CAMBRIDGE, Md. -- FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc said he wants to head off “wrongful activity” under the net neutrality order by giving industry as much guidance as possible. He promised vigorous enforcement tempered by “regulatory humility” to ensure innovation isn’t stifled. LeBlanc was among the speakers Friday and Saturday at the FCBA’s annual retreat, where net neutrality was a hot topic. The net neutrality order also reclassified broadband Internet access as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1502260043 and 1502260050).
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., questioned FCC “scope” in implementing Section 111 of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act Reauthorization (STELAR) Act, focusing on a March 16 NPRM that would have changed presumptions about how cable operators are judged to be subject to effective competition. “Section 111 of STELAR directed the FCC to take steps to streamline the process for small cable operators to file effective competition petitions, but the FCC’s current rulemaking proposal appears to do much more,” Leahy said in the letter, dated Friday, to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. “I strongly encourage you to separate the broader question of whether to reverse the effective competition presumption for all cable operators from the narrow directive Congress gave you to provide small operators with some relief.” NAB posted the letter. Leahy was one of the lawmakers responsible for writing STELAR last Congress as chairman of Judiciary. “The FCC should take this directive at face value,” Leahy said. Stakeholders have “expressed serious concern” about the changes the FCC proposed recently, Leahy added, suggesting the matter be left to either “another proceeding or legislative action.” STELAR implementation is not “the appropriate vehicle,” he said.
CHICAGO -- All four FCC commissioners believe Wi-Fi should be permitted in the 5 GHz band, said Mignon Clyburn, Mike O'Rielly, Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel during a panel at INTX 2015 Wednesday. “I think this is something we all agree on,” said O'Rielly, saying such cohesion is rare among the commissioners. The FCC members, their aides and bureau chiefs participated in nearly back-to-back panels Wednesday.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may use an NPRM the agency must begin by Sept. 4 on retransmission consent as a way to crack down on what some see as abuses in deals for TV stations to be carried by multichannel video programming distributors, lawyers on all sides of the issue said in interviews Thursday. A day before and toward the end of his speech at INTX, Wheeler mentioned the upcoming proceeding. Some read that as signaling he's open to changing retrans rules, after a previous look at the rules under then-Chairman Julius Genachowski didn't advance past an NPRM. Others noted that, given the partisanship seen on retrans, where some Republicans have been hesitant to regulate, Wheeler may not try to change rules and if he did would have to rely on both of the FCC's other Democratic members agreeing.
AT&T filed in support of NAB’s April petition asking the FCC to suspend the TV white spaces (TVWS) database system until “serious flaws” are rectified (see 1503190056). AT&T said the petition has bigger implications as spectrum sharing becomes the norm in a growing number of bands. Google and Microsoft separately objected, as comments continue to be posted on the petition in RM-11745.
Rising programming costs, cable mergers and acquisitions and increased FCC regulation of their business are expected to be the focus of discussion for cable operators, attorneys and vendors at this week’s INTX (Internet and Television Expo) show hosted by NCTA in Chicago. The pressure of the FCC's Title II Communications Act regulation of broadband service, its push to classify online video services as multichannel video programming distributors, and increasing competition and programming costs highlighted by Verizon’s mini-bundle offering (see 1504220058) are combining to force cable operators to think hard about how to keep their business viable, said industry lawyers in interviews last week.
The FCC could be headed for a vote at its June 18 meeting on a rulemaking reshaping the Lifeline program, including providing support for Internet access, agency and industry officials said. With a light agenda at both the April and May meetings, Chairman Tom Wheeler appears likely to take on a bigger, more controversial issue in June, and Lifeline changes could be ready for a vote, the officials said.
USTelecom urged the FCC to reconsider parts of its December E-rate order, particularly rules allowing self-provisioning by schools and libraries and the need for additional safeguards to ensure efficient spending in the USF program. USTelecom said it agrees with many of the questions raised about the order by Cox Communications in a March petition for reconsideration. The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition defended the order, saying allowing schools and libraries to receive money to lease dark fiber or build their own facilities was a badly needed innovation. The filings were posted in docket 13-184.
On a party-line vote, HR-1770, the Data Security and Breach Notification Act, was passed by the House Commerce Committee Wednesday. Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said during Wednesday’s markup that the legislation is “not quite ready,” but bipartisan amendments could be added before the bill is brought to the House floor next week. The bill’s co-author Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., voted against the bill being sent out of committee along with his Democratic colleagues after all proposed Democratic amendments were defeated.
CTIA, NCTA and the American Cable Association filed legal challenges Tuesday to the FCC’s net neutrality rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The appeals weren't a surprise -- industry officials had predicted the trade associations would largely carry the load this time around (see 1503300055). FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is the former president of both NCTA and CTIA. Wheeler defended the order Tuesday in a speech to the Broadband Communities Summit in Austin (see 1504140045).