The part of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s media ownership proposal of most concern to some commissioners and opponents of consolidation is a waiver process, said agency and public- interest group officials. Tuesday, Martin unveiled a plan that would let the FCC under certain circumstances waive a ban on joint ownership of a broadcaster and a newspaper in smaller markets (CD Nov 14 p7). In the 20 largest markets, cross-ownership rules would be lifted entirely for companies not seeking to merge a top-four TV station and in cities with at least eight other newspapers and TV outlets.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin made last-minute changes to a controversial DTV order approved late Tuesday (CD Special Bulletin Sept 11 p1) after all other commissioners voiced concern, agency sources said. The move also headed off at least one possible cable lawsuit. Colleagues’ resistance persuaded Martin to yank from his draft a requirement that cable operators carry all program data from stations, agency officials said. They said Martin agreed to let small systems seek waivers from a requirement that cable operators give analog customers must-carry stations after the DTV transition because commissioners expressed concern.
House Democrats closely questioned Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin about pricing, market competition and promised consumer benefits that could emerge from a merger with XM, during a Hill hearing Wed. afternoon. NAB and consumer groups joined in protesting that the proposed deal would be anti-competitive, while House Commerce Committee minority leaders said the furor could be solved by more-liberal media ownership rules.
New technology, or even new uses for old technology like voice mail, could greatly improve communications in disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, several organizations told the FCC in comments this week. “Policy makers and public safety officials alike should be attuned to the value that IP technologies bring to first responder and emergency communications,” said Cisco Systems.
Broadcasters and cable, battling on a variety of fronts, agree on at least one issue: The FCC shouldn’t expand closed captioning requirements. In comments to the Commission, MPAA, NAB, NCTA, RTNDA and other groups said imposing standards such as technical benchmarks on captions would be an unnecessary burden, fixing a non- existent problem. Groups representing hard-of-hearing consumers and captioning firms are seeking some standards and better monitoring of caption quality.
SBC, in comments on a video report, asked the FCC to examine cable programming deals and whether competition is being thwarted. Access to popular shows including sports programming “remains a troublesome problem,” SBC said in response to an annual FCC inquiry in the market for delivering video. The filing is the latest salvo by SBC in its effort to argue cable has an unfair advantage in selling pay-TV services and that Bells shouldn’t be subject to all Title 6 cable rules. The NCTA asked whether all Title 6 obligations are necessary. “It is reasonable to reconsider whether the social obligations continue to make sense,” the group said.
Wireless and broadcast industries clashed over whether the FCC should grant Qualcomm’s petition seeking clarification of Sec. 27.60 of the Commission’s rules as it affects the deployment of wireless services in 700 MHz. Sec. 27.60 provides criteria to protect incumbent TV/DTV stations from interference by commercial 700 MHz licensees. In comments filed at the FCC, the wireless industry urged the agency in comments to grant the petition, saying that would lower regulatory barriers to establishing 700 MHz facilities during the DTV transition. But incumbent broadcasters disagreed, citing interference as the major concern.
NAB’s arguments against EchoStar’s digital white area proposal are “misguided, and should not dissuade the [FCC] from pursuing EchoStar’s proposal as a practical, immediate means of spurring the [digital] transition,” EchoStar said. EchoStar asked the Commission to require stations to grant DBS operators waivers to provide distant digital signals to viewers in DMAs where local stations weren’t providing digital signals as far as their Grade B contours. A 3-month grace period would be allowed for low-power DTV stations to upgrade. NAB told the Commission in March that EchoStar’s proposal was “palpable nonsense” (CD March 25 p13). In a letter, EchoStar noted NAB didn’t say the Commission doesn’t have the authority to require the waivers, but argues there isn’t a problem: “NAB remains willfully blind to the fact that a significant number of viewing households (as of Feb. 2004, all except 17 out of 210 markets) still lack access to a full complement of full-power digital broadcasts from the networks servicing their areas.” Instead of providing a solution for providing digital signals, NAB “seeks to turn the Commission’s attention to NAB’s own demands for digital mandatory carriage by cable and satellite systems… And it is again characteristic that NAB members, having received spectrum worth tens of billions of dollars in exchange for their promise to provide DTV service, are now seeking to abdicate their end of the bargain and have someone else -- the satellite and cable industries -- shoulder it,” EchoStar said. While NAB draws similarities between the digital white area proposal and the “1999 distant signal importation episode” where distant analog signal subscribers lost the signal after becoming ineligible, EchoStar said this situation would be completely different. DBS operators would only provide the digital feeds until a licensee builds its DTV facility, after which no new households can receive the distant signals, but the operators can continue to provide the signals already being delivered, EchoStar said.
The NAB said it would form a task force to review creation of a code of conduct and other options for broadcasters. The announcement Thurs. followed a daylong closed summit on responsible programming (CD April 1 p5)
FCC voted unanimously Wed. to adopt rules governing one-way digital, cable-ready TV sets, pushing digital TV transition one step further.