The FCC shouldn’t require those lobbying it to disclose their ownership as the agency seeks to further update ex parte filing rules, said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, NAB and the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition (FWCC). They sought exclusions if there are new rules for associations and coalitions, so such entities don’t need to list every member that participated in an issue. The Chamber was among those also raising constitutional concerns about more disclosure. Free Press and the Media Access Project backed additional ownership details. A rulemaking notice sought ways to collect additional information in ex parte filings, without overly burdening those making them (CD Feb 4 p2).
CHICAGO -- FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said he’s puzzled why more U.S. ISPs don’t meter broadband usage, by charging for what subscribers consume as opposed to the current practice of sending monthly bills of similar amounts to each category of customers. The all-you-can-eat broadband model doesn’t make sense to him, and is unlike other services, he said during a Q-and-A at a Cable Show luncheon. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said she understands those who oppose usage-based pricing, while acknowledging that a certain number of broadband users consume a disproportionate share of capacity.
CHICAGO -- The FCC’s overhaul of the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation system may take a little longer than had previously been anticipated, an aide to Chairman Julius Genachowski said at the Cable Show in Chicago. Finishing an order on the subjects may take until the fall, said Sherrese Smith, who advises Genachowski on media issues. “I'm only talking about a month or two delay,” not a longer period of time, she told us during a Q-and-A Wednesday. She also said an item on program carriage will be out soon.
CHICAGO -- Updating the Telecom Act is something FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski still thinks is a good idea, and in the meantime the agency has broadband challenges that require immediate attention, he said Wednesday. He expanded on remarks Friday from his chief of staff on a new broadband initiative (CD June 13 p6), with Genachowski saying he'll work with other commissioners to get it underway. He agreed with comments Tuesday at the Cable Show by NCTA CEO Michael Powell, with whom Genachowski engaged in a Q-and-A, that “regulatory humility” is good.
CHICAGO -- Some House Commerce Committee members are skeptical of the need for AllVid rules the FCC has been aiming to propose, its Republican counsel said. The rulemaking notice being worked on by the commission doesn’t seem likely to be finished soon, said an aide to Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass. Both aides, who spoke at the Cable Show Tuesday, said an earlier panel demonstrated that cable operators and programmers are trying to make content more accessible to subscribers. (See separate story in this issue.)
CHICAGO -- The NCTA’s Michael Powell wants fewer regulations as the cable industry puts its energy toward dealing with technological changes, he said in his first public speech as CEO of the association. There should be a high threshold for new rules and old ones ought to be reviewed with an eye toward doing away with some, Powell said at Tuesday’s opening of the Cable Show. The industry doesn’t need regulatory challenges as it grapples with how to serve and keep existing subscribers who want content online and want to see it on mobile devices.
There’s disagreement along industry lines on whether changes to licenses that let pay-TV providers carry broadcast programming without signing deals with every copyright holder have import for retransmission consent deals. At a Copyright Office hearing Friday on changes it may propose to Congress on statutory licenses, broadcasters and some content creators said the licenses and retrans are unrelated to whatever the office ultimately proposes about phasing out some sections of the licenses. Cable, DBS and telco-TV providers said they may go hand-in-hand. PBS, which doesn’t strike retrans deals, doesn’t want to “become collateral damage” to any changes in that system, its lawyer said.
The FCC should overhaul how it holds radio and TV stations accountable, with the current system “broken,” concluded a report a year-and-a-half in the making and written under the auspices of Chairman Julius Genachowski. Other recommendations that had not leaked out in recent days (CD June 8 p3) are that public TV stations should get the same percentage of proceeds as commercial outlets if they participate in the incentive auction of broadcast spectrum that the commission hopes to get authority from Congress to conduct. Thursday’s report -- informally called by its former name, “The Future of Media” -- also sought an overhaul of the leased access system for cable operators because of underuse and sought changes to an educational programming set-aside for DBS given there’s more demand from content providers wanting in.
A prominent cable lawyer seeks consideration of a new “social contract” -- and of an entertainment tax -- for companies competing with traditional multichannel video programming distributors. Paul Glist, co-chairman of Davis Wright’s communications practice, told an FCBA event that traditional “video platforms typically come with a social contract. So we should be thinking of what might be a better social contract.” Public Knowledge lawyer John Bergmayer, speaking on the same panel Tuesday night, told us later that Glist’s comments have merit in considering how to apply old rules to newer, Internet-based firms. A veteran wireless lawyer said it may be too soon to regulate new Web video technologies.
Studios’ nascent UltraViolet initiative amounts to a “do-over” for the industry to give consumers access to legally purchased content on a wide array of devices, the chief technology officer of a major movie company said. Sony Pictures’ Mitch Singer, president of the multi-industry group backing the project, told communications lawyers and executives that the initiative comes after studios tried a strategy of filing lawsuits to “stop the innovation from happening."