May 2015

Broadband industry officials say they’re baffled by federal guidance on privacy restrictions they must follow under forthcoming network neutrality rules, calling a recent government missive “stunningly unhelpful” and suggesting it was designed to combat legal challenges to the sweeping regulations. The Federal Communications Commission notice -- an advisory issued by the agency’s Enforcement Bureau -- addresses privacy rules that broadband providers will be subject to when the net neutrality order takes effect on June 12.

The agency contends that the advisory was aimed at explaining what companies should do in the interim period before they have formal rules to follow. But some industry representatives say it seems to create a line in the sand -- without saying where that line lies. “I’m hesitating because we just found it stunningly unhelpful,” said one telecommunications lawyer who represents a client opposed to the net neutrality order. “The main directive of that notice said that providers should act in good faith and observe the core tenants of privacy policy,” the lawyer said. “And, you know, they’re sort of oblivious to the fact that for years now there’s been this ongoing debate and discussion in Washington and throughout the country on what does privacy mean, what are the core tenants of privacy. And to come out and say, ‘well just do that,’ it’s just laughable.”

Charter Communications had more than the proposed Time Warner Cable deal on its mind, urging the Federal Communications Commission to make plenty of low-band spectrum available in the broadcast incentive forward auction to competitors to AT&T and Verizon. The FCC has proposed reserving 30 MHz of spectrum in the auction for competitive carriers, but Charter says it should be 40 MHz, which would allow for two potential competitors--20 MHz is needed for each of those. Charter agrees that the FCC should put some of the best "category 1" spectrum -- the least impaired by potential interference from TV stations repacked in nearby spectrum -- in the reserve, but also argues the FCC should include some of the second-best, rather than have no reserve where there are no essentially unencumbered (category 1) licenses.

"The Commission proposes to place Category 1 licenses (i.e., licenses with impairments that affect zero to 15 percent of the population) in the reserve, but not to place any Category 2 licenses (i.e., licenses with impairments that affect greater than 15 percent but less than or equal to 50 percent of the population) in the reserve," Charter said in a letter to the FCC about the upcoming incentive auction. "This proposal would effectively eliminate the reserve and foreclose bidding by competitive carriers in areas where there are no Category 1 licenses -- undermining the commission’s goal of using the reserve to advance competition and investment.Therefore, Charter urges the Commission to instead place the least impaired Category 2 licenses in the reserve in areas where there are no Category1 licenses rather than eliminating the reserve."

Charter Communications plans to soon begin offering the Los Angeles Dodgers TV channel, SportsNet LA, in Southern California, breaking the year-long impasse that has prevented thousands of baseball fans from watching their favorite team on TV. "We are going to get the Dodgers on," Charter Communications Chief Executive Tom Rutledge said. "We want the Dodgers on every outlet and we are committed to making that happen," Rutledge said. Rutledge's company announced its $56.7-billion takeover of Time Warner Cable, which has been the only major distributor in Southern California to carry SportsNet LA since it launched at the start of the 2014 baseball season. For now, Rutledge only has control over his company's decisions, and Charter must wait until after the merger is approved to make more sweeping changes. But the move is significant. Until now, Charter has been one of several pay-TV companies that has refused to carry SportsNet LA, which is owned by the Dodgers. The move does not guarantee that DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse, Cox Communications, Dish Network or Verizon will begin offering the channel. But Charter's switch could put pressure on the other providers to pick up the channel.

President Barack Obama may be the first digital president, but on the Web, his number-two plays second fiddle to no one. Vice President Joe Biden is simultaneously the most intentionally, and unintentionally, funny politician on social media. While it may be a chicken-and-the-egg question to ask which came first, the vice president's office have leveraged his folksy mannerisms and personal quirks to advance specific policy proposals and establish him as an online personality in his own right. After all, he's the anchor of the closest thing the White House has to a podcast: his narrated tales of "Being Biden" chronicle his experience serving as the nation's second-highest officer, whether it's visiting with the University of Delaware's Lady Blue Hens basketball team, spending time with a retired Navy Seal and his dog or swearing in newly-elected senators on Capitol Hill.

Vice President Biden started the Administration's first BuzzFeed channel in March 2014, whose amusing GIFs helped promote enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. A photo of him at age 26, part of a Throwback Thursday appeal for the health care law, generated write-ups in GQ as well as Men's Journal. He talked about climate change on VICE before President Obama did, and tweaked the president for getting a Twitter handle after more than six years in office with the tweet, "Hey @POTUS – Welcome to Twitter. See you around the neighborhood. –vp." Vice President Biden's Instagram account, which he launched a year ago, has featured everything from his too-cool aviator Ray-Bans to his escapades in the Old Executive Office Building with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, have generated a devoted following.