Cable and satellite companies urged the FCC not to create a new regulatory fee category for direct broadcast satellite services, while cable entities supported placing DBS providers under the same category as cable providers, in comments on a rulemaking on 2014 regulatory fees. Some entities cautioned the commission against rushing to assess regulatory fees for companies that manage toll-free numbers. Initial comments were due last week; replies are due Dec. 26.
House and Senate Commerce Committee staffers coordinated informally to create what is the latest Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization draft, as expected (see 1410150090). House lawmakers introduced the 22-page five-year STELA Reauthorization Act Tuesday. The draft still includes what may be its most controversial provision, at least in the Senate -- repeal of the set-top box integration ban.
Following President Barack Obama’s backing Monday of reclassification, (see 1411100033) it was unclear how Chairman Tom Wheeler would proceed. In at least two meetings Monday with those involved in the net neutrality debate, Wheeler focused on some difficult issues involved in a Title II Communications Act approach, officials involved in the meetings told us. One said Wheeler said the agency was grappling with how to deal with the issues. But he “seems dug in” with his focus on Title II’s problems “as opposed to the obvious benefits,” said a public interest official involved in one of the meetings.
After facing criticism for its Electronic Comment Filing System’s inability to handle a record-setting deluge of public comments, the FCC said publicly for the first time Thursday night that it's working on several changes for ECFS. One fix could speed up the system as soon as late November, the FCC's spokeswoman told us. Eventually, the agency wants to move toward a cloud-based system, she said. That would help avoid the limitations of the FCC's own servers, which have limited memory.
A draft NPRM seeking comment on extending online political ad filing requirements to cable and direct broadcast satellite providers and satellite radio and terrestrial radio stations has been circulated among eighth-floor offices, FCC officials told us Thursday. The NPRM is in response to a petition (see 1409020036) for rulemaking from the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation seeking extension of the online filing rules, which already apply to TV stations. Though the petition only sought to extend the rule to cover pay-TV operators, a comment proceeding on the petition also floated the idea of extending the requirement to radio.
Ritter Communications has begun lobbying Congress to revive the broadcaster-reviled broadcast a la carte proposal known as Local Choice. The company, a member of NTCA, has customers in Arkansas and Tennessee. Vice President-External Affairs John Strode spoke in a two-minute video touting Local Choice, as Ritter also asked customers to reach out to the Senate in support of such legislation. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., introduced the proposal this fall and initially tried to attach it to Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization. They ended those plans after broadcaster outrage. Thune wants to fight to enact Local Choice next year, he has said. “Since the price is hidden from you, [broadcasters] can charge higher and higher prices, and boy, do they,” Strode said of retransmission consent fees. Strode said TV blackouts are now “happening more and more frequently. ... We support a simple solution called Local Choice. … That kind of free market would be best for everybody.” Strode pointed out that Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., sits on a relevant committee of jurisdiction: “Let him and other lawmakers know that you’re a TV consumer and you’re for Local Choice.” The “Ritter On Your Side” website contains a form letter consumers can use, directed at the Senate and allowing consumers to say whether they are from Arkansas or Tennessee. “Congress should restrain abusive programming and retransmission consent practices and give my cable company the flexibility to offer a range of programming, allowing me to choose the tiers of services I want and not choose expensive channels I don’t watch or want, like expensive sports channels,” the form letter said. “Please join the fight to change outdated, unfair federal laws and regulations, and help me to stop these harmful programming tying and bundling practices. I urge Congress to begin rewriting communications laws immediately to better protect me, the consumer.” The form letter also urged lawmakers “to tell the FCC that you will hold it accountable for protecting consumers by finishing rulemakings on retransmission consent, media ownership and program access.” Ritter’s home page also prominently said TV consumers deserve Local Choice. Broadcasters argued forcefully that Local Choice would wreak havoc on their business models and unfairly singles out broadcasters.
A draft rulemaking notice (NPRM) proposing classifying linear online video providers as multichannel video programming distributors wouldn’t immediately change much for over-the-top companies, said cable and content officials in interviews Wednesday. The NPRM, circulated late Tuesday according to an FCC official, would enable over-the-top services to take advantage of program access and retransmission consent rights to better offer competition to cable incumbents in the video market, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a blog post Tuesday (see 1410280053). Retrans rights would still leave OTT services unable to stream broadcast content without also negotiating for content rights, and program access rights apply only to negotiations with vertically integrated distributors, which in practice largely means Comcast, said industry officials.
New York politicians and public interest groups planned a hearing Monday night on the FCC net neutrality rulemaking and Comcast's planned purchase of Time Warner Cable. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, a Democrat, New York City Mayoral Counsel Maya Wiley and former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps were to host the hearing because FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has “ignored” requests for a field hearing in the state, they said. “After waiting months for the FCC to get out of the Beltway, advocates are taking initiative,” Copps said in a Free Press news release. “The voices of millions of Americans must not be ignored. A cloistered conversation in Washington, D.C., advances the special interests, not the public interest. It's time for everyone to speak, and be heard.” The FCC didn’t comment. Interest groups Common Cause, Consumers Union and MAG-Net are also involved in the hearing. Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said in a statement that “it’s encouraging that Internet users are raising their voices against these threats to the Open Internet and that public officials are listening.”
A move to add stand-alone services streaming content from CBS and HBO could add a new layer to FCC proceedings, including the retransmission consent and net neutrality dockets, said some cable industry professionals in interviews Monday. The announcements have raised questions about how the video market is changing and whether it's on a path to an a la carte model. The announcements are examples of programmers reacting to consumer demand, which must be kept free of more regulations, some broadcast industry professionals said. CBS is providing its CBS All Access digital subscription product (see 1410160058), and HBO plans to launch a service next year (see 1410150095).
GRAPEVINE, Texas -- American Cable Association CEO Matthew Polka pressed at the Comptel convention for net neutrality rules to apply to content providers as well as ISPs. But Wireline Bureau Deputy Chief Matthew DelNero said the rulemaking the FCC is considering, as well as those preceding it, have focused on ISPs. The goal, DelNero said, was preserving the ability of “innovators and consumers” to determine the success of applications and content on the Internet without the “permission or consent” of ISPs. But DelNero again said “all options are on the table."