Broadcaster “mismanagement” is the main cause of the slow DTV transition, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) said, and the “support and connivance” of the FCC helped “botch the transition to digital DTV.” Broadcasters and others were expected to file comments in the FCC rulemaking (9MB 03-15) at our deadline.
The FCC is seeking comment on whether it should speed up build-out requirements for multichannel video distribution & data services (MVDDS). The agency said it saw such a requirement as a way of expediting deployment of advanced wireless services, such as data and data broadband. The rulemaking involves terrestrial microwave competitors to satellite and cable, such as Northpoint and MDS America. In its 2nd Report and Order, the Commission had said it would apply a 10-year build-out requirement with a demonstration of “substantial service” as the basis for license renewal expectancy. But MDS America has said 10 years is too long and holds the prospect of “anticompetitive warehousing” of the MVDDS spectrum by some companies. MDS America suggested a 5-year build-out period. The rulemaking also asks whether the use of Designated Market Areas (DMAs) would it easier to deliver wireless services to a wide range of populations, including rural areas. The FCC originally had suggested using Component Economic Areas for licenses but said it had reached an agreement with Nielsen Media Research that might make it easier to use DMAs. Comments are due 7 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register, replies 7 days after that.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The contention by a franchisors’ lawyer that cities retain wide latitude to impose fees and customer- service requirements on cable modem offerings became a lightning rod Thurs. for vehement dispute from cable industry attorneys. They argued at a Practising Law Institute cable law seminar that the assertion of city rights by Joseph Van Eaton, who represents cable franchisors, was bad policy and incompatible with the FCC’s classification of cable modem as an interstate information service.
LAS VEGAS -- Several members of Congress at the NAB convention here expressed skepticism about a “hard date” for TV broadcasters to convert to a digital signal. Senate Communications Subcommittee Chmn. Burns (R-Mont.) said the cost of conversion for rural stations was about equal to the cost of conversion for urban stations, but smaller advertising revenue made it much harder to switch. “I'm not one that sees a hard date for conversion,” he said.
Full and “expeditious” approval of the FCC rulemaking encompassing the “plug-and-play” agreement on cable-CE interoperability (CD Dec 20 p1) was urged in joint comments filed at the Commission by the CEA and Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC). Others, including broadcasters and the MPAA, disagreed.
As an April 1 deadline approaches for TV stations to begin simulcasting 50% of their analog program schedule in digital, Paxson asked the FCC to grant it a 1-year waiver of the rule. The company, the largest owner of DTV stations in the country, said in an FCC filing that its “continuing inability to secure cable carriage” of DTV signals and uncertainty about the simulcast requirements were to blame. Paxson also argued that due to “a continuing lack of consumer adoption of DTV technology, the public interest would not be served by requiring Paxson’s compliance with these new requirements.” Paxson owns 61 full-power TV stations. The company said the FCC hadn’t acted on the question of mandatory carriage rights for broadcasters and in Jan. opened a rulemaking asking whether it should alter or eliminate the simulcast requirements.
House Telecom Subcommittee ranking Democrat Markey (Mass.) reintroduced legislation Thurs. to create a “spectrum commons” for the public through unlicensed spectrum. The spectrum allocations are designed to provide more room for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and other wireless protocols, he said. Markey said opening such spectrum would create more spectrum efficiency as well as spur innovation. “The ’spectrum commons’ will also help to propel economic growth and innovations by opening up the airwaves to new marketplace entry by individuals and entities unaffiliated with established network providers, such as incumbent cable, telephone or wireless carriers,” Markey told the House.
Most broadcasters are expected to begin simulcasting 50% of their analog programming in digital if they have not already started to do so by Tues., meeting an FCC deadline, industry officials told us. However, the NAB is opposed to the rule, saying it is an onerous burden on broadcasters, especially since their digital signals for the most part aren’t assured of carriage on cable systems, which deliver programming to a majority of U.S. households. Without carriage, the digital signals are of little use and a waste of broadcasters’ money, the NAB says, since few consumers have the equipment to get digital over the air. The NAB board has a teleconference call Tues. to discuss the deadline. Asked whether the broadcasters expected to succeed in pushing back the deadline, an industry source said, “I don’t think anybody envisions it being stopped.” Meanwhile, Paxson and the Assn. of Public TV Stations asked the FCC to grant waivers that would allow them to bypass the deadline.
The FCC should clarify to cable broadband providers that they owe local franchise fees on cable modem services until the Commission’s rulemaking process on cable modem is complete, House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.)said in a March 11 letter to FCC Chmn. Powell. Tauzin asked the FCC to clarify its ruling that cable modem service was an information service after La. parishes expressed concern on the impact of local govt. revenue. He highlighted the portion of the FCC’s ruling that determined that revenue from cable modem service shouldn’t be factored into the computation of franchise fees. Tauzin urged the FCC to clarify that cable companies still must submit the franchise fees until the Commission completed its rulemaking. His spokesman, Ken Johnson, said there were concerns that cable companies not only would forgo paying the cable modem portion of the fee that was currently due, but also could try to recoup fees already paid to localities. “After the Commission’s correct ruling on these 2 issues, certain cable companies have informed parishes that they are no longer going to pay that portion of revenue derived from delivery of cable modem service,” the letter said. “Should the Commission determine it appropriate to exercise its jurisdiction under Section 622 to resolve the issue of previously collected franchise fees based on cable modem service revenues, I urge the Commission to further clarify that its decision is prospective and effects only contracts after the issuance of its ruling. Otherwise, local governments will be exposed to future claims and significant risk.” Johnson said: “This could clearly result in a financial hardship to many local entities and become a legal quagmire.”
MERIDITH, N.H. -- Any possible FCC rulemaking mandating broadcast flag technology won’t alter copyright law, FCC Media Bureau Chief Kenneth Ferree told the New England Cable & Telecom Assn. (NECTA) Fri. “As I learn more about copyright law, I'm not sure anything the FCC does could have any effect on copyright law,” he said, still smarting from a grilling at the House Judiciary Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee last week (CD March 7 p1).