Colorado has adopted “a pretty arbitrary method” of determining high-cost support for telcos, said Pete Kirchhof, executive vice president of the Colorado Telecommunications Association (CTA), which represents 25 small companies. The Colorado Public Utilities Commission adopted a new set of telecom rules last Monday after months of deliberation (CD Dec 18 p9). They've already provoked concern from CenturyLink, smaller telcos and a 911 authority. The order, effective this Monday, will kill retail regulation in regions deemed effectively competitive, cap the state’s high-cost USF and assert that Internet Protocol-enabled service falls outside the PUC’s jurisdiction except in emergency communications. The order is “what we feared, to be honest,” Kirchhof told us, citing telcos’ worries about lower levels of support and burdensome processes of appealing effective competition rulings.
Hopes that the changes coming to the Environmental Protection Agency set-top box energy efficiency specifications account for next-generation consumer electronics products were expressed in recent interviews with CE and multichannel video programming distributor executives. MVPDs and device makers are in the initial stages of coordinated efforts to cut home device power use to mostly deploy starting next year, among set-tops with DVRs, those with hard drives that stop spinning after four hours of inactivity. Such light-sleep boxes are one way 11 top cable operators, DBS providers and telco-TV companies and four of their suppliers, all of which earlier this month signed a voluntary agreement (VA), plan to cut the amount of electricity used by dormant set-tops (CD Dec 7 p5). Efficiency advocates say the agreement (http://xrl.us/bn46yj) lacks firm commitments to buy future-generation set-tops that can almost completely shut down and yet power up quickly.
Multichannel video programming distributors remain divided on whether the FCC should adopt a standard of rebuttable presumptions against withholding from other MVPDs channels that are affiliated with cable operators, comments on a rulemaking show. NCTA and programmers and operators that own channels opposed the presumptions that program access rules are violated by exclusive contracts for cable-affiliated regional sports networks (RSN) and national sports networks. Vertically-integrated operator/programmers also opposed the notion that once a channel affiliated with an operator is found to have one unfair exclusive contact, it can’t get more. The presumptions would be rebuttable by defendants.
Proposed FCC rules covering cable operators’ signal quality and signal leakage for digital cable systems are unnecessary and should not be adopted, Verizon said in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking on the subject (CD Aug 6 p10). The NPRM’s proposals run counter to the president’s directive against adopting unnecessary regulation, Verizon said (http://xrl.us/bn54z4). Though the FCC was right to recognize that rules written for analog cable systems are outdated, “it is inappropriate to adopt rules for digital cable simply because rules may have once made sense in the context of monopoly cable operators using analog technology,” Verizon said. The NTCA and the Organization for the Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies also questioned the need for new rules. “Rather than applying legacy rules designed for earlier systems and a less competitive marketplace to new technologies, the Associations respectfully question whether specific rules are even necessary for” pay-TV operators that aren’t using traditional quadrature amplitude modulation technology, they said (http://xrl.us/bn542i). Though complying with signal leakage rules that protect aeronautical safety remains an important goal, “burdensome new rules are unnecessary to achieve this goal,” the NCTA said (http://xrl.us/bn542n). New FCC rules should let cable operators demonstrate compliance without requiring them to buy expensive new test equipment, the NCTA said. It supported the NPRM’s proposal to adopt the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers’ SCTE 40 for assessing signal quality. “The cable industry has long operated under the SCTE 40 specifications,” it said. But requiring operators to prove they comply with the specifications is unneeded, it said, citing technical and competitive reasons. The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors praised the commission for taking up the issue and proposed several additional requirements to the NPRM, related to testing and recordkeeping (http://xrl.us/bn543m).
Charter defended its request for a waiver from FCC CableCARD requirements (CD Nov 5 p5), saying critics have misunderstood Charter’s proposal and raised arguments the commission has repeatedly rejected in similar proceedings. Meanwhile, in reply comments filed this week, the AllVid Tech Company Alliance lodged its disapproval of Charter’s request with the commission. And Beyond Broadband Technology, a company that sells downloadable security systems to cable operators, supported Charter’s request and submitted an update on the status of downloadable security in the industry aimed at clarifying “misconceptions” about the technology.
Makers of consumer electronics and sellers of pay TV expanded a multi-year power reduction effort begun a year ago (CD Nov 21 p6) to include the country’s DBS providers and three largest telcos. Those five companies agreed to join the existing six top U.S. cable operators that had been deploying set-top boxes capable of partly shutting down when not in use. The 11 multichannel video programming distributors now will work with four CE companies on such light-sleep devices.
CEA and Public Knowledge each opposed Charter’s request for a waiver of the FCC’s CableCARD rules. Charter asked the agency last month for permission to lease set-top boxes with built-in security features while it upgrades its network to handle a downloadable security system for pay-TV programming (CD Nov 5 p10). But even Charter’s downloadable security plans would fail to meet FCC requirements because they include a hardware component to the system -- a chip that must be installed and programmed at the factory -- CEA said. “It is of no consequence that a particular chip is available for license, even on the most advantageous terms, if (1) other cable operators do not use the system that requires it and (2) it does not employ technology that is actually portable across operators,” the CEA said (http://xrl.us/bn4omm). “Except for nomenclature and secondary detail, there is no effective difference between the system for which Charter seeks a waiver and the full integration of conditional access technology,” it said. Instead the FCC should start a new rulemaking on the issue, the CEA said. “The time has come for the FCC to identify a successor common interface that affords device access to all MVPD services,” it said. Public Knowledge echoed some of CEA’s concerns but said it would support CableCARD waivers for cable operators introducing “standards-based home video gateways.” Such deployments could help pave the way for AllVid, it said (http://xrl.us/bn4oms).
Widespread, successful ad-brokerage agreements among separately owned TV stations in the same market are leading some executives to question why the FCC wants to make attributable to the broadcaster controlling the joint sales agreements such JSAs. There are more than 100 stations in such deals, where one often lower-rated and smaller revenue outlet lets a bigger rival sell ads and they share office space and other clerical functions, our survey of brokers, lawyers and executives found. They said JSAs have become more prevalent in recent years, particularly among stations in small and mid-size markets.
Deals where separately owned TV stations in a market share responsibilities for ad sales, pay-TV carriage and other functions are getting more attention inside the FCC and among those lobbying on upcoming media ownership rules, officials inside and outside the agency said this week. Multichannel video programming distributors and nonprofits opposed to pacts such as shared services agreements, joint sales agreements and joint retransmission consent negotiation deals are lobbying to expand a draft order from only issuing new rules on JSAs, said industry and public interest officials and ex parte filings. Broadcasters got a late start on such lobbying, and are expected to visit the agency next week, industry officials said.
The FCC delayed program access comment deadlines by a total of almost a month, said a Media Bureau order dated Monday (http://xrl.us/bn2o56). It granted NCTA’s request that cited the disruption Superstorm Sandy caused to some members, with comments now due in docket 12-68 on Dec. 14, replies Jan. 14. The agency in October approved a further rulemaking notice on revising rules on cable channel carriage (CD Oct 9 p1).