January 26, 2017 (GOP expects sweeping change at FCC)

INTERNET/BROADBAND

PAI MEETS WITH DIVERSE STAKEHOLDERS ON DIGITAL DIVIDE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai had his first official meeting with outside parties as chairman with a diverse group of stakeholders in closing that digital divide, apparently. The meeting was held with Kim Keenan of the Multicultural Media, Telecom, and Internet Council, Rosa Mendoza of the Hispanic Technology & Telecommunications Partnership, Carlos Gutierrez of the LGBT Technology Partnership, and Debra Berlyn of the Project to Get Older Adults OnLine (GOAL). The chairman was said to have solicited ideas for getting broadband to all Americans. He also asked for input on proposals in his Digital Empowerment Agenda. Among other things, Chairman Pai wants Congress to create Gigabit Opportunity Zones to "provide financial incentives for internet service providers to deploy gigabit broadband services in low-income neighborhoods, incentivize local governments to make it easy for ISPs to deploy these networks, and offer tax incentives for startups of all kinds in order to take advantage of these networks and create jobs in these areas."
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-pai-meets-diverse-stakeholders-digital-divide | Broadcasting&Cable
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WHY IS THE MEDIA SMEARING PAI?
[SOURCE: Forbes, AUTHOR: Larry Downes]
[Commentary] Media outlets across the political spectrum reporting on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s promotion have focused on a single issue—the FCC’s controversial 2015 open Internet rulemaking, which transformed Internet access providers into public utilities. In doing so, they have trivialized the very real and important issues facing the agency and its new Chairman. Much worse than that, they have badly conflated and misreported Pai’s views on network neutrality itself—an almost entirely separate topic. The how and why of this serious reporting failure is the real story here. Nowhere has Pai indicated hostility to basic net neutrality principles themselves, or disavowed his repeated pledge “to protect them going forward.” Nor has he ever proposed to “kill,” “destroy,” “gut,” “end” or “hate” those protections.
[Larry Downes is the Project Director, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy.]
benton.org/headlines/why-media-smearing-new-fcc-chair-ajit-pai-enemy-net-neutrality | Forbes
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THE NEW POLITICAL CALCULUS ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Scott Cleland]
[Commentary] The window of opportunity for negotiating a legislative compromise on reasonable network neutrality protections is 2017. The 2015 assumptions supporting the old political calculus all collapsed with the election outcome. If supporters believe net neutrality is an enduring principle and protection worthy of being put into law, and not just politics, then a reasonable bipartisan compromise should be possible. A critical point here that many are missing is that the old net neutrality political calculus was not about net neutrality itself. It was about the FCC asserting and gaining court deference so it could de facto legislate Internet policy over time via unbounded, sweeping, regulatory authority. In short, the election completely upended the old net neutrality political calculus. Net neutrality supporters would be wise to take the proverbial bird in hand of a legislative compromise now, rather than betting they can grasp for the two birds in the bush whenever they want. Time will tell if enough Senate Democrats consider net neutrality a substantive policy worth preserving.
[Scott Cleland is President of Precursor LLC chairman of NetCompetition, a pro-competition e-forum supported by broadband interests.]
benton.org/headlines/new-political-calculus-net-neutrality | Hill, The
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AN OPEN-INTERNET LETTER TO FCC CHAIRMAN PAI
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Lowell Peterson, Michael Winship]
[Commentary] Because you will be the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, we want to initiate a dialogue with you—and the public. At the core of that dialogue: How the FCC can foster competition in the communications market yet at the same time protect the American public from media concentration and oligarchic control of television, radio and the internet. The Writers Guild of America, East, represents thousands of writers working in film, television, news and digital media. Our members are directly affected by the decisions made by the FCC. They have made it clear that they want their work to be accessible to as many people as possible through an open internet and a competitive marketplace. If the FCC were to overturn net neutrality and allow companies like AT&T and Time Warner to merge, the real losers will be hardworking Americans who will see their bills increase and their access to content restricted. As you assume the chairmanship of the FCC, please contemplate all the possible consequences of your actions and take these vital concerns to heart.
[Michael Winship is the President of the Writers Guild of America, East. Lowell Peterson is the Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East.]
benton.org/headlines/open-internet-letter-fcc-chairman-ajit-pai | Broadcasting&Cable
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US WITHOUT NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Vocativ, AUTHOR: Kevin Collier]
Under President Donald Trump, the public may finally get a firsthand look at what network neutrality means in practice — because if the Trump Administration is able to successfully abolish it, the internet is going to get a lot more expensive and harder to use. So what would the internet look like without net neutrality? Internet providers would likely start using it for a business advantage, said Gigi Sohn, a recently-retired FCC senior official who advised former FCC chairman Tom Wheeler on net neutrality rules. To start, internet providers not burdened by net neutrality could begin by offering deals and exclusives for their content. Streaming video sites could balkanize even further: Hulu might cut an exclusive deal with Comcast while Netflix inked one with Verizon, meaning no one could get access to both. And if you’re one of those unlucky Americans whose neighborhood is only served by a single provider? Hope you like whichever service it struck a deal with, because that’s all you’ll be able to legally get.
benton.org/headlines/us-without-net-neutrality-how-internet-nightmare-unfolds | Vocativ
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

AT&T AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Wrap, AUTHOR: Matt Pressberg]
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and CFO John Stephens shed light on the company’s fourth-quarter finances and future outlook as the world’s largest telecom company continues its evolution into a media empire. One thing they aren’t overly concerned with: the future of “zero rating,” which has helped its new streaming service DirecTV Now accumulate more than 200,000 subscribers in less than two months of operation. AT&T uses zero rating to not charge its wireless customers for data they use while streaming DirecTV Now, the over-the-top service the company launched in November that opened with a promotional offer of more than 100 channels for $35 a month. The Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to AT&T in December expressing competitive concern about zero rating, but with a new regime led by network neutrality opponent Ajit Pai — installed by President Donald Trump — Stephenson isn’t worried about its longer-term prospects. “We actually were quite confident that zero rating as we were implementing was fine under a Pai chairmanship,” Stephenson said, remarking that AT&T was “going hard” when it was putting together that capability. “You should expect us to continue that, and continue to push aggressively on this.”
benton.org/headlines/att-ceo-plans-go-hard-sponsored-data-streaming-subscribers | Wrap, The
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TRANSITION/AGENDA

CHANGES AT FCC
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Harper Neidig]
Republicans are eager to turn the page at the Federal Communications Commission after eight years of policies under President Barack Obama that they say have stifled innovation and burdened the tech sector. President Trump’s appointment of Ajit Pai as FCC chairman has raised hopes that many of the rules and regulations enacted under President Obama — including the controversial network neutrality rules — will soon be on the chopping block. Chairman Pai fought against the enactment of former-Chairman Tom Wheeler’s signature Open Internet Order, which codified net neutrality, the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally. Republicans like Pai denounced the FCC order for reclassifying internet service providers as [telecommunications services]. The move subjected internet providers to heavier regulation, with the FCC effectively taking over regulatory jurisdiction on issues like privacy from the Federal Trade Commission. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who tried to roll back the net neutrality order through legislation, said Republicans are deliberating how to tackle net neutrality now that the party is in charge of both the executive and legislative branches. “I think getting some certainty on the net neutrality issue is something that industry would like for us to do,” Rep Blackburn said. “Everyone would like to see some certainty there, and everyone would like to see the FCC back in their correct lanes. FTC should have jurisdiction for privacy.”
benton.org/headlines/gop-expects-sweeping-change-trumps-fcc | Hill, The
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BRANDT HERSHMAN
[SOURCE: TVNewsCheck, AUTHOR: ]
Ajit Pai’s promotion to Federal Communications Commission chairman leaves the Republicans with a 2-1 majority at the agency for the foreseeable future, easing the pressure on President Donald Trump to fill the commission’s two vacant commission seats. But the jockeying for Trump’s nod for the additional slots has already begun. Brandt Hershman, an Indiana state senator who worked closely with Vice President Michael Pence while he was Indiana governor, is the clear favorite for the FCC’s remaining GOP vacancy, industry insiders say. The leading candidate for the agency’s Democratic vacancy appears to be former-FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “It doesn’t really matter,” said one industry lobbyist as to who eventually gets the nod for the Democratic slot. In the wake of President Trump’s victory, industry insiders are far more interested in the pick for the GOP vacancy than the Democratic seat because it’s the Republican majority that will be calling the shots at the agency, at least for the next four years.
benton.org/headlines/indiana-state-senator-brandt-hershman-front-runner-fcc-gop-slot | TVNewsCheck
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TRUMP STILL USING UNSECURED ANDROID PHONE
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Colin Lecher]
President Donald Trump’s long-held Android phone is a security nightmare for a high-level politician, but according to a report from The New York Times, the newly inaugurated president is still using the device. In a profile of the president’s time so far in the White House, the Times reports that President Trump has held on to his “old, unsecured Android phone” — previously reported to be a Samsung device — despite some protests by his aides. According to the Times, he used it to tweet Jan 24, suggesting he would “send in the Feds” to Chicago. (The tweet was apparently sent in response to a Bill O’Reilly segment.) Another Times report said Trump “traded in his Android phone for a secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service with a new number that few people possess,” but Trump has reportedly kept the Android phone to continue tweeting, and is even getting calls on it. In the Times profile, Trump did have kind words for the security of the White House phones, saying “words just explode in the air.” What he meant was that no one was listening in and recording his words.
benton.org/headlines/trump-reportedly-still-using-his-unsecured-android-phone | Verge, The | NYT | Vox
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GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

FELONY CHARGES FOR JOURNALISTS ARRESTED AT INAUGURATION PROTESTS
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Jonah Engel Bromwich]
At least six journalists were charged with felony rioting after they were arrested while covering the violent protests that took place just blocks from President Donald Trump’s inauguration parade in Washington on Jan 20. The journalists were among 230 people detained in the anti-Trump demonstrations, during which protesters smashed the glass of commercial buildings and lit a limousine on fire. The charges against the journalists — Evan Engel, Alexander Rubinstein, Jack Keller, Matthew Hopard, Shay Horse and Aaron Cantu — have been denounced by organizations dedicated to press freedom. All of those arrested have denied participating in the violence. “These felony charges are bizarre and essentially unheard of when it comes to journalists here in America who were simply doing their job,” said Suzanne Nossel, the executive director of Pen America. “They weren’t even in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were in the right place.” Carlos Lauria, a spokesman and senior program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the charges “completely inappropriate and excessive,” and the organization has asked that they be dropped immediately. “Our concern is that these arrests could send a chilling message to journalists that cover future protests,” Lauria added.
benton.org/headlines/felony-charges-journalists-arrested-inauguration-protests-raise-fears-press-freedom | New York Times
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WH SAYS IT HASNT TOLD AGENCIES TO STOP TWEETING
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Devin Henry]
The White House denied it has directed federal agencies to stop using social media, saying new restrictions on communications have instead come from within those agencies themselves. “There's nothing that has come from the White House. Absolutely not,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. "There are a couple of these agencies that have had problems adhering to their own policies.” “They haven’t been directed by us to do anything,” he said. Since President Trump took office, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been told not to tweet or communicate with the media while the agency reviews its public relations strategy. The Interior Department was also reportedly instructed to stop operating its Twitter accounts following a couple of National Park Service tweets about the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd.
benton.org/headlines/white-house-says-it-hasnt-told-agencies-stop-tweeting | Hill, The
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OWNERSHIP

DEMOCRATIC SENS WANT PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT ON ATT-TIME WARNER
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Democratic Sens are asking AT&T and Time Warner to prove that their proposed merger is in the public interest, given that they plan to structure the deal so that it does not need Federal Communications Commission review. While the Justice Department looks at deals for antitrust issues, the FCC goes beyond that to also look at the public interest benefits, or negative impacts, of media mergers. Sen Al Franken (D-MN), a member of the Antitrust Subcommittee, led a baker's dozen of Democrats in a letter to the companies saying that the public deserves to know what is in the deal for them, FCC review or no. "To achieve greater transparency for regulators, lawmakers, and American consumers, we ask that you provide us with a public interest statement detailing how you plan to ensure that the transaction benefits consumers, promotes competition, remedies all potential harms, and further serves the public interest through the broader policy goals of the Communications Act,” the Sens said. They say they would like the statement by Feb 17.
benton.org/headlines/senate-democrats-want-public-interest-statement-att-time-warner | Broadcasting&Cable | Morning Consult
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TELEVISION

GOP COMMERCE LEADERS ASK PAI TO CLOSE SET-TOP DOCKET
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is a long and strong opponent of former Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposal to revamp the set-top box marketplace to boost online video competition and would be unlikely to exhume that push, but the Republican leadership of the House Commerce Committee want him to put a nail in the coffin. In a letter to Chairman Pai, House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Communications Subcommittee Chair Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), and every Republican member of the Communications Subcommittee asked him to officially close the docket on the proceeding. "The regulatory overhang of the set-top box regulation has cast a shadow over investment and innovation in traditional video programming delivery," they said. "[W]e urge you to close the proceeding and permit the industry to innovate and serve consumers free from the restrictions of a government-chosen platform." They said it would generally be a good idea to close all inactive dockets and that in this particular case it should be closed as an "unnecessary regulatory threat to content creation and distribution industries" and to signal to video program distributors "that they can bring technological advances to set-top boxes and video delivery without fear that the Commission overturn them by regulation."
benton.org/headlines/republican-commerce-leaders-ask-fcc-chairman-pai-close-set-top-docket | Broadcasting&Cable | read the letter | Press release | Fierce
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POLICYMAKERS

BBG ANNOUNCES NEW ACTING BOARD CHAIRMAN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting Board of Governors, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) announced the unanimous election of Kenneth Weinstein, who has served as a Board Member since October 2013, to the position of Acting Board Chairman, effective immediately. Weinstein takes over the position from Jeff Shell, who served as Chairman of the Board since August 2013. Shell, the Chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, will continue to serve as a Board Member. Kenneth R. Weinstein is President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Institute, a think tank focused on promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. He has been decorated with a knighthood in Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Weinstein previously served by presidential appointment and Senate confirmation on the National Humanities Council, the governing body of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Weinstein graduated from The University of Chicago (B.A. in General Studies in the Humanities), the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (D.E.A. in Soviet and Eastern European Studies), and Harvard University (Ph.D. in Government).
benton.org/headlines/broadcasting-board-governors-announces-new-acting-board-chairman | Broadcasting Board of Governors
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January 26, 2017 (GOP expects sweeping change at FCC)