LAS VEGAS -- NAB doesn't expect opposition at the FCC to the joint petition for approval of the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcasting standard, NAB CEO Gordon Smith told us at the NAB Show after his keynote Monday. "We have no reason to believe they are opposed in any way." The FCC "has a choice before it," Smith said during the speech, praising the standard's voluntary transition plan. "It is our job as your association to make sure you have choices for the future," Smith told the NAB Show crowd. "It is not our job to make those choices."
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 .
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told the FCC and several parties challenging ownership rules that they should study in advance of Tuesday's oral argument in Philadelphia the case Public Citizen v. Chao, in which the 3rd Circuit previously ruled against a federal agency for delaying a rulemaking that had been ordered by the court. Prometheus Radio v. FCC (formerly Howard Stirk v. FCC) includes arguments that the FCC ignored the orders of the 3rd Circuit by failing to complete the 2010 quadrennial review or do studies on minority ownership (see 1511240060). The 3rd Circuit's raising of the Public Citizen case shortly before oral argument is seen as a bad omen for the FCC, numerous attorneys familiar with the case told us. The FCC has twice lost similar cases 2-1 against some of the same plaintiffs in front of the same panel of judges they will see Tuesday.
An executive branch filing in support of the FCC set-top box proceeding (see 1604150003) is largely laudatory of the commission's proposal but also questions aspects of the agency's plans on privacy and copyright, which have also been a focus of the proposal's opponents. “The Commission should take steps to ensure that expansion of competition in navigation devices does not diminish existing privacy protections,” NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling said in the filing. Privacy and copyright concerns were the focus of a joint NCTA/MPAA news briefing denouncing the FCC plan last week (see 1604130052), which itself followed experts saying that access to consumer data may be the ultimate tech prize in the NPRM approved by a politically split FCC (see 1603080037).
The FCC is considered likely to grant a petition from broadcasters and tech companies to authorize the physical layer of the next generation ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard (see 1404090027), broadcast attorneys told us Wednesday and Thursday. The gradual, industry-driven transition plan is seen as asking relatively little from the commission, and shouldn't be “a heavy lift,” a broadcast lawyer said. That is in keeping with recent forecasts from ATSC President Mark Richer that broadcasters and tech companies would "take the lead" at the FCC in "a unified approach" that won't be "controversial" (see 1603280043).
The FCC proposal to require pay-TV carriers to share their content stream with third-party set-top box makers is unnecessary and would open up programmers, pay-TV carriers and consumers to security threats, said MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried and NCTA President Michael Powell during a demonstration and news briefing Wednesday. “The market is already solving the problem,” Powell said of the apps-based approach favored by pay-TV companies. Multichannel video programming distributors are working toward eliminating set-tops entirely and replacing them with apps, Powell said.
Trade groups representing broadcasters, tech companies and others jointly filed a petition for rulemaking Wednesday asking the FCC to allow broadcasters to begin using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. “This enhanced digital IP-based standard will create the bedrock for continuing innovation by the television industry for decades to come,” said the petition filed by America's Public Television Stations (APTS), CTA, NAB and a group of broadcasters and electronics companies called the Advanced Warning and Response Network (AWARN) Alliance, which was officially formed Tuesday (see 1604120069).
FCC fines and enforcement advisories are “a step forward” on pirate radio, but the commission should increase equipment seizures to truly reduce the amount of unlicensed operators, broadcasters and their lawyers said in interviews Tuesday. That day, the Enforcement Bureau issued a $15,000 forfeiture for unlicensed Broward County, Florida, station WBIG. Now, the FCC should seize the equipment of pirates like WBIG, broadcasters said. The bureau has been stepping up pirate radio enforcement, though a whistleblower was said to claim priorities had shifted away from such activities amid tight budgets, covered in a Special Report on FCC partisanship (see 1512150014).
The incentive auction and ensuing repacking are expected to dominate next week's NAB Show, but the auction's seeming-inevitability and strict anti-collusion rules will likely change the tone of those conversations, compared with past years, said industry representatives in recent interviews. Broadcasters who attend the convention with the incentive auction technically in progress are likely to be mostly those planning to continue broadcasting, a lawyer noted. That makes attendees more likely to be focused on post-auction strategizing and equipment and resources conducive to a smooth repacking, the attorney said.
Complications for an FCC headquarters move are mounting. A lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the owner of its current building, and the General Services Administration ruled that its current location is considered to be on a floodplain. The commission has been seeking extra money from Congress for the move, which in part is needed because agency staff has shrunk (see 1602100058).
FCC-proposed changes to rules for third-party set-top boxes (see 1602180065) would have a negative impact on programmers, and on minority programmers in particular, MPAA President Chris Dodd and NCTA President Michael Powell said Tuesday at a briefing hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute. The FCC proposal would give third-party set-top manufacturers access to programming they haven’t paid for, devaluing the content industry, Dodd and Powell said. If tech companies want access to content, they should negotiate with programmers the way multichannel video programming distributors do, said Victor Cerda, president of network V-me.