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  2. November 2015

November 2015

The media has no idea how to deal with Donald Trump's constant lying

[Commentary] GOP frontrunner Donald Trump also has a tendency to use his appearances on TV news to spout flagrant lies about a variety of topics. His statements aren't false the way that, say, Sen Marco Rubio's (R-FL) claim that he can cut taxes by $12 trillion and still balance the budget is false. False claims of that variety are a long and distinguished tradition in American electoral politics, and it's an established policy on programs like This Week to not challenge them too aggressively. Trump's lies, by contrast are more like something you'd hear a conspiracy theorist like Alex Jones trumpet.

George Stephanopoulos showed a clip of Trump claiming to have witnessed "thousands and thousands" of Muslims or Arab Americans in Jersey City (NJ) cheering in the streets on 9/11 in celebration of the attacks. This is an odd thing for Trump to say, because it's totally made up. No such celebrations took place in Jersey City on 9/11, so far as fact checkers from PolitiFact to the Washington Post's Glenn Kessler can tell. Generally speaking, TV news shouldn't be in the business of making its viewers believe stuff that isn't true. And in any other context, that'd be enough to keep the likes of Trump off the air. But TV news is also in the business of covering leading politicians, particularly ones the polls indicate are likely to get a major party's nomination for the presidency. So not covering Trump feels actively irresponsible. The result is the jumble ABC News presented, wherein a frustrated interviewer is forced to entertain the candidate's lies and try to rebut them in real time, knowing that defusing each and every falsehood is impossible. It's a mess of a television program. But what else is ABC to do?

Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
8:30 am -- 12:30 pm

Agenda

8:30 - 9:00 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:15 am: Welcome and Overview - Lawrence J. Spiwak, President, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies

9:15 - 9:45 am: Presentation of Recent Research - Eroding the Rule of Law: Regulation as Cooperative Bargaining at the FCC - Dr. George Ford, Chief Economist, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies

9:45 - 10:45 am: Panel Discussion - Regulatory Revival and its Effect on the Communications Industry
• Tim Brennan, Professor of Economics - UMBC and former Chief Economist - Federal Communications Commission;
• Jeff Lanning, Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs - CenturyLink;
• Frank Louthan, Equity Research Associate - Raymond James Financial;
• Hal Singer, Senior Fellow - Progressive Policy Institute

10:45 - 11:00 am: Coffee and Networking Break

11:00 - 12:00 pm: Panel Discussion - Regulatory Credibility, the Rule of Law and Potential Legislative Remedies
• Robert Quinn, Senior Vice President, Federal Regulatory and Chief Privacy Officer - AT&T;
• Bryan Tramont, Managing Partner - Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP and former Chief of Staff - Federal Communications Commission;
• David Redl, Chief Counsel - House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, House Energy and Commerce Committee;
• Mary Brown, Senior Director, Government Affairs - Cisco

12:00 - 12:30 pm: Presentation of the 2015 Jerry B. Duvall Public Service Award to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai.

12:30 pm: Conference Adjourns


Comcast, Time Warner Cable get 71 Percent of new Internet subscribers

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are dominating the market for new wireline Internet subscribers in the US, with AT&T and Verizon lagging far behind. Cable already had a majority of the broadband market, even when you count slow DSL as "broadband," and that majority is growing. "Comcast and Time Warner Cable led the growth in US broadband subscriptions during the third quarter, adding a combined 552,000 new subscribers," Strategy Analytics wrote. "Overall, cable operators in the US added 804,000 subscribers. However, the total number of US broadband subscribers only increased by 679,000 due to losses in DSL and slower growth in Fiber subscriptions at AT&T and Verizon. Over the past twelve months, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have accounted for 71 percent of the 3 million new broadband subscribers."

Among the 19 US Internet providers tracked by the research firm, Comcast alone accounted for 42 percent of new subscribers in the past year. AT&T lost 129,000 Internet subscribers in the most recent quarter, bringing its total down to 15.8 million, while Verizon gained 2,000 customers for a total of 9.2 million, reported Leichtman Research Group.

Dish continues to hammer on Charter-TWC-Bright House merger

The merger of Charter Communications with Time Warner Cable and Bright House networks will put too much Internet service provider marketshare in the hands of just two cable companies (Comcast would be the other one) and the deal should be rejected, according to Dish Network. The company made its claims in another filing to the Federal Communications Commission on the topic.

"The FCC should not allow an already concentrated market for high-speed broadband access to become even more so," Dish said. "The threats to competition and the public interest are clear. Dish urges the FCC to deny the transaction as it is currently presented." While Charter has faced only a fraction of the blowback Comcast endured while trying to buy TWC in 2014, Dish has kept up a steady assault on Charter's merger proposals. In its latest letter, Dish noted that the Department of Justice, in rejecting the Comcast-TWC merger, already signaled its aversion to a high-concentration of high-speed Internet service market share. "The Department of Justice has done so for precisely the issue that Dish has raised -- the fact that such market concentration between two firms would allow for coordinated action even without active collusion between the players," Dish said. Dish also issued another condemnation that is eerily similar to the criticisms of the scuttled Comcast-TWC deal -- the satellite operator said "New Charter" would drag down the market for online video distributors.

Connect America Fund Broadband Support for Rural Carriers Could Vary Based on Density

Small rate-of-return (ROR) communications service providers with less than 10 locations per square mile would have more time to build out high-speed broadband in comparison with service providers serving denser areas, according to Universal Service Fund (USF) recommendations made by telecommunication association The Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance (ITTA), which represents mid-size service providers. ITTA representatives in a meeting with the Federal Communications Commission suggested the build-out requirements, which would apply if the FCC were to adopt a proposed speed target of 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream for the model-based Connect America Fund (CAF) program for ROR carriers.

Carriers in denser areas would have to bring 25/3 Mbps service to 75 percent of all fully funded locations in a study area within 10 years, while carriers in less dense areas would only have to build to 50 percent of such locations during that timeframe. ITTA recommendations have played a big role in shaping the FCC’s plans for transitioning today’s high-cost Universal Service Fund program, which traditionally was voice-focused, into a broadband-focused Connect America Fund program. Previously the ITTA recommended that ROR carriers have the option of remaining on today’s program or transitioning to a program similar to the one that already is being implemented for larger price cap carriers – and the FCC is moving ahead based on those recommendations. Today’s program pays part of a carrier’s costs of providing voice and broadband service to high-cost areas based on embedded costs, while the price cap program uses a model to determine a carrier’s support level.

How Conservative Talk Radio Is Informing the GOP’s Presidential Race

A decade ago, Republicans touted conservative talk radio as a foolproof medium to communicate directly with their most ardent supporters. Democrats and liberal groups tried to replicate that success by building their own left-leaning television and radio stations, with far less success. Now, the tables have turned.

Republican leaders in Washington are under siege from their own activists, in part, because conservative radio hosts are almost as likely to rail against the party brass in Congress as they are to lament President Barack Obama’s failings in the Oval Office. Those views are informing the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The most avid conservative talk-radio listeners ranked retired neurosurgeon Dr Ben Carson as their top pick, followed by celebrity businessman Donald Trump and Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX). Just 3 percent gave the nod to former Florida Gov Jeb Bush (R-FL), the heir to the party’s longest-standing political dynasty, and only a third of these voters said they were even open to voting for Bush, down from half in September. Republican presidential contenders would be unwise to write off this bloc; roughly a third of Republican primary voters strongly identify with conservative talk radio, about 10 percentage points higher than the share of GOP primary voters who consider themselves moderate or liberal.

Google seeks temporary license for 27.9-28 GHz experiments

Once again, Google is asking the Federal Communications Commission for an experimental license so that it can conduct highly secretive experiments, this time in the 28 and 31 GHz bands, in northern California. By design, it's impossible to determine from the company's highly redacted filing what exactly it intends to do in the spectrum. However, Google spelled out how its tests will not adversely impact any authorized users of RF spectrum in the bands and appears to have ascertained the necessary frequency coordination with other spectrum users.

"While most of Google's testing will use wideband transmissions, Google also seeks authorization to conduct limited narrowband testing in the 31 GHz band," the filing stated. "Narrowband testing is expected to take place over no more than 12 hours during the pendency" of the special temporary authority (STA). Based on technical specs listed in the filing, it appears that the experiments are terrestrial in nature and will be in a relatively confined area using relatively low power, said Tim Farrar, president at TMF Associates.

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