Broadcasters need more transparency from the FCC Media Bureau on how broadcaster repacking costs will be reimbursed after the incentive auction, said NAB in comments posted Friday in docket 12-268 on the draft version of the forms that broadcasters will use to request payouts from the $1.75 billion relocation fund. The fund doesn’t have enough money to cover the costs of the repacking, NAB said. “The best forms and processes will not solve the problem.” Along with commenters Association of Public Television Stations, Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS and engineering firm Cohen, Dippell, NAB said the form didn’t include enough categories of reimbursable expense, and asked for improvements that would allow broadcasters to submit more complete justifications for their costs.
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 FCC is implementing electronic filing procedures for domestic Section 214 Communications Act transfer of control and discontinuance applications and LEC network change notifications, said an order issued Wednesday. The change follows recommendations from the commission’s Report on FCC Process Reform, the order said. Accompanied by new functionality for the Electronic Comment Filing System that allows non-docketed filings to be submitted, the order indicates the filing change is part of a broader effort to expand electronic filing options. “We expect these new filing procedures to be more convenient and efficient for applicants, provide better transparency and information to the public, and save Commission staff resources,” the order said. It was approved by all FCC members.
FCC adoption of two minimum sales prices for spectrum in the incentive auction will discourage competition and lower the amount of money the auction generates for taxpayers, said the Competitive Carriers Association, Computer & Communications Industry Association and T-Mobile in reply comments to oppositions to petitions for reconsideration in docket 12-268 Monday, the deadline for such comments. In their own filings, the New America Foundation and Public Knowledge disagreed with the WMTS Coalition over whether petitions opposing unlicensed use in Channel 37 are premature. Low-power TV interests and Sennheiser asked the FCC to overturn some auction decisions, and NAB attacked CTIA’s “cheerleading” for FCC decisions that “abrogate the rights of broadcasters.” CTIA’s “wholehearted support for each of the Commission’s decisions harming broadcasters draws into sharp focus exactly how imbalanced the Commission’s Report and Order is,” NAB said.
Video streaming service Aereo has about $20 million in assets, including about $4.5 million in cash, and faces $4.2 million in liabilities, plus potential damage claims from broadcasters, the company said in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
A draft of proposed rules for the incentive auction circulated among commissioner offices Thursday proposes setting opening bid prices for the reverse auction based on TV stations' population served and the amount of interference they cause, FCC officials told us on background. The draft item, called the auction comment Public Notice, will eventually go before the full commission for a vote before being offered up for public comment, as expected (see 1410160056).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit may temporarily grant the stay on the FCC’s planned release of Video Programming Confidential Information, but the programmers who requested the stay will likely lose the case on the merits, several communications attorneys following the matter told us in interviews this week. The content companies, which include CBS, Disney, Univision and Viacom, filed their responses on Wednesday to opposition (see 1411170047) from the FCC, as well as from the American Cable Association, AT&T, Comcast, Charter, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, ending the briefing cycle for the case. Because of the expedited nature of the case, a ruling from the three-judge panel on whether to stay the FCC’s order to share the VPCI with authorized outside counsel is expected Friday, an attorney connected with the case told us. Though Comcast, AT&T and the FCC maintain otherwise, the requested stay is not seen as likely to have a strong effect on the merger review process, several industry observers told us.
Content companies requesting a stay to stop the FCC from allowing access to confidential programming contracts in the AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable mergers “have no apparent reason to want the commission’s [merger] review to be expeditious,” said the FCC in an opposition response filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday. The document’s release has already been stayed to allow for an expedited pleading cycle, but the programmers -- which include Univision, CBS and Viacom -- want the document release halted until the court has had time to rule on a petition for review filed by the content companies last week (see 1411140063). The programmers may fear that the mergers will lead to lower prices for programming, the FCC said in their response to the motion to stay. The American Cable Association, Comcast, TWC and Charter joined Dish, AT&T and DirecTV with filings Monday supporting the planned release of Video Programming Confidential Information (VPCI) and restarting the 180-day shot clocks for both mergers. Meanwhile, NAB filed Monday in support of the content companies, arguing the court should stay the release of VPCI. “The Court should ensure that the issues here are carefully and fully considered.”
A video industry shift toward over-the-top delivery could lead to unbundling of content and a decline in revenue for video providers, said Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin at a Technology Policy Institute panel Friday. CBS's announced plan to offer OTT content (see 1410160058) will cause it to lose ad revenue and some of the money it receives as part of cable bundle, in exchange for the likely smaller amount of money customers will pay to watch its content online, Martin said. “It's a shitty trade.”
The FCC's planned Monday release of Video Programming Confidential Information in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV merger proceedings was halted by an administrative stay issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The stay followed an emergency motion filed by a group of content companies that includes Disney, Viacom and Univision Thursday. The stay is "to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the merits of the motion for stay and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion,” said the order. But the granting of the administrative stay is an indication that the court thinks the matter is serious enough that it needs time and a complete record to consider it, an attorney who represents programmers told us. The FCC is to respond by noon Monday, and the content companies are to respond on Wednesday, the order says.
Content companies seeking to prevent participants in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV proceedings from having access to their programming contracts on Thursday filed a new emergency request for a stay pending judicial review and a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The FCC is set to allow access on Monday to the programming documents to outside counsel who have followed procedures laid out in a series of protective orders (see 1411120029). The content companies, which include CBS, Disney, Scripps Networks and Univision, want the court to block the commission from doing so. “The Court should issue a stay to allow careful review of what the FCC has rushed through its gates,” the emergency motion said. The FCC, AT&T and Comcast didn't comment. However, Comcast filed a motion to intervene in the case late Thursday, arguing that any stay would further delay the merger review. "Petitioners' actions leading up to the release of the Commission Order have already caused undue delay in the transaction review proceeding," said Comcast's motion.