Comcast’s fourth annual report on its implementation of the conditions on its buy of control in NBCUniversal shows a “proud” track record, Executive Vice President David Cohen said in a blog post Tuesday. “Not a single multichannel video programming distributor or programmer has requested arbitration or filed a program carriage complaint" in the four years since the FCC approved the deal, Cohen said. Comcast reached content license agreements with Amazon, Crackle, Hulu and Netflix, he noted. Comcast “continued our fair dealings with online video distributors,” Cohen said. Comcast also has added more than 20 independent networks and “expanded the quality and quantity of diverse programming” on its on-demand and online offerings to more than 5,800 combined hours in 2014, Cohen said. That’s an increase of 94 percent over 2013, he said.
Despite FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn’s remarks Thursday in approving net neutrality rules, small rural broadband providers are subject to Communications Act Title I, which regulates information services, not to Title II common-carrier regulations as Wheeler and Clyburn claimed, USTelecom Senior Vice President-Law and Policy Jonathan Banks wrote in a blog post Friday. In answering fears the agency would regulate broadband rates after reclassifying broadband under Title II, Clyburn said at the commission meeting that the agency hadn't regulated the rates of 700 rural broadband providers, even though they were subject to “full panoply of Title II regulation.” The “hideous complexities” of the commission’s telecom regulations, Banks said, led the companies to provide Title II wholesale transport services they “’sell’” to themselves, while providing Title I broadband service to customers wanting Internet access, Banks wrote. The Title II wholesale service “is fully and completely regulated by the commission, including rate regulation, down to the penny,” Banks wrote. The “misunderstanding illustrates the lack of clarity and understanding around the debate of Title II being a workable regulatory model for achieving an open and vibrant Internet,” Banks wrote. The rural broadband providers have to contribute to the USF based on their Title II revenue, he said. Clyburn noted that the rural providers make USF contributions, but said, “amazingly, the sky has not fallen and things are OK.” Clyburn’s office did not comment Monday. The Title II regulations Banks referred to don't include the forbearance in the "light touch" net neutrality regulations the commission approved, an agency spokesman said.
Test results by consultant V-Comm point to major interference issues if white space devices and wireless mics are allowed to use the 600 MHz guard band or duplex gap following the TV incentive auction, said CTIA representatives. They met with FCC officials Feb. 25 to answer their questions and explain the V-Comm test results, said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-166. CTIA explained V-Comm’s “parameters and the technical assumptions used in conducting the interference testing,” CTIA said. “V-COMM explained that unlike the other parties that provided technical data in this proceeding, its testing relied upon actual measured values rather than 3GPP [3rd Generation Partnership Project] standard defined values for receiver sensitivity and blocking.” Unlicensed operations in the TV spectrum are being examined more closely by the FCC as rules are written for the incentive auction, expected to get underway next year (see 1502260008).
The FCC should reconsider its Dec. 19 CAF order (see 1412110060) changing the national average cost per loop support mechanism because it will “substantially reduce” funding for broadband deployment to tribal lands and tribally owned carriers, the National Congress of American Indians wrote in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 10-90. The agency didn't follow the commission’s 2000 statement of policy on establishing a government-to-government relationship with Indian tribes by not consulting with tribes before adopting the order, the letter said. The FCC didn't comment Monday.
Identify theft was the top consumer complaint for the 15th consecutive year in the FTC’s national ranking of complaints. The agency released its 2014 consumer complaint data book Friday. “While identity theft remains a huge issue, consumers should also keep a close eye out for imposter scams,” Jessica Rich, Bureau of Consumer Protection director, said in a separate news release. “Whether it’s pretending to be the IRS during tax season, or making false promises of a lottery win, scammers are increasingly sophisticated in their efforts to deceive consumers, but the FTC will continue working to shut these scammers down.” “Debt collection” ranked No. 2 on the list; “imposter scams,” No. 3, it said.
Comments are due March 30, replies April 13, on how issues raised in petitions seeking waivers from letter of credit requirements for rural broadband experiment funding could be relevant to Connect America Fund Phase II, said an FCC Wireline Bureau notice in Friday’s Federal Register. The Alliance of Rural Broadband Applicants, NTCA and National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. sought waivers (see 1501300046).
The FCC seeks comments on EchoStar’s petition for a waiver of over-the-air analog tuner requirements, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday in docket number 15-47. EchoStar wants the waiver to market “a new model of SlingLoaded HD, Internet-enabled, digital video recorder” that doesn’t include analog tuners, said its waiver petition filed Thursday. The bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology previously said the "all channels" provision meant any TV receiver that includes over-the-air digital tuners must include over-the-air analog tuners, EchoStar said. Comments are due March 12, replies March 19.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council issued separate statements raising concerns about FCC net neutrality rules. Rainbow PUSH “is concerned about potential unintended consequences,” the group said in a news release. “We are particularly uneasy about the potential imposition of new telecom-related taxes and fees, and the under-capitalization of broadband infrastructure in vulnerable communities that may result from this regulatory course.” MMTC President Kim Keenan also expressed concerns. “While MMTC needs to thoroughly review the extensive Order to evaluate its potential impact on our constituents, we have clearly gone backward in how we regulate a tool as dynamic as high-speed broadband,” she said.
The FCC Media Bureau asked several programmers for information on their dealings with online video distributors, as part of bureau’s review of Comcast's planned buy of Time Warner Cable, said letters posted in docket 14-57 Thursday. The companies queried include all those currently embroiled in a court challenge against the FCC over the proposed release of their contract information: CBS, Discovery Communications, Disney, Scripps Networks, 21st Century Fox, Univision and Viacom. The companies have until March 13 to submit the data about their dealings with Comcast and information about any limitations imposed on distribution of their programming.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai expects relations at the agency to remain cordial following the big fight over net neutrality rules (see 1502260043), he said in a news conference after Thursday's FCC meeting. Pai said he tries to take the same approach every month. “I approach the item on the merits and I figure out is there some way for us to reach a consensus,” he said. “I certainly don’t see the well as being poisoned.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, the FCC’s other Republican, said he looks forward to a continuing friendship with Chairman Tom Wheeler. But he said he's concerned about the stance the commission majority took on net neutrality. “Here, they not only asked us to violate our principles, they ran over our principles,” he said. O’Rielly predicted much of the FCC’s future focus will be on implementing the new rules. “I don’t hold out hopes we’re going to have many kumbaya moments going forward, but let’s hope that’s not the case,” he said.