A Democratic administration of Hillary Clinton would likely involve more media ownership regulation and spectrum auction bidding credits, said Akin Gump in a report on the 2016 presidential election released Thursday. It summarized the elements of her telecom and tech agenda, detailed last year and this summer, and discussed by a Clinton aide at the Democratic National Convention. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “has said very little” on telecom, Akin Gump noted, relying on speculation about traditional GOP positions on such issues when addressing his administration predictions. The firm speculated Trump could seek to privatize government-held spectrum but also be less likely to allow reallocation of spectrum used for national security. Trump “may push the FCC to take action that would force equipment manufacturers to cooperate with national security efforts, either through individual enforcement actions or via rulemakings of general applicability,” it said.

Viacom's board started a search for a new president-CEO, the company told us Wednesday, announcing in a news release interim President-CEO Tom Dooley is leaving the company effective Nov. 15. Formerly chief operating officer, Dooley was named interim in August, replacing Philippe Dauman (see 1608220029). Viacom said the board is undertaking a search for the next CEO but wouldn't elaborate. Viacom also said it's halving its quarterly dividend from 40 cents to 20 cents per share and it expects to take on additional debt soon. In a statement, Viacom said the steps are a balance between its "focus on a strong balance sheet and its strategy to invest in world class content and pursue opportunities to grow its core businesses." It also said it shut the door on finding a minority investor in Paramount Pictures, "to consider all options available." In an SEC filing Wednesday, Viacom said Dooley will receive a $4.375 million "retention payment" for not resigning before that November date or if Viacom terminates his employment before then -- in which case he also will receive any additional salary he would have earned if he had remained employed through then.

NCTA changed its brand, now calling itself NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association, the group said in a news release Monday. In 2015 it rebranded its traditional The Cable Show into INTX: The Internet & Television Expo (see 1505050046). INTX 2017 will be in Washington, D.C., in April, it said.

FCC-proposed requirements for “top level menu access of closed caption display controls” are “premature,” EchoStar said in a letter posted in docket 12-108 Monday. “Rather than adopting additional regulations, the Commission should encourage innovative accessibility features and designs for set top boxes and digital apparatus that are in-process." The FCC should “reconsider the need for any additional rules after all stakeholders have had a chance to assess the results of these new features,” EchoStar said. It also said the FCC should “provide maximum flexibility in developing usable, compliant solutions, and reject 'single step' solution mandates that are not warranted.” AT&T and NCTA Monday also expressed concerns on a draft set-top box order now on circulation (see 1609190048).

The FCC should allow market forces to ensure navigation device competition, not a government-supervised industry committee, Amazon officials said in a call with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 16-42. “There is no need for app licensing terms to be determined by an industry group subject to Commission oversight. The process to create such a license and oversight body will delay competition and delay customers from receiving the [multichannel video programming distributor] services they already pay for on the device of their choice." Instead, the FCC should require large MVPDs to provide a “consumption-only application to widely distributed systems within one year of the final Order, under the common, transparent, and well-understood practices of appstores,” Amazon said. “If the Commission is concerned that existing app store processes may not work in the MVPD app context, then it could create a complaint process through which an aggrieved party could file a complaint about unfair terms and conditions.” The FCC “should resist action that would weaken the rights that consumers enjoy today or restrict the ability of third parties to develop new features that help consumers gain access to lawful content,” said Consumer Video Choice Coalition representatives including the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Incompas CEO Chip Pickering, Arent Fox Senior Policy Adviser Byron Dorgan and Public Knowledge CEO Gene Kimmelman in a meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday. “Assertions made in recent ex parte letters from content companies raise serious questions regarding antitrust and how oversight by the Commission is essential to preventing anticompetitive practices.” A set-top box order is on circulation for a likely vote at commissioners' next meeting (see 1609080085).

One in three Americans was hit with a computer virus, hacked or suffered some other cyberattack over the past year, said a Zogby Analytics survey Tuesday. A news release on the survey, commissioned by Munich Re’s Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance, said adults 18 to 24 were the most likely victims. Overall, in one-quarter of the cases, people spent up to $5,000 per incident to recover. About 56 percent spent less than $500. Sixty-six percent said they were concerned about potential cyberattacks, and 62 percent worried about online fraud. The online survey polled 1,500 U.S. adults.

The Audio Engineering Society and NAB Show New York will collocate their 2017 conventions at the Javits Center, they said in a joint Monday announcement. AES set its 2017 convention for Oct. 18-21, and NAB Show New York will be Oct. 18-19, they said: “The adjacent location of these events creates the most comprehensive and largest media and entertainment event held on the East Coast with more than 600 exhibitors.”

IFA management denied allegations from exhibitors in the show’s International Hall 27 that promoters did little to promote their exhibit area during the Berlin event, resulting in sparse visitor foot traffic that drove several to consider staging street protests. On allegations Hall 27 exhibitors felt shortchanged, Hall 27 was “promoted year-by-year in the same way all other halls at IFA were promoted,” Messe Berlin spokeswoman Nicole von der Ropp emailed us Thursday. As in previous years, Hall 27 on the southwest corner of the Messe Berlin fairgrounds played host mostly to OEM exhibiting companies from China, Taiwan and Turkey, while global brands such as Changhong, Haier, Hisense, Huawei and Vestel were located in various other halls throughout the exhibition grounds. IFA officially classifies Hall 27 as a “temporary” show venue and has done so since the hall’s inception in 2008, von der Ropp said. IFA promoters at their opening news conference last week (see 1608310019) made a big point of trumpeting their show’s increasing international participation, but made no specific mention of Hall 27, nor have they done so at previous years' opening news conferences. A representative of one company exhibiting in Hall 27 said exhibitors there were so irate at the lack of foot traffic, they began organizing street protests or tried enlisting the aid of Chinese embassy officials in Berlin to voice their dissent, but to no avail. It was unclear whether any protests actually materialized. Said von der Ropp: “We cannot confirm any protest related to hall 27.” IFA closed its doors Wednesday after a six-day run.

Programmers are “strongly opposed” to any set-top licensing scheme that gives the FCC the power to alter the terms of content licenses, representatives of Time Warner, Scripps, Viacom, Disney, CBS and 21st Century Fox said in a Sept. 1 meeting with aides to Chairman Tom Wheeler, staff from the Office of General Counsel, and FCC Chief Technologist Scott Jordan, according to an ex parte filing in docket 16-42. Numerous programmer ex parte filings and industry officials have indicated the FCC is proposing a new apps-based set-top plan that includes commission oversight of a licensing program that would allow third parties to run multichannel video programming distributors' apps on their devices (see 1609060080). Though the ex parte letter indicated programmer support for the FCC’s apps-based direction and plans to enforce copyright rules, the content companies restated their concerns about the licensing aspect. “Any arrangement in which they are forced to allow their content to be distributed on terms or conditions to which programmers would not agree would be tantamount to a compulsory copyright license, which the Commission lacks authority to impose,” the filing said. The American Cable Association also met with FCC officials Sept. 1, to ask that any set-top rules exempt MVPDs with fewer than 400,000 subscribers, and allow those with up to a million subscribers more time to comply, according to an ex parte filing. In a separate letter, TiVo indicated support for the small carrier exemption, and asked that any new set-top rules contain provisions requiring MVPDs to continue supplying CableCARDs. The FCC’s new-set top plan is expected to contain a carve-out for smaller carriers, industry officials told us. In its recent letter, set-top maker Roku asked the FCC not to require that third-party box makers use HTML5, which MVPDs had sought in their own apps proposal. Industry officials and ex parte filings indicate the set-top plan currently pursued by the FCC doesn’t require the use of HTML5, though pay-TV interests are still pushing for it. In a Sept. 2 letter, Best Buy filed in support of the original NPRM, which it said could protect the interests of both MVPDs and consumers.

Thursday's release of the HDMI “Alt Mode” spec will allow HDMI-enabled source devices to use a USB Type-C connector to link directly to HDMI-enabled displays, and “deliver native HDMI signals over a simple cable without the need for cumbersome protocol and connector adapters or dongles,” HDMI Licensing said in an announcement. The Alt-Mode spec “enables two of the most popular solutions for connectivity to come together,” pairing the multipurpose USB Type-C connector that’s “gaining traction” in smartphones and tablets, with HDMI, it said. HDMI Licensing expects nearly 290 million HDMI-enabled display devices to ship globally this year, adding to the installed base of “billions of displays,” it said.