John Eggerton

Broadcasters and cable operators are on the same page when it comes to video described programming. That is providing programming for the blind and sight-impaired is important, that they already overdeliver on Federal Communications Commission requirements—though don't get credit for it (only primetime and children's programming count toward the current 50-hour-per calendar quarter requirement)—but that the FCC's proposed expansion of that programming is beyond its authority.

The National Association of Broadcasters filed comments at the FCC on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), approved last March, to boost the amount of that programming and the number of networks required to provide it. Like the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, NAB has told the FCC that, per statute, it can't increase the number of networks required to provide video described programming and can't apply the requirement to a top five network—or top 10 if another proposed FCC change is approved—after it has fallen out of that ranking (the so-called "no backsliding" provision).

CTIA: The Wireless Association, which represents wireless Internet service providers, will seek an en banc (full court) rehearing of the three-judge panel decision upholding the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet order reclassifying fixed and mobile broadband as telecommunications services subject to Title II common carrier regulations, apparently. The deadline for seeking that hearing from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is July 28, 45 days after the initial decision June 14. CTIA will, not surprisingly, focus on the wireless portion of that decision—the FCC for the first time said its network neutrality rules applied to wireless as well as wired broadband.

Much to CTIA's dismay, the three-judge panel said the FCC had the statutory authority to make that call. “The Commission permissibly found that mobile broadband like all broadband—is a telecommunications service subject to common carrier regulation under Title II of the Communications Act,” the three-judge panel said. The FCC initially classified mobile broadband as a private radio service back in 2007, the court pointed out, considering it a “nascent” service rather than one reaching a substantial portion of the public, which would make it a commercial mobile service subject to common carrier regulations. But this time around the FCC said that with hundreds of millions now using mobile to access the Internet, it was a commercial service and should be classified as such. The court agreed. CTIA argues that mobile is qualitatively different from fixed, something the FCC has previously acknowledge, and requires "far more complex and aggressive network management than fixed broadband requires," which is why it says the FCC was wrong to apply the same regulations to both.

Despite the rise of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs, or pay-TV) that can deliver services nationwide by going over-the-top, Comcast still believes that the most prudent business path is to grow its video subscriber base in-footprint. “We just fundamentally believe, for now, that our in-market footprint strategy is where we add the most value to consumers,” said Brian Roberts, Comcast’s chairman and CEO, echoing sentiments he shared in May at the INTX show in Boston (MA). “OTT economics are unproven to us,” he added. “It’s not clear that that’s the right strategy for us.” Comcast, however, is expanding the reach of its X1 technology platform outside its own footprint ostensibly through syndication/licensing agreements with multiple system operators such as Cox Communications and Shaw Communications, which plans to start rolling out X1-based set-tops later in 2016.

Democratic delegates approved the party's platform July 25 and it committed to free Wi-Fi for anchor institutions and broadband for every household. It was being hailed as the most progressive platform in history, and clearly progress on broadband buildouts was high on the list. "High speed Internet connectivity is not a luxury; it is a necessity for 21st century economic success, social mobility, education, health care, and public safety," the platform said. "Despite considerable progress and private investment in the last eight years to close the digital divide, there is more work to do." That includes "finishing the job of connecting every household in America to high speed broadband, increase Internet adoption, and help hook up anchor institutions so they can offer free Wi-Fi to the public."

The platform was all in on network neutrality. "Democrats support a free and open Internet at home and abroad," the platform asserted, "and will oppose any effort by Republicans to roll back the historic net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted [in 2015]."

The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has launched a petition asking Pokémon Go developer Niantic not to deliver personalized ads to kids based on the data they collect in the augmented reality game sweeping the nation and the globe or "lure" them through commercial sponsorships. The group says children should not be led to PokeStops at retail stores or fast-food outlets. The game features PokeStops and gyms at locations in the real world where virtual Pokémon are collected and trained for battle.

Many of the stops are at historic places but others are paid sponsorships “No child should be lured to McDonald’s or any other sponsor’s establishment while playing Pokémon GO,” said Josh Golin, executive director of CCFC. “If Niantic wants to cash in on the game’s enormous popularity by herding players to its sponsors’ locations, it should exclude children from this type of marketing.”

July 22 marks the three-week anniversary of the Democratic majority's vote to approve the quadrennial broadcast ownership rule review, which does not include loosening or jettisoning the local ownership regulations broadcasters had sought. According to sources, the two Republicans have yet to vote the item. But after those three weeks, the item will be deemed approved Aug. 3, even without those votes, per Federal Communications Commission rules. That is unless one of the commissioners asks for a one-week extension to Aug. 10 which is automatically granted if asked for, or unless there are changes to the item that necessitate being re-voted. The chairman could grant further extensions as well. The extension to Aug. 10 is a definite possibility given that there is an FCC meeting to prepare for Aug. 4, and an Aug. 2 deadline for adopting limits on debt collection calls related to robocalling that could take up commissioner and staff time between now and then.

Add the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to those asking the Federal Communications Commission to revise or reboot its marketplace anaylsis of the business data service (BDS), formerly special access, market. In a letter to the FCC this week, Steven King, executive director of the commission, cited new data from cable operators that it says showed they significantly undercounted the number of locations "capable of" providing BDS services. The cable operators initially had provided data on where they were actively providing competitive BDS service but did not include places where they could provide it, but weren’t.

It wasn't quite the four million comments the Federal Communications Commission received on its Open Internet proceeding, but according to the Save the Internet coalition, which was also a part of that FCC comment flood, more than 500,000 people weighed in on the European Union's proposed guidelines via the coalition's and other websites.

The comment period closed July 18 on guidelines on implementing and applying EU net neutrality law, which the European Parliament adopted last fall and have already started applying. The law essentially "enshrines" net neutrality principles of no blocking or throttling of online content, applications and services, but the EU is now trying to come up with guidelines for applying it across its divergent membership. Those weighing in include World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, who fronted an open letter seeking strong regulations similar to the FCC's.

Federal Communications Commission local ownership rules prohibits duopolies where TV station co-ownership would leave fewer than eight independently owned stations, which means most markets, but broadcasters say that prohibition is unjustified and unsupported by economic analysis and have commissioned a study buttressing their case.

The FCC does not plan on changing that rule, according to its quadrennial media ownership review proposal that has already been approved by a Democratic majority, though FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said the item remains under discussion, and can still be tweaked. Facing yet another opportunity lost for the FCC to loosen ownership regulations, the National Association of Broadcasters has submitted a study providing what it says is a basic economic analysis on the so-called eight voices test, an analysis NAB says the FCC has repeatedly failed to do itself.

Forget cybercriminals and rogue states: President Barack Obama is the biggest threat to a free and open Internet, at least according to the platform approved at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland (OH).

“The survival of the Internet as we know it is at risk,” the platform says in its "Protecting Internet Freedom" plank. “Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.” President Obama pushed for the Federal Communications Commission to reclassify Internet access as a Title II common-carrier service subject to some new regulations, which it did. It was a move Congressional Republicans fought and blamed on what they saw as the president’s intervention. They are also not happy with the Administration’s decision to move oversight of Internet domain names to a multistakeholder model.