December 2010

Upton announces GOP Commerce members -- who likely won't focus on telecom

Rep Fred Upton (R-MI), who will take over as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the next Congress, welcomed 12 new Republican members to the committee. They will join returning member Greg Walden (R-OR).

Analyst Rebecca Arbogast of Stifel-Nicolaus said that Republicans will most likely start off by aggressively pursuing oversight of the Democratic administration's agencies, but are unlikely to focus their energies exclusively on telecommunications. "First priorities are probably elsewhere," Arbogast said. Another industry analyst agreed with that sentiment, noting that Rep Upton ran for the chairmanship mainly by pledging to be tough on energy and health care issues.

One area Rep Upton may focus on, however, is network neutrality. He has come out strongly against the Federal Communication Commission's ideas on network neutrality, even asking the FCC to "cease and desist" their efforts. Arbogast said she'd be interested to see whether or not Rep Upton will focus his eye on spectrum legislation as well, but said the most interesting development may have nothing to do with policy. Partisan politics, to be sure, may change the entire relationship between the committee and the telecommunications agencies it oversees. There are several issues with more bipartisan support such as privacy protection and advertising regulation. What remains to be seen is whether the two parties can build any kind of coalition.

The new Republican lineup:

Charlie Bass (NH)
Brian Bilbray (CA)
Bill Cassidy (LA)
Cory Gardner (CO)
Morgan Griffith (VA)
Brett Guthrie (KY)
Gregg Harper (MS)
Adam Kinzinger (IL)
David McKinley (WV)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Pete Olson (TX)
Mike Pompeo (KS)
Greg Walden (OR)

End Near for Comcast-NBC Review?

Comcast and NBC Universal executives met earlier this week with senior staff from both the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department on proposed conditions on Internet video distribution, according to a filing. The companies said it discussed potential conditions on their proposed merger "related to online video distribution, the provision of broadband Internet services, and Hulu." A look at past filings show joint meetings with Justice and FCC officials are rare. That got some merger watchers speculating that Comcast and NBC may be near agreement with the federal regulators on conditions for the merger.

Holiday songs get a Genachowski twist

A choir of Federal Communications Commission staffers put a humorous twist on Christmas carols on Friday by altering the words to make them telecom-themed. Cell phone charges were the new topic of "Carol of the Bills," which gave shout-outs to Verizon and CTIA. And FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was the new focus of "The Hallelujah Chorus," which intoned: "Ev’ry fourth word I say’s about broadband! ... And all the rest are still about broadband!"

Michael Copps: FCC Should Not Reinstate Fairness Doctrine

Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps said, "I do not believe the FCC should reinstate the Fairness Doctrine," in a letter to Rep Joe Barton (R-TX).

"As I said in a speech over a year and a half ago, the Fairness Doctrine is long gone and it's not coming back," Commissioner Copps said. He said that broadcasters have a responsibility to serve their communities of license, that many do, but some "larger media conglomerates" are run by owners remote from those localities and "not so frequently in touch" with the needs of their audience. "I do not think it is onerous to expect broadcasters, in exchange for free use of the airwaves, to engage in some level of dialog with citizens of a community of license about how issues of interest are being covered." Commissioner Copps said he shared Barton's concern that Americans should have access to a diversity of voices and views, and that was why the Communications Act required broadcasters to operate in the public interest, convenience and necessity, and why the FCC "is charged with responsibilities attending that requirement."

MPAA, IFTA File Amicus Brief In Viacom v. YouTube

A coalition of major and independent program producers and distributors have filed a friend of the court brief in Viacom's battle with YouTube over alleged "massive" copyright infringement.

Their friend in this case being Viacom and the case being the appeals court's consideration of a lower court's summary judgment last June that YouTube and parent, Google were shielded from liability by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The brief was filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on behalf of the Motion Picture Association of America (which counts Viacom as a member) and the Independent Film & Television Alliance. They told the court that the lower court's summary judgment against Viacom creates a safe harbor for service providers who are culpable of infringing, "incentiviz[ing] service providers to willfully blind themselves to apparent 'red flags' of mass infringing activity."

Creating a Clear Path to Interoperable Communications for America's First Responders

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety Bureau, based on the recommendations of the FCC's Emergency Response Interoperability Center (ERIC), is working toward a technical interoperability framework.

The ERIC recommendations were developed following a thorough review of fifteen interoperability showings from early builders of 700 MHz public safety mobile broadband networks, as well as extensive comments by the public safety community. This technical framework will help ensure from day one that interoperability is achieved among all public safety broadband networks. It also moves us closer to ensuring that the nation will not face the same magnitude of problems previously identified by the 9/11 Commission and others regarding the limitations and inability of America's first responders to effectively communicate with one another during 9/11 and then, subsequently, during and in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We look forward to our continued work with America's first responders, state and local emergency managers and hospital emergency departments to make sure their broadband communications needs are met.

Under the baseline technical framework, waiver recipients will:

Construct networks that support Long Term Evolution (LTE) interfaces that support roaming and interoperability;
Construct networks that provide outdoor coverage at minimum data rates of 256 Kbps uplink and 768 Kbps downlink for all types of devices throughout the cell coverage area;
Provide 95 percent reliability of signal coverage for all services and applications throughout the network;
Conduct conformance testing on devices to ensure compliance with technical requirements associated with 3GPP Release 8 (LTE) and higher release standards;
Perform interoperability testing of the LTE interfaces to determine their roaming capabilities and make sure that these capabilities are sufficient;
Build security and encryption features into their networks based on certain optional features of the 3GPP security features for LTE Network Access Domain;
Allow to use permanent fixed point-to-point and point-to-multipoint stations only on an ancillary basis and on a non-interference basis to the primary mobile operations; and
Coordinate with one another when their networks overlap or operate adjacent to one another to avoid signal/spectral interference or disruption to communications.

Franken: FCC should bury network neutrality proposal unless it is strengthened

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Sen Al Franken (D-MN) urged the agency to table network neutrality rules unless they are significantly strengthened.

He is the first Democrat to argue that having no rules would be preferable to the ones the agency proposed last week. Sen Franken decried the proposal for shortcomings in its wireless component, its failure to ban paid prioritization, and its a narrow definition of broadband Internet access service.

“If this Order is adopted as drafted, it would be the first time in the Commission’s history that it effectively legitimated blatantly discriminatory conduct on the Internet -- against lawful applications, content, and devices,” he said.

Cantwell and Inslee Call For Stricter Rules on Net Neutrality

Sen Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Rep Jay Inslee (D-WA) wrote the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to adopt stricter rules on the proposed network neutrality order.

Rep Inslee and Sen Cantwell want the FCC's network neutrality order to include several measures advocated by public interest groups including a ban against paid prioritization, similar regulations for both wireless and wireline, and carefully crafted definitions of broadband Internet access and reasonable network management. With out good definitions, loopholes in the regulations can be exploited, the lawmakers warn. "It is essential to get mobile right," they wrote. "If strong net neutrality rules for mobile Internet access are not put in place today, through the final order, it will become too late to take action once business models become entrenched."

The FCC's Guide to Losing Network Neutrality Without Really Trying

[Commentary] Over the past year, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has managed to take the Administration's top tech priority - and Obama's promise to "take a back seat to no one" on the issue - and driven it into a ditch.

Instead of staking out a strong position and forcing powerful companies like AT&T and Comcast to come to the table for a compromise, Chairman Genachowski has been negotiating against himself, backpedaling from his backpedaling, and ultimately proposing toothless rules that look nothing like real Network Neutrality. Yet now Genachowski expects the millions of Americans who have spoken out for Net Neutrality to buy this lemon when the FCC meets to vote on his rules on Dec. 21.

The Sexual Divide: Americans Split In Reaction To Racy Ads

Is there too much sex in advertising?

That's somewhat true for a majority of Americans. But another 40% find themselves shrugging their shoulders at sexual imagery in TV and print ads. A new poll says over half of Americans -- 56% -- are bothered by sexual imagery in ads. But 37% of Americans "aren't bothered" at all. After that another a good chunk of Americans -- 32% -- are only "somewhat bothered". At the bottom of the list -- 25% of U.S. consumers are "very bothered."

Benton

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