FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has reached out to Department of Defense officials first hand on making more spectrum available for wireless broadband, he said in a press conference following the FCC’s meeting Friday. DOD is a major spectrum user and a key player in talks with federal officials over freeing up more spectrum for sharing or reallocating for a future auction. Half the meeting had a wireless focus, with the FCC approving an order designed to spur greater use of microwave for wireless backhaul. The meeting was the third August session in a row where the commission addressed wireless backhaul rules.
Proposed rules by the NTIA on a technical panel and dispute resolution boards mandated by Congress to speed the conversion of federal spectrum to commercial use, and spectrum sharing “will bring needed clarity” to the process, but need to do more to ensure the transition occurs as Congress intended, T-Mobile said in comments at the agency. The rules the NTIA proposed in mid-July would define terminology for the transition regulations, lay out how the transition’s technical panel would work and establish resolution boards to solve transition-related disputes (http://xrl.us/bni6f6). NTIA posted the comments Thursday, a day after the submission deadline. The changes on which NTIA sought comment were part of spectrum bill enacted in February.
AT&T moved another step toward closing its spectrum gap with Verizon Wireless Thursday, announcing it was buying NextWave Wireless in a deal which will strengthen AT&T’s position in the Wireless Communications Service (WCS) band. In June, AT&T and Sirius XM reached an agreement, which will allow part of the 2.3 GHz WCS band to be used for LTE (CD June 19 p1). However, the transaction must be approved by federal regulators. Early signs are it will face opposition from small carriers and other industry players concerned about AT&T expanding its spectrum holdings.
A group of broadcasters and the NAB asked the FCC to stay a recent order that will let the so-called DTV viewability requirements for cable operators expire (CD June 13 p6). In a stay petition filed this week (http://xrl.us/bni6du), Agape Church, London Broadcasting, Una Vez Mas and the NAB argued the commission’s June order was counter to multiple sections of the Communications Act, violated the Administrative Procedure Act and will lead to irreparable harm to TV stations if it’s not stayed. The order let cable operators stop carrying must-carry stations in both analog and digital after Dec. 12, if they make certain equipment available to analog subscribers.
DirecTV growth in its Latin American market continues to exceed expectations and it had strong average revenue per user (APRU) growth in its U.S. market, as total Q2 revenue grew 9 percent to $7.22 billion. But the carriage agreement dispute with Viacom last month increased churn, though it allowed the company to stress its concern for keeping prices low for subscribers, DirecTV CEO Mike White said Thursday during an earnings call. Other multichannel video programming distributors also have had blackouts with broadcast and pay-TV programmers amid rising MVPD concerns about increasing content costs. (See separate report in this issue.)
Hopes for a comprehensive cybersecurity bill collapsed Thursday as the Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Cybersecurity Act (S-3414) by a 52-47 vote. Sponsors and opponents of the bill were unable to agree on the best way to secure critical infrastructure from attack, despite a flurry of last-minute meetings to hammer out a solution to their differences. Though members said they would continue to refine the bill, the Senate leaves on recess Friday without a clear path forward on cybersecurity and won’t return until September when the electoral season will be in high gear.
Charter Communications, in bankruptcy three years ago, is impressing Wall Street with a growing subscriber base and favorable positioning against competitors under its third CEO in two years. That’s setting up a revival that could enable it to expand its broadband network and boost its presence in Washington, D.C., industry and company officials told us. A question is whether Washington could help fuel growth for Charter through money from the FCC’s new USF for broadband fund, industry officials said.
FCC staff Wednesday conducted a last instructional webinar for broadcasters preparing for the new online public file display system debuting the next day that staff said will make it easy for the public to access the documents without having to physically view them at a TV station. The online instructional was hastily scheduled after audio problems delayed Tuesday afternoon’s session by more than an hour, causing many participants to leave early, said broadcast lawyer Harry Cole of Fletcher Heald (http://bit.ly/OpVRk3).
The U.S. will attempt to block controversial Internet regulatory proposals, which the government believes would threaten the Web’s free flow of information, ahead of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), U.S. delegation head Terry Kramer said Wednesday, in remarks at the Information Technology Industry Council. The U.S. plans to release a key document Friday, when it will submit its initial set of proposals for WCIT to the ITU, which is hosting WCIT in Dubai Dec. 3-4 to revise the treaty-level International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).
Halo Wireless lost another battle in Missouri as the Public Service Commission ruled the company that recently converted to Chapter 7 liquidation was operating illegally and without proper certification. “Halo has committed a material breach of the ICA [interconnection agreement] with AT&T Missouri by delivering substantial amounts of landline-originated traffic and therefore authorizes and directs AT&T Missouri to immediately cease performance under the ICA with Halo,” the PSC said. “Halo is liable to AT&T Missouri for access charges on the interexchange landline traffic that Halo delivered to AT&T Missouri and that AT&T Missouri delivered to its end user customers.” The Missouri investigation into the Texas-based Halo will continue for two more weeks, and the PSC order will become effective Aug. 13 and the file closed Aug. 14, the 70-page ruling late Wednesday said (http://bit.ly/QssYnq).