Many cable companies backed a “telecom rate” for pole attachments last week, as the FCC got set to vote April 7 on an order that could lower rates some attachers pay to utilities (CD March 9 p5). Bright House Networks, Charter Communications and Comcast were among those that held lobbying meetings with agency officials, filings in docket 07-245 show. Comcast said it backs the rate formula in a rulemaking notice, and its conclusion that the telecom rate is consistent with Section 224 of the Communications Act. The company said it’s concerned about proposals to change unauthorized attachment and safety violation standards. Currently, telco pole attachment rates are often higher than cable rates.
Feature Group IP West lacks standing to challenge the FCC’s requirement that the VoIP carrier be subject to intercarrier compensation rules on access charges, the FCC said in a reply brief to Feature’s appeal. In 2009, the FCC denied Feature Group’s petition for forbearance. Feature has now appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, claiming that the commission’s denial was unreasonable.
AT&T executives may have to accept concessions on two key issues of continuing interest to the FCC to win approval for its proposed buy of T-Mobile: Data roaming and wireless net neutrality. AT&T last week started a series of meetings at the agency to discuss likely concessions, and it placed both issues on the table. AT&T is also expected to have to sell off a big chunk of T-Mobile’s subscriber rolls (CD March 25 p1). Data roaming rules, poised for a vote at the April 7 FCC meeting, are already raising concerns with some House Republicans.
Dawson “Tack” Nail, 82, who spent more than 50 years as one of the most prominent reporters covering broadcasting and telecommunications in Washington, died Friday from complications from injuries he sustained in a fall at his Virginia home. He was the longtime executive editor of Warren Communications News’s Television Digest and Communications Daily.
Broadcasters are getting some breathing room on spectrum reallocation, because of AT&T’s agreement last week to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion, said station-group executives and their lawyers. They said the surprise takeover by AT&T has already meant that attention on Capitol Hill has been shifted to T-Mobile, and away somewhat from efforts to give the FCC authority to auction TV spectrum and for the government to split the proceeds with stations. The shift in attention means broadcasters will get time to keep honing their message on spectrum, which they don’t want taken away from them involuntarily, and to potentially reach a compromise with the regulator for legislation that could be more favorable for the industry, the officials said.
Any new entrant into media ownership faces difficulties, but women and minorities continue to tackle increased barriers to owning stations and other assets, speakers said Friday at an event organized by the Alliance for Women in Media. Access to capital and a hostile regulatory environment are some of the biggest challenges, they said. Bringing back tax credits, and allowing them to be used when companies sell any telecom asset to minorities, is a good idea, speakers said. Access to capital for media ownership has been a huge issue for women, said Christine McLaughlin, a telecom lawyer at Venable. Some financiers are hesitant to take a risk on women, she said. About 11 percent of equity financing goes to females, she said. “That’s a huge hurdle to overcome.”
SEASIDE, Calif. -- The surge in online video puts in question the survival of conventional broadcasting beyond the next few years, imposes new requirements on the structure of broadband networks, and will spur demand for faster access, executives of Google and Cisco Systems said Friday. “We're just seeing a big change in the way video is consumed,” moving from traditional TV to the Web, said Larry Alder, the business operations principal of Google Broadband.
The FCC should look closely at receiver standards as part of its notice of inquiry investigating dynamic spectrum access technologies, NTIA said in a letter to FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp. The letter was sent to the FCC in early March and was published by the commission Friday.
TV stations airing video news releases (VNRs) still must disclose to viewers that they're sponsored content, or risk FCC fines, the Enforcement Bureau said in two notices of apparent liability released Thursday afternoon. They came in response to complaints from 2006 by groups seeking better corporate disclosure in media, including Free Press, and caught one of the licensees and both the complainants off guard. News Corp.’s Fox Television Stations and Access.1 Communications each face $4,000 fines. Although the penalties are small, the decisions highlight the fact that the commission wants broadcasters to make sponsorship disclosures even when stations aren’t paid to run VNRs.
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is trying to drum up interest in its revived rural broadband loan program, but impending Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation overhauls are making some rural telcos leery about getting in line, some rural lobbyists said. The RUS expects to have up to $800 million available this year to offer to rural broadband projects. But “this program may be a vestige of an antiquated technology and an antiquated concept,” said Rural Cellular Association President Steve Berry. “It may well be the money can be used for better things.”