Multichannel News

The National Association of Broadcasters is taking the Federal Communications Commission to court once again over its quadrennial media ownership regulatory review, the association has confirmed. “Broadcasters want to compete in the digital age and continue being a trusted source for local news and information, but FCC rules need to reflect 2016 and not the 1960s," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton. "It defies belief that the FCC allows AT&T/DirecTV and Charter/Time Warner mergers while barring two Topeka TV stations from combining, or a radio station from buying a newspaper.”

NAB signaled even before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated the proposal that it was likely headed to court, saying that retaining the newspaper-crossownership ban, as the FCC did yet again, was arbitrary and capricious violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. It has since gotten direction from the board to file suit. It has long said that it makes no sense to limit local TV station ownership in an era with video competition from cable and satellite and now the Web that fills those markets with competition voices. NAB is filing its appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the principal court of jurisdiction for FCC decisions. Prometheus Radio, which is also challenging the rules, filed in the Third Circuit.

Comcast is preparing to launch 1-Gig (downstream) broadband service using DOCSIS 3.1 in several new markets in early 2017. Comcast has consumer trials underway in Nashville, Chicago and Atlanta, and has already announced that Detroit and Miami will be soon added to that list. Comcast announced Nov 1 that it has launched 1-Gig service via D3.1 in Detroit, with a base price of $139.95 per month while also testing “promotional base pricing” of $70 per month with a three-year service contract. Comcast also said it still plans to launch D3.1 in Miami before the end of 2016.

Comcast could have its eye on as much as 30 Megahertz of wireless licenses in the upcoming federal incentive spectrum auctions, based on a line item buried in its third quarter financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In its most recent 10-Q filing with the SEC, Comcast revealed it made a $1.8 billion deposit, that many analysts believe point to its further participation in the incentive auction. The item was under the heading “Investment Activities” in the 10-Q.

While the company offered no explanation in the document just what that deposit was for, investors noted the timing and the requirement that bidders in the formal auction submit a deposit before being allowed to bid. Deposits were due July 1, meaning that they would show up in Q2 or Q3 reports. Based on the size of the deposit, several analysts determined that Comcast could bid for roughly 30 Megahertz of wireless spectrum. That is higher than previous estimates that Comcast would bid for between 10 MHz and 20 MHz of spectrum. AT&T and T-Mobile also made deposits $2.4 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively, which would make them eligible to bid on about 40 MHz each. Dish Network, which already owns about 40 MHz of mid-band spectrum, hasn’t reported yet.

CenturyLink says the Federal Communications Commission's new business data services (BDS) proposal could mean crippling rate cuts while ignoring evidence of competition. The company accused the FCC of a flawed and dangerous approach that lacked transparency. The FCC Oct 27 scheduled a vote for the Nov 17 public meeting on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's BDS revamp.

Initially the proposal was to impose ex ante (before the fact) price regulation on incumbents according to a geographic approach, but that was changed to the case-by-case model. On Oct 28, CenturyLink, which was no fan of the initial proposal, slammed the latest proposal and its incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) price caps, saying there was no basis for cuts in ILEC rates, period, and that the FCC was lowballing the cuts it was proposing. The FCC based its new approach to business broadband (formerly called "special access) on several years of data-collection, but CenturyLink says the commission's new proposal "suggests an intent to ignore" evidence of competition and impose not only a phased-in rate reduction but in some cases an additional, initial, rate reduction.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) said that the proposed $86 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner would get a thorough vetting in his committee. “This is the biggest deal of the year, combining one of the nation’s largest telecommunications providers with a media and entertainment giant," said Chairman Grassley. "It’s imperative that the antitrust regulators conduct a robust review of the proposed acquisition." "As the process moves forward, the Senate, and the Judiciary Committee, can and will conduct oversight and ask questions about the transaction, including a hearing to examine the impact on competition and consumers," he said.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) are challenging the independence of the Federal Communications Commission Inspector General's (IG) office following its finding that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler did not leak information about the existence of a compromise on Lifeline subsidy reforms in order to blow up the deal. Chairman Upton and Chairman Walden want the FCC to supply some specific information about the "interdependence" of the FCC and IG.

“In order to address our committee’s concerns regarding the independence of the FCC’s Office of Inspector General and the impact on accountability in the FCC’s decision-making and management, we request… information necessary to understand the practical and working relationship between the Office of the Chairman and the Inspector General.” The IG report found that Chairman Wheeler did leak the information, but that he had the authority to make nonpublic information public, and that there was no evidence of a motive beyond what FCC spokesperson Shannon Gilson, who said she had recommended the chairman release the info, said was "providing the press with information about the compromise Lifeline proposal to address the confusion that was already surrounding the item in the media."

Cox Communications has expanded a monthly 1-Terabyte data limit to most of its high-speed Internet tiers, with the exception of the MSO’s 1-Gbps “Gigablast” offering, which remains at 2 TB. The revised policy applies a 1 TB monthly data plan to the following Internet offerings: Starter (5 Mbps down/1 Mbps up); Essential (15 Mbps/2Mbps); Preferred (50 Mbps/5 Mbps); Premiere (100 Mbps/10 Mbps or 150 Mbps/20 Mbps, depending on area); and Ultimate (200 Mbps/20 Mbps, or 300 Mbps/30 Mbps, depending on market).

The second stage of the Federal Communications Commission's reverse portion of the spectrum incentive auction closed after 53 rounds, and wireless operators will now have to pay broadcasters at least $54,586,032,836 to get access to the 114 MHz of spectrum that will be on the block in the forward auction.

In the reverse auction, broadcasters are competing to give up spectrum or move to new channels in exchange for a government payment — low bidder wins. The $54.6 billion total is a sizeable drop in price from stage one, substantially closing the gap between broadcasters' asks and wireless companies' offers, who will get to start bidding on the 114 MHz of spectrum (actually less since some of that is guard band -- buffer spectrum -- in their own stage two forward auction starting next week.

The Obama Administration is getting plenty of input on what information it should be collecting to help guide its mission of promoting universal broadband deployment, adoption and competition. Comments were due Oct 11 on the National Telecommunications & Information Administration and National Science Foundation joint National Broadband Research Agenda, one of the September 2015 recommendations of the Broadband Opportunity Council (BOC), which was created in March 2015 by President Obama and co-chaired by the Commerce Department (NTIA is an arm of Commerce) and the Department of Agriculture, both of which oversaw billions in stimulus funds for broadband buildouts.

The Benton Foundation, American Library Association, Media Mobilizing Project, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and Public Knowledge, said that the research must take into account the specific needs of seniors, low-income families, persons with disabilities, people living in rural areas, all population groups they argue are usually ignored when developing new broadband policies. They also want the research to look at how to reach vulnerable communities during the IP transition, when some may be "left without robust access." Mobile Future, representing wireless broadband providers, wants the research to focus on "existing regulatory and financial barriers to infrastructure deployment" as part of an effort to eliminate them. Their goal is reasonable costs and processes for rolling out 5G networks, so they want the government to study the impact of fees for rights of way, for example, or delays in processing applications, connecting to polls or accessing municipal infrastructure.

AT&T said it is expanding the availability of fiber-fed 1 Gbps service to portions of at least ten additional major metro areas in Oct. AT&T, which recently dropped the “GigaPower” moniker in favor of a new umbrella brand, AT&T Fiber, said it has launched 1-Gig this month in Columbus (OH); Detroit (MI); and Huntsville (AL); and will add the following markets later this month: Augusta (GA); Bakersfield (CA); Ft. Smith/Northwest Arkansas (AR); Louisville (KY); Lubbock (TX); Memphis (TN); and Mobile (AL). The company said it has introduced 1-Gig in parts of 32 major metro areas, and is on track to reach at least 45 metros by the end of 2016, and 67 overall. AT&T claims to be marketing gigabit broadband to more 3 million “locations,” a number that it plans to expand to 12.5 million by mid-2019.