The municipal broadband networks run by the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga and Wilson, North Carolina, demonstrate the First Amendment concerns with allowing more such networks, wrote Enrique Armijo, a member of the Free State Foundation's board of academic advisors and an assistant professor at the Elon University School of Law, in a paper released Monday. There is “good reason” to conclude free speech protections “are being sacrificed at the altar of the new," he wrote: That "certainly should give pause to those that want the FCC to preempt state restrictions on these networks and expand municipalities' power in the online communications space.” The FCC is expected to approve petitions from Chattanooga and Wilson Thursday to pre-empt anti-municipal broadband laws in those states (see 1502020037). Chattanooga’s acceptable use policy bars users from using the network to "’transmit, distribute, or store material" that is illegal, ‘obscene, threatening, abusive or hateful,’” Armijo wrote. It also bars users from posting messages on third party blogs that are ‘excessive and/or intended to annoy or harass others’ -- ‘regardless of [the] policies’ of the blogs on which the users post,” he wrote. Wilson has similar restrictions, said Armijo. “One does not need to be a free speech scholar, or even a lawyer, to be troubled by these provisions.” First Amendment "doctrine makes clear that outright government bans on protected speech -- even indecent speech, let alone ‘excessive,’ ‘derogatory,’ ‘harassing,’ ‘abusive,’ or ‘hateful’ speech -- are never narrowly tailored enough to survive strict scrutiny,” said Armijo. Chattanooga and Wilson officials didn't comment.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn opposes any unnecessary delays in holding the incentive auction, she said in an interview Friday. Clyburn clarified comments she made at CES about the need for a pause in the auction, now scheduled to start in early 2016 (see 1501080032). “I want to ensure we reach the proper decisions in the pending rulemakings and hold the incentive auction as expeditiously as possible,” she said. Clyburn also voiced concerns about how low-power broadcasters may be affected by the auction.
The established multichannel video programming distributor ecosystem is “most certainly going to lose a meaningful number of existing subscribers -- the only question is how many millions and how fast?” said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield in a research note Monday, after a weeklong review of Sling TV service. “After playing with Sling TV, it is hard not to love the ease-of-use, similar user interface across devices and quality of the experience,” Greenfield said of the $20-per-month plan that offers content from Disney (including ESPN), along with Turner, Scripps and A&E in the future. BTIG “remains confident that free, over-the-air broadcast television networks will not be part of the base Sling TV package,” Greenfield said, saying a “subset of broadcast stations may end up being offered as a premium add-on to Sling.” Among Greenfield’s highlighted callouts: Sling TV's linear channel navigation capability, which offers extra kids’ and news/info packages available as add-ons to the basic service. He said he was able to watch the Australian Open on Sling TV’s iPad version while simultaneously browsing channels. He cited free video-on-demand, which enables users to watch shows that already have started airing or aired earlier in the day. Transactional movies-on-demand allows users to rent movies in SD or HD for a 24-hour viewing period, which includes being able to start a movie on one device and finish on another that’s part of a universal watchlist. Users can pause, rewind and fast forward linear content on some channels, he said. He also said the quality of the video stream fluctuated, at one time delivering at a 3.7 Mbps bitrate and at another time a 4.7 Mbps data stream. On bandwidth consumption, Greenfield said a Sling TV subscriber who watches the industry average of five hours of streamed TV per day at a 4.7 Mbps bitrate would consume 320 GB of data per month. Streaming two hours per day at 3.7 Mbps would eat 100 GB per month, he said. A “significant portion of Sling TV subscribers" will pair their subscription with some combination of Amazon, Hulu and Netflix streaming, he said, resulting in monthly data consumption that will be “quite significant.”
The established multichannel video programming distributor ecosystem is “most certainly going to lose a meaningful number of existing subscribers -- the only question is how many millions and how fast?” said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield in a research note Monday, after a weeklong review of Sling TV service. “After playing with Sling TV, it is hard not to love the ease-of-use, similar user interface across devices and quality of the experience,” Greenfield said of the $20-per-month plan that offers content from Disney (including ESPN), along with Turner, Scripps and A&E in the future. BTIG “remains confident that free, over-the-air broadcast television networks will not be part of the base Sling TV package,” Greenfield said, saying a “subset of broadcast stations may end up being offered as a premium add-on to Sling.” Among Greenfield’s highlighted callouts: Sling TV's linear channel navigation capability, which offers extra kids’ and news/info packages available as add-ons to the basic service. He said he was able to watch the Australian Open on Sling TV’s iPad version while simultaneously browsing channels. He cited free video-on-demand, which enables users to watch shows that already have started airing or aired earlier in the day. Transactional movies-on-demand allows users to rent movies in SD or HD for a 24-hour viewing period, which includes being able to start a movie on one device and finish on another that’s part of a universal watchlist. Users can pause, rewind and fast forward linear content on some channels, he said. He also said the quality of the video stream fluctuated, at one time delivering at a 3.7 Mbps bitrate and at another time a 4.7 Mbps data stream. On bandwidth consumption, Greenfield said a Sling TV subscriber who watches the industry average of five hours of streamed TV per day at a 4.7 Mbps bitrate would consume 320 GB of data per month. Streaming two hours per day at 3.7 Mbps would eat 100 GB per month, he said. A “significant portion of Sling TV subscribers" will pair their subscription with some combination of Amazon, Hulu and Netflix streaming, he said, resulting in monthly data consumption that will be “quite significant.”
The FCC should hold the TV incentive auction as planned next year, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told commissioners in meetings last week, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-269. Legere met with all five FCC members, as well as key wireless staffers, the filing said. Legere “discussed the impact T-Mobile has had on competition in the industry for the benefit of consumers” and the importance of low-band spectrum, the filing said. Delaying the incentive auction “would only benefit AT&T and Verizon, which hold approximately 73 percent of the low-band spectrum today,” he said. T-Mobile needs low-band spectrum to compete against AT&T and Verizon, Legere argued. The timing of the auction has been in question, with commissioners saying at CES that they support a pause (see 1501120046). Industry officials tell us a 2016 auction works to T-Mobile's advantage because the spectrum aggregation rules approved for the auction limit buys by AT&T and Verizon, which could be changed under another administration.
The FCC should hold the TV incentive auction as planned next year, T-Mobile CEO John Legere told commissioners in meetings last week, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-269. Legere met with all five FCC members, as well as key wireless staffers, the filing said. Legere “discussed the impact T-Mobile has had on competition in the industry for the benefit of consumers” and the importance of low-band spectrum, the filing said. Delaying the incentive auction “would only benefit AT&T and Verizon, which hold approximately 73 percent of the low-band spectrum today,” he said. T-Mobile needs low-band spectrum to compete against AT&T and Verizon, Legere argued. The timing of the auction has been in question, with commissioners saying at CES that they support a pause (see 1501120046). Industry officials tell us a 2016 auction works to T-Mobile's advantage because the spectrum aggregation rules approved for the auction limit buys by AT&T and Verizon, which could be changed under another administration.
The established multichannel video programming distributor ecosystem is “most certainly going to lose a meaningful number of existing subscribers -- the only question is how many millions and how fast?” said BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield in a research note Monday, after a weeklong review of Sling TV service. “After playing with Sling TV, it is hard not to love the ease-of-use, similar user interface across devices and quality of the experience,” Greenfield said of the $20-per-month plan that offers content from Disney (including ESPN), along with Turner, Scripps and A&E in the future. BTIG “remains confident that free, over-the-air broadcast television networks will not be part of the base Sling TV package,” Greenfield said, saying a “subset of broadcast stations may end up being offered as a premium add-on to Sling.” Among Greenfield’s highlighted callouts: Sling TV's linear channel navigation capability, which offers extra kids’ and news/info packages available as add-ons to the basic service. He said he was able to watch the Australian Open on Sling TV’s iPad version while simultaneously browsing channels. He cited free video-on-demand, which enables users to watch shows that already have started airing or aired earlier in the day. Transactional movies-on-demand allows users to rent movies in SD or HD for a 24-hour viewing period, which includes being able to start a movie on one device and finish on another that’s part of a universal watchlist. Users can pause, rewind and fast forward linear content on some channels, he said. He also said the quality of the video stream fluctuated, at one time delivering at a 3.7 Mbps bitrate and at another time a 4.7 Mbps data stream. On bandwidth consumption, Greenfield said a Sling TV subscriber who watches the industry average of five hours of streamed TV per day at a 4.7 Mbps bitrate would consume 320 GB of data per month. Streaming two hours per day at 3.7 Mbps would eat 100 GB per month, he said. A “significant portion of Sling TV subscribers" will pair their subscription with some combination of Amazon, Hulu and Netflix streaming, he said, resulting in monthly data consumption that will be “quite significant.”
Commissioner Ajit Pai said he hasn't given up on turning back an FCC move to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service as is expected to be recommended by Chairman Tom Wheeler. The FCC is to vote on the order at its Feb. 26 meeting, approving classification with some form of forbearance from most parts of Title II (see 1501070054). Pai also was candid Wednesday in his comments on how Wheeler runs the commission, alleging the agency has become more political than in the past. The Pai interview is scheduled to appear on C-SPAN’s The Communicators this weekend.
Commissioner Ajit Pai said he hasn't given up on turning back an FCC move to reclassify broadband as a Communications Act Title II service as is expected to be recommended by Chairman Tom Wheeler. The FCC is to vote on the order at its Feb. 26 meeting, approving classification with some form of forbearance from most parts of Title II (see 1501070054). Pai also was candid Wednesday in his comments on how Wheeler runs the commission, alleging the agency has become more political than in the past. The Pai interview is scheduled to appear on C-SPAN’s The Communicators this weekend.
A partisan rift persisted and clouded prospects for net neutrality legislation Wednesday, which GOP lawmakers in both chambers began circulating in draft form last week. GOP leaders of the Commerce committees held two hearings on legislation they call a bipartisan compromise, spurring plentiful outcry from Democrats. The draft text would codify several net neutrality protections while limiting FCC authority under Communications Act Title II and Telecom Act Section 706. No Democrats have lent any backing, and many observers have guessed a White House veto of a partisan bill is likely.