FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler may have a slightly easier time thanks to the Justice Department in getting the agency’s two other Democrats to vote for a forthcoming order (CD Feb 12 p1) cracking down on TV station resource-sharing deals, said agency and industry officials in interviews Friday. Earlier that day, in a rare instance of the department’s substantively participating in FCC proceedings, Justice asked the FCC to attribute -- under ownership quota rules -- stations with which a broadcaster shares certain functions, such as in joint sales agreements (JSAs) and similar deals (CD Bulletin Feb 21).
NCTA’s protests against video device interoperability rules highlight the work needed to achieve interoperability, said a coalition of technology companies, makers of consumer electronics and Internet firms that backs a so-called AllVid FCC rulemaking. A “proprietary ‘app’ approach described in NCTA’s letter” that association CEO Michael Powell wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler (CD Feb 7 p3) doesn’t fly with the AllVid Tech Company Alliance, said the alliance’s lawyers in a filing Tuesday in docket 97-80. The tack “by which only selected devices are connected on a system-specific basis” would “further entrench cable operators’ methods and devices as the only means by which consumers can access and experience the programming and services to which they subscribe,” wrote lawyers Robert Schwartz of Constantine Cannon and Patton Boggs’ Monica Desai and Jeffrey Turner. “NCTA’s compilation of non-standard, isolated approaches to connection illustrates how far the Commission remains in the IP era from fulfilling Congress’s instruction to assure” availability of retail equipment used to access pay-TV programming, they wrote. “The FCC should take steps now to assure that consumers have the choice of accessing their cable programming through innovative user interfaces not dictated by cable operators.” A 2010 AllVid notice of inquiry “compiled a sufficient record” for an NPRM now, said the alliance that has included Best Buy, Google, Intel, Sony and TiVo.
The FCC shouldn’t impose additional requirements for making user interfaces (UIs) and programming guides accessible, said CEA, NCTA, the Telecommunications Industry Association, Verizon and others, in responses to an FCC further NPRM (CD Dec 23 p16) and in oppositions to a petition for reconsideration filed by consumer groups (CD Jan 24 p23). “Unnecessary and overly prescriptive regulations will stifle innovation and limit manufacturers’ flexibility in bringing cost-effective consumer devices” to consumers, said CEA. The commission’s UI and programming guide rules should be written “to help ensure that individuals with disabilities are able to fully utilize communication services and better access video programming,” said the National Association of the Deaf and other groups representing the hearing impaired.
Chairman Tom Wheeler made clear Wednesday the FCC would take what is essentially a middle ground following the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s Jan. 14 decision (CD Jan 15 p1) largely rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. The FCC won’t appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Instead, Wheeler said he would propose net neutrality rules aimed at enforcing and enhancing the order’s transparency rule, upheld by the court, and also preventing blocking and assuring nondiscrimination. Wheeler indicated if all else fails, the FCC could still reclassify broadband as a Title II common carrier service as a last resort. Wheeler’s approach accomplishes some key objectives of net neutrality while giving him wiggle room on how to proceed, former FCC officials said in interviews Wednesday.
Don’t impose video device interoperability rules on cable operators, because they and other multichannel video programming distributors are providing increasing amounts of content from pay-TV networks and other sources over IP to devices bought from firms besides MVPDs, said NCTA. Criticizing a request last month for a rulemaking from high-technology companies and makers of consumer electronics that seek interoperability rules (CD Jan 21 p12), NCTA CEO Michael Powell wrote FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who used to run that group. In what some CE officials told us they see as a possibly defensive move, Powell cited the array of content at last month’s CES that’s available on many devices and not just set-top boxes that receive encrypted cable content. Powell’s predecessor Kyle McSlarrow, who later went to work for NCTA’s biggest member, Comcast, sent a similar letter to then-FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski after the 2011 CES (http://bit.ly/1eYX6zS) (CD Jan 28/11 p5).
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office had planned to circulate a draft order Thursday that would attribute TV joint sales agreements (JSAs) for the purposes of calculating ownership, but the item is expected to be delayed until March, an agency official told us. The order would have treated the attribution of TV JSAs the same way as for radio, counting as 15 percent toward ownership, the official said. It’s not clear why the item may be delayed. The item would also have included a further notice of proposed rulemaking on media cross-ownership, the official said.
FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly names Susan Fisenne, ex-Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau, confidential assistant … Public Knowledge hires Gene Kimmelman, ex-New America Foundation Internet Freedom and Human Rights project, as president and CEO … Scott Blake Harris, of Wilkinson Barker, representing makers of consumer electronics, named to Department of Energy Appliance Standards and Rulemaking Committee … Crown Media promotes Kristen Roberts to executive vice president-pricing, planning & revenue management, expands Susanne McAvoy’s job to executive vice president-marketing, creative, and communications, and Michelle Vicary assumes oversight of program publicity and talent relations as executive vice president-programming and network publicity … Charter Communications hires Richard Schultz, ex-Cox Communications, as senior vice president-inbound sales & retention … Elected Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing chairwoman is Gemma Toner, Cablevision.
Some cable-TV executives aren’t discouraged by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s comments that the commission has looked repeatedly into its authority on intervening in retransmission consent disputes. Wheeler made the comments in response to a question last week at CES in Las Vegas (CD Jan 10 p17), where he said he welcomed any new legal points of view. Cable executives whose companies engage in retrans negotiations pointed to the open proceeding that reconsiders retrans rules and efforts in Congress toward the reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA) as indicators that the issue on retrans isn’t closed.
The FCC is looking for economists versed in microeconomics, econometrics and industrial organization theory. The agency is likely trying to beef up its team in advance of some mathematically complex actions it’s expected to take this year, such as retooling some USF cost models, and analyzing the state of the special access market, said economists in interviews. The real question, they say, is whether the new hires will be expected to justify decisions the agency has already made, or actually drive the decision-making process.
NCTA faces opposition to its request for the FCC to review the Wireline Bureau’s data collection order on the state of the special access marketplace. In comments filed Tuesday, USTelecom, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance and Sprint argued against full commission review. NCTA had asked the commission to modify the data request “to reduce the burden on cable operators and other competitive providers” in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (http://bit.ly/18RlukP). NCTA also argued the bureau ignored “critical concerns” about the security of the data it would collect. The bureau submitted the data collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for PRA approval earlier this month.