Multichannel News

Cable One said it has agreed to purchase mid-sized cable operator NewWave Communications from private equity group GTCR for $735 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017. Buying NewWave, headquartered in Sikeston (MO), will add about 214,000 residential primary service units (PSUs, a measure of video, voice and broadband customers) in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas to Cable One. Phoenix (AZ)-based Cable One had 315,589 residential video customers, 466,668 residential broadband customers and 100,510 residential telephony customers at the end of the third quarter.

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) was hearing the applause around DC after he was named the new ranking member of the House Communications Subcommittee.

“Congressman Doyle has a long record of leadership and fighting to promote competition and innovation and protect consumers in communications, internet, and technology markets," said Phillip Berenbroick, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge. "We look forward to continue working with Congressman Doyle to protect the Open Internet and consumer privacy and promote the deployment of ubiquitous and affordable broadband for all Americans. We also thank Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) for her superlative leadership of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee, as well as Congressman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) for his support of consumer protections. We look forward to continuing to work with them both.”

“Ranking Member Doyle brings an enthusiasm and long-term commitment for broadband issues and consumer protection that will be a tremendous asset for the subcommittee," said USTelecom President Jonathan Spalter. "The USTelecom community congratulates Ranking Member Doyle and looks forward to working with him to promote policies that will encourage continued investment and innovation to help expand broadband access and adoption across the nation.”

"[Rep Doyle] has been a long time champion of competitive policies that have driven economic growth and saved consumers and small businesses money,” said said Chip Pickering CEO INCOMPAS. “Representative Doyle understands that technology issues are pocketbook issues and we look forward to working with him on efforts to promote innovation, competition, and small business growth.”

“NAB congratulates Rep. Doyle on his selection as Ranking Member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee," said National Association of Broadcasters President Gordon Smith, a former senator. "Rep. Doyle is a strong advocate on behalf of consumers and a champion of innovation. We look forward to working with him on pro-growth policies that allow America’s broadcasters to modernize to better serve their local communities.”

The Committee to Protect journalists is calling on Attorney General nominee Sen Jeff Sessions (R-AL) to commit to support guidelines that make it harder for the Justice Department to subpoena journalists' records. At the hearing, Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), whose father was a journalist, said she was particularly sensitive to the journalist's role as a watchdog and asked him to commit to guidelines Attorney General Eric Holder issued in 2015, which include releasing an annual report on any subpoenas and promising not to put journalists in jail for doing their jobs. Sessions did not commit, saying he needed to study the guidelines.

Verizon said it has reached a technical milestone for NG-PON2, a next-gen fiber-to-the-premises platform capable of supporting up to 40 Gbps of capacity, after wrapping up an interoperability lab trial. Verizon, which announced the lab trial initiative last year and tests of NG-PON2 that started in 2015, said Adtran, Broadcom, Cortina Access and Ericsson (in partnership with Calix) participated in the interop trial, which is aligned with the telco’s Open OMCI (ONT Management and Control Interface) specs, which define the OLT-to-ONT interface. Verizon said it will share the results in the next few months. Verizon called the interop a “breakthrough” because it represents a significant step in creating a platform that will enabling the mixing and matching of vendors for various components for NG-PON2, an emerging standard (the ITU-T approved the NG-PON2 specs in 2015) that enables up to 40 Gbps of capacity and symmetrical speeds of up 10 Gbps per customer.

A bipartisan House contingent has re-introduced the Email Privacy Act, a bill that would require law enforcement to get a warrant before law enforcement could access Internet service provider's digital records, such as e-mails and texts. The bill was introduced by Rep Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Jared Polis (D-CO), with the backing of Rep Suzan DelBene (D-WA). Rep DelBene pointed out that among the bill's backers are the ACLU, Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter. The House was not the problem with the bill in 2015. It was the Senate that couldn't agree on a way forward. The bill passed the House unanimously in the last Congress, but was held over by the Senate Judiciary Committee after amendments were offered that could have undone a compromise approach.

The Federal Communications Commission under Democratic chairman Tom Wheeler declined to undertake retransmission consent reform, but the American Television Alliance appears to be looking for a new view from the new Administration. ATVA comprises cable operators, satellite operators and others who have been pushing the FCC to make blackouts and program bundling bad faith retransmission negotiating tactics, but the FCC closed its retrans review without doing that.

In a letter to the FCC, ATVA cited stations in 46 markets whose signals had gone dark on cable systems New Year's Day. ATVA Director Mike Chappell urged the FCC to undertake reform. He said that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's blog post--back when the FCC decided no new rules were needed --"suggesting that existing rules are sufficient to protect American viewers from abuses of the retransmission consent system" was belied by that figure. " The most recent evidence demonstrates what the American Television Alliance has always maintained —existing rules do not protect the viewing public from broadcaster blackout," he wrote.

The White House has apparently not given up on the re-nomination of FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, or at least is making the gesture. Rosenworcel's was among several nominations submitted by the President Barack Obama to the Senate Jan 4. The Senate in the last Congress failed to vote on her re-nomination, which meant she had to leave before the new congress convened Jan 3. But, at least theoretically, she could be named to fill the seat she just vacated, paired with the Republican President-elect Donald Trump will be nominating for chairman, or commissioner if he picks the chair from one of the two Republicans currently serving. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler released a statement saying, “I applaud President Obama’s reappointment of Jessica Rosenworcel to the FCC, and hope that Congress will act quickly to confirm her nomination.”

Advertising and marketing associations joined Internet service providers in calling on the Federal Communications Commission to back off its broadband privacy proposal. The Association of National Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Data & Marketing Association, Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Network Advertising Initiative joined to file a petition for reconsideration at the FCC on Jan 3, the deadline for challenging the Oct. 27 order. Ad agencies had argued against the rules, saying the FCC should have aligned its regulation with the Federal Trade Commission's approach to edge provider privacy, which was more flexible and did not have an opt-in mandate for web browsing info.

[Commentary] While a change in policies at the Federal Communications Commission appears to be in the cards, how that gets carried out is a little more complicated.

Two of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s landmark rules at the FCC — the network neutrality rule and the recently-passed broadband privacy rule — would be a target of a GOP-led FCC, but would require a formal rulemaking process to “reverse.” This means going through the Administrative Procedures Act process of a notice of proposed rulemaking, a public comment period and an FCC vote to approve any changes. A GOP-led FCC would have the votes to change the rules, but the rulemaking process would be played out in the public with strong opposition from those that originally supported them. This politically charged rulemaking environment may draw attention away from the Trump administration’s higher-priority issues. Another less drastic — and less political — mechanism a GOP-led FCC could use to lighten the impact of the rules is to take a more laissez-faire approach to enforcement.

A legislative solution is another much-discussed option to roll back the impact of the net neutrality and privacy rules. Could such legislation pass? This does not appear to be a high priority for the GOP or the Trump administration, which are are focused on tax reform, trade policy, immigration and health care as priority areas early in the president’s first term. The GOP also does not have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to break a filibuster, so it might be difficult to pass legislation unless there is some Democratic support, which may arrive if there is a view that a compromise is the only way to maintain Net Neutrality. The other strategy for the GOP may be to wait until after 2018, when 10 Senate Democrats are up for re-election. The GOP could potentially have a filibuster-breaking majority after 2018, when they could push through the legislation they want.

[David Sapin is technology, media and telecommunications risk and regulatory leader at PwC]

According to the Office of Management and Budget, OMB has just approved the added paperwork collection obligations of the Federal Communications Commission's Open Internet order enhanced transparency requirements. Those are the parts of the order that require ISPs to provide more information on network performance and business plans, some of which smaller operators say are disproportionately a burden on them financial and otherwise.The rules will go into effect Jan. 17.

That OMB approval came Dec. 15, the same day the FCC's one-year extension for the small business waiver of the enhanced transparency portion of its rules expired without an agreement on a renewal. To date, the waiver has not had any effect because the enhanced transparency rules were not in effect.