BOSTON -- Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she’s paying close attention to wireless competition. Remarks by Clyburn prepared for delivery Friday to the National Conference for Media Reform dealt only with the wireless industry. She said she'll review AT&T’s proposed $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile with an eye toward encouraging competition. The comments came the day after the FCC approved data-roaming requirements, 3-2 (CD April 8 p1).
New automatic content-recognition technology is allowing interactive TV applications on second- and third-screen devices such as the iPad to synchronize with programming on a user’s TV set, setting up a battle among application developers, content owners and distributors over who will control this kind of applications and profit from them.
BOSTON -- Success stories of broadband projects that received federal money should be shared widely with those who seek to start new efforts, because Congress may not set aside additional money to support them, a funder and recipients of stimulus awards agreed Friday. It will be “a challenge expanding this beyond the federal money,” said NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling. Hurdles can be overcome by understanding what worked in projects that got federal subsidies, he said. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act set aside $7 billion for the NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service to help pay for broadband projects.
BOSTON -- AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile points up industry practices that some non-profit advocates have been trying for some time to draw regulatory and legislative attention to, they said Friday. Issues include spectrum policy, early termination fees, bill shock and handset exclusivity. Potential job losses because of the $39 billion deal also were mentioned, during a wireless panel at the National Conference for Media Reform. AT&T contends the transaction will speed the rollout of 4G wireless broadband and stimulate the economy. A company spokesman had no comment on the panel.
Satellite companies are watching closely the FCC’s proceeding on NTIA suggestions for spectrum suitable for terrestrial broadband deployment, executives said. Several of the bands overlap with spectrum used by the satellite industry or are adjacent to it. The FCC asked for comment on the proposals in a public notice last month (CD March 9 p11) and comments are due April 22 in docket 10-123.
Some TV broadcasters could live without rules that allow stations to opt for mandatory carriage by pay-TV distributors, Skadden Arps attorney Antoinette Cook Bush said during a BroadbandUS.TV webcast on the FCC’s retransmission consent rules. “I think some broadcasters would say, ‘Get rid of all the rules,” Bush said. There is “a contingent of broadcasters that are very supportive of [must-carry rules] but there are a lot of broadcasters that are not and it would not matter to them if you got rid of must carry,” she said. Some broadcasters would also support eliminating network and syndicated exclusivity rules because they limit the geographic area in which stations can negotiate for exclusive programming rights, said Pillsbury Winthrop attorney John Hane.
Some public TV representatives are optimistic about the fate of funding for public television in the forthcoming federal budget plans. Many TV station professionals met with lawmakers in their regions to discuss the importance of funding and how federal funds are used at their stations. Representatives from PBS SoCal, Los Angeles and WITF, Harrisburg, Pa., said they're confident about overall support despite some opposition from some legislators during meetings. “There’s strong advocacy for PBS,” said Jo Ellen Chatham, PBS SoCal board chair. “There are some members who are philosophically opposed to funding, but I think they're in the minority,” she said in an interview. “It’s our responsibility to indicate to them that PBS isn’t a luxury. It’s not just something nice to have."
The FCC approved long-awaited data roaming requirements over strong objections by Commissioners Robert McDowell and Meredith Baker. Chairman Julius Genachowski, a Democrat, defended the standing of the commission to issue the order, over the two Republicans’ objections. “I would be surprised if no one appeals this order and even further surprised if they didn’t eventually prevail in court,” McDowell told us after the meeting.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders have different measures of success for the floor vote on the joint resolution to disapprove FCC net neutrality rules under the Congressional Review Act. House Republicans are expected to pass the resolution with few Democratic votes, but Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., separately claimed early victories on Thursday. The floor vote was originally scheduled for Thursday, but it was postponed until Friday due to budget negotiations. The House will meet at 10 a.m. and begin legislative business at noon, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said Thursday.
The FCC lowered CLECs’ pole attachment rates to match cable companies’ rates, while setting deadlines to complete attachments, giving wireless carriers the right to attach to the top of poles and giving ILECs a chance to lower their rates under an FCC complaint process that previously was only open to CLECs and cable companies. The commission also issued a notice of inquiry Thursday asking a broad array of questions about rights of way and wireless siting. The commission acted without dissent, with all five commissioners saying their action would accelerate broadband deployment.