The FCC set-top box proposal is a threat to consumer cybersecurity, goes far beyond the will of Congress and can't accomplish what the agency says it can, said recent filings from legislators, trade groups and companies in docket 16-42. Monday was the deadline for reply comments, and a rule is expected to be issued this summer, industry officials have told us. Only some replies were available Monday. The decision essentially has been written already, disregarding all the industry objections to the proposal, said downloadable security company Beyond Broadband Technology. “Efforts to explain and navigate through the difficult issues raised by the 'proposed' rules are a waste of time and effort.”
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 .
A Parents Television Council-led effort to revamp the TV content ratings system isn't seen as likely to lead to FCC or congressional action soon, said broadcast attorneys we informally surveyed. Though a letter asking the FCC to overhaul the TV Oversight Monitoring Board (TVOMB) that oversees the ratings system was signed by 28 organizations and backed by an online petition, it's seen as a complex, controversial area where FCC authority isn't clear, all the attorneys we spoke with told us. With the FCC already neck deep in complicated issues such as the set-top box proceeding and the incentive auction, Chairman Tom Wheeler isn't seen as likely to address the matter before a new president takes office.
The FCC's upcoming quadrennial review of its broadcast ownership rules will be greatly complicated by the ongoing incentive auction and is unlikely to be resolved under the current commission, broadcast attorneys told us. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler repeatedly has said and the FCC told a federal appeals court that a draft quadrennial review order will be on circulation by June 30, but that date almost certainly will fall in the midst of the incentive auction, broadcast and public interest attorneys told us. That means at the time of circulation, neither the FCC nor the broadcast industry itself will know what broadcast stations in what markets will be staying in business, or how diverse the remaining owners will be, the attorneys told us. “The auction is a black hole,” Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Montero said. “It's going to be extremely difficult to come out with reasoned policy,” he said.
A recent spate of FCC-initiated meetings with stakeholders in its set-top box proceeding may indicate the commission is moving quickly toward releasing an order, industry officials both for and against the proposed rule said in interviews. The FCC-requested meetings are happening with reply comments in the proceeding still not due for nearly two weeks, unusual timing that likely indicates the agency intends to release an order soon after the record is complete, many communications industry officials told us. Pay-TV officials expect an order on the set-top proposal could be released as soon as the FCC's August meeting.
The FCC should refrain from imposing "tech mandates" on the proposed transition to ATSC 3.0 and facilitate "permissionless innovation" for broadcasters, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said Wednesday at the ATSC Broadcast Television Conference. Along with O'Rielly's keynote, the event had panels on the new standard's chances at the FCC and on the post-incentive auction repacking effort.
The 17th Video Competition Report is seen as a further sign of the increasing partisan divide on the FCC eighth floor, industry officials and analysts told us in interviews Monday. Though some pay-TV industry officials see the document’s conclusions as an attempted defense of FCC video policies, to be cited in future litigation, others disparaged the Video Competition Report’s conclusions on the 2014 marketplace as being old news before they are even issued. “Nobody thought they were going to change the determination of whether the market place is effectively competitive,” MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett said. It was released on delegated authority Friday.
The FCC “punted” to the Media Bureau its congressional obligation to issue a video competition report because the report contains “117 pages of rationalizations” for FCC video policies, Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly said in a joint statement Friday. The statement led off with the phrase “Who's afraid of a Commission vote?” It's the first such report issued on delegated authority, the commissioners said. “It’s bad enough that our input on circulated and meeting items is typically ignored, but this disturbing trend of skipping the Eighth Floor entirely must be reversed, and is worthy of Congressional attention,” Pai and O'Rielly said.
An FCC rulemaking notice that would remove the last physical vestiges of the broadcaster public file as well as a requirement for cable carriers to keep on hand the location of their control centers (see 1605050060 and 1605040066) is expected to get little pushback, broadcast attorneys and cable industry officials told us. Though most aspects of the public file are online, broadcasters still have to keep physical copies of public correspondence in a physical public inspection file, and cable carriers must do the same for the addresses of their network control centers, under current FCC rules. Broadcasters and cable carriers said the requirement to make physical documents available to the public compromises their security.
The U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel hearing oral argument in two low-power TV challenges of FCC incentive auction repacking policy Thursday seemed receptive to points made by the agency and petitioner Mako Communications but questioned the standing of petitioner Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia. FAB invests in LPTV but isn't a licensee. Oral arguments in the cases were heard back to back, with questions asked in one case bleeding into the other. An attorney following the matters speculated that Judges Sri Srinivasan, Thomas Griffith and David Sentelle may release decisions as a single opinion. Though several attendees speculated about what the court's reactions might indicate for a final decision, they all said it's difficult to predict a final opinion from oral argument.
Low-power TV and translator industry officials agree the FCC 126 MHz incentive auction clearing target (see 1604290018) will mean many more displaced stations than would a smaller target. In interviews Wednesday, they disagreed whether that's good or bad. Many full-power stations and Class A's exiting the business might mean increased opportunities for LPTV stations that survive displacement, but the large target means many LPTVs and translators will have to fund their own relocation to make it to that point, industry officials said. Though LPTV interests like the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance (ATBA) and the National Translator Association (NTA) are still pursuing congressional remedies, it's likely too late for congressional action to stop the displacement, they told us. “That part of the train has left the station,” said NTA President Jim McDonald.