Bills on spectrum reallocation are coming soon from Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., they said after President Barack Obama committed to freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum over 10 years for wireless broadband. In a presidential memo Monday, Obama outlined a process to identify federal and commercial spectrum for reallocation, and use auction proceeds to support public safety. The effort will comprise administrative and legislative actions, and the White House plans to work with members of Congress, a senior administration official who refused to be named in stories told reporters on a conference call.
Final FCC action on program access cases against Cablevision may be in sight now that Verizon amended its complaint and after AT&T changes its own, which may occur soon, industry and commission officials predicted Monday. Action by Media Bureau staffers reviewing the complaints that the cable operator unfairly withheld HD streams from the telcos of two regional sports networks had been awaiting the revision by Verizon, they said. AT&T said Thursday it would make a supplemental filing within 10 days if Madison Square Garden (MSG), spun off from Cablevision, didn’t start good-faith talks (CD June 25 p11).
The FCC adopted video relay services (VRS) rates that are higher than those proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association. The rates will be in effect from this July to next June. Providers under Tier 1 will be compensated at about $6.24 per minute, Tier 2 providers at $6.23 and at $5.07 for providers under Tier 3, an FCC order Monday said. The rate was established for an interim period of one year while the FCC seeks comment on a related inquiry, the order said. Industry officials had expressed concern over the rates proposed by NECA, which some had expected the FCC to codify in an order (CD June 10 p7). The commission also issued a notice of inquiry to address issues of fair compensation, VRS user data collection and other factors affecting market structure.
Attendees said a closed-door Hill meeting Friday was a productive starting point as Congress pursues an update to the Telecom Act. It was more a listening session than a negotiation over any specific proposal, they told us afterward. But some cited a preference in the room for narrowly targeted network neutrality legislation. The two-hour session was moderated by Bruce Wolpe, senior adviser on the House Commerce Committee, and included 31 participants representing ISPs, Internet edge companies, think tanks, labor and public interest groups. More meetings are planned next month, with the next set for July 2.
Advances in audio-visual compression technology and the advent of distributed transmission systems will not help the FCC reclaim spectrum from the TV band without significant hurdles, such as a second major DTV transition, executives from Fox and CBS said at an FCC engineering forum on the TV band Friday. HDTV sets and DTV converter boxes receive MPEG-2 encoded signals, and no further gains in MPEG-2 efficiency are anticipated, said Andrew Setos, president of engineering at the Fox Entertainment Group.
Tech and Internet companies breathed a sigh of relief after learning that financial industry revamp legislation agreed upon Friday by the House and Senate did away with provisions they didn’t like (CD May 24 p2). Several groups said they were especially glad the FTC’s authority would not be expanded. The bill now goes back to the House and Senate for final floor votes.
Voting 2-1 late Thursday, the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a regulatory settlement FairPoint proposed as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. The commission approved both FairPoint’s application for change of control, required in its restructuring, and the settlement negotiated by the company, the Office of the Public Advocate and a representative of the utility commission. “These approvals will allow FairPoint to continue to move forward with plans to emerge from Chapter 11 by early fall,” the company said in a statement.
The FCC and other federal agencies will be among the few missing at Friday’s planned closed Hill meeting to discuss an update of the Telecom Act, a Senate aide told us Thursday. Representatives from ISPs, edge companies and public interest groups are among the 32 that so far have confirmed attendance, the aide said. The groups plan to meet behind closed doors at 11 a.m. in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Innovative wireless health technologies can overcome healthcare barriers for veterans in rural areas, speakers said Thursday during a House Health Subcommittee hearing. “For the three million veterans living in rural areas, access to health care remains a key barrier, as they simply live too far away from the nearest VA medical center,” said Chairman Michael Michaud, D-Maine. Given certain barriers, “it is no surprise that our rural veterans have worse health outcomes compared to the general population.” If wireless technology is utilized effectively, “it can be a tremendous benefit, especially for rural veterans,” said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.
The FCC plans to complete a USF overhaul next year, said Commissioner Meredith Baker at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Thursday. Baker and her two FCC colleagues on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service -- Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps -- agreed USF was broken. But they disagreed whether they could revamp USF without first reclassifying broadband transport under Title II of the Communications Act.