new staff report issued by the Federal Trade Commission finds that many mobile apps for use in shopping do not provide consumers with important information -- such as how the apps manage payment-related disputes or handle consumer data -- prior to download. The report, “What’s the Deal? An FTC Study on Mobile Shopping Apps,” looked at some of the most popular apps used by consumers to comparison shop, collect and redeem deals and discounts, and pay in-store with their mobile devices. The report makes a number of recommendations to companies that provide mobile shopping apps to consumers:
Apps should make clear consumers’ rights and liability limits for unauthorized, fraudulent, or erroneous transactions.
Apps should more clearly describe how they collect, use, and share consumer data.
Companies should ensure that their data security promises translate into sound data security practices.
Beyond recommendations for companies, the report also urges consumers to closely examine the apps’ stated policies on issues like dispute resolution and liability limits, as well as privacy and data security and evaluate them in choosing which apps to use.
benton.org/node/198376 | Federal Trade Commission | B&C
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HOW T-MOBILE’S ODYSSEY COULD STILL END IN A SPRINT DEAL
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Ina Fried]
With T-Mobile adding customers and suddenly becoming the target of a surprise buyout offer, it’s easy to think the company might not need Sprint after all. But the truth is that few options other than a sale to rival Sprint will help T-Mobile thrive over the long term. Because AT&T and Verizon are so much bigger than T-Mobile, only a partner or owner with deep pockets could help it topple its powerful rivals.
benton.org/node/198344 | Revere Digital
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WHY AN ILIAD PURCHASE OF T-MOBILE WOULD BE AN EASIER SELL IN DC
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Amy Schatz, Dawn Chmielewski]
While it’s not clear if T-Mobile’s owner Deutsche Telekom is taking seriously a $15 billion bid from French telecommunications firm Iliad, one thing is certain: The deal would be a lot easier to get approved than any merger with Sprint. Antitrust regulators wouldn’t likely have many issues with an Iliad deal since the French company doesn’t have any US telecommunications assets and its purchase of T-Mobile wouldn’t consolidate the industry by lowering the number of large wireless carriers from four to three. The Federal Communications Commission would consider whether the deal is in the public interest as well as ensuring it falls within foreign ownership limits. The foreign ownership issue likely wouldn’t really be much of an sticking point, however, since T-Mobile’s current majority owner is German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. Transferring ownership to a French company wouldn’t really be a big deal -- unlike, say, an acquisition by a Chinese or Russian company with government ties.
benton.org/node/198390 | Revere Digital
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OWNERSHIP
BLACK CAUCUS WANTS DIVERSITY BOILERPLATE IN FCC-VETTED MERGERS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: ]
Rep Maxine Waters (D-CA) and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Federal Communications Commission to use its upcoming merger reviews to promote more diversity in the media business through a laundry list of enforceable conditions mandating diversity in virtually all aspects of company business. In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and 50 other legislators outlined a set of guidelines for the commission as it vets the proposed Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV and Sprint/T-Mobile mergers, saying those unions are an opportunity to "encourage" diversity.
benton.org/node/198392 | Multichannel News
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AT&T-DIRECTV AND USF
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Scott Wallsten]
[Commentary] The "public interest statement" AT&T filed with the Federal Communications Commission asserts that the merger with DirecTV will make it viable for the company to "bring new and better high-speed broadband options to millions of Americans, many of them in rural areas." The company estimates that this new broadband will cover 13 million "rural customer locations," 20 percent of whom currently have no terrestrial broadband service and 27 percent of whom have only one terrestrial provider. If AT&T's estimates are correct and it follows through on its commitment, the new network would put a significant dent in the number of households with no terrestrial broadband provider and increase competition for a significant number of other households who currently have only one. AT&T's plans should eliminate any remaining doubt as to whether the most basic justification of these subsidies needs a serious reassessment. In one fell swoop, this network would cut the number of households without terrestrial service by half and create terrestrial competition in areas where it does not exist today. Why should we continue to subsidize places that a private firm will serve without taxpayer subsidies?
[Wallsten is vice president for research and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute]
benton.org/node/198429 | Hill, The
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ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
CAN ONLINE PUBLIC FILES COMBAT THE FLOOD OF MONEY IN ELECTIONS?
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] This week the New York Times reported on an explosion of spending on political advertising on television. The explosion is “accelerating the rise of moneyed interests and wresting control from the candidates’ own efforts to reach voters,” Ashley Parker reported. On July 31, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation (represented by the Institute for Public Representation of Georgetown University Law Center) called on the Federal Communications Commission to extend to cable and satellite systems the requirement that their political files be posted on the FCC’s online database.
http://benton.org/node/198338
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EDUCATION
SCHOOLS SET TO ADJUST TO REVAMPED E-RATE POLICIES
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Sean Cavanagh]
The Federal Communications Commission’s recent makeover of the E-rate program is billed as a step toward transforming the fund from one focused on supporting 1990s-era telecommunication tools to one that accommodates 21st-century technologies. Now, school officials are trying to gauge what the new policies will mean for teachers, students, and their districts’ bottom lines. If the order works as planned, the application process for funding will become smoother, and the prices schools and libraries pay for services will become more transparent. Districts like the 16,000-student Red Clay Consolidated School District, in Delaware, are sifting through the order and evaluating where their E-rate funding will rise and fall as a result of FCC’s change of policy.
benton.org/node/198358 | Education Week | Affordable High-Speed Broadband To and Within Schools and Libraries | Maximizing E-rate Dollars | A Streamlined Process
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GOVERNMNT & COMMUNICATIONS
NSA REFORM BILL
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] If you are wondering why President Barack Obama might consider signing a bill that reduces the executive branch’s flexibility to conduct foreign intelligence operations, it is at least partly because the proposal does little to the statutory core of the National Security Agency’s work: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under so-called 702 authority, the NSA is able to collect the content of calls, e-mails and other communications for foreign intelligence purposes. There is still a lot the public does not know about the 702 program and the strength of the privacy protections that it contains, though it is statutorily required to be aimed at foreigners. But ambitious reformers should be careful. Subject to reasonable checks on abuse, the government should have wide authority to seek out bona fide foreign intelligence content. At the least, the fact that the bill does not overhaul the 702 program should not nullify its many other virtues for civil-liberties-minded lawmakers.
benton.org/node/198430 | Washington Post
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POLICYMAKERS
HOUSE LAWMAKERS FORMALLY REBUKE LEADERS OVER PHONE ‘UNLOCKING’ MANEUVER
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Two Republican lawmakers introduced a privileged resolution criticizing House leadership for changing the text of a bill on cellphone “unlocking” before it hit the floor earlier in 2014. Reps Walter Jones (R-NC) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced the measure to disapprove of the action from House leaders and the heads of the Judiciary Committee and direct them “to operate in a matter that maximizes transparency and public trust.” The action is a formal rebuke to House leaders for quietly slipping a controversial measure into the bill that allowed people to switch their cellphone from one network like AT&T or Verizon to another in February. The contested provision banned unlocking for “bulk resale,” which would have prevented people from setting up shop exclusively for unlocking phones and which supporters said was necessary to reduce the incentive for people to steal phones. In their resolution, the two lawmakers claimed that the change “fundamentally altered the substance of the underlying bill.”
benton.org/node/198345 | Hill, The
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STORIES FROM ABROAD
FRANCE TO PROBE MOBILE UPSTART
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sam Schechner]
The French government asked the country's antitrust authority to study whether Iliad, France's new cut-rate mobile-phone operator, is benefiting from a sweetheart roaming agreement, potentially giving ammunition to incumbent companies that have argued the deal is forcing them to cut jobs. France's independent competition watchdog said that it will give an opinion by the end of February on whether Iliad's Free Mobile, France's fourth mobile-phone operator, would gain a "lasting advantage" over competitors if it extends its roaming agreement with partly state-owned France Télécom SA, the country's largest mobile-phone operator by subscribers. The government also asked the authority to weigh in on whether France's mobile operators can pool resources to roll out shared wireless networks in rural areas, as well as whether the operators can share wireless networks in urban areas "without harming competition, jobs and investment."
benton.org/node/198340 | Wall Street Journal
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AUSTRIAN PRIVACY CAMPAIGNER FILES 'CLASS ACTION' SUIT AGAINST FACEBOOK OVER PRIVACY POLICY
[SOURCE: PCWorld, AUTHOR: Loek Essers]
Privacy campaign group Europe-v-Facebook is inviting Facebook users outside the United States and Canada to join a lawsuit against the company, which it alleges violates privacy laws. Europe-v-Facebook’s Max Schrems filed suit with the commercial court in Vienna, Austria, where he lives. The suit accuses Facebook of “basic or obvious violations of the law.” The alleged violations include the company’s privacy policy, its alleged participation in the Prism data collection program run by the US National Security Agency (NSA), its graph search; its tracking of users on third party websites, the use of “big data” systems that spy on users, and the company’s non-compliance with data access requests.
benton.org/node/198339 | PCWorld | Washington Post
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