March 2016

NTIA Calls for Applications to Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking applications from persons interested in serving on the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC or committee) for two-year terms. The CSMAC provides advice to the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator on spectrum policy matters. The CSMAC advises the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information on a broad range of issues regarding spectrum policy. In particular, the current charter provides that the committee will provide advice and recommendations on needed reforms to domestic spectrum policies and management in order to: License radio frequencies in a way that maximizes their public benefit; keep wireless networks as open to innovation as possible; and make wireless services available to all Americans. Applications must be postmarked or electronically transmitted on or before May 13, 2016.

Remarks by Commerce Deputy Sec Bruce Andrews at the Strata + Hadoop Conference

Put simply: the Department of Commerce is “America’s Data Agency.” No other department can rival the reach, depth, and breadth of our data programs. Our data is a rich source of information ranging from the economy to demographics to the environment. Indeed, our data collection on climate literally reaches from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun. But we have a problem. Consider this: of the 20 terabytes of data that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gathers every day – twice the amount of data of the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress – only a small percentage is easily accessible to the public.

The government can play an important role in fostering more data innovation if we make the best use of these resources. That is why we need to do a much better job of making our data easy to find, understand, and access. To achieve this, we made data a key pillar of our Department’s strategic plan. This is the first time ever any government agency has elevated data production and dissemination to this level. Put simply: we want to unleash our data, so you can use it in new and exciting ways to generate societal benefits and economic value.

Comcast Defends Most Favored Nation Clauses in FCC Video Access Inquiry

Comcast is telling the Federal Communications Commission that independent and diverse content producers have a wealth of distribution options, including Comcast and NBCU outlets, and that contract provisions including most favored nation clauses (MFNs) and alternative distribution methods (ADMs) are pro-competitive or at worst "benign." It also says that complaints about program bundling, minimum penetration and PEG channel access are meritless. That came in its response to the FCC's Notice of Inquiry into access by independent programmers to distribution platforms, both traditional and over-the-top.

In launching the inquiry in Feb, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn signaled that a number of access issues needed a hard look, including contractual terms on pricing and online access. Comcast countered in its filing that there is neither a compelling policy reason nor plausible legal authority for the FCC to get more involved than it is in carriage negotiations, and said the NOI "strains to see a glass half-empty, when in fact the glass is overflowing." Comcast said that in the current, "ultracompetitive marketplace," there is no reason for the FCC to raise extraneous issues like MFNs and PEG programming and deem them market obstacles that need investigating.

President Obama a press champion? If only

[Commentary] It was President Barack Obama at his best. This was at Syracuse University's Toner Prize ceremony, which has become a true Washington Event. A packed house had gathered at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium to honor journalism in the spirit and tradition of the late Robin Toner, a New York Times reporter known for substance and depth. President Obama talked about the astonishingly low-level of the discourse in the current presidential campaign, and how foreign leaders were appalled by it. And then he turned his attention to the press, and how important it was for journalists to get beyond he-said, she-said reporting and false equivalence, about the need for deep reporting that gets at the truth, particularly during such a campaign. He essentially was telling journalists to do better.

It was hard not to get caught up in the spirit of the moment. That is, until you started thinking about the Obama Administration and its atrocious record on freedom of information. This is an administration that has lagged dramatically in complying with Freedom of Information Act requests, has carried out overly zealous leak investigations, has resisted making the President available for on-the-record sessions with White House reporters. In short, it has been very bad news for journalism and freedom of the press. And the American people who depend on it.