September 2014

Clear Channel Renames Itself iHeartMedia, in an Embrace of the Digital

When it was introduced by Clear Channel Communications in 2008, the iHeartRadio app had a humble job as an online outlet for the radio giant’s 800-plus stations. Now iHeartRadio has become such a central part of Clear Channel’s efforts to remake itself as a multiplatform media company that “iHeart” has become the new identity of the entire operation.

Clear Channel -- by far the largest operator of radio stations in the United States -- will rename itself iHeartMedia, in recognition of what Robert W. Pittman, the company’s chief executive, says is how thoroughly the iHeartRadio franchise has become incorporated into virtually everything Clear Channel does.

Kaplan: World Is Watching Incentive Auction

The United States is a “cautionary tale” for television broadcasters around the world when it comes to spectrum and the desire of lawmakers and spectrum regulators to reclaim bandwidth, warned Rick Kaplan, the National Association of Broadcaster’s EVP, strategic planning. Kaplan’s comment reflected the concern of many US broadcasters and the industry association over the upcoming FCC incentive auction and repack. If the incentive auction is successful in the United States, governments and regulators from around the world will take notice and may implement similar measures, he said.

Streamlined Process for Resolving Requests for Review of Decisions by the Universal Service Administrative Company

The Federal Communications Commission is revising its procedure for resolving requests for review, requests for waiver, and petitions for reconsideration of Wireline Competition Bureau decisions related to actions taken by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) that are consistent with precedent.

Currently, the FCC resolves such matters in either a stand-alone order addressing a specific Request or as part of an order addressing a number of Requests involving the same underlying issue. For those matters that are consistent with FCC or Bureau precedent, the FCC typically issues shorter orders to accelerate their disposition. Effective immediately, the FCC will issue a Public Notice periodically, as necessary, disposing of pending matters that do not involve complicated and/or controversial issues, in a manner consistent with FCC and/or Bureau precedent.

Termination of Certain Proceedings as Dormant

The Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau terminates, as dormant, a number of proceedings.

FCC Extends Deadline in Special Access Proceeding

On December 11, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requiring providers and purchasers of special access and certain entities providing “best efforts” service to submit data and information for a comprehensive evaluation of the special access market. In the Special Access FNPRM, the FCC sought comment on possible changes to its rules for granting pricing flexibility for the special access services provided by incumbent local exchange carriers in price cap areas. The FCC invited interested parties to provide such comments after the FCC collected data for the market analysis to enable commenters to include analysis of such data in their comments.

On August 15, 2014, the FCC obtained Office of Management and Budget’s approval for the collection subject to changes. On September 15, 2014, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released an order amending the collection to reflect OMB’s approval and announced a December 15, 2014 deadline by which parties are required to submit data and information. Because collection of the data must be completed and made available for review before parties can comment on the remaining questions posed in the Special Access FNPRM, the Bureau extends the deadline for filing comments and reply comments. The new comment date is April 6, 2015, and the new reply comment date is May 18, 2015.

Republican group convinces 772,000 people to oppose “Internet regulation”

A Republican advocacy group called "American Commitment" said that 772,000 Americans have signed its petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to avoid "regulating the Internet" -- a reference to the agency's current net neutrality proceeding.

"Regulating the Internet has always been a solution in search of a problem," says the petition, which is addressed to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "By trying for a third time to regulate the Internet, the FCC is demonstrating that it is no longer acting in the interests of the American people. Instead of doing its real job -- providing more spectrum for wireless users or deregulating wireline telephone service—it is trying to move backward in time to 1930s-era phone regulation. If the FCC drags 2014 technology back into 1930s regulations, the Internet will suffer, and so will the American people. Do not regulate the Internet."

Google testing drones that could provide Internet access to remote lands

Google has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to conduct tests on drones that could eventually be used to deliver Internet access to remote areas.

"Google recently acquired Titan Aerospace, a firm that specializes in developing solar and electric unmanned aerial systems ('UAS') for high altitude, long endurance flights," Google wrote in a request that the FCC keep most testing details confidential. "These systems may eventually be used to provide Internet connections in remote areas or help monitor environmental damage, such as oil spills or deforestation. The STA [Special Temporary Authority] is needed for demonstration and testing of [REDACTED] in a carefully controlled environment."

Chairman Wheeler Speaks Out

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

He has been making some news over the past few weeks, outlining an agency agenda for ensuring broadband speeds keep up with what he says are the table stakes in the 21st century, taking aim at sports-blackout rules that prevent cable operators from importing games during home-team broadcast blackouts, and more. Chairman Wheeler has also been facing pushback on his network-neutrality proposal from Web activists, though he says such back and forth is the “beauty” of the Internet. He has also strongly defended the need to pre-empt state laws that limit municipal broadband networks.

Micey Dickerson: No paper Pushing at US Digital Service

Mikey Dickerson, the head of the US Digital Service, a newly formed White House office responsible for improving government technology projects, is putting the federal IT community on notice: Don’t expect any paper pushing from his office.

“Our primary work product is not memos and advisory statements and new processes and stuff like that. It’s actual working, functioning services,” Dickerson said. Dickerson, a former Google engineer, knows the fix-it mentality well, having taken the lead role in repairing the floundering HealthCare.gov. He said the US Digital Service, still in pilot mode at the Office of Management and Budget, will be equal parts early-warning detection center and rapid-response tech triage unit.

Not Just Silicon Valley: Feds Have a Gender Tech Gap, Too

Women make up about 44 percent of the federal information technology workforce, according to the Office of Personnel Management. But the percentage of women in IT jobs government-wide hovers at only about 30 percent, according to an analysis of OPM data by CEB, a consulting firm.

Women who work in the tech space in Washington aren’t exactly shocked that government -- which has struggled to recruit and hire technologists of all stripes -- hasn’t quite cracked the code of hiring a diverse tech workforce. "Those numbers certainly aren't surprising, because we can't be naive and think that the disparities that we see in Silicon Valley exist in one geographic region instead of applying more broadly to an entire industry and skill set,” says Laurenellen McCann, a civic innovation fellow at the New America Foundation.

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