July 2014

WIRELESS

FCC TO INVESTIGATE VERIZON THROTTLING
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Stacey Higginbotham]
[Commentary] Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler isn’t impressed with Verizon’s recently announced plan to throttle the speeds on its unlimited plans. Verizon’s stated reasons for the new policy is to help it manage its LTE network congestion, but Wheeler’s query indicates he’s pretty skeptical of Verizon’s justification. In a letter to Verizon CEO Dan Mead, Chairman Wheeler asked Verizon to respond to three questions about the company’s plans:
What is your rationale for treating customers differently based on the type of data plan to which they subscribe, rather than network architecture or technological factors? In particular, please explain your statement that, "If you're on an unlimited data plan and are concerned that you are in the top 5% of data users, you can switch to a usage-based data plan as customers on usage-based plans are not impacted."
Why is Verizon Wireless extending speed reductions from its 3G network to its much more efficient 4G LTE network?
How does Verizon Wireless justify this policy consistent with its continuing obligations under the 700 MHz C Block open platform rules, under which Verizon Wireless may not deny, limit, or restrict the ability of end users to download and utilize applications of their choosing on the C Block networks; how can this conduct be justified under the Commission's 2010 Open Internet rules, including the transparency rule that remains in effect?
benton.org/node/198194 | GigaOm | Multichannel News | Reuters | Washington Post
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VIRGIN MOBILE AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Verge, AUTHOR: Chris Welch]
Virgin Mobile's new build-your-own smartphone plans may be seen as convenient by many consumers, but they also represent the most glaring net neutrality foul we've seen come from a US carrier. The Sprint-owned company likely suspects that most people won't care about the latter point. Virgin customers will be able to piece together a completely personalized plan -- plans that could potentially turn social networks like Facebook and Twitter into line items on your monthly bill. Because with Virgin's new approach, you're no longer just paying for voice, texts, and a bucket of data. The Virgin Mobile Custom plans, launching exclusively at Walmart on August 9th, let you pay separate fees for things like unlimited social networking and unlimited music streaming.
benton.org/node/198130 | Verge, The
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WIRELESS CRAMMING REPORT
[SOURCE: US Senate Commerce Committee, AUTHOR: Press release]
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) released a majority staff report on the findings of the Committee’s investigation into wireless cramming – where consumers get charged on their phone bills for goods and services they never agreed to purchase. The report describes a billion dollar industry that has cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges on their wireless bill while at the same time yielding tremendous revenues for the major wireless carriers. Cramming became a problem several decades ago when phone companies opened their billing platforms to allow third-party vendors to charge consumers for goods and services unrelated to their phone service such as photo storage, voicemail, and faxes. Key findings:
Third-party billing on wireless phone bills has been a billion dollar industry that has yielded tremendous revenues for carriers. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon generally retained 30-40 percent of each vendor charge placed.
Despite industry assertions that fraudulent third-party wireless billing was a “de minimis” problem, wireless cramming has been widespread and has likely cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.
The wireless industry was on notice at least as early as 2008 about significant wireless cramming concerns and problems with third-party vendor marketing tactics, yet carriers’ anti-cramming policies and sometimes lax oversight left wide gaps in consumer protection.
benton.org/node/198188 | US Senate Commerce Committee | Chairman Rockefeller | Sen Thune | The Hill | The Verge | B&C | Reuters
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EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS

POLICE EMERGENCY ACCESS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
The House Commerce Committee passed a bill that would allow law enforcement agencies to access a cellphone user’s location information in an emergency. The bill -- the Kelsey Smith Act, named after a Kansas teen who was murdered in 2007 -- would allow law enforcement officials to obtain tracking data if that person’s life or physical well-being is believed to be in danger. Currently, “that information remains locked up behind a bureaucracy at the wireless provider,” said Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR). The bill was introduced last year by Rep Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and ushered through the subcommittee by Chairman Walden.
benton.org/node/198153 | Hill, The
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INTERNET/BROADBAND

REID VOWS TO PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Kate Tummarello]
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is pledging to protect network neutrality from Republican attacks. In letters to net neutrality advocates, Sen Reid said he supports forthcoming rules to keep Internet providers from discriminating against certain Internet traffic and will protect those rules from Senate Republicans. “Let me be clear: I support net neutrality,” he wrote, while pledging to “lead the fight” to protect net neutrality rules “against the inevitable Republican attack against such rules.” “I believe that the Internet is one of the great equalizers of our time,” he wrote. “Especially in a time when dark money threatens to take over our political system, the Internet offers a forum for people to make a difference with ideas, not dollars.” Sen Reid did not weigh in on what approach the agency should take in rewriting those rules but said he is “watching closely as the commission drafts these rules.” “I will work to ensure that these rules give consumers access to the lawful content they want when they want it, without interference and ensure that priority arrangements that harm consumers are prohibited,” he wrote.
benton.org/node/198134 | Hill, The
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TELEVISION

DODGERS AND TIME WARNER CABLE
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] The real problem here is stratospheric pricing. Time Warner Cable paid a record $8.35 billion, according to valuations by the Dodgers, for the rights to distribute the team’s games through SportsNet LA, the Dodger-owned network. And before that, Guggenheim Baseball Management paid a record $2.15 billion to buy the Dodgers. All of these high-stakes sales are predicated on the idea that sports TV is so lucrative that the sky is the limit in terms of what the TV rights are worth. Well, Time Warner Cable may have just hit the sky. If the cable company has to lower its price to other providers, it may go back to the Dodgers to renegotiate its deal. And while the Dodgers' owners aren't commenting on that right now, they should be concerned. Their deal won't seem so great if Dodgers fans turn away from the team because the games aren't being aired on TV -- or if they have to pay significant increases in their cable fees to watch. Keeping the fans happy is ultimately the bottom line for the Dodgers.
benton.org/node/198206 | Los Angeles Times
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OWNERSHIP

SCRIPPS AND JOURNAL COMMUNICATIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dana Cimilluca, Keach Hagey]
E.W. Scripps and Journal Communications struck a deal to put their newspaper operations into one company and their broadcast assets into another, following in the footsteps of rivals. The companies plan a series of spinoffs and stock-based mergers that would hand Journal Communications' local-television and radio stations to E.W. Scripps and E.W. Scripps newspapers to Journal Communications, whose flagship paper is the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The broadcast company will retain the E.W. Scripps name, while the newspaper company will be called Journal Media Group.
benton.org/node/198201 | Wall Street Journal
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DIVERSITY

DEFENSE AGAINST SMEARS
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Minority Media and Telecommunications Council President David Honig came out swinging against critics of the groups opposition to Title II and its support of the Federal Communications Commission's waiver to Grain Management, a minority tower company, and its leader, David Grain, who Honig said was akin to MMTC's Rosa Parks. Honig said MMTC, Rainbow Push and the over 40 other groups that joined in supporting the FCC's Sec. 706 approach to new net neutrality rules had studied the issue and did not believe a Title II approach made sense, an approach he called risky and irresponsible. "You can't say these 42 organizations are too stupid to know what the net neutrality issue is about," he said, adding that the smears of his group smacked of....He did not finish the sentence, but if so, it probably would have been "racism."
benton.org/node/198128 | Broadcasting&Cable
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RESEARCH

THE NEW NETWORK COMPACT
[SOURCE: Internet Innovation Alliance, AUTHOR: Press release]
Policymakers seeking to craft a new Compact for 21st century networks that advances essential consumer values must recognize and address how expanding consumer choice and preferences -- spurred by innovation and new competitive offerings -- have fundamentally altered the telecommunications landscape, according to a new study released today by the Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA). Policy scholar and communications industry analyst Dr. Anna-Maria Kovacs authored the 36-page report, “The New Network Compact: Consumers Are in Charge.” The paper details the impact of consumer choice in the digital marketplace and demonstrates how this new paradigm will influence future efforts to design a set of basic consumer protections for the communications platforms of tomorrow.
benton.org/node/198149 | Internet Innovation Alliance | read the report
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FCC REFORM

DEFENDING FCC
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In his opening statement for a markup on several bills, House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-CA) took issue with a statement from the committee's leadership criticizing Federal Communications Commission process. He said he disagreed with the assessment, then turned the criticism on the committee. Rep Waxman complained that the committee was marking up bills without subcommittee markups, which is the regular order. Rep Waxman said bad process can produce bad results, but supported those bills as "common sense" legislation, even if he did not support the process.
benton.org/node/198139 | Broadcasting&Cable
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POLICYMAKERS

ELIN SWANSON KATZ
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
The Federal Communications Commission appointed Elin Swanson Katz, Connecticut Consumer Counsel, on behalf of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. This appointment fills the position held by William Levis, Colorado Consumer Counsel, on behalf of NASUCA.
benton.org/node/198184 | Federal Communications Commission
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

US LOSING TECH TALENT TO CANADA
[SOURCE: CNNMoney, AUTHOR: Sara Ashley O'Brien]
The US isn't catering to talented techies quite like Canada. So many entrepreneurs have given up on navigating the complicated US immigration system and are heading to Canada to launch their startups. The most common way for immigrants to work in the U.S. is to obtain an H-1B visa (of which there are only 65,000 annually). The H-1B mandates employer sponsorship, so self-employed startup founders are pretty much out of luck. Advocates of immigration reform have pushed a startup visa, which would allow founders like Eunni to legally stay in the US. The Senate passed a version last year, but it stalled in the House. Canada, however, has been courting entrepreneurs and paving a way for citizenship through a startup visa program that launched in April 2013. The Canadian startup visa doesn't require employer sponsorship. Applicants need a minimum investment of $75,000 from a select Canadian angel investor or $200,000 from a select Canadian venture capital fund. (There are also a few additional requirements like language proficiency.) It grants a path to residency -- after three years, entrepreneurs can apply for citizenship. There are 2,750 available annually.
benton.org/node/198116 | CNNMoney
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FACEBOOK TO OFFER FREE NET ACCESS IN ZAMBIA
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, AUTHOR: Brandon Bailey]
Facebook will offer free, limited Internet access to mobile phone subscribers in the African nation of Zambia, as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Internet.org initiative to introduce affordable online services in developing regions of the world. Airtel phone customers in Zambia will be able to use Facebook and 12 other online services, including AccuWeather, Google Search and apps that focus on women's rights, health information and employment, without mobile data charges.
benton.org/node/198199 | San Jose Mercury News
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Analysis

July 2014

France's Iliad Makes Bid for T-Mobile US

Google Details Problems With Handling Right to Be Forgotten Requests

Analysis

What’s in the E-rate Order? A Streamlined Process

Authors group pushes for NSA reform, while there’s still time

A closer look: Netflix, Mozilla, and Title II

ConnectME Authority announces the release of the Universal Service Fund (USF) Assessment

Nokia Networks first to trial LTE for national TV broadcasting

Committee Leaders Open Investigation of FCC Process

Aereo imitator lashes out at judge who fined him $90,000 for continuing to operate

July 31, 2014 (Verizon Throttling; Cramming)