Look for new FCC Chmn. Powell to act fairly early in his tenure to institute measures to improve Commission’s operations, his senior adviser Peter Tenhula said Thurs. at ComNet’s annual “Town Meeting” panel moderated by attorney Richard Wiley. Asked by Wiley what regulatory initiatives Powell would undertake first, Tenhula said question was hard to answer because Powell’s first priority may be to improve agency’s operations. He said some 80% of FCC’s agenda is “reactive instead of proactive,” such as responding to petitions for rulemaking or acts of Congress, and Powell thinks agency “should be prepared to act on those quickly and efficiently.” Nearly everyone who came in to see Powell and his staff in his first week complained about “process,” such as delays in getting action or items becoming “stuck” in pipeline, Tenhula said.
Northpoint Broadwave USA, widely seen as company with strong backing from outgoing Democrats, believes it has enough political muscle with Republican leaders at FCC, Administration and on Hill to obtain license for its terrestrial service, which would provide video and data services by sharing satellite spectrum. Industry rivals, including Satellite Bcstg. & Communications (SBCA, EchoStar and DirecTV, have accused Northpoint of using its close ties with former FCC Chmn. William Kennard, a Democrat, and Clinton-Gore Administration to gain acceptance for its service, which would compete with satellites. “A rose is a rose by any other name and there is no question on how they got their foot in the door,” said SBCA VP Andy Paul.
Without broad audience guaranteed by cable carriage of digital signals, PTV stations will face additional difficulty raising money from local, state and national sources for digital transition, heads of 3 public broadcasting organizations said in response to FCC’s decision to require cable operators to carry only one multicast digital channel in rulemaking on digital must- carry (CD Jan 24 p3). In joint statement, CPB Pres. Robert Coonrod, PBS Pres. Pat Mitchell and APTS Vp-Policy & Legal Affairs Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis said carriage of only one digital channel, if allowed, would undermine PTV stations’ plans to provide wide range of multicast educational services to their communities. Millions of school children and 70% of nation’s TV viewers get PTV through their local cable system, they said, and for entire public to benefit from “our comprehensive array of digital education and local public affairs content, these cable systems must deliver all the educational noncommercial services that each station provides.” Thanking Chmn. Powell and Comrs. Ness and Tritani for “recognizing the potential impact of this decision on PTV,” they said they would work with them for “ a resolution of this issue that is faithful to the statute as well as to the public interest.” They said they would use opportunity in further notice to provide information to Commission to demonstrate that dual analog and digital carriage requirements during digital transition won’t burden cable operators’ First Amendment interests.
Delivering major blow to broadcasters, FCC tentatively concluded that cable operators didn’t have to carry both analog and digital signals of TV stations during digital transition. In order adopted by 4-1 vote with at least one partial dissent Thurs. but not released until late Mon., Commission said that, “based on the existing record, such a requirement appears to burden cable operators’ First Amendment interests more than is necessary to further a substantial governmental interest.” But agency didn’t rule out dual carriage requirement completely, seeking further comment on need for it to hasten digital transition, updated channel capacity from cable operators, digital compression advances and status and scope of digital retransmission consent agreements between broadcasters and MSOs.
In split decision that left broadcast and cable officials scrambling for clarification, FCC voted 3-2 late Fri. against requiring cable operators and DBS providers to carry both analog and digital signals of TV stations right now. Commission hadn’t actually announced decision at our deadline Mon., although action was said to be imminent. Sources said Commission adopted further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) that would set high bar for broadcasters to prove that they were entitled to must-carry rights for 2 signals during digital transition. Notice apparently seeks comment on whether dual carriage would violate cable’s constitutional rights to free speech, as cable has insisted. But details remained fuzzy at our deadline.
By 4-1 vote, FCC adopted notice of inquiry (NOI) on interactive TV (ITV) services Thurs., starting formal proceeding that it promised when it approved AOL’s takeover of Time Warner (TW) with additional regulatory conditions late last week. But Commission backed away from weightier, more urgent proposed rulemaking on ITV issue that its Cable Bureau staff had recommended, bowing to strong lobbying from cable, to disappointment of consumer advocates and other cable critics. Move follows regulatory conditions imposed on AOL-TW deal last month by FTC that prohibited merged company from interfering with content supplied by other ISPs and ITV providers or discriminating against such competitors (CD Dec 15 p1).
Now that FCC finally has approved AOL’s takeover of Time Warner (TW) with additional regulatory conditions, cable operators, consumer groups, phone companies, state and local regulators, ISPs, broadcasters, DBS providers, cable overbuilders and others already are girding for next big fights over extending those regulations to rest of cable industry. Likely new battle fronts include 2 separate FCC proceedings on cable open access issue and interactive TV (ITV) rules, each of which covers part of leading conditions imposed on AOL-TW by FTC and FCC. Another new battle front could be expected bill in new Congress that would create comprehensive regulatory scheme for all broadband services, whether delivered by cable, telephone, satellite or wireless technologies. “It’s going to be more diffuse,” said Precursor Group CEO Scott Cleland. “The progress will still be made but it will be more difficult to track.”
At last min., FCC once again delayed votes on 3 digital TV items scheduled for consideration at its open meeting Thurs. Commission, which first postponed action on DTV issues last month, didn’t indicate reason for latest delay. But, in his swan song meeting at Commission, FCC Chmn. Kennard pledged that agency would act on all 3 items no later than Jan. 17, just before he’s expected to step down from his post in favor of Republican successor (see separate story, this issue).
Month after postponing consideration of thorny DTV transition issues, FCC intends to tackle at least some DTV matters at its Jan. 11 open meeting. Well-placed sources said Commission was likely to approve bid by new DTV-only station to gain cable must- carry status and require consumer electronics manufacturers to put digital tuners in all new TV sets by date certain, among other less controversial items. But what’s not clear was whether agency would tackle core issue of whether cable operators and DBS providers should carry broadcasters’ analog and digital signals during current DTV transition. Action on dual-carriage issue, which has been hanging over federal regulators for more than 2 years, has been postponed repeatedly by Commission.
FCC is considering proposed rulemaking that would regulate interactive TV (ITV) services carried by all cable operators, knowledgeable sources confirmed Tues. Proposed regulations would be likely to ban all cable systems offering interactive services from blocking ITV triggers from rival content providers, similar to ITV conditions that FTC recently imposed on AOL’s pending purchase of Time Warner (TW). But sources said FCC rules could go further than FTC merger conditions, prohibiting cable operators from favoring their own content by caching it on local servers or sending it at higher data speeds than content from unaffiliated providers. “I'm sure they're talking about all sorts of things,” said source who declined to be identified.