MVPD and telecom groups don’t agree with broadcasters on the practicality of revamping the FCC’s regulatory fee system, said reply comments filed in docket 22-301. NAB, a group of 57 smaller broadcasters and nearly all state broadcast associations filed replies in support of proposals from NAB and the Satellite Industry Association to rethink how the FCC parcels out the fees, but the Wireless ISP Association, NCTA and CTIA panned the idea. “The proposals of NAB and SIA are self-serving, impracticable, and would be unmanageable,” said NCTA.
Nexstar must turn over documents related to its local marketing agreement with Mission Broadcasting to operate WPIX New York, said an order Saturday in the broadcaster’s breach of contract case against Comcast in docket 1:21-cv-06860 in the U.S. District Court for Eastern New York. Nexstar had disputed Magistrate Judge Stewart Aaron’s order that its relationship to Mission and WPIX was relevant to the case (see 2211010063). “Given Magistrate Judges’ broad discretion” in handling discovery disputes “plainly there was no abuse of discretion,” wrote District Judge John Koeltl.
An NAB request for the FCC to refresh the record on the state of the streaming industry could get some traction at the agency, but reviving the long-dormant proceeding on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs and generating the same retransmission consent dollars that now come from cable companies would likely be a much heavier lift, said broadcasters and network executives. “You don’t need a commission vote to refresh the record,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, now a partner at Cooley, which represents broadcast affiliate groups and broadcasters such as Gray Television. The big four TV networks aren’t interested in refreshing the record and believe the current system of compensating affiliates for streaming rights works, a network executive told us.
An NAB request for the FCC to refresh the record on the state of the streaming industry could get some traction at the agency, but reviving the long-dormant proceeding on reclassifying streaming services as MVPDs and generating the same retransmission consent dollars that now come from cable companies would likely be a much heavier lift, said broadcasters and network executives. “You don’t need a commission vote to refresh the record,” said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, now a partner at Cooley, which represents broadcast affiliate groups and broadcasters such as Gray Television. The big four TV networks aren’t interested in refreshing the record and believe the current system of compensating affiliates for streaming rights works, a network executive told us.
A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on automatic dialing systems in Borden v. Efinancial (docket 21-35746) has likely narrowed the range of possible TCPA cases in that circuit, and an 8th Circuit panel upheld a lower court ruling narrowly defining what sort of fax constitutes an unsolicited advertisement in BPP v. Caremark CVS (docket 21-3791), in opinions issued this week. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s prohibition against the use of automatic dialing systems applies only to automated systems that generate telephone numbers, not to other systems that use random or sequential number generation to select from a list of numbers to call, said the 9th Circuit.
A draft order on updating references in FCC rules to Nielsen publications is expected to be approved with few changes at the agency’s Nov. 17 meeting, FCC and industry officials told us. Though the NPRM that preceded the order led to calls from Commissioner Nathan Simington and broadcasters for the FCC to scrutinize its relationship to the ratings company, the draft order says it's “premature to initiate a proceeding at this time” on the matter: “There is currently no apparent alternative data source for the Commission to rely upon.”
A draft order on updating references in FCC rules to Nielsen publications is expected to be approved with few changes at the agency’s Nov. 17 meeting, FCC and industry officials told us. Though the NPRM that preceded the order led to calls from Commissioner Nathan Simington and broadcasters for the FCC to scrutinize its relationship to the ratings company, the draft order says it's “premature to initiate a proceeding at this time” on the matter: “There is currently no apparent alternative data source for the Commission to rely upon.”
AT&T wants a federal court to prevent Lumen from disconnecting circuits used to provide services to wireless and wireline customers, said a reply brief last week in support of a preliminary injunction filed in docket 1:22-cv-02206-RM-KLM in U.S. District Court in Colorado. The proceeding stems from a complaint filed by Lumen in August over unpaid time division multiplexing fees. “Lumen’s threatened disconnection would cause catastrophic harm to AT&T and its affected customers,” said AT&T’s motion. AT&T has argued that Lumen is seeking to raise the fees by 20%, while Lumen has argued that AT&T was previously seeing a discounted rate, and that the increased prices are consistent with the market price. “Even if AT&T pays the amounts Lumen demands now, Lumen will threaten disconnection again unless AT&T keeps paying Lumen at the rates it demands while this case proceeds,” AT&T said. “AT&T would be irreparably harmed by this massive out-of-pocket cost.” Along with the injunction, AT&T is also seeking to have the case transferred to the Southern District of New York, and the motion says the court should rule on the transfer motion first, because Lumen has agreed not to disconnect any circuits until the Colorado court or a court in the Southern District of New York have ruled on the preliminary injunction. Lumen previously planned to disconnect the circuits Dec. 5, the transfer motion said. Lumen opposes the transfer motion, and has argued that its agreements with AT&T mean the case doesn’t have to be transferred.
Dueling intervenor briefs from SoundExchange, Google and broadcast trade groups filed Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenged arguments in the combined appeals of the Copyright Royalty Board’s Web V ruling on royalty rates for webcast music.
Low-power TV and TV translator virtual channel assignments and changes should be limited to avoid conflicts and confused viewers, said NAB, the Society of Broadcast Engineers and others in comments posted this week in docket 03-185. Allowing translating stations to change their program and system information protocol (PSIP) “carries a very real risk of causing viewers to think that the translator or LPTV station is the originator of the programming, when that is not the case,” said SBE. Broadcasters in the docket also discussed apparent errors in a proposed FCC method for calculating station coordinates, and restrictions on low-power television relocation.