Comments are due May 1 on a Department of Housing and Urban Development demonstration project on increasing broadband adoption and use in HUD-assisted homes, the agency said in a public notice scheduled to be published in the Federal Register Friday. About 20 communities around the country are expected to take part in the demonstration, which will focus on narrowing the digital divide for students housed with HUD assistance, the notice said. Commenters are encouraged to file electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal.
The FCC should set a timetable and move forward with USF contribution overhaul, Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee counsel Andrew Brown, of Levine, Blaszak, told Nicholas Degani, an aide to Commissioner Ajit Pai, and Travis Litman, an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, in separate meetings March 31, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 09-51 Thursday. The group represents large businesses in various industries that purchase telecommunications and IT services. The agency made significant progress in USF spending in its 2011 overhaul and temporarily stabilized the fund's size, Brown and consultant Susan Gately told the aides, according to the filing. The agency never finished the updates because it hasn’t dealt with contributions to the fund, the filling said. The fund’s contribution factor will continue to rise and December’s $1.5 billion increase in the E-rate annual spending cap (see 1412110049) threatens the stability of the fund, the ad hoc committee said. An agency federal-state joint board is charged with recommending by Tuesday whether broadband customers should pay into USF, though a footnote in the net neutrality order said the recommendation may be slightly delayed (see 1503120053).
The FCC sent the net neutrality order to the Federal Register for publication on Wednesday, an agency official said. Publication is likely to set off more appeals to the order (see 1503300055). When it will be published was unknown Thursday. The typical timeline is three business days, the Federal Register said on its site, and it wasn't listed to be published on Friday. Alamo Broadband and USTelecom appealed the order March 24 (see 1503230066). The agency has said they were premature before publication in the Federal Register and plans to file a motion to dismiss the two appeals on that ground (see 1503270036).
AT&T said NAB complaints about problems with TV white spaces databases raise real concerns for AT&T as well. NAB recently filed an emergency petition at the FCC asking the agency to suspend operation of the TV white spaces (TVWS) database system until “serious flaws” are corrected in the system (see 1503190056). “These issues are important,” AT&T Vice President Joan Marsh said in a blog post Thursday. “Policymakers increasingly view spectrum sharing as policed by a database-driven frequency manager as critical to the future of U.S. spectrum policy.” Marsh said the TV white spaces deployment has been slow, but the FCC is promoting spectrum sharing everywhere from the TV band following the upcoming incentive auction to the 3.5 GHz band. “Even in the best circumstances, real time external monitoring and management of a complex interference environment is a tall order,” Marsh said. “But we now learn that database providers have not been able to effectively maintain information on less than 600 TV white space devices. This raises serious questions about the ability of a database to patrol the complexities involved in robust spectrum sharing, including in the 3.5 GHz band.”
Multichannel video programming distributors' video subscribership showed the first-ever full-year decline between the end of 2012 and the end of 2013, the FCC said in its 16th Video Competition Report, released Thursday. Between year-end 2012 and year-end 2013, the number of MVPD video subscribers dropped from 101 million to 100.9 million households, the report said. Cable sub numbers fell from 56.4 million to 54.4 million, while direct broadcast satellite subscribership increased from 34.1 million to 34.2 million. Telephone MVPD video numbers increased from 9.9 million to 11.3 million subscribers, the report said. MVPDs have been increasing video revenue partly by raising the price of video service, but data in the report suggests “that programming expenses are rising faster than revenue,” the report said. MVPD programming expenses were 44.6 percent of MVPD video revenue in 2013, the report says. Fifty-seven percent of the total footprints of the top eight cable MVPDs had transitioned to digital by the close of 2013, the report said. In broadcast TV, the number of stations broadcasting in HD was down slightly at the start of 2014, from the previous year, from 1,536 stations to 1,517, the report said. The number of houses relying exclusively on over-the-air broadcast increased from 11.2 million households in 2013 to 11.4 million households in 2014, the report said: “The percentage of all households they represent has remained steady at 9.8 percent.” Broadcast industry revenue “rose to $24.6 billion in 2012 from the $21.6 billion in 2011, but were reported to fall to $24.2 billion in 2013,” the report said. The data also shows viewing of online video distributors' content on multiple devices becoming more prevalent, the report said, with more than 53 million U.S. households watching online programming with at least one Internet-connected device. During Q4 2013, 12.8 percent of video streams were viewed on smartphones, up from 7.2 percent during Q4 2012, the report said. The report is “filled with good news," said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a statement attached to the report. “When it comes to video programming, Americans have more choices than ever before.”
The FCC’s net neutrality order will “have a negative impact on innovation,” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Association of National Advertisers on Wednesday. The order’s “vague, catch-all” Internet conduct standard will be used to “decide the lawfulness of sponsored data plans,” he said (see 1502250064). “Other attempts by providers to differentiate themselves through innovative partnerships and pricing models may also end up on the chopping block,” he told the group in a wide-ranging speech that also touched on multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs). The agency has a “desire to edge into Internet privacy and security issues,” O’Rielly said. The FCC also could try to police how broadband and edge providers collect, use, share and store consumers’ information, as well as how those practices are disclosed to consumers, he said. The agency’s NPRM (see 1412190050) could also lead the agency to redefine some over-the-top video programming providers as MVPDs, he said. The agency doesn’t seem to have “any authority to allow an opt-out,” so “if the Commission declares an OTT video provider as an MVPD, it is so. And the limited benefits and many burdens of doing so will be applicable,” O’Rielly said. It’s a “safe bet that there will be significant unintended consequences on an emerging industry still trying to define itself, as it moves forward.” On the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, O’Rielly said the agency should “provide clear rules of the road that will benefit everyone” by acting on pending TCPA petitions to clarify the law. He doesn't support companies “hounding consumers with incessant or harassing calls,” but the litigation risk created by the law, agency decisions and court rulings have forced businesses to “avoid making calls to their existing customers or clients even if the purpose of the call could directly and immediately help the customer,” O’Rielly said. In addition, he said broadband providers’ advertisements “are garnering greater scrutiny and are even being used to justify FCC decisions to increase regulation.” Ads about speed and capacity were used to help justify the reclassification of broadband as Communications Act Title II service, he said. “Unfortunately, I would not be surprised if decisions like these begin to have an impact on how providers market their services,” O’Rielly said.
Placing even a few TV stations in the wireless band would “dramatically affect” the amount of spectrum available in the forward auction, NAB told an aide to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a meeting Monday, according to an ex parte filing posted online in docket 12-252 Wednesday. “If the FCC places even a handful of stations in the wireless band, it may consequently be restricting the forward auction to two or three blocks of paired spectrum available in the Northeast corridor,” NAB said. The FCC also has made “broadcaster costs an after thought” in the repacking process, NAB said. The commission staff “has yet to produce any data suggesting that, by optimizing repacking moves earlier in the auction process, it will be handcuffed from its goal of repurposing spectrum for the wireless industry,” NAB said. The agency also should modify its white spaces rules to require white space devices to include “geolocation capability” to make falsifying their location more difficult and an enforcement system that “imposes responsibility on database administrators who fail to correct false information in the database,” NAB said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau will host a workshop May 8 on the use of apps on smartphones and other mobile devices to contact 911, the FCC said Wednesday. “Topics addressed in the workshop will include: how existing apps are assisting in the provision of 911 service, how 911 network architecture affects requirements for app design and delivery, and future steps needed to encourage further development and integration of 911 apps into the broader 911 ecosystem,” the FCC said. The workshop will be at FCC headquarters and more details will be revealed closer to the event, a public notice said.
Consumer Watchdog said it welcomed plans by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to “examine” the FTC’s “antitrust investigation of Google (see 1503300052) that was closed in 2013 without a lawsuit,” the group said in a news release Monday. After a Wall Street Journal report earlier this month, Consumer Watchdog said it “urged” Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, to hold a “full-fledged public hearing” to examine “how Google managed to dodge antitrust prosecution,” the news release said. "Google has one of the biggest lobbying operations in Washington and its executives have close ties to the Obama Administration," Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson said. The group also urged the FTC to release the “complete report of the Bureau of Competition recommending prosecution, as well as another report from the Commission’s Bureau of Economics,” the news release said. "Given the Internet giant's connections and power, it's essential we get to the bottom of what happened and why," Simpson said. "Unless there is something to hide, all involved should benefit from a full airing of details and public scrutiny in this important case."
The Library of Congress lacks “clear direction” for its IT program and needs to “expeditiously” hire a chief information officer (CIO), the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Tuesday. “Although the Library obligated at least $119 million on IT for fiscal year 2014, it is not effectively managing its investments,” it said. After the GAO finished its review in January, LOC officials said the library would draft a “strategic plan” for IT within 90 days and hire a CIO, the report said. “If it follows through on these plans, the Library will be in a stronger position to address its IT management weaknesses and more effectively support its mission,” it said. Copyright stakeholders have pointed to the Copyright Office’s outdated IT procedures as a chief reason for removing the office from the purview of the library (see 1502260057 and 1502200040). The library hired an interim CIO as it searches for a permanent hire, which is expected to be completed by September, Librarian of Congress James Billington said in a letter attached to the report. He said the LOC will complete its strategic plan in April. "The Library appreciates the work of the GAO and believes the report ultimately will be helpful," a spokeswoman said. "Several recommendations are already underway, such as developing a new IT strategic plan, finalizing an enterprise architecture plan and updating regulations and governance regarding IT."