The FCC’s new Wireline Bureau Chief Jeffrey Carlisle said the agency ought to deal with state vs. federal jurisdiction over VoIP before tackling other issues in the FCC’s broad IP Enabled Services proceeding. “I don’t know if we can get a comprehensive order done by the end of the year because the record’s so huge and there are so many issues,” Carlisle said in an interview with Communications Daily. “I do believe we should try to decide the jurisdiction issue by the end of the year.”
NAB again urged the FCC to stop cable operators from overriding or blocking local weather warnings. In a letter to FCC Chmn. Powell, NAB Pres. Eddie Fritts said a local weather broadcaster providing live coverage can see the signal overridden by a cable operator, often with outdated information. “We recognize the need for cable subscribers watching non-broadcast video programming to receive automated warnings of an impending weather situation, and current FCC rules allow cable operators to provide just that,” Fritts said. But cable shouldn’t be allowed to override emergency alerts by a local broadcast station, Fritts said. Cable overrides have been controversial. In 1997, former House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.), in a letter to then FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt, urged the FCC to stop the practice. The FCC issued a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the effectiveness of the Emergency Alert System last week (CD Aug 5 p8). The Commission had previously said it would address emergency communications concerns. NCTA said the FCC has looked at the cable EAS issue several times already and has not accepted NAB’s argument on this issue in the past.
The FCC tentatively concluded Wed. that CALEA applies to facilities-based providers of “any type of broadband Internet access service -- including wireline, cable modem, wireless and powerline -- and to managed or mediated [VoIP] services.” This was the wording of a rulemaking launched to determine the appropriate legal and policy framework for implementing CALEA, particularly regarding broadband access and services. The agency said the tentative conclusions were based on its proposal that such services fall under CALEA as “a replacement for a substantial portion of the local telephone exchange service.” But FCC officials said CALEA wouldn’t apply to “non-managed” P2P VoIP services such as those provided by Pulver.com or Skype. FCC Comrs. Copps and Adelstein concurred.
Former FCC Comr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth thinks the FCC may have reached agreement with the Bush Administration on how to handle cable modem service. In N.Y. Sun op-ed, Furchtgott-Roth said the timing was curious on a rulemaking on CALEA and broadband set to be unveiled today (Wed.). He noted the item comes just as the Administration is considering whether to appeal the Brand X case, in which an appeals court found that cable modem service is at least partly a telecom service. If the service is classed within telecom, it could be subject to fees and additional regulation, which FCC Chmn. Powell has generally opposed. But if it’s not a telecom service, then it may also be out of the reach of law enforcement at a time when the war on terror has gained paramount importance in the eyes of lawmakers. “This week’s urgency of the FCC to seek comments on new proposed rules for broadband and CALEA may indicate that a deal has been struck within the administration,” Furchtgott- Roth wrote: “The administration could appeal Brand X to protect the cable industry while permitting the law enforcement community to have greater discretion under CALEA to wage the war on terror.” He said the war on terror may have overshadowed telecom policy in this case: “Let’s hope that the cable industry doesn’t suffer collateral damage from September 11.”
Regulation is a key element in the Bush administration’s push for greater broadband deployment, officials said Wed. At a briefing for reporters on the administration’s efforts to promote multiple broadband options for consumers, Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) Dir. John Marburger said “regulation is necessary” to prevent interference and support standards: “It’s an essential function of government.”
Bundling strategies that pit cable companies against DBS companies and their partner RBOCs in the race to provide video, voice and data are evidence of “the intensity of the competitive rivalry” in the video provider marketplace, NCTA said in comments to the FCC. Cable implored the FCC to acknowledge that a “vigorous rivalry” exists between cable and DBS, as satellite has continued to erode cable marketshare, from 91% in 1995 to 73% today. NCTA said DBS companies are forming alliances with RBOCs to offer Internet and telephone service, and DBS has grown to more than 23% of the market. Comments were due Fri. in the FCC’s annual assessment of the status of competition in the delivery of video programming.
While disagreeing whether the FCC should grant Verizon’s petitions concerning regulatory treatment of its broadband services provided via fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), in comments to the Commission, telecom carriers agreed the Commission should focus on its broadband rulemaking proceedings, such as the wireline broadband and ILEC broadband NPRMs.
Major cable companies we spoke with said they believed they were by and large ready to meet the FCC’s July 1 plug-&- play mandate, although they were unsure precisely how many CableCARDs would be needed. But sources on the CE side questioned cable’s commitment to one-way plug-&-play, saying they thought cable would hold off on marketing until the more profitable 2-way plug-&-play is settled. Major cable companies said they had no big promotional plans in the works on one-way plug-&-play, but they also said it was too early to say whether they would make a big marketing push for 2-way either.
Recent announcements by AT&T and Z-Tel that they'll pull out of residential markets in several states didn’t come as a surprise and won’t affect the way new FCC’s rules will be written, FCC Comr. Abernathy said in an interview. “I think the interim rules are meant to create a stable environment while we come up with final rules, so I haven’t really factored [the announcements] in,” she said. She said the actions also “can’t affect the final rules. The final rules have to be driven by the direction from the court.” Addressing a FCBA luncheon Thurs. in Washington, she said she was “very pleased” the Solicitor Gen. and the FCC decided not to seek Supreme Court review of the D.C. Circuit’s decision. “Our job at this stage is to follow a more market-oriented path towards sustainable facilities-based competition.”
Low demand for broadband services has emerged as one of the “major challenges” for U.S. policy, FCC Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Carol Mattey told a panel sponsored by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Thurs. in Washington. She said while 80% of the U.S. population had access to broadband, only 20% of households subscribed: “A key question for the U.S. policy is why so many people that have access to broadband in the United States have chosen not yet to subscribe.” The panel focused on policy and regulatory developments in Japan and the U.S. as they affect broadband deployment