John Eggerton

The Senate Judiciary Committee is not wasting any time marking up its "clean" version of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA).

It has set June 19 as the date for the markup hearing. That markup will be an opportunity for senators to add amendments. The Senate bill (S. 2454) was introduced as essentially a straight, five-year, reauthorization of the law, which expires at the end of 2014 unless it is renewed.

National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Michael Powell defended managed services, saying that over 80% of the cable pipe currently is dedicated to delivering such a managed service: "It's called cable."

Powell was interviewed for C-SPAN's Communicators series, a copy of which was supplied to B&C/Multi. He said that cable should absolutely be allowed to deliver managed services and to prohibit cable companies from offering managed services over that pipe is tantamount to "confiscation of our business. It is essentially the argument that you should demand as a matter of law that you take away our private service and put it in the public domain."

Powell added that cable only uses a portion of that pipe for the public Internet, but that the majority goes to other services that the cable industry develops. He said that unless cable itself should not exist as a private service, then one has to at least concede that managed services have consumer-benefitting purposes.

"We are not government owned rights of way," he said. "We built our infrastructure with purely private capital to sell a service to the American public, and I think the government has to be careful not to suggest that, even for a public purpose, that somehow you can remove those services and repurpose them for something that a regulator might prefer to see them used for."

As promised, Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) has introduced his Wireless Innovation Act, the first of several bills to increase access to spectrum and boost wireless broadband.

"[W]e must ensure that the federal government uses its spectrum in an efficient and responsible manner, and we must free up additional spectrum for commercial use," said Sen Rubio on June 12. He had signaled the bills in a speech outlining his comprehensive broadband plan.

Sen Rubio is a member of the Senate Communications Subcommittee.

“This legislation accomplishes both goals by directing NTIA to reallocate federal spectrum for commercial use," said Sen Rubio. "The Wireless Innovation Act will also provide transparency on the use and value of federal spectrum and inform the public on how federal entities use a scarce public resource. Passing the Wireless Innovation Act will grow our economy and ensure that consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of wireless technology.”

National Cable & Telecommunications Association president Michael Powell says that he is more intrigued than worried by the prospect, which he emphasized was more prospect than reality.

That is according to an interview for C-SPAN's Communicators series, a copy of which was supplied to B&C/Multi. He said he thought the market was "rightfully generating a set of complimentary opportunities" that he said also has risks. He pointed out that those options drive a lot of broadband consumption, a business cable is also in, big time. "These things aren't zero sum for our industry. Some of those same things accrue to us as a benefit."

But he was not conceding the point entirely. He pointed to studies he said had "poured cold water" on the "overly enthusiastic" cord-cutting theme. He added that annually, it seems, the media have to grudgingly report that folks are still primarily watching the same "favorite shows" on the same "favorite platforms" and that cord-cutting is more an idea than a reality, "at least at scale."

Powell also said that there would be nothing to watch on Netflix or Hulu if it were not first monetized on cable, and that over the top and over the cable content is much more interdependent than it gets credit for.

Following Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler's call for a "new paradigm" in which private industry takes the lead on flexible, measurable and accountable cybersecurity standards, Comcast signaled it agreed, was willing to work with the commission, but was already hard at work protecting its network and its users.

Myrna Soto, senior VP and chief information and infrastructure security officer, for Comcast Cable, said that it already works daily to "assess, deter, and neutralize cybersecurity vulnerabilities and threats." Comcast agrees with ChairmanWheeler that the success of its business depends on a safe and secure environment.

Former National Security Agency director General Keith Alexander said that Congress needs to pass cybersecurity legislation that will make it easier for government and the communications industry to work together to combat that threat.

He said that the government needed the ability to share threat info with industry, and industry with government.

"We need cybersecurity legislation. We need to push that through." He said he was not talking about sharing personally identifiable information, but instead "malicious activity." He also said it was needed to provide protection for industry players who act on threat information supplied by the government. "If the government tells industry: 'Please block this traffic,' and [the government] makes a mistake, then industry should have some form of liability protection."

He said those are the keys to cyber legislation.

Following recent approval from Winston-Salem (NC) city officials for Durham have ratified an agreement that gives AT&T the green light to deploy its 1-Gbps-capable, fiber-based U-verse with GigaPower platform.

Like the earlier deal with Winston-Salem, the Durham agreement stems from AT&T’s discussions with the North Carolina Next Generation Network (NCNGN), an initiative comprised of six cities, four universities, and local business leaders, that’s aimed at stimulating deployment of next-gen broadband networks in the state.

AT&T said the approved plan covers “potential fiber deployments” to businesses and residential areas in “parts” of Durham, which is also served by incumbent cable operator Time Warner Cable, but has not elaborated on which areas will be covered.

AT&T also has not announced a specific timeline for its NC-area rollouts, but noted that, like its plan for Winston-Salem, the build in Durham will get underway “within a few weeks," and will reveal more detailed rollout plans later. AT&T has similar ratifications pending in four other North Carolina areas: Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill and Raleigh.

AT&T officially filed its proposed DirecTV merger with the Federal Communications Commission, including public interest statements, saying the deal was all about the bundle.

"This transaction will unite two companies with uniquely complementary assets to create a strong, national competitor that delivers consumers an unparalleled combination of broadband, video, and wireless services," AT&T told the FCC.

AT&T said that the main reason for the meld was that they could achieve together what they could not separately: "A compelling bundle of video and broadband services" that neither company could offer individually.

AT&T pointed out that 97% of AT&T's current video customers already take at least a double-play of services, predominantly video and broadband. AT&T said the deal would allow it to expand its video footprint sufficiently to get more and better programming.

"As a result of its relatively limited video footprint, AT&T is far smaller than Comcast and Time Warner Cable, its principal competitors. Lack of scale particularly hinders AT&T with respect to content acquisition, which is by far the largest variable cost of MVPD service."

AT&T outlined the consumer benefits of the deal, which it summarized as being the stronger competitor to cable that bundling will allows. But it also talked about offering high speed broadband to an additional 15 million customer locations within four years.

Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL) outlined an ambitious agenda for spectrum reform, which includes plans to introduce three bills: The Wireless Innovation Act to free up government spectrum; a bill directing the Federal Communications Commission to conduct tests in the upper 5 GHz band and modify the rules to allow Wi-Fi so long as it doesn’t create harmful interference to vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications; and a bill to promote wireless infrastructure.

Sen Rubio, a member of the Senate Communications Subcommittee, said that there were a lot of serious policy questions about advancements in high-speed wireless, but what was not debatable was that more spectrum was needed. He said the government should not wait until the current FCC spectrum auctions are over before taking steps to free up more.

His Wireless Innovation Act:

• Reallocates 200 MHz of government spectrum for commercial use;
• Establishes an auction pipeline with staggered auctions starting in 2018;
• Incentivizes federal agencies to reallocate spectrum by allowing portions of the proceeds to be used or conducting research and development, as well as cost and technical assessments on reallocating future spectrum bands;
• Requires an analysis of requests for new or modified frequency assignments to determine whether a commercial service could be used, whether federal users can share; and
• Requires [the National Telecommunications & Information Administration] to develop a framework to determine the commercial value of Federal spectrum.

Communications Subcommittee chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) made it clear what he thought of the Federal Communications Commission's recent activity, and inactivity, on media ownership rules.

"Pretending laws designed for an era before smartphones and the Internet will get the job done is an effective death sentence for many local media outlets," he said. That came in opening statements at a hearing on media ownership rules, part of the parent House Commerce Committee's ongoing review of communications regulations, as well as a response to some current events like the joint sales agreement (JSA) ruling and the decision to role the 2010 and 2014 quadrennial reviews into one targeted for mid-year 2016.

Rep Walden said everyone was committed to the core values promoting localism, diversity and competition, but his view was that was best served by not hampering broadcasters ability to compete.