The FCC should allow market forces to ensure navigation device competition, not a government-supervised industry committee, Amazon officials said in a call with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-42. “There is no need for app licensing terms to be determined by an industry group subject to Commission oversight. The process to create such a license and oversight body will delay competition and delay customers from receiving the [multichannel video programming distributor] services they already pay for on the device of their choice." Instead, the FCC should require large MVPDs to provide a “consumption-only application to widely distributed systems within one year of the final Order, under the common, transparent, and well-understood practices of appstores,” Amazon said. “If the Commission is concerned that existing app store processes may not work in the MVPD app context, then it could create a complaint process through which an aggrieved party could file a complaint about unfair terms and conditions.” The FCC “should resist action that would weaken the rights that consumers enjoy today or restrict the ability of third parties to develop new features that help consumers gain access to lawful content,” said Consumer Video Choice Coalition representatives including the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering, Arent Fox Senior Policy Adviser Byron Dorgan and Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman in a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday. “Assertions made in recent ex parte letters from content companies raise serious questions regarding antitrust and how oversight by the Commission is essential to preventing anticompetitive practices.” A set-top box order is on circulation for a likely vote at commissioners' next meeting (see 1609080085).
USTelecom proposed a business data service market test at the census tract level that the FCC could use to determine where facilities-based competition instead of regulation could constrain BDS pricing. "The test proposes that the FCC step back from dictating prices for BDS services wherever two competitors exert competitive discipline over pricing," said a USTelecom filing posted Monday in docket 16-143. Parties on all sides are continuing to lobby the FCC as Chairman Tom Wheeler attempts to push through an overhaul this year (see 1609070033).
USTelecom proposed a business data service market test at the census tract level that the FCC could use to determine where facilities-based competition instead of regulation could constrain BDS pricing. "The test proposes that the FCC step back from dictating prices for BDS services wherever two competitors exert competitive discipline over pricing," said a USTelecom filing posted Monday in docket 16-143. Parties on all sides are continuing to lobby the FCC as Chairman Tom Wheeler attempts to push through an overhaul this year (see 1609070033).
USTelecom is on track to pick a new chief in a couple of months, a spokeswoman confirmed, after informed sources described how the search is playing out so far. President-CEO Walter McCormick, who announced his planned departure a year ago (see 1509110042), is still scheduled to remain through the end of 2016, she said. She also confirmed the telco group hired the executive-search firm Korn Ferry.
USTelecom is on track to pick a new chief in a couple of months, a spokeswoman confirmed, after informed sources described how the search is playing out so far. President-CEO Walter McCormick, who announced his planned departure a year ago (see 1509110042), is still scheduled to remain through the end of 2016, she said. She also confirmed the telco group hired the executive-search firm Korn Ferry.
Industry requests for rigid timelines for so-called Team Telecom review of transactions don't properly account for ”the complexity of the national security and law enforcement considerations that the Executive Branch must weigh in its review,” NTIA replied in FCC docket 16-155 by Friday's deadline. NTIA also takes issue with a proposal that applications on which Team Telecom hasn't ruled would be approved if the review lasted beyond a certain time period. “The assumption that silence denotes acceptance creates the potential for a license to be granted without full consideration of potential Executive Branch concerns," NTIA said. Nearly all industry commenters that filed reply comments restated their view (see 1608190048) that NTIA should have a rigid timeline to review a transaction, including CTIA, Incompas, Sprint and USTelecom. “The commission should reject proposals resulting in an unlimited Team Telecom review timeframe,” said joint comments by BT Americas, Deutsche Telekom, Orange Business Services and Telefonica Internacional USA. “This proceeding should reform the current process that provides the Executive Branch with unlimited review and no accountability to the Commission or applicants, not extend it,” CTIA said.
The Consumer Video Choice Coalition still supports the original FCC set-top proposal, but said an app- based solution must preserve the same core ideas outlined in the NPRM, representatives from CVCC members Incompas, CCIA, Hauppauge, Public Knowledge, Vizio and TiVo relayed in a meeting Tuesday with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and with FCC Chief Technologist Scott Jordan, according to an ex parte posted Friday in docket 16-42. They said an app-based set-top proposal needs to be available on a wide choice of platforms, offer the same services as multichannel video programming distributors and include universal search and an “open, independent UI [user interface]." The proposal would need to include rules preventing discriminatory treatment by MVPDs, and strong enforcement mechanisms, CVCC said. “Any solution adopted by the FCC should ensure that consumers can access all the content they have paid for on the device of their choosing.” NAB issued a warning on copyright related to the proceeding, also Friday in the docket (see 1609020032).
A critique of Verizon/Incompas business data service proposals was mistakenly sent to an FCC Daily Digest email distribution list Friday. "This e-mail was simply sent in error to the Daily Digest address," the agency said in a subsequent email. "The content of the e-mail was not part of the Daily Digest. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused." The BDS deal proposed by Verizon and Incompas "leaves billions of extra expenses charged to competitors and stifles potential growth," said the emailed Seeking Alpha piece by "contrarian" Bruce Kushnick, executive director of the New Networks Institute, which has joined the Consumer Federation of America in making pro-regulation arguments in the agency's BDS proceeding in docket 16-143.
A critique of Verizon/Incompas business data service proposals was mistakenly sent to an FCC Daily Digest email distribution list Friday. "This e-mail was simply sent in error to the Daily Digest address," the agency said in a subsequent email. "The content of the e-mail was not part of the Daily Digest. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused." The BDS deal proposed by Verizon and Incompas "leaves billions of extra expenses charged to competitors and stifles potential growth," said the emailed Seeking Alpha piece by "contrarian" Bruce Kushnick, executive director of the New Networks Institute, which has joined the Consumer Federation of America in making pro-regulation arguments in the agency's BDS proceeding in docket 16-143.
The Consumer Video Choice Coalition still supports the original FCC set-top proposal, but said an app- based solution must preserve the same core ideas outlined in the NPRM, representatives from CVCC members Incompas, CCIA, Hauppauge, Public Knowledge, Vizio and TiVo relayed in a meeting Tuesday with aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and with FCC Chief Technologist Scott Jordan, according to an ex parte posted Friday in docket 16-42. They said an app-based set-top proposal needs to be available on a wide choice of platforms, offer the same services as multichannel video programming distributors and include universal search and an “open, independent UI [user interface]." The proposal would need to include rules preventing discriminatory treatment by MVPDs, and strong enforcement mechanisms, CVCC said. “Any solution adopted by the FCC should ensure that consumers can access all the content they have paid for on the device of their choosing.” NAB issued a warning on copyright related to the proceeding, also Friday in the docket (see 1609020032).