March 2014

[Commentary] The Internet has always thrived on the idea that its highways and byways are wide open roads with little outside interference. But 2014 has not been kind to Open Internet advocates. Here are some questions to consider as the fate of the open Internet plays out:

• Q: What is the open Internet? The open Internet, or net neutrality, is a principle that says all legal content on the Internet is equal.
• Q: What is the status of the FCC's open Internet rules? They are largely no longer in effect.
• Q: So what's the FCC doing about that? The agency says the Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows it to regulate net neutrality violations on a case-by-case basis, and it'll continue to press this point.
• Q: Why does Comcast's merger with Time Warner Cable worry open Internet proponents when Comcast doesn't directly compete with TWC? While market size is a concern, merger opponents also are worried about the combined company's influence on content providers and other suppliers.
• Q: Why is Netflix's deal with Comcast such a shocker to net neutrality advocates? Open Internet proponents see it as the first overt example of the pay-for-play practice that could invite abuse from ISPs.
• Q: How is the Netflix-Comcast deal a game changer for the net neutrality debate? Network neutrality regulators and proponents had operated with the assumption that the rules applied mostly only to the question of whether ISPs treat content fairly. But the Netflix deal has them thinking more broadly.

[Commentary] The leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee may be looking for input from the industry on potential reforms to the retransmission consent rules, but their counterparts in the House of Representatives aren’t waiting to hear back.

According to reports from Capitol Hill, members of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee were preparing to meet to discuss which of several reform proposals to include in a draft version of a bill to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (STELA), which is set to expire at the end of 2014. By moving first, the House could bring the issue to a head more quickly than the Senate’s approach contemplated. Reports of the move sent broadcast industry lobbyists into a frenzy of activity Monday to try to keep the reform provisions out of the STELA reauthorization bill -- perhaps the only piece of telecommunications legislation likely to be passed in the 2014 election year.

[Sweeting is Principle, Concurrent Media Strategies]

Comcast customers looking for a Wi-Fi hot spot might want to try their neighbor's yard.

The cable and Internet provider has begun to turn hundreds of thousands of Chicago-area homes into virtual coffee shops, using existing Comcast equipment to build out its publicly accessible wireless network. The neighborhood hot spots initiative, rolling out during the next several months, will send a separate Wi-Fi signal from Comcast-issued home equipment, enabling anyone within range to get online. Soon, entire residential blocks will begin to show as hot spots on Xfinity's Wi-Fi mobile app, the company said. Because the Comcast subscriber's signal will be kept separate from the second, publicly available signal, the subscriber's speed and privacy shouldn't be affected, Comcast officials said, acknowledging that such concerns have been raised in test markets. Wi-Fi is gaining significant national traction through cable companies such as Time Warner and Cablevision, looking to provide customers with mobile access to their video and Internet offerings. Comcast has led the way with its Wi-Fi initiative, which started in its home city of Philadelphia more than three years ago.

Federal funding for The National Endowments for the Arts and for the Humanities will remain essentially flat if President Barack Obama's 2015 budget is passed by Congress.

That caveat is a big one, because few spending proposals make it through both houses unchanged. However, arts advocates were upset that the White House had not made increasing support for the two grant-making organizations a priority. The proposal represents the lowest funding requests for both agencies in three years. “We believe it's important for the administration to start rebuilding the capacity of the NEH,” Stephen Kidd, executive director of the National Humanities Alliance, said. 'The humanities are a critical component in a broad-based educational system and are important for fostering economic competitiveness and creativity.” “To reduce support provides both an inconsistent and confusing message for the creative economy in America,” Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, said. If passed, the two endowments would receive roughly $146 million in federal support. Since 2012, the President advocated increasing the budgets for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities to $154.5 million, a 12 percent hike. In 2010, funding stood at roughly $168 million for the agencies, and has ticked steadily downward with each subsequent year. The grant-making organizations were diplomatic in responding to the more modest funding request.