John Eggerton

The US District Court for the Southern District of New York appears poised to grant broadcasters a motion finding online TV station signal streamer FilmOn in contempt for continuing to deliver network TV station signals over the Internet after the Supreme Court found similar service Aereo in violation of copyright.

FilmOn says it has since stopped. In a hearing on July 22, Judge Naomi Buchwald, who has already found FilmOn in contempt once, said she was likely to do so again.

The Federal Communications Commission has dismissed the complaints filed by Sinclair and Buckeye Cablevision, ending the Washington wrangling that accompanied their months-long retransmission consent impasse.

The FCC concluded that dismissing the complaints was in the public interest because it "promoted private resolution of disputes."

The House Homeland Security Committee has scheduled a hearing for July 23 on the just-released Tenth Anniversary Report from the members of the 9/11 Commission.

Among the recommendations of that new report were that Congress needs to drop the partisan brickbat swinging long enough to pass cybersecurity legislation and that data collection is important to national security so long as civil liberties are protected.

The House's bipartisan passage of the STELAR Act satellite bill on July 22 got plenty of stakeholder praise after it passed on voice vote in a fast track move that signaled it was a non-controversial item.

Cable operators, who were able to secure retransmission consent and set-top reforms, applauded House leaders for the bipartisan offering.

In advance of what is expected to be a bipartisan vote on a House Commerce Committee version of a bill reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (now christened the STELA Reauthorization, or STELAR, act), Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) talked about the importance of scrapping the ban on integrated set-tops, which he says will save cable operator costs and consumer's on their energy bills.

Rep Latta, vice chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, was instrumental in getting his CableCARD bill added to the legislation in the House Commerce Committee, a move strongly backed by cable operators. Also in the bill is a prohibition on coordinated retransmission consent negotiations among non-commonly owned TV stations in a market, another provision strongly backed by cable operators.

The bill, including both provisions, is expect to pass with bipartisan support on July 22 in the House. It is being voted on the suspension calendar, which is a short-cut for noncontroversial bills.

The American Cable Association (ACA), representing small cable operators, told the Federal Communications Commission that its proposed new network neutrality rules will not protect Internet openness unless they extend to content (edge) providers like search engines and not just ISPs.

It is the first time ACA has asked the FCC to regulate edge providers, including online programmers.

The Justice Department signaled that it has no antitrust issues with Sinclair's purchase of Allbritton stations. Sinclair will run WHTM Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York separately during the period between the closing of the deal and the sale of that station to Media General, which Justice had made a condition of its approval.

A new report from the co-chairs and all 10 members of the original 9/11 Commission urges Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation, saying it has proved resistant to needed reforms due to partisan politics that should have no place in securing the nation.

It concludes that cyber readiness lags "far behind the growing" threat," that data collection is a "vital tool" for preventing terrorist attacks, but needs to be "tempered" with measures to protect civil liberties.

The National Association of Broadcasters does not oppose the House version of the bill reauthorizing the satellite compulsory license (formerly STELA, now STELAR), which is expected to come to the House floor for a vote.

In Washington parlance, that is a concurrence rather than a yes vote. NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said the association's position was unchanged from when the bill was passed out of the House Commerce Committee. At that time, NAB said it had concerns -- still does -- but that there was "much to be applauded."

The bill would prohibit coordinated retransmission consent among non-commonly owned TV stations in a market, which cable operators had pushed for, but does not include a provision removing the must-buy provision for retransmission stations, which cable operators had also pushed for, and gotten, in an initial draft.

Mediacom asked the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new rules that would prevent volume-based discounts in program carriage deals, insure access to content online, and require the disclosure of rates.

Mediacom said the relationship between programmers and distributors is broken, that the marketplace as it has evolved thanks to Washington is anti-competitive and anti-consumer, and that Washington needs to fix it. It even co-opts some network neutrality language usually used by content providers towards ISPs, saying one thing the FCC needs to do is prevent programmers from blocking or restricting access to online content.

Mediacom wants the FCC to unbundle deals dominated by "six "media giants" who control more than 125 cable nets, including must-have programming. Mediacom is seeking the following new rule regime:

• Give MVPDs an a la carte option for new channels or the most expensive.
• Give MVPDs an unbundling option, with information about other offers and bundles
• Prohibit the blocking or restricting of Internet access to programming as a negotiating tactic in agreements
• Only allow volume discounts if they can be justified through waivers.