June 2010

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission should abandon its push for a "third way" on telecom regulation and instead get behind the push for a Congressional update of the Communications Act.

It is a mistake for the FCC to try and blaze its own trail on these issues. I say that for multiple reasons. The first is simple: what good is a "third way" if whatever the FCC comes up with as a compromise is overruled or made irrelevant by Congressional action? That could easily happen in big and small ways, meaning that all the work the FCC puts into this may be for naught.

The second is a related thought: the FCC should wait until it has its new Congressional authority before trying to re-regulate broadband. At this point we have no idea what the FCC's new powers will be, so it seems unwise to embark on such a fundamental reexamining of how we regulate broadband with this much uncertainty.

The third is to acknowledge the basic reality that Congress is higher on the totem pole than the FCC. There's really nothing the FCC can do that can't be taken away by Congressional action, so it seems like it makes sense to try and work with Congress rather than against them. Which brings me to my main point. The most fundamental truth of these debates about re-regulating broadband is that whatever is decided and however these decisions are made, it's going to be a contentious process. There are no such things as making easy, no-nonsense tweaks to broadband regulation. Instead, what's going to happen is that there will be a massive PR and lobbying fight pitting those who wish to maintain the status quo vs. those who want to see revolutionary changes.

On June 7, Comcast and NBC Universal announced a series of new and/or expanded diversity commitments:

1) Comcast will add at least three independent cable nets with "substantial [minority] ownership interest" over the next three years.

2) The combined company will establish four external advisory councils (together referred to as the Joint Council), one each for representatives of the African American, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander communities, and another for "other diverse communities." The advisory councils will meet at least twice a year with Comcast executives, one of those meetings to include the chairman and CEO.

3) The combined company will spend at least $7 million more on advertising in minority-owned media next year.

4) On the workforce diversity front, Comcast and NBCU have pledged to increase director-level representation of minorities' create minority focus groups to identify potential employees, create a boot-camp program for mid-level VP candidates with at least 80% of those diverse candidates, use search firms with a track record of identifying diverse candidates.

5) NBC News will add three paid internships to the six it now gives to members of minority journalist organizations, and will commit to increase the diversity of executives in TV and film development, production and marketing.

6) The companies also pledged to increase their spending with minority-controlled suppliers with a nationwide goal of having a percentage of those suppliers equal to the percentage of minority-owned businesses in the communities the companies serve.

7) The Peacock will also put its money where its beak is. Comcast has relationships with a number of minority-owned financial institutions. NBCU will be a depositor "where practicable."

8) On the programming front, Comcast said it is committed to improving its track record in bringing diverse programming to its subs, not that it thinks its current track record is wanting. It has already launched a Black cinema On Demand VOD channel, plans this fall to launch an Asian version, and said Monday that within a year of the deal's closing will launch a Hispanic version.

9) NBCU said it will double (to four) the number of networking events for diverse directors and writers with senior NBCU executives. In addition to continuing to fund diversity writer positions for the next three years on each of the scripted series on the NBC network and for its late-night programs, it will expand that program to a position on each scripted series on a NBCU cable net.

10) The companies will also increase their contributions to diverse communities, pledging to up their philanthropy to minority-led or supporting institutions by 10% per years for the next three years.

Will the smart grid eventually follow the path of the Internet with truly open standards? Several up-and-coming companies are betting that the answer will be a resounding "yes" and are in the process of looking to sign up utilities and customers that want to embrace the open-standards smart grid vision.

Among them is newcomer Arch Rock, which has been selling wireless network products for data centers and buildings for the past five years, and on Monday morning plans to announce its first smart grid wireless network product based completely on open standards. Arch Rock's network product, dubbed "PhyNet-Grid," is designed to connect smart meters to the utility back office using wireless mesh technology — an architecture where each node can act independently and which is self-healing.

A Q&A with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. The interview touches broadband, spectrum, and cable TV.