May 2015

Easier regulatory review seen for Altice vs Charter in Time Warner deal

A potential bid by French telecommunications group Altice SA to buy US cable company Time Warner Cable would pass regulatory hurdles more easily than an offer pondered by cable rival Charter Communications, according to analysts and experts. Altice, controlled by French billionaire Patrick Drahi, agreed to buy regional US cable company Suddenlink. It has also approached Time Warner Cable for a deal, according to people familiar with the talks. The moves come as Time Warner Cable, the second-largest US cable provider, is being circled by smaller rival Charter after Comcast, the biggest US cable operator, failed to get government approval for a merger over concerns that it would control Internet access of too many Americans.

Some analysts see regulatory hurdles for a possible Charter-TWC deal, especially after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler earlier in May said "more competition would be better" for cable companies providing broadband Internet. "Does the government want to create another Comcast?" BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield asked in a recent note on a possible Charter-Time Warner Cable merger. His answer leaned toward a no. A merger of Charter and Time Warner Cable, with other related deals, would eliminate one of the country's top Internet providers and control more than 20 percent of the broadband market, according to data from MoffettNathanson.

Google pushes FCC to study high-altitude platform stations for broadband services

Google supports the idea of the Federal Communications Commission authorizing resources for the study of broadband delivered from high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), which are 20 to 50 kilometers above ground. Google says it is developing unmanned aircraft that will circle for months at about 20 kilometers in the stratosphere to maintain coverage of a constant service area on the ground. Such nominally fixed aircraft, which could be considered HAPS, are one promising model for delivery of broadband, particularly to underserved communities, according to the search company.

In a May 15 meeting with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's legal advisor Renee Gregory and special counsel Diane Cornell, Google's director of communications law, Austin Schlick, noted that Google and others in the US have been investing in unmanned aerial systems (UAS), including for the delivery of broadband communications to underserved communities, and for disaster relief. As the ITU has recognized, stations operating at an altitude of approximately 20 km are high enough to provide service to a large footprint but low enough to provide dense coverage at low latency. High-altitude stations, located in the stratosphere above weather incidents, are also resilient to storms below and therefore can be an effective tool during and after a natural disaster, according to Google.

Amtrak’s Lessons for Access to the Airwaves

[Commentary] The precise cause of the tragic Amtrak derailment, which killed eight people and shut down train service along the busy Northeast Corridor, remains a mystery. Whatever the cause, the crash revealed some fundamental gaps in Amtrak’s safety system -- most notably the failure to deploy Positive Train Control (PTC) technology that would have automatically slowed or stopped the train once it exceeded the speed limit ahead of the curve where it jack-knifed off the rails. Although Congress mandated PTC technology seven years ago, Amtrak cited a lack of timely access to wireless spectrum (the public airwaves) for delays in implementing the safety system.

Spectrum refers to the wireless frequencies that power technologies ranging from FM radio and satellite communication to mobile phones and Wi-Fi routers. While increasingly critical to modern communications, spectrum -- and the rules that govern access to spectrum in the US -- rarely makes headline news. But following the Amtrak derailment, people are suddenly conscious of the fact that the nation’s policies on access to the airwaves will impact almost everything in their lives. Although there is no way to undo the tragedy of the derailed Amtrak commuter train north of Philadelphia (PA), more updated and forward-looking approaches to wireless connectivity and spectrum acquisition should be among the lessons learned by policymakers both inside and beyond government. As we move headlong into a world where virtually every system and device is connected and communicating, the stakes involved in getting spectrum policy right will only increase.

Local Journalism in the Digital Age

[Commentary] The woes of journalism in the digital age are familiar: the advertising and subscription models that for decades sustained the work of newsrooms have collapsed, news outlets now compete with every person who has a blog or a Twitter account, and people who used to pick up their local paper or the Wall Street Journal for stock prices or box scores now go instead to niche outlets like Bloomberg or ESPN. While familiar, these difficulties are no longer new -- what’s only emerging more recently is a pattern: the resources for producing journalism seem to be increasingly clustering around large media markets and away from smaller markets.

This new pattern of national consolidation of news, read against the backdrop of longer-term industry changes, raise concerns about the long-term health of local journalism. We at the News Measures Research Project at Rutgers University developed a method to assess the health of local journalism. These findings lend some preliminary empirical evidence to the growing concerns about “information inequality” across different types of communities. An analysis of a larger sample of communities could ultimately help us get a stronger sense of the conditions under which these information inequalities exist, and where the need for action to address them is greatest.

[Philip Napoli is a Professor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University School of Communication and Information]

Technology Policy Institute and Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
June 11, 2015
8:30 am - 11:00 am
http://www.techpolicyinstitute.org/events/register/124.html

Panelists at "" will evaluate the Digital Single Market strategy's effect on economies and, most importantly, incentives to innovate, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Confirmed speakers are:

Stephen Ezell, Director, Global Innovation Economy, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Andrea Glorioso, Counselor, Digital Economy / Cyber, Delegation of the European Union to the USA
Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science; Director, Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition, University of Pennsylvania Law School
Thomas Lenard (moderator), President and Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute

Additional panelists will be announced in upcoming weeks.

Read more about Innovation, Regulation, and the EU's Digital Single Market Strategy

FCC Moves to Make Permanent the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program

The Federal Communications Commission voted to make permanent its program that distributes communications equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind. Known as "iCanConnect," the National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program provides equipment needed to make telecommunications, advanced communications and the Internet accessible to Americans who have significant vision and hearing loss.

In a vote at the Open Commission Meeting, the FCC extended the current pilot program, which was set to expire on June 30, 2015. The FCC also voted to propose rules for a permanent extension of this successful program. Through the program, deaf-blind consumers who meet income requirements can receive free communications equipment designed for people with combined vision and hearing loss. Installation, training and other technical support, including individual assessments of each consumer's specific accessibility needs, are also available.

What was the effect of Sen Rand Paul’s 10-hour “filibuster?”

"There comes a time in the history of nations when fear and complacency allow power to accumulate and liberty and privacy to suffer," said Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) as he began speaking on the Senate floor at 1:18pm Eastern time on May 21. "That time is now, and I will not let the Patriot Act, the most unpatriotic of acts, go unchallenged." Sen Paul held the floor for more than 10 hours, preventing any votes from being held. Sen Paul was ultimately joined by a group of 10 other Senators, seven of them Democrats, including Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Presidential candidate Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX). While the speeches caused a delay of any other business, it technically wasn't a "filibuster" of the Patriot Act reauthorization, since that bill wasn't on the Senate floor.

The Associated Press called the series of speeches a "lengthy Senate talk," with no clear outcome. A vote on a trade bill scheduled for this morning was not delayed, since the speeches ended just before midnight. The question of what the "filibuster" did is fundamentally unknown because it would require reading the mind of Sen Rand's fellow Kentuckian, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). If Majority Leader McConnell was going to push for a quick vote on his bill for a "clean" reauthorization of the Patriot Act, then Sen Paul gummed up the works. But that probably wouldn't have happened anyway, since the House is departing for the holiday weekend at 3:00pm on May 21. Still, the large and unexpected delay caused by Sen Paul and his supporters puts the Senate in a major time crunch, which some observers have argued will have political effects.

On NSA Spying, Sen McConnell's Only Options Are Bad Options

On June 1, the portion of the Patriot Act that authorized the National Security Agency's bulk data-collection program is set to expire. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had hoped Congress would reauthorize Section 215 and leave the program intact, arguing that it's a critical part of defense against terror attacks. But privacy concerns raised by Democrats and libertarian-minded Republicans have made that impossible. Instead, the House passed a bill that would limit the data-collection program. The USA Freedom Act would end bulk collection and require the government to contact telecommunications companies on a case-by-case basis.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has said he won't make another move until the Senate has acted. For Majority Leader McConnell, passing the House measure is not acceptable, but as he looks for an alternative, he lacks an obvious path to keeping the program from expiring when it hits its June deadline. On May 19, Majority Leader McConnell announced he would give the USA Freedom Act a vote on the floor. He won't be supporting the legislation, but is putting it on the floor to demonstrate that it lacks the support it would need to advance in the Senate. Most Democrats and a handful of Republicans, including presidential contender Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX), are expected to vote "yes" on the measure. But with Majority Leader McConnell and many of his fellow Republicans opposing the measure, leaders say it's unlikely to overcome a 60-vote threshold.

Now accepting applications for the first-ever Digital Inclusion Fellowship

When people have access to the web, opportunities are just a click away -- from learning how to sign up for health care, to finding affordable housing, to keeping in touch with family and friends. But today, more than 60 million Americans still aren’t using the Internet at home. While there are organizations across the US that want to help bring these people online, many of them don’t have the in-house expertise or resources to launch new programs. That’s why, in partnership with the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), we’re launching the Digital Inclusion Fellowship.

The fellowship will pair 16 people with local community organizations in our eight Google Fiber metro areas -- Atlanta (GA), Austin (TX), Charlotte (NC), Kansas City (KS), Nashville (TN), Provo (UT), Raleigh-Durham (NC) and Salt Lake City (UT) -- where they’ll spend a year building a digital inclusion program from the ground up. NTEN will choose fellows from their local community, since they’ll know what kinds of programs will work best in their city. Once selected, they’ll travel to Google’s offices in Mountain View (CA) to receive specialized training from NTEN on how to build effective digital inclusion programs. And throughout the fellowship, Google Fiber will provide approximately $1 million to support salaries and benefits for fellows, and stipends to organizations so they have the resources to launch their new programs.

Hollywood struggles with diversity in part because of laws that promote diversity

[Commentary] There are lots of reasons the film and television industries are dominated by white men, but one of the most unlikely is one of the centerpieces of Alyssa Rosenberg's fascinating recent piece on Hollywood's diversity problems in the Washington Post. Let me repeat one of Rosenberg's key points: the same laws used to protect against employment discrimination also make it slightly harder to increase diversity in Hollywood, both on screen and off.

Obviously that's not the only reason Hollywood struggles in this regard, and Rosenberg's piece discusses several others. But a persistent criticism leveled against casting directors by those in favor of greater, more accurate representation on TV comes when, say, an actor of Chinese descent plays the part of a Japanese person, or when an actor of Italian descent plays someone of Latino origin. Legally, a casting director cannot ask applicants to reveal their ethnic background. A good recent example of this is FX's drama Tyrant, which cast a white actor in the role of the son of a Middle Eastern dictator. Such laws have served to protect people being hired in certain workplaces -- where questions about race, religion, or sexuality could yield answers that spark prejudice or bias on the part of those doing the hiring. But they make certain aspects of Hollywood's attempts to diversify more difficult.

Benton

Search