May 2015

INTERNET/BROADBAND

LIFELINE BROADBAND PLAN
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Rebecca Ruiz]
For 30 years, the federal government has helped millions of low-income Americans pay their phone bills, saying that telephone service is critical to summoning medical help, seeking work and, ultimately, climbing out of poverty. Now, the nation’s top communications regulator will propose offering those same people subsidized access to broadband Internet. On May 28, that regulator, Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will circulate a plan to his fellow commissioners suggesting sweeping changes to a $1.7 billion subsidy program charged with ensuring that all Americans have affordable access to advanced telecommunications services, according to senior agency officials. The effort is the FCC’s strongest recognition yet that high-speed Internet access is as essential to economic well-being as good transportation and telephone service. Chairman Wheeler will propose potentially giving recipients a choice of phone service, Internet service or a mix of both, the officials said. He will also suggest new measures to curb fraud, a source of criticism in recent years. While the plan is likely to secure the support of the FCC’s Democratic majority in a vote next month, it is almost certain to also set off fierce debate in Washington.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chief-seeks-broadband-plan-aid-poor | New York Times | Politico
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BROADBAND INDUSTRY VEXED BY LOOMING REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe]
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.”
benton.org/headlines/broadband-industry-vexed-looming-regulations | Hill, The
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USTELECOM TAKES FCC SIDE IN ONE NET NEUTRALITY CHALLENGE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
USTelecom, which has challenged the Federal Communications Commission's justification for new open Internet rules, has asked a federal Court for permission to weigh in in support of the FCC. Specifically, the trade group, which represents telecommunication company Internet service providers, has asked permission of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to intervene on behalf of the FCC in the single challenge of the FCC's Title II-based rules by Full Service Network, which argues the FCC was not regulatory enough."Unlike all of the other petitioners that have filed petitions to date, these Petitioners intend to argue that the FCC should have imposed even more regulation on providers of broadband Internet access service, including USTelecom’s member companies," it told the court in explaining why it would be taking the FCC's side. If it got intervenor status, it could file a brief arguing why the FCC should not have imposed more regulations than it did. USTelecom made it clear it was only siding with the FCC against the call for more regulations, not against any of the other petitions -- like its own -- that have been filed against Title II as an over, not under, reach.
benton.org/headlines/ustelecom-takes-fcc-side-one-net-neutrality-challenge | Broadcasting&Cable
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FCC COMMISSIONER PAI REMARKS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
Today’s topic—spurring broadband investment and deployment—is critical. That’s because broadband means opportunities for innovation, job creation, and economic growth. To meet this surging demand, the private sector will have to take the risks to invest in and deploy broadband networks. And for the private sector to do this, regulators must adopt policies that welcome that investment and minimize the costs of deployment. For years, the United States did exactly that. Most importantly, we removed regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment and created a free market for spectrum. Those policies—not government regulation—led to massive investments in networks and brought about the broadband revolution we’ve seen here. Unfortunately, however, the Federal Communications Commission has recently put our success at risk. There’s been a dramatic shift towards heavy-handed regulation of the Internet—one that has created tremendous uncertainty and is already resulting in broadband providers cutting back on investments.
benton.org/headlines/remarks-fcc-commissioner-ajit-pai-international-institute-communications | Federal Communications Commission
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USF UPDATE
[SOURCE: Roll Call, AUTHOR: Shirley Bloomfield]
[Commentary] As times change, it’s important that rules governing technology keep pace. While existing laws may contain timeless principles, if the regulations governing those principles do not evolve over time, they may begin to hinder progress. When it comes to providing access to high-quality telecommunications services to rural Americans, inaction in Washington has done just that: regulations written for the telephone era are governing a rapidly-evolving tech sector. And it’s time for a change. This is about giving rural consumers -- from every corner of the country -- the freedom to choose the advanced broadband communications they want, need, and deserve from their provider. Today, rural consumers are being denied these choices because universal service rules force them to select services they may not want anymore (e.g. traditional landline telephones) in order to access services those consumers do want (e.g. high-speed broadband at an affordable rate). Consumers should absolutely have the right to buy traditional telephone services if they want them, but they shouldn’t be forced to buy traditional telephone services just to get affordable broadband. That’s what we’re working with lawmakers and regulators to change.
[Bloomfield is the CEO of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association]
benton.org/headlines/time-update-universal-service-rural-telecoms | Roll Call
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DEVELOPERS: ULTRAHIGH-SPEED INTERNET ISN'T JUST A LUXURY ANYMORE, IT'S A NECESSITY
[SOURCE: Charlotte Observer, AUTHOR: Ely Portillo]
Ultrahigh-speed Internet such as Google Fiber still seems a bit fantastical to many people, but developers and real estate professionals say they can’t afford not to integrate the fastest speeds into new buildings any more than they could neglect to install plumbing. Google Fiber is preparing to roll out its gigabit-speed Internet service locally – an executive said the company hopes to “light up” its first houses in Charlotte in 2015 -- and competitors such as Time Warner Cable are boosting their speeds as well. “Reliable, fast Internet is a hot topic in the real estate community,” said Deputy City Manager Ron Kimble, at a forum in South End sponsored by the Urban Land Institute.
benton.org/headlines/developers-ultrahigh-speed-internet-isnt-just-luxury-anymore-its-necessity | Charlotte Observer
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OWNERSHIP

CHARTER TO UPHOLD NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Chris Welch]
Tom Rutledge, who is Charter's current chief executive, pledged that New Charter would keep away from data caps and some of Comcast's unpopular business tactics. "Through Charter, we’ll offer consumers a broadband product that makes watching online video, gaming, and engaging in other data-hungry applications a great experience, including at peak times," said Rutledge. He also said that Charter will steer clear of paid prioritization -- even if the Federal Communications Commission's new network neutrality rules are ultimately defeated in court by broadband providers. Charter will "not block, throttle, or engage in paid prioritization of Internet traffic," Rutledge said.
benton.org/headlines/charter-vows-uphold-network-neutrality-it-seeks-time-warner-cable-deal | Verge, The
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TV OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Joe Flint]
Walt Disney’s ABC will own or have a stake in almost 70% of its coming schedule, compared with 59% now and 48% in 2010. And it’s a similar story at Fox, where 68% of the network’s 2015-2016 lineup is produced or co-produced by sister companies at its parent, 21st Century Fox, up from 52% the previous year. CBS and Comcast’s NBC also try to own as much of their schedule as possible. CBS has ownership interests in 68% of its 2015-16 lineup, while NBC has 52%. Owning shows is a priority because hits can generate revenue long after they have gone off the air by making money off reruns in the U.S. and internationally. With ownership also comes the ability to decide how a show will be exploited on other platforms such as video-on-demand and streaming services, all of which are increasingly important in capturing viewers and revenue.
benton.org/headlines/broadcasters-shop-home-shows | Wall Street Journal
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SPECTRUM/WIRELESS

BIG CABLE AND BIG WIRELESS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Joshua Brustein]
The Charter-Time Warner Cable deal could result in some new competition in another arena dominated by a small number of companies that wield immense power: wireless. Cable companies and wireless companies haven’t traditionally infringed on each other’s territory. The cable industry has focused on pay television; the wireless industry was all about phone calls. Today the main business of both industries is selling access to the Internet. Cable companies are developing their own wireless services in which people spend most of their time connected to Wi-Fi networks and fall back on cellular service to fill the gaps. Doing this requires some access to cellular spectrum. Both Comcast and Time Warner Cable sold Verizon their rights to wireless spectrum in a $3.6 billion deal in 2011 but maintained the ability to access Verizon’s network for their own services. Verizon was largely seen to have gotten a sweetheart deal at the time, says Jonathan Chaplin, an analyst at New Street Research. But he doesn’t think Verizon would strike a similar deal today. “Nobody was talking about Wi-Fi-first wireless models,” he says. “Between then and now, though, a couple of these businesses were launched in Europe by cable companies and have been incredibly successful.” One of them, notably, was Telenet, a Belguim-based company owned by Liberty Global. John Malone is chairman of both Liberty Global and Liberty Media, Charter's largest shareholder.
benton.org/headlines/time-warner-deal-big-cable-coming-big-wireless | Bloomberg
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CHARTER PUSHES FOR MORE RESERVE SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
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."
benton.org/headlines/charter-pushes-more-reserve-spectrum | Multichannel News
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WI-FI'S PROBLEM WITH LTE OVER UNLICENSED SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Wireless Week, AUTHOR: Ben Munson]
Carriers working to maintain capacity as demand for wireless broadband grows must see a big pool of unlicensed spectrum as an oasis. Cisco says global mobile traffic increased by 69 percent in 2014 and the company predicts it will increase 10-fold between now and 2019. That’s a lot of exabytes that need to be sent over the air and some carriers are looking toward moving LTE into unlicensed bands in order to handle in the influx. The idea is that LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) can work in tandem with LTE on licensed spectrum to open larger channels for uplink and downlink. T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless have already announced their plans to deploy the technology in the 3.5 GHz band and the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band. The carriers have begun discussions with chipset, network and device vendors to make it possible and are eying early 2016 for initial deployments. But Wi-Fi equipment vendors and operators are concerned about LTE potentially interfering with or overpowering Wi-Fi signals, causing considerable or complete degradation to a technology upon which millions rely.
benton.org/headlines/wi-fis-problem-lte-over-unlicensed-spectrum | Wireless Week
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TELECOM

ANOTHER WIN FOR CONSUMERS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler]
Few things rankle consumers as much as unwanted calls and texts. Thanks to the passage of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, consumers can choose which calls they want and do not want. Yet, in order to maintain those protections, we must continue to close loopholes and empower consumers. The responsibility to protect consumers from robocalls that can be both costly and intrusive does not expire with changes in technology. That's why I am proposing today the FCC crack down on robocalls, robotexts, and telemarketing calls -- the number one source of consumer complaints at the FCC. I am proposing that the FCC rule on more than 20 pending petitions related to consumer protection and send one clear message: consumers have the right to control the calls and texts they receive, and the FCC is moving to enforce those rights and protect consumers against robocalls, spam texts, and telemarketing. We will empower and protect consumers in a number of ways.
First, we are giving the green light for robocall-blocking technology, declaring that these market-based solutions can be offered without violating our call-completion rules. The FCC wants to make it clear: telephone companies can -- and in fact should -- offer consumers robocall-blocking tools.
Second, we close a number of potential loopholes. For example, we clarify the definition of "autodialers" to include any technology with the potential to dial random or sequential numbers. This ruling is true to Congress's intent when passing the law, and would ensure that robocallers cannot skirt consent requirements through changes in technology design. We also close the "reassigned number" loophole, making clear that consumers who inherit a phone number will not be subject to a barrage of unwanted robocalls OK'd by the previous owner of the number.
Third, we make it easier for consumers to say "no" to robocalls. People won't have to fill out a form and mail it in to stop unwanted calls and texts. Any reasonable way of saying "no" is allowed.
benton.org/headlines/another-win-consumers | Federal Communications Commission | Fact Sheet
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LABOR

THE BIG MEH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Paul Krugman]
[Commentary] Everyone knows that we live in an era of incredibly rapid technological change, which is changing everything. But what if what everyone knows is wrong? And I’m not being wildly contrarian here. A growing number of economists, looking at the data on productivity and incomes, are wondering if the technological revolution has been greatly overhyped -- and some technologists share their concern. We’ve been here before. The era of the “productivity paradox” was a two-decade-long period during which technology seemed to be advancing rapidly -- personal computing, cellphones, local area networks and the early stages of the Internet -- yet economic growth was sluggish and incomes stagnant. Many hypotheses were advanced to explain that paradox, with the most popular probably being that inventing a technology and learning to use it effectively aren’t the same thing. Give it time, said economic historians, and computers will eventually deliver the goods (and services). This optimism seemed vindicated when productivity growth finally took off circa 1995. Progress was back -- and so was America, which seemed to be at the cutting edge of the revolution. But a funny thing happened on the way to the techno-revolution. We did not, it turned out, get a sustained return to rapid economic progress. At this point, the whole digital era, spanning more than four decades, is looking like a disappointment. New technologies have yielded great headlines, but modest economic results. Why?
benton.org/headlines/big-meh | New York Times
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ACCESSIBILITY

FCC GRANTS NAB, ACA EMERGENCY INFO WAIVER REQUESTS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
With the deadline hard approaching at the end of the day May 26, the Federal Communications Commission has granted various waiver requests from the National Association of Broadcasters and American Cable Association from the FCC's implementation of rules requiring emergency information provided visually during non-newscast programming be accessible audibly to the sight-impaired via a secondary audio channel. Broadcasters got an extra six months of the May 26 compliance deadline, and a carve-out from the requirement for audio descriptions of maps and other non-textual graphics, but only for 18 months. The FCC also granted NAB's request that it not have to include audio descriptions of running school closure textual crawls. "The record created in response to the NAB Petition shows that the technical solutions necessary for broadcasters to aurally transcribe emergency information text crawls on the secondary audio stream were not developed and brought to market in time for broadcasters to test and implement these solutions by the current May 26, 2015 compliance deadline," the FCC's Media Bureau said in granting the extension of the deadline until Nov 30, 2015. “NAB is pleased with the six-month extension granted by the FCC," said association spokesman Dennis Wharton. "We worked closely with the visually impaired community to persuasively demonstrate that many stations would be unable to comply with the May start date due to technical reasons beyond broadcasters’ control. We look forward to complying with the new deadline by Nov 30.”
benton.org/headlines/fcc-grants-nab-aca-emergency-info-waiver-requests | Broadcasting&Cable
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

YAHOO MUST FACE E-MAIL SPYING CLASS ACTION: US JUDGE
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Jonathan Stempel]
US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose (CA) ordered Yahoo Inc to face a nationwide class-action lawsuit accusing it of illegally intercepting the content of e-mails sent to Yahoo Mail subscribers from non-Yahoo Mail accounts, and using the information to boost advertising revenue. In a decision May 26, Judge Koh said people who sent e-mails to or received e-mails from Yahoo Mail subscribers since Oct. 2, 2011 may sue as a group under the federal Stored Communications Act for alleged privacy violations. She also said a class of non-Yahoo Mail subscribers in California since Oct. 2, 2012 may sue as a group under that state's Invasion of Privacy Act. Holders of non-Yahoo Mail accounts accused Yahoo of copying and then analyzing their e-mails, including keywords and attachments, with a goal of creating "targeted advertising" for its estimated 275 million Yahoo Mail subscribers, in addition to detecting spam and malware. They sought an injunction barring the alleged interceptions, as well as damages. Yahoo in 2014 generated 79 percent of its revenue from search and display advertising. A class action can make it easier to obtain larger damages and more sweeping remedies at lower cost. The plaintiffs estimated that the nationwide class of non-Yahoo Mail subscribers has more than 1 million members. Judge Koh rejected Yahoo's arguments that some plaintiffs consented to its activity by e-mailing Yahoo subscribers even after learning how it used the information, and that the alleged injuries were too disparate to justify class certification.
benton.org/headlines/yahoo-must-face-email-spying-class-action-us-judge | Reuters
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

ROADMAP FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
[SOURCE: Department of Commerce, AUTHOR: Press release]
The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the first “roadmap” for the next 20 years of research needed to establish seamless, broadband public safety communications networks across the United States. The new roadmap, the first of a planned series on relevant technologies, focuses on location-based services to improve situational awareness for police, firefighters, emergency medical services and other first responders. The roadmap was commissioned by NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program, which has been performing research, development, testing and evaluation, and creating standards to support first responder communications since 2002. One of the PSCR’s goals is to enable broadband public safety data, video and voice communications across different agencies and jurisdictions. To that end, the PSCR operates a 700-MHz public safety broadband demonstration network and provides technical advocacy by gathering requirements and developing standards. The new roadmap offers a vision of what public safety communications might look like in 20 years. It identifies software, device and network R&D investments needed to achieve that vision. The roadmap points out opportunities for action by multiple stakeholders, including federal, state and local governments; academia; industry; and the public safety community. The document is based on ideas captured during a 2013 workshop involving 150 participants from both the public and private sectors. A number of technology trends potentially affect public safety communications, according to the report. Advances in wearable technologies and public safety applications for them are expected in 5 to 10 years, and convergence with the Internet of Things and full integration into public safety use is foreseen in 10 to 20 years. The current reliance on voice communications for public safety is expected to give way to primarily data communications in some environments in 10 to 20 years.
benton.org/headlines/nist-develops-first-roadmap-public-safety-communications-research | Department of Commerce | read the report
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POLICYMAKERS

A TALE OF TWO COMMISSIONERS
[SOURCE: Medium, AUTHOR: Susan Crawford]
[Commentary] What a difference six years makes. A crucial federal agency that once seemed powerless is now empowered. I am talking about the Federal Communications Commission, which has emerged from a period of vacillation into a body that makes decisions and backs them up. And though there are multiple factors that made this happen, ultimately, this is a tale of two commissioners. One seemed the perfect advocate for strong regulation of Internet access to the benefit of consumers, an entrepreneur and tech executive who had the President’s ear (they even played basketball together!). And the other was regarded with suspicion among the open-Internet crowd -- because he was once the chief lobbyist for the cable industry. Guess which one stood up for the public. What accounts for this difference between 2009 and 2015? Part of the answer is that President Barack Obama is in his second term and his administration is looking for executive actions that can move the needle for the country; the FCC, although an independent agency, can read the President’s speeches like everyone else, sense the change in the wind, and act accordingly. But a major reason for the transformation is the role being played by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Because he knows these industries well from his decades of experience, Chairman Wheeler’s nomination in May 2013 was greeted with dismay by many people in the public interest community. But it turns out that knowing what’s going on can be a plus. And character makes a big difference: once he decides he’s ready to move, Chairman Wheeler is the happy warrior. He is strong, he speaks with conviction, he cheers on his staff, and he follows up his speeches with action. Most importantly, he genuinely cares -- he can get pretty sappy on the subject -- about the consequences of telecommunications policy decisions for the country.
[Susan Crawford is co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University]
benton.org/headlines/tale-two-commissioners | Medium
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May 2015

Charter, Netflix, and the new TV bundle

Netflix now accounts for almost 37 percent of our Internet traffic

Giving every kid a computer and a connection

Avago Agrees to Buy Broadcom for $37 Billion

DirecTV: Satellite Launches a Success

Fritz: Time To Press FCC To Adopt ATSC 3.0

Sprint CEO says unlimited data plans won't stay around forever

There Are Options for Blocking Robocalls

Benton Welcomes Step to Make Broadband More Affordable

May 28, 2015 (Here Comes Lifeline Reform)