"In 2013, we see a new set of priorities,” said National Regulatory Research Institute Principal Sherry Lichtenberg of recent IP-focused deregulatory state legislation. NRRI is an affiliate of NARUC, and Lichtenberg released a new review of state deregulation laws Wednesday (http://bit.ly/YFJuHQ). These “different” 2013 laws have a clear and focused message, she said: “Thou shalt not touch VoIP or IP-enabled services -- even if we haven’t defined them.”
A circulating FCC International Bureau notice of inquiry addresses the concerns raised by satellite integrators against Intelsat, commission officials said. The proposed NOI looks at issues related to warehousing and vertical foreclosure in the satellite space segment, officials said. There were allegations in fixed satellite that Intelsat was warehousing spectrum, an agency official said. The NOI follows up on those allegations and asks questions about it, the official said.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is preparing to introduce a la carte video legislation, his spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday. The bill would compel cable and satellite operators to offer consumers a la carte pricing or lose their rights to the compulsory license to carry broadcast programming, industry officials told us. They said McCain staffers met with cable and broadcast lobbyists earlier this week to discuss the legislation ahead of its introduction. NAB and NCTA declined to comment.
Some net neutrality rules apply to wireline services, others to wireless services. Wi-Fi, which falls “somewhere uncomfortably in between,” was one focus of the mobile broadband working group, which presented findings at Tuesday’s Open Internet Advisory Committee meeting at Northwestern University (http://fcc.us/10nyb28). The specialized services working group continued its quest to define what specialized services are, and wondered whether companies might get around the net neutrality rules just by offering something as a specialized service. The transparency group struggled to come up with an ISP speed logo that wouldn’t just further confuse consumers.
The FTC and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division will continue to devote significant resources to examining competition issues in the technology sector, officials from both agencies said Tuesday during a Practising Law Institute seminar. FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez has been “very explicit” about her expectation that her agency will continue to focus on the high-tech sector, as well as the healthcare and energy markets, said Richard Feinstein, director of the FTC Competition Bureau. Those are areas where the agency has devoted most of its resources over the last decade, and no one should “expect that to change in the near term,” he said.
Maintaining DirecTV’s relationships with telecom partners instead of entering into the wireless business is in the best interest of the DBS company’s shareholders, said CEO Mike White. There’s no question that consumers’ use of mobile video will continue to expand significantly, he said Tuesday on an earnings call.
Several Senate Commerce Committee Democrats support Tom Wheeler, President Barack Obama’s nominee for FCC chairman (CD May 1 p1), they told us in interviews at the Capitol this week. Many Democrats had previously endorsed current FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel to become chairman after Julius Genachowski departs the agency. The Senate Commerce Committee hasn’t scheduled Wheeler’s confirmation hearing. Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told reporters Monday it could come before the end of the month.
A bipartisan group of Senators introduced cybersecurity legislation Tuesday aimed at deterring countries from hacking U.S. commercial secrets and intellectual property (http://1.usa.gov/141SEgi). The Deter Cyber Theft Act targets foreign governments and companies which are found committing cyber espionage against U.S. companies, and authorizes U.S. trade officials to restrict trade with them, its authors said in interviews Tuesday. The bill is sponsored by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.; Ranking Member John McCain, R-Ariz.; Homeland Security and Governmental Services Ranking Member Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; and Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va.
Signs of optimism in the radio industry’s prospects are found among some winners in the just-completed FCC auction of FM construction permits, which included a first-time bidder and a company that owns several other stations. Auction 94 ended Monday (CD May 7 p15) and netted $4.1 million, 7.7 percent more than the last auction of FM CPs (http://fcc.us/ZABCaf), held last year as the same number of permits -- 93 -- received greater-than-minimum bids. Some executives had said the radio industry remains challenged amid a 29 percent decline in terrestrial ads to $14.2 billion last year since their zenith before the Great Recession (CD April 30 p1).
Online TV service Aereo wants a federal court to stop the threat of additional lawsuits from broadcasters as it moves into new jurisdictions by ruling that its system of tiny, individual antennas doesn’t violate copyright laws, according to documents filed Monday. Already in the midst of a lawsuit brought in New York by major broadcasters including Fox and CBS, Aereo told the U.S. District Court in New York that it plans to expand to Boston later this month, and that CBS has said it will sue Aereo again there if it does expand.