Proponents of eliminating the FCC sports blackout rule (SBR) pointed to the Communications Act of 1996 and the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA) to show that the agency can do away with the rule, in replies due Tuesday in docket 12-3. NFL, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball and other sports leagues said the FCC doesn’t have authority to end the rule. Then-acting chairwoman Mignon Clyburn on her last business day before Tom Wheeler became chairman circulated a rulemaking notice to ask about ending the rule.
Amendment attempts abounded Tuesday on the draft legislation of the House Communications Subcommittee’s Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (http://1.usa.gov/1rrPHlS), though most amendments failed to make it into the draft bill that cleared the panel on a voice vote. Democrats succeeded at modifying provisions of the controversial set-top box integration ban, which demands cable operators use CableCARDs instead of built-in security in set-top boxes, in the one bipartisan amendment put to a vote and attached to the draft.
The FCC shouldn’t compel multichannel video programming distributors to provide buttons or icons for every auxiliary function of closed captions or to provide information about captioning options on product packaging, said several industry associations in reply comments to a rulemaking on user interfaces and program guides Thursday. “Flexibility should be afforded to industry members,” said the Telecommunications Industry Association, echoing NCTA, the Entertainment Software Association and CEA. The associations also argued that the 21st Century Video Accessibility Act doesn’t give the FCC the authority to impose additional requirements for accessing closed captioning on manufacturers. A coalition of consumer groups representing the hearing impaired, including the National Association for the Deaf, said the FCC does have the authority. However, the consumer groups said they would be satisfied if access to the display settings for closed captions were available in the first level of a menu. ACA said the commission should mitigate the impact of any new rules for small cable operators.
AT&T fired back Friday at a blog post by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings calling for the FCC to include “no-fee” interconnection agreements as part of its revamped net neutrality rules. “Strong net neutrality” would prevent ISPs “from charging a toll for interconnection,” Hastings wrote, and instead require them to “provide sufficient access to their network without charge” (http://nflx.it/1pgX4cd).
Public TV stations are weighing several options concerning the upcoming broadcast incentive auction, we found after asking all noncommercial educational (NCE) broadcasters in the top 30 designated market areas about their plans. Most don’t wish to relinquish their spectrum, while others haven’t ruled out any options and are still monitoring developments at the FCC, they said. For some stations, channel sharing isn’t feasible, but interest may be piqued if the channel-sharing trial between Los Angeles TV stations KLCS, a public-TV station, and KJLA is successful. The test is backed by CTIA.
Dozens of rural telcos submitted “expressions of interest” to the FCC in filings this week, indicating they would love to accept some of the money the agency is prepared to dole out for rural broadband experiments. The agency voted 5-0 earlier this year to approve IP technology transition trials, including rural broadband experiments (CD Jan 31 p1). Interest in participating in these projects has so far dwarfed interest in participating in service-based experiments. That effort has seen only a few applicants.
The paid peering deal between Comcast and Netflix is likely a harbinger of things to come, said experts in interviews this week. Many are calling for the FCC to start addressing paid peering and interconnection on the Internet, warning that future Netflix-like companies could be at a disadvantage if they can’t afford the same deals the big players get. Others think the government should leave well enough alone, pointing out that the Internet has bloomed free of regulatory oversight. Public interest and industry representatives don’t see the FTC taking any steps to curb the Comcast/Netflix deal (CD Feb 25 p1), but some said the new territory could use clear rules to avoid market-dominant ISPs overcharging.
Schurz Communications urged the FCC not to change its policies on joint sales agreements (JSAs) and shared services agreements. Cable complaints about joint negotiation of retransmission consent agreements are unjustified, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1ht05EI). “The proposal to prohibit only broadcasters from entering into joint sales agreements with another local station would result in asymmetrical regulation,” it said. If the FCC requires such arrangements to be dismantled, “there would be substantial, and perhaps devastating, breakup costs incurred by both parties,” it said. “The station now receiving services would have to create infrastructure and obtain services elsewhere that it needs to operate,” it said. Schurz, Entravision and NAB met this week with staff from the offices of Commissioners Mignon Clyburn, Ajit Pai, Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel, it said. They also met with Media Bureau staff. Meanwhile, Sinclair urged the FCC to evaluate JSAs within the larger context of the statutorily required 2014 quadrennial review, it said in an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1hsCyDZ). The commission’s failure to analyze recent increases in competition in both the video and advertising sales markets “makes any piecemeal rulemaking arbitrary and capricious,” it said. Sinclair again said it’s concerned about the consequences of attributing JSAs for ownership cap purposes “without permanent grandfathering for existing JSAs and those currently awaiting FCC approval as part of pending assignment and transfer applications, because there is no evidence that selling a station’s advertising spots influences the programming decision of that station,” it said. Complaints from multichannel video programming distributors claiming that broadcasters enjoy undue leverage in retransmission consent negotiations as part of JSAs also have no basis in fact, it said. Broadcasters remain “at a tremendous disadvantage in compensation negotiations,” it said. Although almost 40 percent of TV viewing is of broadcast signals, broadcasters received only 9.5 percent of basic cable fees in 2013, it said. The filing recounts a meeting with staff from the offices of commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council asked the FCC to rework its designated entity (DE) rules to encourage more minority bidders to take part in the upcoming TV incentive auction. MMTC argued in a white paper released Tuesday that while the designated entity rules were effective in encouraging bids by small businesses, including minority-owned business enterprises (MBEs), in the early years of spectrum auctions, that’s no longer the case.
The FCC Media Bureau requested financial information from Sinclair about its relationship to the companies with which it will have sharing arrangements as part of its proposed purchase of Allbritton’s TV stations, said a filing by Sinclair Tuesday (http://bit.ly/MZrO5A). Though the financial details are redacted under a pair of protective orders issued by the bureau Friday (CD Feb 24 p23), the submission includes financial results going back to 2010 for stations involved in the transaction, the details of performance bonuses paid to Sinclair by companies with which it has sharing arrangements and information about Sinclair’s guarantees of bank debts for those companies.