July 20, 2015 (Broadband debate heats up)

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, JULY 20TH, 2015

This week – Promoting Broadband Infrastructure Investment (preview below) https://www.benton.org/calendar/2015-07-19--P1W

WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
   What the Heck Is The “Duplex Gap” And Why Has It Blown Up The July FCC Meeting? - analysis
   Mobile data could soon be included in federal analyses of high-speed Internet deployment

OWNERSHIP
   Dish Talks for T-Mobile Said Stalled on Structure, Valuation
   Charter lobbies up in merger bid [links to web]

CONTENT
   Remarks of FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai Before the Churchill Club - speech
   FCC’s MVPD proceeding: the next divisive issue - analysis [links to web]
   FilmOn Ruling Not The End of the World - TVNewsCheck editorial [links to web]
   Comcast's Cohen: Netflix is ‘Ultimate Frenemy’ [links to web]
   Cutting the cable cord and embracing a digital media world - analysis [links to web]
   $60 Million Settlement Approved in NCAA Video Game Lawsuit [links to web]
   The billennial generation: how bilingual millennials are changing Spanish-language TV [links to web]

LIFELINE
   Chairman Wheeler's Response to Members of Congress Regarding GAO Lifeline Report - Chairman Wheeler Letter [links to web]

INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Broadband debate heats up
   These senators wanted an FCC probe of Internet prices. They’re going to be disappointed. [links to web]
   Vandals keep snipping fiber optic cables in California with impunity [links to web]
   New Haven to Pursue Citywide Fiber-Optic Cable Network [links to web]
   Remarks of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler For the LUS Fiber Ten Year Xtravaganza - speech [links to web]
   Why We All Need to Make the Internet Fun Again - Revere Digital op-ed [links to web]

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS
   FCC Reaches $17.5 Million Settlement with T-Mobile for Nationwide 911 Outages - press release

GOVERNMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
   Encryption loophole for government will welcome all hackers - San Jose Mercury News editorial [links to web]
   Accelerating the Use of Prizes to Address Tough Challenges - White House press release [links to web]
   Putting the digital keys to unlock data out of reach of authorities - Washington Post editorial [links to web]
   A Wizard at Prying Government Secrets From the Government [links to web]

ELECTIONS & MEDIA
   Republicans' crush on Silicon Valley not returned [links to web]
   Clinton reserves nearly $8 million in TV time for fall advertising blitz [links to web]
   The Snapchat Elections Begin With Bernie, Hillary and Jeb [links to web]
   Donald Trump making biggest splash on Facebook in Iowa [links to web]
   Let them debate! - Politico op-ed [links to web]
   A Note About Our Coverage Of Donald Trump's 'Campaign' - HuffPo editorial [links to web]
   Huffington Post wrong to consign Trump to entertainment section - analysis [links to web]

SECURITY
   Encryption loophole for government will welcome all hackers - San Jose Mercury News editorial [links to web]
   Cybersecurity task force looks to next administration [links to web]
   Putting the digital keys to unlock data out of reach of authorities - Washington Post editorial [links to web]
   Lack of digital talent adds to cybersecurity problems [links to web]

HEALTH
   How the FCC’s ban on prioritization puts patients at risk - AEI op-ed [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   The FCC's vocal minority speaks out [links to web]

LOBBYING
   Charter lobbies up in merger bid [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   EU Court Reins In Legal Battles Over Mobile-Phone Patents

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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM

WHAT IS THE "DUPLEX GAP" AND WHY HAS IT BLOWN UP THE JULY FCC MEETING?
[SOURCE: Tales of the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] Difficult as it is to believe, there are times in policy when issues do not break down simply by partisan interest or into neat categories like incumbents v. competitors or broadcasters v. wireless carriers. Sometimes -- and I know people are not gonna believe me on this -- issues break down on pure substance and require lots of really hard choices. So it is with the question of whether to put broadcasters in the duplex gap as part of the repacking plan in the incentive auction. Did your eyes glaze over yet? Heck, for most people, it’s gonna take a paragraph or two of explanation just to understand what that sentence means. But even if you don’t know what it means, you can understand enough for this basic summary:
1) Just about every stakeholder in the auction -- wireless carriers, broadcasters, wireless microphone users, tech company supporters of using unlicensed spectrum in the broadcast bands, public interest groups -- all told the Federal Communications Commission not to put broadcasters in the duplex gap.
2) Nevertheless, the Auction Team proposed putting broadcasters in the duplex gap, based on a set of simulation that suggested that the FCC would only get back 50-60 MHz of spectrum to auction if they protected the duplex gap. The Chairman circulated a draft order adopting the Auction Team’s proposal.
3) Everybody freaked out. The Chairman found he did not have 3 votes, or possibly not even 2 votes, to adopt his proposal on duplex gap. The freak out is so intense and so bad that the FCC actually waived the Sunshine Period for this items so that interested parties can continue to talk to FCC staff and commissioners until the night before the meeting. The FCC also released additional data showing the impact would be limited to a relatively small number of cities.
4) That helped some, but not enough. Despite progress on negotiations, the FCC clearly did not have time to get to the right solution in the 5 days between the release of the new data and the actual vote. Also, a bunch of people were pissed that the Auction Team hadn’t released the data sooner, and hadn’t provided more explanation of the underlying model and the assumptions behind it.
In Policyland, this passes for high drama. It is, to say the least, highly unusual.
benton.org/headlines/what-heck-duplex-gap-and-why-has-it-blown-july-fcc-meeting | Tales of the Sausage Factory
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MOBILE DATA COULD SOON BE INCLUDED IN FEDERAL ANAYSES OF HIGH-SPEED INTERNET DEPLOYMENT
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
When the Federal Communications Commission decided in January to raise the minimum official speed for "broadband" by more than 500 percent, it did so on the rationale that it would help promote the rollout of high-speed Internet. But the analysis that produced that decision only covered providers of fixed or wired Internet connections, such as Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Now the agency will consider whether to account for mobile Internet providers too, when it studies whether broadband is being adequately deployed in the United States. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has circulated a proposal to his fellow commissioners that would, if approved, kick off a process to add cellular carriers to an annual review of the US broadband market, according to an FCC official. If the agency agrees to look into the issue, it could allow the FCC to pressure those companies more strongly to upgrade their networks -- making them faster and more robust. It may also prompt the FCC to set a minimum benchmark for what is considered "mobile broadband," much in the way that the FCC has set the threshold for wired broadband at 25 megabits per second. But bandwidth is only one part of the equation. Your Internet experience is also determined by latency, or how much time it takes for signals to bounce from one device to another. Wheeler's proposal includes coverage of these so-called quality-of-service factors, the official said. A separate part of the proposal deals with satellite Internet -- which, if approved, could someday mean the FCC will regulate the likes of SpaceX and OneWeb, which are working to develop satellite-based Internet access.
benton.org/headlines/mobile-data-could-soon-be-included-federal-analyses-high-speed-internet-deployment | Washington Post
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OWNERSHIP

DISH TALKS FOR T-MOBILE SAID STALLED ON STRUCTURE, VALUATION
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Alex Sherman, Aaron Kirchfeld, Manuel Baigorri]
Apparently, the slow-moving Dish Network talks to acquire T-Mobile US from Deutsche Telekom AG have stalled over concerns related to valuation and structure. The lack of momentum calls into question whether any transaction will get done in 2015 or at all, apparently. The two companies will soon turn their attention to a spectrum auction in 2016 in which they’d either be bidding on wireless airwaves as one company or competing. Dish and Deutsche Telekom would want to iron out an agreement in the next two or three months before focusing on the auction, and the halt in talks has made that timeframe unlikely. T-Mobile will eventually need more spectrum to continue growing, and a deal with Dish would let it avoid spending billions at government auctions. The timing pressure stems from a quiet period the two companies would face related to an auction early in 2016 of US airwaves surrendered by television stations intended to help feed the growing need for mobile carriers. The companies will be prohibited from speaking publicly or to each other due to the Federal Communications Commission’s anti-collusion rules. The ball is in Dish’s court, two people familiar with the situation said. Deutsche Telekom has told Dish what kind of offer it wants and so far Dish hasn’t met that demand.
benton.org/headlines/dish-talks-t-mobile-said-stalled-structure-valuation | Bloomberg
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

BROADBAND DEBATE HEATS UP
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: David McCabe, Mario Trujillo]
An executive from Google Fiber and representatives from other tech firms will pitch lawmakers on ways to improve broadband investment around the country. The House Commerce Committee’s subcommittee on communications and technology will hold a hearing on ways to improve the environment for investment in both fixed and mobile broadband. Witnesses include Michael Slinger, director at Google's Fiber Cities, Craig Moffett of research firm MoffettNathanson, Jonathan Adelstein from PCIA, NextCentury Cities’ Deb Socia, and Stephen Roe Lewis of Gila River, NM. “With new services and innovative technologies constantly redefining America’s Internet needs, the old rules for network investment no longer apply. We will explore current trends in broadband infrastructure buildout and look at ways to improve that environment for continued investment and growth,” said Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) who leads the subcommittee.
benton.org/headlines/broadband-debate-heats | Hill, The
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CONTENT

REMARKS OF FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT PAI BEFORE THE CHURCHILL CLUB
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai]
When some in our nation’s capital look at the over-the-top video business, they see companies that have somehow escaped their regulatory clutches. Even though online video has thrived precisely because of the government's hands-off approach, they view the Internet as too important not to regulate. And so they want to do for online video what many governments have done for -- or more accurately, to -- Uber or Airbnb. In particular, the Federal Communications Commission's leadership has announced that this fall, the agency will consider classifying certain online video providers as multichannnel video programming distributors (MVPDs). I would like to make clear that I strongly oppose this proposal. Given the remarkable success of the over-the-top video industry, the burden should be on those who favor new regulations to prove what's wrong and explain why we should change. That case just hasn't been made. Amazon put it well when it told the FCC, "there has been no indication that additional regulation is needed to enable this new industry to grow and bring consumers even more benefits."
benton.org/headlines/remarks-fcc-commissioner-ajit-pai-churchill-club | Federal Communications Commission
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

FCC REACHES $17.5 MILLION SETTLEMENT WITH T-MOBILE FOR NATIONWIDE 911 OUTAGES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau has reached a $17.5 million settlement with T-Mobile, resolving an investigation into two 911 service outages that occurred on the company's national network in 2014. The separate but related outages, which together lasted approximately three hours, prevented T-Mobile customers from reaching first responders when making wireless 911 calls. As part of the settlement, T-Mobile has agreed to strengthen its 911 service procedures and to adopt robust compliance measures to ensure that it adheres to the FCC's 911 service reliability and outage notification rules in the future. T-Mobile's networks suffered two 911 outages on August 8, 2014. Both T-Mobile outages were nationwide outages, affecting almost all of T-Mobile's then 50 million customers. Simply put, a T-Mobile customer dialing 911 during these outages would not have reached first responders. In its investigation, the Enforcement Bureau found that T-Mobile did not provide timely notification of the August 8, 2014, outages to all affected 911 call centers, as required by FCC rules. The investigation also found that the outages would have been avoided if T-Mobile had implemented appropriate safeguards in its 911 network architecture.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-reaches-175-million-settlement-t-mobile-nationwide-911-outages | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Order
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

EU COURT REINS IN LEGAL BATTLES OVER MOBILE-PHONE PATENTS
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Stephanie Bodoni]
The European Union’s top court set limits on the ability of mobile-phone makers owning key industry patents to use court injunctions to thwart competitors seeking to use the technology in their own equipment. Huawei Technologies Co. and other mobile-phone makers that own a so-called standard-essential patent can go to court seeking to bar rivals from using it -- or to ban their products -- only if they have met strict conditions, the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled on July 16. Owners of such key patents that previously committed “to grant third parties a license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms” can only seek an injunction if first they present to the alleged infringer “a specific written offer for a license,” the court said. The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust watchdog, has also sought to rein in patent abuses as Motorola Mobility, Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. trade victories in courts across the world on intellectual property. Industry-standard technology helps ensure products such as mobile-phone antennas and global-positioning system software can operate together when made by different manufacturers. “This is the most important decision of the year in the field of patent enforcement and intellectual property,” said Axel Walz, a Munich-based lawyer specializing in IP and competition law with law firm King & Wood Mallesons. “It provides clear, useful guidelines for how the patent user and holder should behave” in disputes related to standard-essential patents, said Walz. “But the devil is in the details.”
benton.org/headlines/eu-court-reins-legal-battles-over-mobile-phone-patents | Bloomberg
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