BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014
NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC Continues E-rate Reboot to Meet Nation's Digital Learning Needs - press release
FCC Lifts E-rate Spending – Washington Reacts [links to web]
A Year in Review: Bringing Big Broadband to Better Education - Kevin Taglang analysis
Benton Foundation Applauds FCC's Big Broadband Boost for Education - editorial
FCC Increases Rural Broadband Speeds Under Connect America Fund - press release
FCC Seeks Input on Incentive Auction Procedures - press release
Broadcasters: Airwave auction contains message for FCC [links to web]
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Accommodates Title II Protestors
FCC Chief hopes to move 'quickly' on network neutrality [links to web]
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: Verizon Recognizes Title II No Big Bugaboo
See also: The Relationship Between Investment and Regulation - Verizon press release
What the FCC’s chairman told Verizon is a huge deal for network neutrality
AWS-3 Rolls On; FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Cites Success [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Let's get real -- We aren't talking about net neutrality - op-ed
Netflix denies accusation that it messed with Internet Service Provider's caching systems
The Relationship Between Investment and Regulation - Verizon press release
New Cable Subscribers Gravitating To Broadband-Only Service [links to web]
Technologies of Freedom, Revisited - Stuart Brotman op-ed [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
AT&T, Verizon Tax Breaks Fail to Produce Jobs
Pennsylvania senators go to bat for Comcast
Consumer groups ask California PUC to deny Comcast, Time Warner merger
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
How to Understand the Google-Apple Smartphone War - Walt Mossberg analysis [links to web]
US Cellular agrees to sell non-core towers for $159 Million [links to web]
AT&T's Donovan: We'll deploy carrier aggregation where we can, based on spectrum availability [links to web]
Integrating Wi-Fi and Cellular Raises Cellular Data Consumption [links to web]
TELEVISION
Congress Extends Television Joint Sales Agreement Compliance Deadline - public notice [links to web]
Tribune Keeping TV Spectrum Options Open [links to web]
New Cable Subscribers Gravitating To Broadband-Only Service [links to web]
CONTENT
Ghost of Antipiracy Bill SOPA Haunts New Copyright Push [links to web]
Court Weighs Facebook’s Right to Challenge Search Warrants on Users’ Behalf [links to web]
CHILDREN AND MEDIA
CPB and PBS Increase Commitment to Providing Educational Television and Digital Media Resources for Children, Parents and Educators - press release [links to web]
HEALTH
Report Finds Jump in Electronic Health Record Awareness [links to web]
Walgreens will let you see doctors on your phone [links to web]
JOURNALISM
Government-Newsroom Revolving Door Whacks CBS [links to web]
GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
Online surveillance and censorship are getting worse
Rep Amash attempted late bid to kill spy bill [links to web]
Small Internet provider sues US to lift 10-year-long gag order over customer records [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Supreme Court of Canada: Cops can search your phone upon arrest [links to web]
Canada competition watchdog probing Apple mobile carrier deals [links to web]
Explaining the Law Behind the Google News Shutdown in Spain [links to web]
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NEWS FROM THE FCC MEETING
FCC MODERNIZES E-RATE PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission approved further modernization of its E-rate program, the nation’s largest program supporting education technology. The FCC’s actions close the connectivity gap through continued efforts to lower the prices schools and libraries pay for connectivity, and by increasing the amount of support available for connections to the Internet, known as category one of the program. Based on a comprehensive record, the Order raises the spending cap on the E-rate program from the current $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion -- the first reset of the cap since it was initially set at $2.25 million in 1997, an amount that wasn’t adjusted for inflation until 2010. The Order also takes further steps to improve the overall administration of the program and maximizes the options schools and libraries have for purchasing affordable high-speed broadband connectivity by:
Suspending the requirement that applicants seek funding for large up front construction costs over several years, and allowing applicants to pay their share of one-time, up-front construction costs over multiple years
Equalizing the treatment of schools and libraries seeking support for dark fiber with those seeking support for lit fiber. Dark fiber leases allow the purchase of capacity without the service of transmitting data – lighting the fiber. Dark fiber can be an especially cost-effective option for smaller, rural districts
Allowing schools and libraries to build high-speed broadband facilities themselves when that is the most cost-effective option, subject to a number of safeguards
Providing an incentive for state support of last-mile broadband facilities through a match from E-rate of up to 10% of the cost of construction, with special consideration for Tribal schools
Requiring carriers that receive subsidies from the universal service program for rural areas – called the High Cost program – to offer high-speed broadband to schools and libraries located in geographic areas receiving those subsidies at rates reasonably comparable to similar services in urban areas
Increasing the certainty and predictability of funding for Wi-Fi by expanding the five-year budget approach to providing more equitable support for internal connections – known as category two – through funding year 2019
benton.org/headlines/fcc-continues-e-rate-reboot-meet-nations-digital-learning-needs | Federal Communications Commission | Washington Post | The Hill | Recode | LA Times | Multichannel News
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RECAPPING E-RATE REFORM
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Kevin Taglang]
[Commentary] On December 11, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission completed a comprehensive reform of the E-rate program, the nation’s largest program supporting education technology. Mandated by Congress in 1996 and implemented by the FCC in 1997, the E-rate provides discounted telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections to eligible schools and libraries, funded by the Universal Service Fund (USF). Over the past year and a half, the FCC has been reviewing the program to ensure that our nation’s students and communities have access to high-capacity broadband connections that support digital learning while making sure that the program remains fiscally responsible and fair to the consumers and businesses that pay into the USF. The real work of modernizing the E-rate reaches back to the earliest days of the Obama Administration.
http://benton.org/blog/year-review-bringing-big-broadband-better-education
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BENTON FOUNDATION APPLAUDS FCC'S BIG BROADBAND BOOST FOR EDUCATION
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Charles Benton, Amina Fazlullah]
[Commentary] Today, the Federal Communications Commission improved education for all our young people by providing the tools to connect every school and library to high-capacity broadband -- and Wi-Fi connectivity that delivers critical education tools right to students’ desks. This is a huge win for US education. By modernizing and funding the E-rate program for the 21st century, we will connect even the smallest, the poorest and the most rural classrooms and libraries to the world through the Internet. The actions the FCC takes today are exactly what’s needed to ensure our country’s competitiveness in the 21st century. Connecting all schools to high-speed broadband will help re-establish the US as a global leader in education -- setting an example for other countries that are struggling to improve their educational systems. Now all students will have the opportunity to develop the skills they need to succeed and prosper, and to realize the American Dream.
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FCC INCREASES RURAL BROADBAND SPEEDS UNDER CONNECT AMERICA FUND
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Broadband for rural consumers that is supported by the Connect America Fund must deliver the same speeds that 99 percent of urban Americans enjoy, the Federal Communications Commission said in a recently adopted Order. The FCC will now require companies receiving Connect America funding for fixed broadband to serve consumers with speeds of at least 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads. The Order makes a number of adjustments to 2011 reforms to accommodate the higher speed requirement and better target Connect America funds to efficiently expand broadband into rural areas that would not otherwise be served. These changes include:
Increasing the terms of support for price cap carriers from five years to six years, with an option for a seventh year in certain circumstances
Providing increased flexibility in the build-out requirement, while still ensuring that support recipients are reaching out to Americans that were previously unserved
Forbearing from certain universal service obligations in low-cost census blocks where price cap carriers are not eligible to receive Connect America support, as well as census blocks where the
carriers face competition
Requiring recipients that decline Connect America support in a state to continue to deliver voice service to high-cost census blocks until replaced through a competitive bidding process by
another subsidized carrier that is required to deliver voice and 10/1 broadband.
The Order also makes changes that will distribute traditional universal service support for small carriers more equitably and curb waste. Finally, the Order helps ensure that carriers adhere to voice and broadband service obligations by setting clear consequences for failing to meet these standards.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-increases-rural-broadband-speeds-under-connect-america-fund | Federal Communications Commission | telecompetitor | ARS TECHNICA | AT&T
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FCC SEEKS INPUT ON INCENTIVE AUCTION PROCEDURES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Public Notice seeking comment on detailed proposals for conducting the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction. The Public Notice initiates the process by which the FCC will establish the final procedures for the incentive auction. It includes specific detailed proposals seeking input on crucial auction design issues, implementing decisions the Commission made in its May 2014 Incentive Auction Report and Order. Comments are due on or before January 30, 2015, and reply comments are due on or before February 27, 2015.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-seeks-input-incentive-auction-procedures | Federal Communications Commission | fact sheet | TVNewsCheck
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FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER ACCOMMODATES TITLE II PROTESTORS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler accommodated protesters who initially interrupted the FCC's December public meeting to call for Title II reclassification of Internet access. At the beginning of the meeting, the proceedings were briefly interrupted as protesters called for Title II to be on the agenda (it was not), talked about the plethora of comments in the docket, and even briefly unfurled a sign behind Chairman Wheeler. The chairman asked one speaker to hold off for a minute as a protester was shouting, but he did not upbraid the protesters. In fact, he pointed out that there were a lot of students in the audience and said they had just seen "the First Amendment at work," adding: "This is what the country is all about."
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-accommodates-title-ii-protestors | Multichannel News | The Hill
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FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER: VERIZON RECOGNIZES TITLE II NO BIG BUGABOO
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said he agrees with Verizon's CFO Fran Shammo that reclassification of Internet access under Title II would affect not the company's investment in its network. Chairman Wheeler seemed to suggest that Title II was a workable approach both from an industry and a Wall Street perspective. He also said that the Communications Act "specifically says that wireless will be treated as a common carrier, but that the commission shall forbear from the vast majority of common carriage sections of Title II, except for 201, 202 and 208. So for 20 years all the wireless carriers have been living under Title II with appropriate forbearance, and have been able to raise and invest hundreds of billions of dollars and build a global network that is the envy of the world."
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-tom-wheeler-verizon-recognizes-title-ii-no-big-bugaboo | Multichannel News
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VERIZON, WHEELER AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
For weeks, Internet service providers have been warning regulators they'll stop growing their networks if they have to abide by strict network neutrality rules. But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler isn't buying that line. He said the telecom industry's been plenty willing to invest when it sees a market opportunity. He pointed to a massively successful auction of government airwaves that's raised more than $43 billion so far, nearly quadruple some of the sunniest predictions. He cited Wall Street analysts who say strong regulations would be, in Wheeler's words, "less of a bugaboo if it's done correctly." And, he said, infrastructure upgrades have continued without much problem when it comes to other services regulated under Title II of the Communications Act, the part of the law that regulators are considering applying to broadband companies. "For 20 years, Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, all the wireless carriers have been living under Title II with appropriate forbearance and have been able to raise and invest hundreds of billions of dollars and build a mobile network that is the envy of the world," said Chairman Wheeler. Here's the implicit question behind his remark: So what's the big problem, guys? "When speaking publicly about net neutrality, Mr. Wheeler has always tried to balance protecting an Open Internet with preserving carrier network incentives," wrote industry analyst Paul Gallant. "But today, he appeared to go farther by essentially saying, 'Not only should the net neutrality rules themselves have little effect on carrier investment levels, but neither should Title 2.'"
benton.org/headlines/what-fccs-chairman-told-verizon-huge-deal-network-neutrality | Washington Post
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INTERNET/BROADBAND
NETWORK NEUTRALITY LEGISLATION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Robert Atkinson]
[Commentary] There are many problems with the public conversation surrounding the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rulemaking: The public discourse struggles to rise above simple catch-phrases, popular antipathy against broadband providers clouds good decision-making and the increasing politicization of tech issues drives policy-by-ideology over rigorous analysis of available trade-offs. But one problem stands out among the rest -- we aren't actually arguing about net neutrality. Instead of fiddling with a variety of jurisdictional hooks, none of which are quite right for the job, the FCC should take a step back and allow this problem to be solved the right way -- through legislation, legislation that either addresses net neutrality directly or, at the very least, clarifies the scope of the FCC's jurisdiction. Let's not waste another year trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The FCC should take a time out on net neutrality, work on the technical issues that demand its expertise and allow an update to the Communications Act to resolve this issue once and for all.
[Atkinson is president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.]
benton.org/headlines/lets-get-real-we-arent-talking-about-net-neutrality | Hill, The
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NETFLIX DENIES ACCUSATION THAT IT MESSED WITH INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER'S CACHING SYSTEMS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Netflix denied accusations that its content delivery system is a "fast lane" that harms competitors and that it deliberately impeded caching systems used by Internet service providers. Netflix Global Public Policy Vice President Christopher Libertelli responded to Federal Communications Commission member Ajit Pai’s claims saying that Netflix's Open Connect program does not create an uneven playing field with Netflix getting priority over other content.
benton.org/headlines/netflix-denies-accusation-it-messed-internet-service-providers-caching-systems | Ars Technica
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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INVESTMENT AND REGULATION
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Fran Shammo]
[Commentary] Recently, a few news sites ran stories about comments I made at an investor conference in response to a question about how the threat of Title II regulation might impact Verizon’s capital investment. As Verizon has indicated on several occasions over the past few weeks, discussions about potential regulatory changes related to network neutrality have been going on for a decade, and we don't change our short-term view on investment based on rumors of what might or might not happen. But as we and other observers of the net neutrality debate have made abundantly clear, experience in other countries shows that over-regulation decreases network investment. If the US ends up with permanent regulations inflicting Title II's 1930s-era rules on broadband Internet access, the same thing will happen in the US and investment in broadband networks will go down.
[Fran Shammo is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Verizon]
benton.org/headlines/relationship-between-investment-and-regulation | Verizon | Recode
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OWNERSHIP
TAX BREAKS FOR TELEPHONE COMPANIES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
With Congress poised to extend a raft of tax breaks, consider this: One such break has helped AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. slash their recent tax bills by billions of dollars without leading to the intended increase in investment or jobs. The measure, known as “bonus depreciation,” lets companies offset their income with investments they have made more quickly. It was enacted in 2008 as part of the economic stimulus package with the goal of giving companies an incentive to build more factories or upgrade more equipment, creating jobs and giving a boost to sluggish economic growth in the process. But that isn’t how it has worked, at least at AT&T and Verizon, whose vast networks of towers and cables make them two of the country’s biggest investors in infrastructure. The companies have kept their capital spending relatively flat since the stimulus was adopted, and their employee count has dropped by more than 100,000 people, a fifth of their combined work forces. The outcome isn’t a matter of gaming the tax system. AT&T and Verizon appear to be using the benefit as intended, and both are plowing tens of billions of dollars into their networks. It is possible their spending would have been lower if they hadn’t had the extra tax incentive. But the results do raise questions about whether extending bonus depreciation is an effective way to spur growth.
benton.org/headlines/att-verizon-tax-breaks-fail-produce-jobs | Wall Street Journal
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PENNSYLVANIA SENATORS GO TO BAT FOR COMCAST
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Sens Bob Casey (D-PA) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) are urging regulators to approve Comcast's $45 billion merger proposal with Time Warner Cable. The two senators from Comcast's home state told the Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler that the proposed deal "will produce extensive benefits to the public in terms of jobs and services for low-income households." “The public should not have to wait for these benefits,” they wrote. “Accordingly, we urge you to approve the merger as soon as possible." The two senators added that they have “seen firsthand Comcast's record as an outstanding corporate citizen,” noting its support of nonprofit organizations and its Internet Essentials program, which provides low-cost Internet service to poor families.
benton.org/headlines/pennsylvania-senators-go-bat-comcast | Hill, The
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CONSUMER GROUPS ASK PUC TO DENY COMCAST, TIME WARNER MERGER
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Marc Lifsher]
A coalition of California consumer groups fighting Comcast’s acquisition of Time Warner Cable is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to oppose it. While the Federal Communications Commission clearly has authority to approve or deny the proposed merger, experts disagree whether regulators in California could prohibit the deal. Telecom lawyer Bill Nusbaum at the Utility Reform Network has argued that the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 shares power with the states to require cable and Internet service providers make broadband service widely available. "Our position is that the commission should reject it and send an advisory opinion to the FCC to reject it," Nusbaum said.
benton.org/headlines/consumer-groups-ask-puc-deny-comcast-time-warner-merger | Los Angeles Times
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
ONLINE SURVEILLANCE AND CENSORSHIP ARE GETTING WORSE
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: David Meyer]
Mass online surveillance and censorship of what people see on the web appear to be getting worse, according to the latest Web Index report. This trend, along with the paucity of network neutrality rules around the world, has led web inventor Tim Berners-Lee to call for the Internet to be made a basic human right.
benton.org/headlines/online-surveillance-and-censorship-are-getting-worse | GigaOm | Web Index | LA Times
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