FCC Wireline Bureau Chief Matt DelNero outlined nine key proceedings his bureau is working on, though he said the list isn't exhaustive. First on his list is a draft order that would partially approve a USTelecom forbearance petition for ILEC relief, which is on the commission's Dec. 17 tentative meeting agenda. Speaking at the Practising Law Institute conference Thursday, DelNero said he is personally involved every day in working on separate efforts to overhaul rural rate-of-return USF mechanisms. Asked about the timetable in light of signals from a key senator that the FCC could go beyond a year-end commitment for solving the "stand-alone broadband problem" for rural carriers, DelNero said the agency is eager to complete the rulemaking but also wants "to get it right." He also invited interested parties to provide input on commission efforts to craft an NPRM on broadband privacy under Title II of the Communications Act. Among the other draft items in proceedings he cited are: a Connect America Fund Phase II reverse auction framework order, which is circulating; an order to reform Part 32 accounting rules; the 2016 broadband progress report; a Lifeline modernization order; special-access reform actions; and orders on industry transactions, including Charter Communications' proposed buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, and Altice's proposed buys of Cablevision and Suddenlink. On a subsequent panel at the conference, a Netflix official sparred with officials of CenturyLink and Cox Communications over the net neutrality order. Corie Wright, Netflix director-global policy, said she believes the FCC would be upheld in court, as did Washington Utilities and Transportation Commissioner Phil Jones. Jennifer Hightower, Cox senior vice president-law and policy, said the net neutrality order is discouraging broadband investment and that her company is "more cautious than ever" due to uncertainty from the order. Melissa Newman, CenturyLink senior vice president-federal policy and regulatory affairs, agreed, saying her company doesn't know what is allowed under the Internet conduct rule's prohibitions against broadband ISP practices that create "unreasonable interference" or "unreasonable disadvantage" for other parties. Wright disputed the criticisms, which she said were contradicted by the statements and actions of industry executives and Wall Street investors. Jones also said he hadn't seen any drop in broadband investment in his state.
Recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, “tragically [put] an exclamation point” on the FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council work on telecom infrastructure security and reliability, said CSRIC Chairman John Schanz, Comcast Cable chief network officer. CSRIC's work on reliability of 911 systems is critical to police having situational awareness “that will make possible big data added to emergency response,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson after a presentation at the group's meeting by Working Group 1. It's working on recommendations for rerouting 911 calls between public safety answering points and on recommendations on aspects of location-based routing that use latitude and longitude information and other information.
Labeling prospective programming bundling as a bad-faith negotiation tactic and eliminating the list of presumptively good-faith tactics altogether, were among suggestions multichannel video programming distributors and MVPD allies had for the FCC on reforming retransmission consent negotiation rules. Some went beyond the list of practices the agency said it's considering as potential violations of good-faith negotiating. Meanwhile, broadcasters and their allies again said the retrans market doesn't require fixing.
The FCC came under fire from telco officials and other speakers at a Phoenix Center event Tuesday. They said its policies and practices were often too regulatory and capricious, increasing market uncertainty and discouraging network deployment. One group of panelists said the net neutrality order is bad for broadband investment, but an industry analyst disagreed the order was already depressing capital expenditures. Another panel knocked the FCC’s use of enforcement actions and deal conditions to achieve many of its ends. “It’s a bad way to run the railroad,” said Bob Quinn, AT&T senior vice president-federal regulatory.
Zero-rating Internet services could end up being one of the next big areas of inquiry for the FCC, Internet law experts told us. Comcast's Stream TV service has been getting criticism (see 1511100034) for supposedly violating the intent, if not the terms, of the net neutrality order. Public Knowledge in a blog said it's "a straightforward example of the anticompetitive problems zero-rating can raise, and provides little consumer benefit." The group has said consumers are complaining to the commission about the practice, and Communications Daily has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the agency seeking information on such complaints.
Consumer advocates, CLECs and others urged the FCC to implement and even augment proposals to codify specific standards for discontinuance of copper-based telecom services as industry shifts to IP-based services over fiber networks. ILECs said the proposed criteria would hinder the transition to IP/fiber systems that already was far along without regulatory mandates. “An air of unreality pervades this proceeding,” said AT&T, which called charges of ILEC bottleneck control "patently absurd." The parties filed reply comments on the commission’s technology transitions Further NPRM, most of which were posted Tuesday and Wednesday (for further filings, see docket 13-5).
Kicking off the TV incentive auction on its appointed March 29 start date is among FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's top-most priorities, said Gigi Sohn, his counselor, at a Practising Law Institute event Thursday. The idea that the current FCC is more divisive than previous ones is “a bunch of nonsense,” Sohn said, referring to a recent story (see 1510280062). “In the past, there were interparty battles,” Sohn said, saying past FCCs have been similarly contentious. For that Oct. 29 story, the agency was provided a chance to comment and declined.
Pay-TV companies and groups still disagree with TiVo and the Consumer Video Choice Coalition over whether the FCC should take action based on the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee report and whether such an action would be legal, said replies in docket 15-64. AT&T, the American Cable Association, MPAA and NCTA believe the FCC would be overstepping congressional intent and its own authority if it tried to implement the downloadable security solution backed by the CVCC.
The proposal for a downloadable security solution advocated by the Consumer Video Choice Coalition (CVCC), isn't a sound basis for a rulemaking, a group of pay-TV companies, set-top box manufacturers and associations said in a meeting Tuesday. They met with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan and Media Bureau staff, said an ex parte filing in docket 15-64. The industry delegation included the American Cable Association, Arris, AT&T, CableLabs, Comcast, MPAA and NCTA, and was composed mainly of entities that had supported the multichannel video programming distributor-backed proposals in the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee final report.
The FCC should launch a rulemaking based on the efforts of the Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee, TiVo said in a meeting Tuesday with Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan, aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, and Media Bureau staff, said an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 15-64. The FCC should also issue a clarification that Charter Communications must continue to provide and support CableCARDs until “post-CableCARD successor solutions that enable retail competition are widely deployed and consumers no longer need or desire to use CableCARDs,” TiVo said. “The very predicate for a functioning retail market is that consumers and manufacturers have certainty that navigation devices purchased at retail will continue to be able to receive the cable signals that consumers have bought.”