Broadcasters and industry analysts widely expect a record-breaking amount of political advertising revenue from the 2020 presidential election. Though the pie is bigger than ever, the broadcast share is steadily shrinking. “There’s an ocean of money coming, ” said Kip Cassino, former political ad analyst for Borrell Associates: “But in reality the broadcasters shouldn’t be so happy -- they’ve lost almost all their share advantage” over digital.
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee focused on disaster recovery Thursday, hearing an update by a working group preparing reports. The disaster recovery work is the furthest along of any being done by the newly reconfigured BDAC, officials said. “This is not a game,” said Jonathan Adelstein, president of the Wireless Infrastructure Association and vice chair of BDAC’s Disaster Response and Recovery working group. “This is life and death. I think our working group has stepped up to that level of urgency.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will host a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Friday, House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., told us Thursday. Zuckerberg had dinner Wednesday with Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and other senators, and Thursday meetings with Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., among other visits. Walden told us he plans to attend the meeting with McCarthy and others, saying he favors Congress taking a hard look at Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Tech platforms are in a difficult position being told not to act as editors and publishers and to moderate content, Walden said.
Messaging behind the “nextgenTV” logo CTA picked and will unveil next week for its consumer-facing ATSC 3.0 branding effort (see 1909190048) scored high marks when exposed to online focus groups last spring (see 1905300024). Backers may praise the branding decision as a safe one, consistent with widely accepted industry nomenclature. Critics might argue CTA could have picked a sexier go-to-market name for introducing 3.0 to consumers.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 31-0 Thursday to advance to the floor its Financial Services FY 2020 budget bill with report language to pressure the FCC to hold a public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The measure, which the Financial Services Subcommittee cleared Tuesday, would allocate $339 million to the FCC and its Office of Inspector General and $312.3 million to the FTC (see 1909170060). The House-passed equivalent (HR-3351) allocated the FCC the same funding level but gave the FTC $349.7 million -- $37 million more than Senate Appropriations proposes (see 1906260081).
Some Senate Indian Affairs Committee members voiced skepticism Wednesday about the extent of FCC efforts to improve outreach to tribal governments to improve those entities' access to spectrum. The hearing focused on GAO's 2018 findings in its committee-sought study on tribal spectrum access. That report found deficiencies in FCC outreach, and the commission said at the time of the study's November report it would follow through on the recommendations (see 1811140069). Senate Indian Affairs members last year criticized what's seen as deficiencies in FCC practices for determining broadband coverage on tribal lands (see 1810030055).
DOJ and FTC tensions led to scrutiny Wednesday of how the antitrust agencies and their state counterparts can better coordinate and cooperate on investigations, including on privacy issues. At Tuesday's Senate Antitrust Subcommittee hearing, FTC Chairman Joe Simons and DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim confirmed tensions in their privacy investigations of major platforms (see 1909170066). The friction isn't new, dating back to Justice concerns about the trade commission's formation, experts note.
It’s unlikely Congress will pass legislation altering Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told reporters Wednesday. “If I could wave a magic wand, I might make nuanced changes, but I think realistically you’re not going to see a statute passed changing that section anytime soon. Considering what it takes to get a bill passed and signed into law.”
California’s review of T-Mobile/Sprint could extend into next year, but there’s no schedule yet, stakeholders said this week. A California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge reopened the record in dockets A.18-07-011 and A.18-07-012 Aug. 27 in light of the carriers’ settlement with DOJ and other changes to the original deal.
Wireless carriers resisted creating a group of industry and municipal stakeholders on the aesthetics of small-cell deployments, at Wednesday’s meeting of the FCC Technical Advisory Committee. The appearance of small cells isn’t a technical issue, said AT&T Assistant Vice President-Standards and Industry Alliances Brian Daly. “If it’s not a technical issue, is it really under the purview of the TAC?” Daly said the matter should be left to local authorities. The advisory council also discussed small cells and 5G deployment, terminology and antenna technology.