“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.”
-- President Donald J Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2017
On January 23, Ajit Pai thanked President Donald Trump for naming Pai the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Many believe Chairman Pai is qualified to run the agency, but there is concern in the public interest community that his appointment will mean the end of network neutrality. Conservative policy insiders, on the other hand, paint a different picture of Chairman Pai.
The Federal Communications Commission has released its procedures public notice for repacking TV stations after the broadcast incentive auction, which is currently wrapping up. According to the FCC's Media Bureau, the notice provides "detailed information, instructions, and projected deadlines for filing applications related to the post-incentive auction broadcast transition." That includes about filing for new construction permits for post-auction channels and procedures for winning bidders relinquishing their rights to spectrum—an FCC official said that fall is the soonest that winning stations that are exiting the business would be going dark. It also establishes the process by which eligible stations and pay-TV providers can seek reimbursement for transition costs.
The FCC will release a separate notice on how winning auction bidders can file for their payments. The notice is only targeted to full-power and Class A stations that were eligible for the auction. The item notes: "LPTV, TV translator, and digital replacement translator stations were not eligible to participate in the incentive auction, are not protected in the repacking process, are not eligible for reimbursement, and are not included in the phased transition schedule."
As the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction winds down, the Media Bureau was busy with what comes next—establishing the outlines of the phased TV station relocation transition and in the process denying some broadcaster requests for changes and granting others. Apparently, one of the goals was to provide more flexibility for broadcasters.
The Media Bureau adopted a methodology for establishing construction deadlines for TV stations transitioning to new channels within its phased transition plan. Stations will transition in 10 phases. The plan was issued in September. An FCC official said beyond the tweaks, it essentially adopted the item as proposed last fall. The goal is to allow TV stations, manufacturers and vendors to coordinate the "daisy chain" of TV station moves, hundreds if not a thousand, following the end of the auction, which is currently wrapping up. The FCC decided not to adopt the suggestion of the National Association of Broadcasters not to assign stations to a phase until they had completed structural or engineering studies or to treat them as preliminary phase assignments to be evaluated later. "We find that NAB’s suggested approach could negatively affect the incentive for broadcasters to begin preparing for the transition in earnest," the bureau said.
With the Super Bowl soon to kick off in Houston (TX), one recalls that during the last Super Bowl held in Houston, the notorious “wardrobe malfunction” occurred. To readers of this blog, that incident raises a whole host of other issues, as it triggered a re-examination of the Federal Communications Commission’s indecency rules which, 13 years after the incident, does not appear to have any end in sight.
The Super Bowl incident, as well as various other instances of “fleeting expletives” that slipped out during TV awards shows, led to numerous FCC fines in the early 2000s, and a long string of court appeals thereafter. These court appeals culminated in a Supreme Court decision throwing out the FCC’s fines against broadcasters, not because the FCC did not have the authority to issue fines for indecent conduct, but instead because the FCC did not give adequate notice to stations as to what was permitted and what was prohibited as it had not adequately explain why it had decided to abandon its prior policy of just issuing admonitions to stations that had inadvertent fleeting indecency slip-ups.
At some point during the transition between the Obama and Trump administrations, the White House comments phone line, 202-456-1111, was shut down. If you call the line Jan 27, you’ll hear the following message directing you to comment via one of two alternate channels: "The comment line is currently closed, but your comment is important to the president, and we urge you to send us a message at whitehouse.gov/comment or send us a message through Facebook Messenger."
The shutdown of the phone line has sparked criticism that the move reflects the Trump administration’s “diminishing accountability.” But the phone line was actually closed during the final weeks of the Obama administration, and it seems possible that it’s a temporary victim of the Trump administration’s larger transition struggles: White House press assistant Giovanna Coia said that White House staff is “still learning how to work our computers.” What’s more notable at present is that the Facebook Messenger option callers are presented with after dialing the closed phone line doesn’t actually seem to exist.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated an order waiving the FCC's Open Internet order's enhanced transparency requirements for smaller Internet service providers for five years and upping the trigger for that waiver to 250,000 subscribers or fewer. Not only that, but he already has two votes for the item in a three-person commission, which means it has effectively been approved pending casting of the third vote. That squares with legislation that passed in the House recently, as well as what then-Commissioner Pai reportedly pushed for when then FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had circulated an item extending the waiver but leaving the trigger at 100,000 subs for fewer. The waiver expired in December, when the enhanced transparency requirement kicked in for all ISPs.
President Donald Trump is preparing an executive order calling for a large-scale review of national cybersecurity. “Free and secure use of cyberspace is essential to advancing US national interests. The Internet is a vital national resource. Cyberspace must be an environment that fosters efficiency, innovation communication, and economic prosperity without disruption, fraud, theft or invasion of privacy," the order reportedly reads. The White House could not confirm whether the report was authentic or whether it resembled draft or finalized executive orders currently pending. The Washington Post published a document it said was a draft of the order.
According to the document, President Trump will task a team headed by the secretary of Defense — and including the heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — with generating reports on the security of defense systems and critical infrastructure. They would have 60 days to complete it. The same group would assemble a report on the "principle cyber adversaries" on the same timeline, with National Intelligence taking the lead. The reported order also includes a review of operational capabilities and workforce readiness in the face of an anticipated cybersecurity skills shortage, as well as look at private sector incentive programs to encourage better security practices.
Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said that a potential merger between Verizon and Charter would raise red flags for regulators. “As Ranking Member of the Antitrust Subcommittee, I have fought hard to promote competition across a broad range of industries and sectors — including media and telecom — because competition protects consumers and fosters innovation,” Sen Klobuchar said. "A potential acquisition of Charter by Verizon would raise concerns about its potential impact on consumers across our country and would merit close scrutiny by regulators and the subcommittee.”
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