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February 2017

An Anti-Consumer Agenda at the FCC

[Commentary] As President Trump rushes to dismantle Obama-era rules that protect Americans, he has an energetic helper over at the Federal Communications Commission. Its new Republican chairman has started undoing policies of his predecessor that were intended to make phone, cable and internet service more fair and more affordable.

Ajit Pai, who was a commissioner before he became chairman, is trying to wipe away network neutrality rules put in place by Tom Wheeler, the former chairman, to prevent broadband companies from creating fast and slow lanes on the internet. Chairman Pai has scrapped a proposal to let people buy cable-TV boxes instead of renting them at inflated prices from companies like Comcast. Many of Pai’s moves would hurt the people who have the least power. For instance, he has backed away from rules to lower the exorbitant rates for prison phone calls. And he has suspended nine companies from providing discounted internet service to poor people through a program known as Lifeline.

Congress created the FCC to help all Americans obtain access to communication services without discrimination and at fair prices. Pai’s approach does exactly the opposite.

Network neutrality fix faces hard sell

Two key Senate Republicans say they are open to a bipartisan legislative compromise on network neutrality, but their effort faces skepticism from both parties.

Since the election, Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the chairman of a Commerce subcommittee on the internet, have said they are willing to work on a measure that keeps the core of the controversial internet rules, but also allows Congress to limit the Federal Communications Commission's powers. Some opponents think it would be easiest to undo the rules through the FCC, where Republicans have a majority. But under that approach, net neutrality could just be restored when Democrats take back the White House, some say. That uncertainty has many in the tech world hoping Congress can craft lasting rules and has Chairmen Thune and Wicker believing they have an opening.

But many Democrats are also openly skeptical of a legislative fix.

Newsmax, CBN, Townhall — new faces and a new feel at White House press briefings

John Gizzi, the chief political correspondent for the conservative Newsmax Media news group, is enjoying newfound access at the White House. During the first two weeks of the Trump administration, press secretary Sean Spicer has picked him out several times from among the jostling mob of journalists seeking to question the administration. Gizzi’s change of fortune reflects a small but important change in the way Spicer, and the Trump administration generally, has approached the news media.

Once relegated to a secondary role under President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush’s press secretaries, smaller, primarily-conservative news outfits — Newsmax, Townhall, the Blaze, the Daily Caller and Breitbart, among them — are now first among equals in Spicer’s daily encounters with the press. Reporters from once-favored mainstream news outlets haven’t exactly been shut out by Spicer. But at some briefings, he’s ignored the entreaties of journalists from The Washington Post, CNN and the New York Times — all of which President Trump has singled out for criticism — to call on reporters for outlets that used to be an afterthought. The White House also appears to have steered Trump’s TV interviews to favorable outlets, too.

Has Donald Trump Taken Over Media Reporting?

It may have felt like the presidential election completely dominated all the news coverage last year, but in retrospect, that seems almost like a golden age of media compared to what has happened since Donald Trump became President. Over the past few weeks, it has felt as if Trump is the only story that matters, taking over every section of the media world, from style to sports.

“Every journalist, no matter the beat, covers politics now,” Bloomberg tech reporter Sarah Frier tweeted. Her tweet resonated: So far, it has garnered more than 1,600 retweets and 5,000 likes. Coverage of the media industry has, for many outlets, turned into coverage of the president’s antagonistic relationship with the press. At magazine conferences and during drinks with sources, the talk inevitably turns to Trump. Considering that the new Republican administration has cast the majority of the press in a starring role as “the opposition party,” and Trump has decided that the term “fake news” can be (falsely) used to describe any story he doesn’t like (while “alternative facts” can be used to create any story he wants), it’s perhaps no wonder that the relationship between the White House and the media has become a big story in its own right. Not since Watergate has public awareness of journalism seemed so high.

Chairman Blackburn: Broadband Privacy Rule Rollback Could Start Soon

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) says there could be a resolution on rolling back the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy framework as early as Feb. 13.

"We are talking and working with the Senate on this," she said. "I think using the [Congressional Review Act] to invalidate the rulemaking] is fine. That would be the most expedient way to address the concerns and we are working with the Senate to make sure we can do that." Chairman Blackburn she would try to make sure that there was no privacy gap given that once the FCC reclassified ISPs under Title II common carrier regulations, the FTC was prevented from regulating broadband privacy due to its common carrier exemption. "I would think there would be a way to work through that so you don't have a gap in oversight."

FCC Commissioner O'Rielly Letter to USAC on Potential E-rate Overbuilding

Federal Communications Commission member Michael O’Rielly has a few questions for the Universal Service Administrative Company. He is seeking assistance in identifying and eradicating the use of E-rate funds to overbuild existing broadband networks. Commissioner O’Rielly asks USAC to answer 10 questions no later than Feb 17.

  1. How many E-rate applicants have requested funding to self-construct networks?
  2. How many of these requests are for overbuilds?
  3. Do the providers who are being overbuilt receive Universal Service Fund support?
  4. Do any of the applicants propose to overbuild their own networks?
  5. How many self-construction requests were denied on cost-effectiveness grounds?
  6. How many self-construction requests have been approved?
  7. Please detail USAC’s procedures to determine if these requests are cost-effective.
  8. Please provide USAC materials that explain the self-construct option.
  9. Please provide USAC materials concerning back-up networks.
  10. Is it USAC’s view that E-rate funds may be used to build backup networks? If so, please point to provisions in FCC orders.

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Clock Phase Is Over. What’s Next?

Feb 10 marks the end of all clock phase bidding in the incentive auction. This is a noteworthy event for winning bidders and an appropriate moment to appreciate the auction’s success in using market forces to allocate spectrum to its highest and best use. With $19.6 billion in forward auction clock phase gross winning bids, the incentive auction will generate the second highest total proceeds of any Commission spectrum license auction in its 20-plus year history.

The public stands to gain substantial economic benefits from mobile broadband utilizing the 84 megahertz of spectrum repurposed by this auction. In addition, the auction will provide more than $6 billion to the US Treasury for deficit reduction, more than $10 billion to broadcasters that chose to relinquish spectrum usage rights, and up to $1.75 billion for other broadcasters that incur costs in changing channels. And, for winning stations that will remain on the air through channel sharing or changing bands, auction proceeds will provide an infusion of capital for them to reinvest in programming and other activities. This is also a good time to lay out in greater detail what lies ahead in the coming months.

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