The Copyright Office was “aggressively lobbied” by programmers for months leading up to its letter denouncing the FCC's set-top NPRM (see 1608050053), and “made no attempt to seek other views,” said the Electronic Frontier Foundation in a blog post Wednesday based on a Freedom of Information Act request. The request yielded 310 pages of emails between CO officials and MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried, then-FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, Capitol Hill offices, reporters including with Communications Daily, and representatives of Comcast, Disney and TiVo. “The Copyright Office has come under scrutiny for alleged systemic bias in favor of major media and entertainment companies to the detriment of Internet users, technology companies, and independent creators,” said EFF. “These documents received by EFF yesterday do nothing to dispel that concern.” The CO didn't comment. The emails show Fried began lobbying the office shortly after the FCC announced its set-top plans, before Sallet began trying to schedule a meeting on behalf of the commission. The CO met with MPAA April 11 and the FCC a week later, the documents show. “Throughout the spring and summer of this year, the Copyright Office alternated between meetings with the FCC, MPAA, and other major content companies such as Comcast and Viacom,” EFF said. “On May 31, just hours after holding a conference call with MPAA, the general counsel of Copyright Office emailed her counterpart at the FCC saying 'the proposed rule may in fact implicate some rather serious copyright concerns.' The emails also show the CO coordinating with members of Congress on formally weighing in on the set-top debate, and that the CO only met with industry advocates for the FCC plan the day before issuing its letter denouncing the FCC NPRM. A staffer for Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., contacted the CO with the idea of Deutch formally requesting a letter from the office on June 17, according to the emails. On June 28, CO officials watched an NCTA demo of set-top tech arranged by MPAA, and on June 30 met with Sallet and other FCC officials, the emails show. On July 11, CO officials met with House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Four days later, she joined Reps. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Deutch in asking for a written analysis of the FCC plan. A Senate Finance Committee staffer contacted CO officials about a possible meeting on July 22, the emails show. Staffers for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., made contact with the CO to set up a meeting on July 27. The CO letter went out Aug. 3. An "agency that listens only to the views of some industry groups without seeking out additional opinions cannot be a reliably neutral expert for Congress or the FCC,” said the EFF. “We hope that the FCC will weigh the Copyright Office’s comments appropriately.”
Monty Tayloe
Monty Tayloe, Associate Editor, covers broadcasting and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2013, after spending 10 years covering crime and local politics for Virginia regional newspapers and a turn in television as a communications assistant for the PBS NewsHour. He’s a Virginia native who graduated Fork Union Military Academy and the College of William and Mary. You can follow Tayloe on Twitter: @MontyTayloe .
With a deadline for AM broadcasters to seek a 250-mile waiver to allow them to move an existing FM translator expiring Monday, brokers and attorneys told us they see a steady stream of translator deals. The window was on a first-come first-served basis and included an initial rush for applications (see 1608030071). Broadcasters continue to find opportunities for translators during the length of the window, Womble Carlyle radio lawyer John Garziglia told us.
The text of the FCC order eliminating the UHF audience reach discount was published in Monday's Federal Register, but the media ownership quadrennial review order and the accompanying rules weren't, though they were approved nearly a month earlier. The ownership ruling was approved Aug. 10 (see 1608250063), and the UHF discount vote was at the end of that month (see 1609070046). Some industry officials said the delay in publishing the text is unusually long, but others said it’s not out of the ordinary for a document as large and complicated as the media ownership one to take a longer time. The FCC has had long delays before publishing such items (see 1509070003).
The FCC incentive auction “quiet period” has stretched on 10 months, longer than most TV broadcasters expected, squashing dealmaking and making it difficult for lawyers to serve their clients, broadcast attorneys said in interviews last week. With the auction widely forecast to stretch into 2017, some broadcast industry officials are seeking relief. The quiet period was expected to make dealmaking difficult (see 1411280041). The Incentive Auction Task Force said it will consider ending the communications prohibitions after the auction's final stage rule has been satisfied to give broadcasters more time for the repacking. It's the dampening effect on transactions that's the real difficulty of the quiet period, said broadcast attorneys and BIA/Kelsey Chief Economist Mark Fratrik.
This week's swift resolution to the forward auction phase of Stage 2 of the incentive auction (see 1610190059) is seen as a sign that wireless bidders are keeping their powder dry for later stages, when the supply is more in line with their demand, industry lawyers following the incentive auction told us Thursday. Other auction watchers and analysts believe the swift end indicates a lack of wireless demand, and may indicate one of the larger wireless bidders decided not to buy the 600 MHz spectrum, they said. Some believe the quick end of the forward auction makes a fourth stage, with a clearing target of 84 MHz, increasingly likely. The single-day forward auction “further increased the odds that Stage 3 of the auction, which we expect to commence toward the end of October or early November, will be followed by a fourth stage as well,” PwC analyst Dan Hays said in an email to investors.
FCC repacking plans may not provide enough time or money for broadcasters to move, said several panelists at a conference on the repacking Wednesday, the same day that the forward auction phase of Stage 2 of the incentive auction both began and ended. The forward auction proceeds in the single round were $20.95 billion, short of the $56 billion closing cost. NAB said it was “surprised” at the results of the wireless bidding, in a statement. But Incentive Auction Task Force Deputy Chairwoman Jean Kiddoo said the auction was continuing "to work as designed," during her keynote kicking off the Destination Repack conference, organized by Wiley Rein and the Association of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE) .
Though FCC officials say negotiation on the set-top box draft order is ongoing, some industry officials following the proceeding told us they believe the item could be indefinitely stalled if Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel chooses not to vote. The precursor proceeding to the current set-top plan, AllVid, stalled on circulation (see 1108100074), and that could happen to the current plan, industry officials told us. The set-top item remains on circulation, and has received a vote from Chairman Tom Wheeler, an FCC spokeswoman told us.
Most FCC employees have a positive view of their workplace, but don't feel they have sufficient resources or that steps are taken to deal with poor performers, said the 2016 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) by the Office of Personnel Management. The survey, released by the commission Friday, was administered to the whole federal government from April 26 to June 14. Six-hundred forty-eight of 1,552 FCC employees surveyed participated, and most agreed or strongly agreed with statements such as “The work I do is important,” and “I like the kind of work I do.” Government-wide, 83 percent of employees said they liked the work they do, while at the FCC, 80 percent said so. Twenty-two percent of FCC employees said they agree pay raises at the commission correlate to performance, and 28 percent said they agree the FCC takes steps to deal with poor performers, but those numbers are consistent with the government-wide results, wherein 22 percent said raises are based on performance, and 29 percent said poor performers are dealt with. The survey shows FCC employees have some concerns with senior management: Forty-three percent said senior leaders “generate high levels of motivation and commitment in the workforce” and 44 percent said they were satisfied with the policies of senior leaders. Government-wide, 42 percent said they were satisfied with their leaders' policies, and 40 percent said their leaders motivated them. Seventy-seven percent of FCC employees said their supervisors were doing a good job, vs. 70 percent government-wide. Sixty-nine percent of FCC employees said the commission is accomplishing its mission successfully, while the government-wide response was 74 percent. The National Treasury Employees Union, which represented some FCC staff, and OPM didn't comment.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai's proposal to create a new class of FM stations would create “winners and losers” and could exceed FCC authority, Media Bureau Chief Peter Doyle said during a panel at a National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters' conference. He and Nexstar CEO Perry Sook spoke about AM revitalization, the incentive auction and what legislation may come out of a lame-duck Congress. NABOB heard a day earlier that technology is bringing changes to radio (see 1610120069).
Radio broadcasters need to adapt their businesses to keep pace with technological change, speakers on numerous panels said Wednesday at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters' Fall Broadcast Management Conference. The increased competition in media, rise of online advertising and the shift toward measuring viewership through portable people meters (PPM) has changed the way stations now need to operate in order to remain viable, said Tony Gray, CEO of Gray Communications. The current climate has reduced the importance of radio personalities in generating an audience, Gray said. "This is the reality of the industry," he said.