Wireless carriers and cable companies aren’t “hoarding” spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech at a Mobile Futures conference Wednesday, answering in part accusations lobbed by the NAB against the NCTA (CD March 2 p11). But he also offered reassurance to broadcasters, clarifying that a proposed incentive auction will be voluntary and acknowledging that broadcast TV remains critical.
Policymakers from the FTC and the Commerce Department urged tougher privacy protections that offer more choices for consumers. They testified Wednesday at an online privacy hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said he will introduce a measure that would balance consumer privacy protections with online ad interests. The purpose of this “commercial privacy bill of rights” is to encourage information sharing, “but under a common code of conduct that respects the rights of both the people sharing the information and legitimate organizations collecting and using it on fair terms and conditions,” he said.
Pole owners should have 178 days maximum for make-ready work under coming FCC rules, CTIA and a membership section of PCIA said in separate filings posted Wednesday on the commission’s website in docket 07-245. PCIA said it would settle for 148-day deadlines in cases in which “multiparty cooperation is not required.” A Sunesys filing called deadlines “unquestionably needed” but didn’t specify what they should be. The Edison Electric Institute said in filings that telcos are glibly ignoring complications that can foul up deadlines, and the commission must “adopt strong incentives to ensure … the safety and reliability” of the power grid.
CTIA and the Rural Cellular Association jointly asked the FCC to prohibit the future licensing of TV stations on channel 51 and freeze all applications for new or modified broadcast facilities seeking to operate on the channel. The groups also said the commission should accelerate clearance of channel 51 where incumbent broadcasters have agreed to move to an alternate position.
Mobile satellite service operators have widely disparate views on the evolution of the MSS industry, CEOs said on a panel at the Satellite 2011 conference in Washington on Wednesday. Each of the companies pointed to different visions they said would drive growth in the industry.
The FCC is overdue to act on a program access complaint by Verizon against Cablevision, the telco said. It said the agency was supposed to have acted at least three months ago on Verizon’s request for access to the two HD versions of the cable operator’s New York area regional sports networks. A deadline to act in five months, which the FCC created 13 years ago in carrying out the 1992 Cable Act, “has long since passed,” Verizon Deputy General Counsel Michael Glover wrote Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake on Wednesday. Commission and industry officials had expected final action on complaints against Cablevision by Verizon and AT&T to be taken by now (CD June 29 p6).
Cutting special access rates in half would raise wages as much as $4.8 billion, create up to 101,000 jobs and add $11.8 billion to $12.4 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product, a study commissioned by Sprint Nextel reported Tuesday. Revenue from special access charges brought AT&T, Qwest and Verizon $18 billion in 2007, nearly double the 2000 figure, the study said. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s staff is drafting a public notice seeking comprehensive data on the special access market and hopes to move to rulemaking or even orders this year, a commission official said.
Receiver performance standards will become an increasingly significant issue as the FCC looks at how to make more efficient use of the spectrum, unless industry steps forward to make receivers work better, former FCC and NTIA official Dale Hatfield said Tuesday at the Catholic University of America’s communications symposium. Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp said the FCC continues to look closely at questions about receiver performance.
The FCC should auction the 700 MHz D block if legislation isn’t soon passed about what to do with that spectrum, said Commissioner Robert McDowell, who has long supported selling that spectrum. He said the commission also should act on its own to further the development of white spaces devices, if Congress doesn’t soon pass legislation allowing the agency to hold an incentive auction. Speaking at an event sponsored by Catholic University, McDowell touched on another issue where he’s long been active at the FCC: Getting unlicensed devices on the market that use the spaces between TV channels.
Increased integration of satellite and terrestrial services appears to be the next step for satellite companies, satellite industry CEOs said Tuesday on a Satellite 2011 conference panel in Washington, D.C.