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The Congressional Budget Office has scored H.J. 37 which would disapprove the rule adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on December 21, 2010, that is intended to preserve the Internet as an open network. Report and Order FCC 10-201 establishes rules that would bar broadband providers from blocking lawful content and discriminating in transmitting lawful traffic on the network. The rule also would require broadband providers to disclose to the public information about network management practices, performance, and terms of service.
H.J. Res. 37 would invoke a legislative process established by the Congressional Review Act (Public Law 104-121) to disapprove the open Internet rule. If H.J. Res. 37 is enacted, the published rule would have no force or effect. Based on information from the FCC, CBO estimates that voiding this rule would have no effect on the budget. Enacting H.J. Res. 37 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. H.J. Res. 37 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
CBO Score Resolution to Disallow Network Neutrality Rules
As recommended in the National Broadband Plan, the Federal Communications Commission has initiated a proceeding to ensure that the public has access to broadband technologies to communicate with 9-1-1 dispatchers and to accelerate the deployment of next generation 9-1-1.
The FCC issued an order to improve 9-1-1 by enhancing location-accuracy requirements for wireless service providers to be sure first responders can find those who call 9-1-1 from their mobile phones. And next month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski will ask the FCC commissioners to consider a proposal to help improve the reliability and resiliency of our emergency response infrastructure. All of these efforts are being driven by Admiral Jamie Barnett and the outstanding staff working on public safety issues at the FCC.
FCC's Genachowski on Modernizing 911
In October 2009, a Shared Services Agreement (SSA) among three of the five television stations in Honolulu, Hawai’i went into effect. As a result of the SSA, three stations, KIVE, KHNL and KGMB combined their news operations as a new entity entitled Hawai’i News Now. Even before the SSA became a reality, there were serious concerns expressed by local citizens regarding the effect such an arrangement would have on the diversity of news in the market. Media Council Hawai’i (MCH), a local non-profit organization, filed a complaint and a request for emergency relief with the Federal Communications Commission to stop the implementation of the agreement. MCH contended that the SSA would negatively affect the content, diversity and competition of the Honolulu television market. The SSA owners argued, on the other hand, that television news in the DMA would be improved.
This research, Local TV & Shared Services Agreements: Examining Content in Honolulu, essentially tested those propositions. It was a content analysis of the daily newscasts of all five of the television stations in the Honolulu DMA and a comparison of their newscasts before and after the Shared Service Agreement went into effect. What was the result of the analysis? The short answer is that the implementation of the Shared Services Agreement had a profound effect on the local news broadcasts in the market. The most significant finding is that two stations that were part of the three-station SSA group simply duplicated their newscasts through the mechanism of a simulcast.
Local TV News & Joint Services Agreements
The Federal Communications Commission's Spectrum Management, Resources and Technologies Division in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has a new name: the Technologies, Systems and Innovation Division (or the Tech Division). The Tech Division is primarily responsible for developing and managing the Wireless Bureau’s information technology tools, systems and programs. This includes managing multiple automated systems, developing innovative web-based tools and providing advanced mapping and data analysis capabilities.
What’s In a Name?
Financially strapped KCET-TV is in talks to sell its landmark Sunset Boulevard studio to the Church of Scientology, according to people who know about the pending deal.
The Los Angeles television station, which is struggling to rebuild viewership after its recent split from PBS, plans to move its operations to a smaller location, real estate brokers said. Station officials have been touring potential sites, brokers said. Terms of the potential deal were unavailable, but the 4.5-acre property at 4401 W. Sunset Blvd. has an assessed value of $14.1 million, according to county records. The lot, which has served as a studio since 1912, was formerly the home of Monogram Pictures and Allied Artists. Scenes for dozens of notable films were shot there over the years, including "El Cid" with Charlton Heston, John Ford's "Hurricane" and the Charlie Chan mysteries.
KCET-TV said to be in talks to sell landmark studio to Church of Scientology
By Danilo Yanich, PhD
University of Delaware
According to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Notice of Inquiry for the 2010 Quadrennial Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules (NOI), there were 1,130 commercial television stations with 450 owners in 1996. In 2010, there were 1,302 commercial television stations and 303 owners, representing a 33 percent drop in the number of owners. In addition, the FCC reports that there are 175 television station duopolies, which include owners with “attributable local marketing agreements” in the 210 Nielsen television markets. These local marketing agreements (variously known as shared services agreements or joint service agreements) are arrangements among stations in the same television market in which they share news-gathering resources, video, and/or marketing and management activities. Although the earliest of these arrangements date as far back as 2000, in the midst of national and global economic instability, increasing numbers of local television news stations have signed these agreements. Purportedly, these agreements are expected to help relieve some of the economic burdens that are shouldered by local stations in gathering news content or other activities.
The FCC regulates the broadcast industry based on three principles---diversity, competition and localism. The implementation of the shared service agreements, whether they involve simply sharing video to sharing news-gathering resources to overall management of the station, has implications for each of the fundamental principles. How will these agreements affect, if at all, the construction of the newscasts? What effect, if any, will such constructions have on diversity, competition and localism in local television markets? What effect, if any, do these agreements have on the nature of news? To this point, there had been no systematic content analysis of local news content to examine the issue.
In October 2009, a Shared Services Agreement (SSA) among three of the five television stations in Honolulu, Hawai’i went into effect. As a result of the SSA, three stations, KIVE, KHNL and KGMB combined their news operations as a new entity entitled Hawai’i News Now. Even before the SSA became a reality, there were serious concerns expressed by local citizens regarding the effect such an arrangement would have on the diversity of news in the market. Media Council Hawai’i (MCH), a local non-profit organization, filed a complaint and a request for emergency relief with the Federal Communications Commission to stop the implementation of the agreement. MCH contended that the SSA would negatively affect the content, diversity and competition of the Honolulu television market. The SSA owners argued, on the other hand, that television news in the DMA would be improved.
This research, Local TV & Shared Services Agreements: Examining Content in Honolulu, essentially tested those propositions. It was a content analysis of the daily newscasts of all five of the television stations in the Honolulu DMA and a comparison of their newscasts before and after the Shared Service Agreement went into effect. What was the result of the analysis? The short answer is that the implementation of the Shared Services Agreement had a profound effect on the local news broadcasts in the market. The most significant finding is that two stations that were part of the three-station SSA group simply duplicated their newscasts through the mechanism of a simulcast.
By any measure, the shared services agreements that have been concluded among the owners of television stations in the same market change the operation of the stations that are part of the agreement. That is their intended goal. Aspects of the stations--news, marketing, advertising, etc.—are shared among the parties to achieve some operational economies of scale. My research was an empirical examination of the news programming outcomes of such an arrangement in one market. The findings speak directly to the issues raised by the FCC concerning the quadrennial review of media ownership rules that it postponed from 2010 to this year. The research, although applied to only one DMA, has significant implications for the information that the FCC requires to make any decisions about media ownership. In short, a more expansive content analysis across other DMAs is essential to that review.
Federal Communications Commission
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
9:30am
http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0330/DA-11-581A1...
The April 27th workshop will focus on practical and operational issues concerning the implementation of a Phase I of the Connect America Fund (CAF), including the capabilities and costs of various broadband technologies, how to balance competing priorities for use of limited funds in Phase I of the CAF, and the Commission’s proposed use of a reverse auction for Phase I of the CAF. Panelists participating in the workshop are expected to come prepared to discuss responses to reform proposals and are welcome to bring new ideas to the table.
The workshop will be free and open to the public, and will also be streamed live at http://www.fcc.gov/live. Reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. The request should include a detailed description of the accommodation needed and contact information.
AGENDA
Note: this preliminary agenda is subject to change
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
Welcome and Introductory Remarks from Chairman Julius Genachowski, Commissioners and Sharon Gillett, Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau
10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Panel: Broadband Technology Capabilities Today and in the Future
• Ralph Brown, Chief Technology Officer, CableLabs
• Ken Ko, Senior Staff Scientist, ADTRAN
• Paul Mankiewich, Chief Architect, Mobility, Juniper Networks
• Mark Dankberg, Chairman & CEO, Viasat, Inc.
• Matt Larsen, Owner, Vistabeam,
• Jim Stegeman, President, CostQuest
11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Panel: Implications of Technology Capabilities for Achieving Universal Service Policy Objectives
• Mark Cooper, Research Director, Consumer Federation of America
• Andrew Newell, General Counsel, Viaero Wireless
• Dave Bickett, GM/CEO, Park Region Mutual Telephone/Otter Tail Telcom/Valley Telephone
• Phil Jones, Commissioner, Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission
• Traci L. Morris, Owner, Homahota Consulting LLC, Member of Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma
• Christopher McLean, Senior Advisor, Rural Utilities Service, Department of Agriculture
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Lunch break
1:30 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
Presentation: The National Broadband Map Today and Where We Are Headed
• Angela Simpson, Advisor to the Assistant Secretary, National Telecommunications and Information Administration
1:45 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Panel: Phase 1 of the Connect America Fund –Targeting Support for Unserved Areas Through Technology-Neutral Competitive Bidding
• Grant Spellmeyer, Senior Director - Legislative & Regulatory Affairs US Cellular
• Jason Hendricks. Director of Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs, RT Communications, Inc.
• Maggie McCready, Vice President , Federal Regulatory, Verizon
• Ross Lieberman, Vice President of Government Affairs, American Cable Association
• Greg Rosston, Deputy Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Technology Demonstration Area
Technology demonstrations of satellite broadband service will be provided by WildBlue/ViaSat and demonstrations of 4G Wireless broadband service will be provided by Verizon before and after the panels and during the lunch break: (1) 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m., (2) 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m., and (3) 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
LIVESTREAM: http://www.fcc.gov/live
ONLINE PARTICIPATION VIA WEBEX: https://fccevents.webex.com/fccevents/onstage/g.php?d=996413375&t=a
EMAIL ADDRESS FOR QUESTIONS TO THE WORKSHOP MODERATOR: USFReform@fcc.gov
TELEPHONE BRIDGE: 866-808-8519; Passcode: 3093784.
More info: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-306058A1.doc
Google announced that it will build its ultra high-speed network in Kansas City, Kansas. The company signed a development agreement with the city, and it will be working closely with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience to the community. In selecting a city, Google's goal was to find a location where it could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. Google found this in Kansas City. Google will be working closely with local organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to help develop the gigabit applications of the future. Pending approval from the city’s Board of Commissioners, Google plans to offer service beginning in 2012. Google will also be looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country.
Ultra high-speed broadband is coming to Kansas City, Kansas Google (see the video) Google Brings High-Speed Broadband Network to Kansas (ABC) Google To Bring Ultra High Speed Internet To KCK (KCTV) Google bestows 1Gbps fiber network on Kansas City, Kansas (ars technica) Kansas City Will Be First Place To Get Google’s High-Speed Broadband (paidContent.org)
Defense Department and federal transportation officials are expressing concern that wireless startup LightSquared's proposed mobile broadband service will interfere with GPS devices vital to military operations and aviation safety, and they are calling for a "comprehensive" study of the issue.
In a joint letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Deputy Defense Department Secretary William J. Lynn and Transportation Department Deputy Secretary John Porcari said that they haven't been sufficiently included in the FCC's review of LightSquared's GPS interference issues. GPS users are concerned LightSquared's service could knock out their systems because LightSquared is proposing to operate on spectrum frequencies that are very close to those used by GPS services. The Defense and Transportation departments "strongly advise that a comprehensive study of all the potential interference to GPS is needed," they wrote in the March 25 letter. "The new LightSquared business plan and the new FCC rules significantly expand the terrestrial transmission environment, increasing the potential for interference to GPS receivers."
Pentagon Raises Concerns About Lightsquared Wireless Pentagon Raises Concerns About Lightsquared Wireless (WSJ)
In Washington, what's not said can be a powerful message. And when it comes to AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile, a dull response by lawmakers and regulators about the deal has signaled to Wall Street and industry insiders that “an air of inevitability has settled,” according to tech policy analysts.
Rebecca Arbogast and David Kaut of Stifel Nicholaus investment house wrote in a research note that instead, a call by lawmakers for a careful and close review of the deal is really more code language for a protracted review. They don't rule out that the Justice Department or Federal Communications Commission will block the transaction. But they believe that after a one-year to 18-month review, regulators could approve the deal with a bevy of conditions. “The deal couldn't be won in a week, but could have been lost, and it wasn't,” the analysts wrote. Yes, an FCC official has said in reports that the companies will face an uphill battle. That’s what they said about Comcast’s joint venture with NBC Universal, too.
Analysts: AT&T, T-Mobile could face long review