Not all broadcasters say they need multicast must-carry rules to develop business models for programming their digital streams. Backers of multicast must-carry say they can’t afford to invest in new programming without being assured access to cable TV’s wide distribution (CD June 13 p2).
CHICAGO -- Uniform regulation is the biggest national policy issue as the industry looks ahead 3-5 years, a keynote panel of manufacturing executives said at Globalcomm here Wed. Because convergence isn’t just in technology, but also in corporations and their cultures, executives from Siemens, Lucent, Nortel and Tellabs were nearly solid in their opposition to local and state policies, like video franchising laws, that they think complicate business and stunt growth.
FCC Chmn. Martin’s broad media ownership proposal doesn’t address cable ownership limits remanded to the Commission in 2001 by U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., said industry sources. The item moving on the 8th floor (CD June 1 p2) likely addresses broadcast rules, including lifting a ban on newspaper and TV station cross-ownership and boosting the number of markets where a firm can own multiple stations, they said. Broadcast rules including cross ownership were sent back to the FCC by U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, in 2004.
FCC Chmn. Martin’s multicast must-carry plan (CD May 31 p2) may renew a push for DBS rules requiring provision of digital broadcasts to all subscribers where local stations are carried, industry sources said. Satellite providers fear broadcasters may try to use the proposed rulemaking to ask the FCC to require that satellite transmit their digital signals. Such rules apply to DBS only in Alaska and Hawaii (CD Aug 25 p1). It’s not clear if the rulemaking would include DBS must-carry provisions. An FCC spokesman declined to comment.
FCC Chmn. Martin is circulating a broad media ownership item on the 8th floor that seeks to loosen restrictions, sources said. They said it probably includes lifting a ban on newspaper and TV station cross-ownership and easing cable attribution limits. Such action had been expected after Comr. McDowell starts his job (CD April 6 p9), as he is set to do within days. Martin’s aim is to get a vote on the notice of proposed rulemaking at the June 15 agenda meeting, the sources said.
The Ore. PUC opened a pole rulemaking to address standards for installation and maintenance of utility poles, and rights and responsibilities of parties that attach to those poles. The PUC said its purpose is to ensure poles and lines of telecom, cable and electric providers are installed, used and maintained in a safe and efficient manner. The rulemaking will run on 2 tracks. The first will address inspections, facility owner responsibilities, vegetation management and safety issues. The 2nd track will address pole attachment rules including rates, terms, conditions and dispute resolution processes. The PUC hopes to have draft rules by Aug.
Passing the Senate telecom bill would sap local franchise enforcement and harm consumers, local govts. said in a letter to Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R- Alaska) and Ranking Member Inouye (D-Hawaii). The bill would erase local franchising authority, letting the FCC decide most franchising terms via rulemaking, said NATOA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, National Assn. of Counties and the National League of Cities. The bill’s 30-day window for negotiations and a requirement that cities act within 15 days of fielding an application is an “unattainable mandate,” the groups said. The bill would send rights-of-way disputes to the FCC rather than courts that now handle such cases, they said. Communities would have to satisfy a “set of hurdles, at least 6 in the current draft, before the FCC,” the letter said, noting that the FCC has no expertise in rights-of-way management. The groups objected to eliminating from gross revenue advertising and other non-subscriber revenue, cutting local franchise fees. Broadband video providers would be allowed to pick and choose neighborhoods in which to build out while bypassing others, the letter said, though the bill would “ostensibly” bar redlining under the current Cable Act.
The Adelphia deal pending at the FCC may be voted on by a split Commission due to continued delays in confirming Robert McDowell as 5th commissioner, industry sources and analysts said. An order to approve the deal, worth about $17 billion, hasn’t surfaced on the 8th floor, a source said Fri. And the McDowell nomination has spent months becalmed (CD May 1 p9). With a July 31 deadline for Comcast and Time Warner to finish the purchase (CD April 13 p11), chances for tougher conditions increase with each passing day.
Prospects are good for passage of a telecom bill the President can sign this Congress, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) told a Tues. National Journal breakfast. “Their bill is not all that far away from ours,” Upton said, referring to a Senate telecom bill introduced Mon. (CD May 2 p1). That bill, especially its franchise provision, offers a “hook” to get something into conference where the 2 can be reconciled, Upton said.
LAS VEGAS -- NAB Pres. David Rehr ripped a proposal to change retransmission consent by Rep. Deal (R-Ga.) using the opening keynote here to tell broadcasters to fight it. Deal plans to introduce an amendment Wed. during a House Commerce Committee telecom bill markup “to put broadcasters at a significant disadvantage,” Rehr said. He asked station executives to e-mail members of the committee, of which the congressman is a member, “with a loud and clear message: ‘This Deal is a bad deal.”