“I will assure you that Title II is very much a topic of conversation and on the table and something that’s we’ve specially asked for comment on.”
-- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler in testimony before House Small Business Committee
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
3.7 Million Comments Later, Here's Where Net Neutrality Stands
Knives out for network neutrality fight
Senators hear calls on the FCC to step back from net neutrality rules
Republicans in Congress don't know what Internet freedom means - TC Sottek analysis
FCC Chief Wheeler Says Utility-Style Web Rules Possible
Senators opposing network neutrality rake in more campaign cash
No Question About an Open Internet - Verizon press release
NAB Neutral on Network Neutrality [links to web]
MORE ON INTERNET/BROADBAND
Sorry, AT&T and Verizon: 4Mbps isn’t fast enough for “broadband”
Just Say No to Internet Access Taxes - op-ed
Atlantic Broadband Gigabit Service Launched [links to web]
FCC PROCESS/REFORM
FCC Process Gets Critical Eyes
Wheeler: Only On-Record Info Will Be Used to Vet Deal Merits
TELEVISION
STAVRA Bill Passes Senate Commerce
See also: Consumer Groups Back Markey Set-Top Amendment [links to web]
Sinclair Challenges Incentive Auction in Court
Summer TV Ratings Were “Terrible” [links to web]
Discovery to Take Control of Hub Children's Network [links to web]
The sexism of the television industry [links to web]
Union Finds TV Diversity Hiring Stalled [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Under new ownership, WJLA-TV takes a slight turn to the right
This is what a monopoly looks like - editorial [links to web]
Discovery to Take Control of Hub Children's Network [links to web]
Occupy Wall Street Activists File Suit Over Control of Twitter Account [links to web]
WIRELESS
Why T-Mobile needs Wi-Fi calling: its network can’t match AT&T and Verizon [links to web]
Would you buy a Wi-Fi router just to use your cell phone indoors? T-Mobile hopes so [links to web]
Roberts: Wi-Fi Could Be Retention, Revenue Tool [links to web]
Verizon’s Interest in Tower Sale Sparked by $5 Billion AT&T Deal [links to web]
How much does it really cost Apple to make an iPhone 6? [links to web]
EDUCATION
News for high schools: Digital media plus teaching equals support for freedom - Knight Foundation press release
DIVERSITY
The sexism of the television industry [links to web]
Union Finds TV Diversity Hiring Stalled [links to web]
'I've never felt excluded in Silicon Valley' - op-ed [links to web]
NCTA’s Powell: Keep Diversity Pipeline Filled [links to web]
PRIVACY/SECURITY
NSA reform bill stalled with Congress headed toward fall recess [links to web]
New e-mail shows “stingray” maker may have lied to FCC back in 2010 [links to web]
Tech firm tries to pull back curtain on surveillance efforts in Washington [links to web]
Big COPPA problems for TinyCo - press release [links to web]
FTC case against Yelp shows that COPPA isn’t just for kids’ sites - press release [links to web]
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for police, even with search warrants [links to web]
CONTENT
Bill would protect Yelp comments [links to web]
Amazon is a rising star in Hollywood [links to web]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
Twitter’s new guide for campaigners [links to web]
POLICMAKERS
Elizabeth Sembler Elected Board Chair and Lori Gilbert Elected Vice Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting - CPB press release [links to web]
Former Qualcomm Exec Named Head of Google Fiber [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Network Virtualization at AT&T Yields Services [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Orange Workers Dodge Islamic State Forces to Keep Network Up [links to web]
Chinese Hacked US Military Contractors, Senate Panel Says [links to web]
The big stick behind Google’s soft power approach to Europe [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Sen Cantwell Threatens Bill Over Redskins Name [links to web]
How Islamic State is wielding the Internet in new ways [links to web]
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
WHERE NET NEUTRALITY STANDS
[SOURCE: National Public Radio, AUTHOR: Elise Hu]
The window for the public to weigh in on how federal rule-makers should treat Internet traffic is closed, after a record 3.7 million comments arrived at the Federal Communications. The Sunlight Foundation analyzed the first 800,000 and found that fewer than 1 percent were opposed to network neutrality enforcement. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said that he hopes the FCC will approve a proposal before the end of 2014, which gives the commission a few more months to sift through the comments, meet with stakeholders and reconvene on this issue. In the meantime, there's plenty of reading the tea leaves of Wheeler's public comments and moves. One issue that's come up in this interim period is how to treat mobile connections.
benton.org/headlines/37-million-comments-later-heres-where-net-neutrality-stands | National Public Radio
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NET NEUTRALITY FIGHT
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Lawmakers are sharpening their knives for a fight over new regulations on Internet service companies. Public reaction to the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed rules for network neutrality has been louder than anything the agency has experienced in the past. But the battle has only just begun. On Capitol Hill, deep partisan divides over the issue virtually guarantee that whatever decision the FCC makes will be met with steep opposition. That could presage a vicious and drawn-out battle that spills into the months after the FCC finalizes its rules, which Chairman Tom Wheeler has planned to do by the end of the year.
benton.org/headlines/knives-out-network-neutrality-fight | Hill, The
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SENATORS HEAR CALLS FOR FCC TO ABANDON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: IDG News Service, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
The Federal Communications Commission should abandon its efforts to pass network neutrality rules because new regulations would hurt investment and the deployment of broadband, a parade of Republican senators and advocates said. Advocates of strong net neutrality rules have pointed to few problems that justify intrusive new regulations, several Republican senators argued during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Net neutrality would amount to the FCC taking “control” of the Internet, said Sen Orrin Hatch (R-UT). “Without government regulation the Internet is growing,” he said. “So what’s the problem? What is broken? What is it that needs to be fixed?” Instead of questioning witnesses, Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave a six-minute speech about what he sees as the evils of a “nanny state” of growing government regulation. Every time the net neutrality debate returns to Washington (DC) “it stirs up an interesting debate between government regulation versus, to some, the terrifying freedom of the Internet,” Sen Cruz said. “I think the American people don’t find that freedom all that terrifying.” Several Democratic senators and three hearing witnesses defended net neutrality rules, saying rules are needed to keep the Internet free from selective traffic slowdowns by broadband providers seeking to pump up profits through paid traffic prioritization deals.
benton.org/headlines/senators-hear-calls-fcc-step-back-net-neutrality-rules | IDG News Service | The Wrap | Multichannel News
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REPUBLICANS DON’T KNOW WHAT INTERNET FREEDOM MEANS
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: TC Sottek]
[Commentary] The future of the Internet is at stake, and there's still a lot of ignorance about technology on both sides of the aisle in Congress. But right now there's only one party in Congress that's actively threatening to kill the founding principles that have made the Internet the booming success it is today. People who understand the history of the internet and the value it now provides to everyone accept the obvious conclusion that the internet is a utility, just like water and electricity. Right now advocates are trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to just say that obvious fact, and do what it should have done years ago but lacked the courage to accomplish: to declare that ISPs are common carriers, subject to restrictions on how they handle the speech that travels through their cables. But Internet providers don't want to be treated like common carriers, because it would, in short, stifle profits. So what's their response? To cast reclassification as "heavy handed" regulation from Big Government. And Republicans are buying it. There are two major themes to GOP objection: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," and "big government is bad."
benton.org/headlines/republicans-congress-dont-know-what-internet-freedom-means | Verge, The
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TITLE II ON THE TABLE
[SOURCE: Bloomberg, AUTHOR: Todd Shields]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency is considering utility-style rules for Internet traffic. The rules are “very much on the table,” Chairman Wheeler told the House Committee on Small Business today. He said the agency is considering rules under Title II, which refers to regulations drafted to regulate telephone service before widespread deployment of high-speed Internet service, or broadband. Chairman Wheeler also listed “fast lanes” among activities such as blocking websites as an activity that interferes with broadband service.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chief-wheeler-says-utility-style-web-rules-possible | Bloomberg | The Hill | B&C | The Hill
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NET NEUTRALITY AND CAMPAIGN CASH
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: David Kravets]
Senators who have vocalized their opposition to network neutrality are taking in, on average, 40 percent more campaign cash from the broadband-delivery industry than those who support it, according to an analysis of campaign data. The data highlights the disparity between what the moneyed Washington interests want compared to the public's desires. Most of the 800,000 initial public comments to the Federal Communications Commission backed the FCC adopting net neutrality rules. The commission is weighing whether to enact regulations that, among other things, could prevent broadband providers from charging for Internet fast lanes.
benton.org/headlines/senators-opposing-network-neutrality-rake-more-campaign-cash | Ars Technica
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VERIZON AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Verizon, AUTHOR: Craig Silliman]
Verizon is committed to an open Internet. We provide customers with an open Internet on both our wireline and our wireless networks. We are committed to providing an open Internet for our customers and make that clear in a set of principles that we have posted on our website. You can review those principles here. But this debate has never been about an open Internet -- everyone supports that. It has been about how heavily broadband should be regulated. Supporting an open Internet and supporting the imposition on wireless networks of a regulatory regime first written for the rotary phone are two very different things. Our comments in the “Open Internet” proceeding have been consistent. As our filings make clear -- and as the “Open Internet Order” in 2010 made clear -- the FCC recognized that “wireless is different.” Robust competition in the mobile broadband marketplace has led to a remarkable level of innovation that is constantly changing and accelerating. Moreover, unique technical challenges, including limited spectrum and other operational issues, require a different approach than the one-size-and-speed-fits-all approach that net neutrality advocates seem so fixated on. Just as important: consumers benefit most when mobile-service providers have the flexibility to experiment and innovate to win their business. Heavy regulation could stifle creativity and innovation even more in the rapidly changing and highly competitive mobile environment than it will in the wireline environment.
benton.org/headlines/no-question-about-open-internet | Verizon
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MORE ON INTERNET/BROADBAND
WHEELER AT HOUSE SMALL BUSINESS
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
Contrary to what AT&T and Verizon would have you believe, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said 4Mbps is too slow to be considered broadband and that Internet service providers who accept government subsidies should offer at least 10Mbps. At a hearing in front of the House Committee on Small Business, Rep Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) pointed to communities with little or no access to high-speed broadband, saying if the minimum speed isn’t high enough, “rural constituents in my district will be left on the wrong side of the digital divide.” Chairman Wheeler responded: “We have proposed increasing the throughput in order to get Universal Service funds from 4Mbps to 10Mbps for precisely the reason that you mentioned, that you can’t have a digital divide. When 60 percent of the Internet’s traffic at prime time is video, and it takes 4 or 5Mbps to deliver video, a 4Mbps connection isn’t exactly what’s necessary in the 21st century. And when you have half a dozen different devices, wireless and other connected devices in a home that are all going against that bandwidth, it’s not enough. What we are saying is we can’t make the mistake of spending the people’s money, which is what Universal Service is, to continue to subsidize something that’s subpar.”
benton.org/headlines/sorry-att-and-verizon-4mbps-isnt-fast-enough-broadband | Ars Technica | Chairman Wheeler
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JUST SAY NO TO INTERNET ACCESS TAXES
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Matthew Shay]
[Commentary] As the trade association that represents both brick-and-mortar and online retailers, the National Retail Federation believes Congress should pass legislation that extends the federal ban on Internet access taxes. Allowing the current ban to end on Nov. 1 would be a significant blow to our economy and to innovation. NRF also believes it is time to pass federal legislation that grants states the ability to require remote sellers to collect sales tax. Online sellers who don't have to collect sales tax hold an unfair price and market advantage over their competitors and make it increasingly difficult for Main Street merchants to survive. It is time for all retailers to play by the same tax rules regardless of whether they sell in a store, through the mail or over the Internet. Retail is retail, a sale is a sale and fair is fair. The best way to accomplish these goals is for Congress to pass the Marketplace and Internet Tax Fairness Act.
[Shay is President and CEO of the National Retail Federation]
benton.org/headlines/just-say-no-internet-access-taxes | Wall Street Journal
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FCC PROCESS/REFORM
FCC PROCESS REFORM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission's Managing Director Jon Wilkins and Inspector General David Hunt came in for some tough questioning from House Communications Subcommittee members in a hearing on FCC process reform. IG Hunt was particularly critical of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's creation of a strike force to weed out waste, fraud and corruption in the Universal Service Fund, as well as his inability to hire criminal investigators. He said that there was confusion at DOJ about who was in charge of investigations and that it might have been better to put the strike force under IG, which has to report to Congress. Wilkins said that the two were complimentary, that they needed to coordinate, and that he thought there had been some good coordination. The FCC's IT, particularly Web site functionality, came in for criticism, with Subcommittee chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) saying as a former broadcaster, he found it "useless." Republican members honed in on the strike force issue and IT problems, though Democrats also had trouble with an agency focused on communications whose web site was brought down by the flood of network neutrality comments.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-process-gets-critical-eyes | Broadcasting&Cable
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MERGER REVIEWS
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler says the FCC will only use information placed on the record when it renders decisions on mergers. In a letter to Sen Dean Heller (R-NV), he assured him that the FCC agrees with the senator's admonition that "when orders that have significant impact on the industry are crafted based on information provided in secret and go unchallenged, I believe it can undermine the effectiveness of that order." That is why Chairman Wheeler assured him that, per the Administrative Procedures Act, "[The] FCC uses only information that is placed on the record when it renders a decision on whether to allow a transaction to proceed, with or without conditions." He said the exemption "for entities who seek confidentiality 'due to fear of possible reprisal or retribution'" was only one way entities can present information not on the public record -- another is meetings after a transaction has been announced but before it is put on public notice. He said that while the exempted communications can't be used to make a decision on the merits of a deal, "it could be used, however, to help the Commission formulate appropriate questions to applicants or other parties; questions (and subsequent responses) which could be placed on the record. Alternatively, it could be used as a means of encouraging persons or entities to put their information on the record."
benton.org/headlines/wheeler-only-record-info-will-be-used-vet-deal-merits | Multichannel News
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TELEVISION
STAVRA PASSES SENATE COMMITTEE
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Senate Commerce Committee swiftly and without drama approved a relatively clean version of the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (STAVRA) reauthorization bill. At base it renews the compulsory license that allows satellite operators to deliver distant network signals and the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce good-faith negotiations. It puts Congress' stamp on an FCC effort to prevent coordinated retransmission consent negotiations among non-commonly owned stations in the same market — which broadcasters have signaled they can live with — and eliminated the ban on integrated set-tops, both of which cable operators were pushing for. Cable operators were pleased that the bill had not been loaded with those amendments.
benton.org/headlines/stavra-bill-passes-senate-commerce | Multichannel News | Sens Rockefeller and Thune | TVNewsCheck
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SINCLAIR ATTEMPTING TO BLOCK INCENTIVE AUCTIONS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sinclair Broadcasting has challenged the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast incentive auction order in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Sinclair said that as a broadcaster it was “aggrieved and otherwise injured" by the decision. Sinclair did not lay out an elaborate case for what it thought was wrong, or make any suggestions for how it could be fixed, as did the National Association of Broadcasters and noncommercial outlets in their respective petitions challenging portions of the order. Noncommercial stations petitioned the FCC for the change, while NAB, like Sinclair, sought review by the DC court. Sinclair took aim at it all. Sinclair seeks review of the order on the grounds that it "was adopted in excess of the Commission's authority; violates the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012....is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion under the Administrative Procedure Act and violates Section 5(c) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 155(c); and is otherwise contrary to law." It asked to “hold unlawful, vacate, enjoin, and set aside the Order and grant such additional relief as may be necessary and appropriate.”
benton.org/headlines/sinclair-challenges-incentive-auction-court | Broadcasting&Cable
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OWNERSHIP
WJLA-TV UNDER SINCLAIR
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
There’s a new owner and a new approach to the news at WJLA-TV, Washington’s ABC affiliate. Under the direction of its ambitious corporate parent, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station’s news operations have taken a subtle but noticeable turn to the right. In July, Sinclair received federal approval of its $985 million purchase of WJLA, its sister cable news station, NewsChannel 8, and six other stations owned by Allbritton Communications. Allbritton, which continues to own Politico , had operated WJLA for 40 years. Since completing the acquisition, Sinclair has moved swiftly to remodel WJLA, by far the largest and most important asset in the company’s rapidly expanding portfolio. The company has spent $2.8 billion over the past three years to buy stations, and now owns or operates 164 of them, making it the largest station operator in the nation.
benton.org/headlines/under-new-ownership-wjla-tv-takes-slight-turn-right | Washington Post
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EDUCATION
DIGITAL MEDIA AND SUPPORT FOR FREEDOM
[SOURCE: Knight Foundation, AUTHOR: Eric Newton]
A new survey of more than 10,000 high school students lends support to the view that the tool is not important; it’s how we learn to use it. Amid an explosion in social and mobile media – their media – high school students are supporting freedom of expression in record numbers, and are even more likely to do so if they also have had a class in the First Amendment. During the past 10 years, Knight Foundation has funded five “Future of the First Amendment” surveys, each probing what American high school students know and think about our most fundamental freedoms. This year, for the first time, American high school students show a greater overall appreciation for the First Amendment than do adults. More students than ever before say they are thinking about the First Amendment. Nine in 10 say people should be able to express unpopular opinions. Six in 10 say the press should not be censored by the government. What happened? One explanation: the digital age.
benton.org/headlines/news-high-schools-digital-media-plus-teaching-equals-support-freedom | Knight Foundation
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