1. Monthly archive
  2. October 2015

October 2015

FCC Finalizes Reimbursement Form For Incentive Auction, Adopts Catalog of Expenses

The Federal Communications Commission announces the final version of the Reimbursement Form, FCC Form 2100, Schedule 399, will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The FCC also adopts a catalog of expenses. The catalog of expenses is not intended to be a definitive list of all reimbursable expenses. Rather, it is a means of facilitating the reimbursement process of claiming reimbursement by setting forth categories of expenses that are most likely to be commonly incurred by relocated broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). The form itself provides broadcasters and MVPDs with the ability to seek reimbursement for expenses other than those listed in the catalog. Finally, the FCC provides additional information clarifying how the Form will be used during the reimbursement period.

Hearing Aid Compatibility Standards NPRM

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), we first propose to amend the Federal Communications Commission’s hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rules for wireline handsets. Specifically, we propose to take the following actions: (1) incorporate into the rules a revised industry standard developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) that appears likely to improve the ability of people with hearing loss to select wireline telephones with sufficient volume control to meet their communication needs and provide greater regulatory certainty for the industry; and (2) apply the FCC's wireline telephone volume control and other hearing aid compatibility requirements to handsets used with VoIP services, pursuant to the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (CVAA).

Second, we propose a rule and request comment on setting a standard for volume control for wireless handsets to ensure more effective acoustic coupling between handsets and hearing aids or cochlear implants.

Third, we propose to: require manufacturers to use exclusively the 2011 standard developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to certify future handsets as hearing aid compatible; and eliminate the power-down exception if manufacturers are required to test and rate handsets exclusively under the 2011 ANSI Wireless HAC Standard.

Finally, to implement section 710 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by section 102(b) of the CVAA, and to simplify the process for all equipment, wireline and wireless, to achieve hearing aid compatibility compliance, we seek comment on a process for enabling industry to use new or revised technical standards for assessing hearing aid compatibility compliance, prior to FCC approval of such standards. We propose that such standards are developed by an ANSIaccredited organization in accordance with a public participation process and in consultation with consumer stakeholders designated by the Commission, as required by the CVAA.

FCC Barely Budges on Retransmission Comment Deadlines

The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has only minimally granted the National Association of Broadcaster's request to extend the comment deadline on the FCC's retransmission consent proceeding, only extending the reply comment deadline -- which takes it past the New Year holiday -- and only by two weeks, rather than the several weeks NAB had sought to delay both initial and reply deadlines.

Per a congressional directive, the FCC is reviewing the definition of good-faith retransmission negotiations. The comment deadlines for initial and reply comments had been Dec. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015, respectively. Saying its members had an incentive auction to focus on, NAB had asked the FCC to move both, to Feb. 1, and March 2, respectively. Instead, the FCC Friday said it would extend the reply deadline by two weeks to Jan. 14. The American Television Alliance had opposed the request, arguing that broadcasters had already had plenty of notice about the proceeding. The Media Bureau agreed, pointing out that it had given commenters 60 days rather than the usual 30 as it was.

'Philadelphia Inquirer,' 'Daily News' cut jobs, consolidate

The Philadelphia Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, will merge newsrooms but continue to put out two separate newspapers, leading to an unknown number of job cuts, the owner announced Oct 30. Publisher Terrance Egger said the digital operation would also be part of the consolidation. He told employees the move to a single newsroom will save Philadelphia Media Network $5 million to $6 million. Chairman H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, the principal owner, said the newsroom merger will make the company more streamlined. "It's more efficient. Rather than have a reporter from each of the three entities to cover an event, we now can send one," he said.

State Dept releases largest batch of Clinton e-mails

The State Department on released more than 7,000 pages of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's e-mails, in the first tranche since her 11-hour, closely scrutinized testimony before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The document dump is the sixth of its kind in 2015, following a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act that will force roughly 30,000 of Clinton’s e-mails into the light by late January. It is the largest single release of Clinton’s e-mails, State Department spokesman John Kirby said. As of Oct 30, 51 percent of the e-mails that Clinton has identified as work-related have now been released to the public. Between 200 and 300 have been classified as “confidential,” Kirby added, which is the lowest level of government classification. As it has maintained in the past, however, the State Department insisted that the information in those e-mails became classified after it was originally sent.

White House Issues Government-wide Cyber Action Plan

The White House on Oct 30 issued a broad new plan designed to better respond to cybersecurity incidents such as those that exposed secrets on millions of citizens as well as government operations. The new guidance, which aims to protect the most high-value information assets the federal government holds, is the latest step in the months-long fallout from the devastating hack of sensitive federal employee files from the Office of Personnel Management revealed summer 2015. The new plan -- a memorandum to the heads of federal agencies and departments from Scott and OMB Director Shaun Donovan -- builds on a 30-day “cybersecurity sprint” this summer, during which Scott’s office called on agencies to immediately tighten online defenses in the wake of the OPM breach. Agency deputy secretaries will be in charge of implementing the plan, according to the document.

The plan lays out an initial set of deadlines. By the end of 2015:

  • OMB will issue new “incident response best practices” to agencies
  • The Department of Homeland Security will extend the protections under its intrusion-detection system known as EINSTEIN. A new DHS contract will equip all agencies with updated “EINSTEIN 3A” e-mail and network surveillance technology that also blocks certain malicious activities
  • Agencies will be required to report all cyber positions to OPM and a group of agency CIOs will create a special subcommittee focused on rapid deployment of emerging technology

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