Cable operators can use any set-top box with an Internet Protocol-based connector to output video in a format other devices can receive, instead of the required FCC IEEE 1394 interface for all HD boxes that some consumer electronics makers have said is outdated, the FCC Media Bureau ruled Friday afternoon. The waiver responds to requests for exemption from the IEEE 1394 standard made late last year by Intel, Motorola and TiVo. But any set-top box maker that manufactures compliant devices can take advantage of the waiver, which applies to any cable operator, said a bureau order. Operators won’t need to apply for individual exemptions, it said, http://xrl.us/bho6ne.
A backlog of more than a million indecency complaints pending at the FCC has the agency considering whether to dispose of some, and others have expired because the time for action elapsed, agency and industry officials said. Staffers such as those at the Office of General Counsel are aware of the need to act to trim the backlog, a commission official said. Another agency official said the regulator could dismiss complaints against non-broadcast shows, such as those on cable, that aren’t subject to indecency rules.
AT&T said it’s talking with Cox Communications about the cable operator’s offer to the telco and several other subscription-video providers to let them carry a channel it owns in San Diego. That channel carries San Diego Padres games and is the subject of an FCC complaint to commissioners by AT&T alleging Cox violated program access rules by withholding access to that programmer after the Media Bureau dismissed an earlier complaint (CD April 8 p3). A recent commission order on program access “was very helpful along with their willingness to convene a meeting to get all parties together,” AT&T Senior Vice President Bob Quinn said Wednesday. “We are now in negotiations with Cox and are hopeful that this issue can be resolved so our customers can enjoy the baseball season.” A Tuesday filing by Cox said it will make Channel 4 SD available to all San Diego pay-TV companies, including AT&T. Fox Networks, representing Cox in licensing for the channel, is negotiating with AT&T and other subscription-video providers for deals, the filing said. Cox’s move to let rivals carry the San Diego channel “was a business decision, which considered the FCC decision and other variables,” said a Cox spokesman. The commission’s program access order doesn’t require “Cox to expand distribution of Channel 4 San Diego” and instead changed the presumption in certain cases, he noted. “If Cox had not decided to make Channel 4 San Diego available as we have, AT&T would still have to pursue a case and Cox would have had the opportunity to defend our distribution practices.” An HD version of the channel also is being offered to pay-TV providers in the area, he said. DirecTV has been notified by Cox that the cable operator will offer the games, a spokesman for the direct broadcast satellite company said. “We'll evaluate the offer when we see it, but at this time we do not know how long a deal might take.” A Dish Network spokeswoman said the company is evaluating Cox’s offer.
Putting video online has significant costs for old and new companies alike, NBC Universal told the FCC in response to the agency’s wide-ranging discovery request for information on the company’s deal with Comcast. NBC Universal, which Comcast plans to buy control of, discussed some of its strategy to gradually put its cable programming online and discussed some of the events leading up to the start of the Hulu site for its broadcast network and others to put shows on the Web.
A TV spectrum paper by FCC broadband staffers released Monday to little fanfare drew mixed reviews from broadcast lawyers who closely read it and engineers just beginning to parse it. Consumer electronics and wireless groups, seeking spectrum repurposed from broadcasting to wireless broadband, praised the paper, which is at http://xrl.us/bhor2p. The 60-page paper was posted Monday on the website of the National Broadband Plan but no news release accompanied it, so lawyers and engineers still were studying it Tuesday.
The CEA differed with some consumer electronics makers and cable operators on whether the FCC should exempt more subscription-video providers from CableCARD rules so they can use cheap HD set-top boxes that combine navigation and security features. Filings Monday on fixes to CableCARDs before the commission moves to a gateway device standard showed NCTA and members including Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable support use of digital terminal adapters (DTA), as the regulator proposed in a rulemaking (CD April 22 p6). The CEA and Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) said DTAs undermine CableCARDs.
No opposition cropped up against mobile DTV devices without analog tuners, and industry remains united behind them, replies Friday and Monday in docket 10-111 to two waiver requests before the FCC show. Replies were due Friday. Industry executives have said such consensus augurs for quick approval of the requests, either by the Media Bureau or full commission (CD June 8 p4). It’s unclear if an order exempting the devices from requirements that they also have analog tuners will be forthcoming from the commission soon, agency officials said Monday. None appears to be ready for imminent release, they said.
TV and radio broadcast networks and affiliates increasingly are aligned on several issues getting legislative and regulatory attention, our survey of executives in those businesses found. The executives and NAB President Gordon Smith sounded upbeat that agreement in broadcasting, evidenced in part by last month’s return of CBS and Fox to the lobbying group (CD May 11 p14), will help the industry make its case in Washington. They said that’s crucial to avoid fracturing like that of a decade ago -- when networks left NAB amid disputes over ownership rules -- and to fend off challenges to businesses that have faced struggles. It also helps to deal with member NBC set to get a new owner in Comcast.
An FCC draft rulemaking proposes a 2012 deadline for U.S. low-power stations to switch to all-digital broadcasts, agency and industry officials said. That deadline was proposed in 2008 by then-Chairman Kevin Martin, but scuttled by other commissioners (CD Feb 27 p4) , and now has been revived by current Chairman Julius Genachowski, agency and industry officials said. The draft asks whether a later date ought to be set, an official said. Low-power stations won’t likely be able to go all-digital in two years, said lawyer Peter Tannenwald of Fletcher Heald, who represents low-power broadcasters that have gone all-digital.
Whether pay-TV providers ought to tell subscribers before carriage contracts expire is a hot-button issue, judging from responses to our question at a panel discussion Tuesday about retransmission consent. Broadcast representatives continued to support the idea, which has been floated in FCC filings (CD June 7 p5), and cable executives oppose it. A supporter of notice to subscribers is the New America Foundation, one of the public-interest groups that has joined 14 cable, satellite and telco-TV petitioners in seeking commission intervention in carriage disputes between TV stations and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). At several points during the Broadband Breakfast Club discussion, speakers interrupted each other and the moderator.