September 17, 2014 (A #NetNeutrality compromise?)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2014
Another busy day in wonkland http://benton.org/calendar/2014-09-17/
INTERNET/BROADBAND
Momentum is building for a net neutrality compromise
Mobile Networks Caught in 'Open Internet' Debate [links to web]
Network Neutrality meetings for Facebook and Google
Some Diversity Groups Diverge Over Net Neutrality
ALA, CDT seek stronger network neutrality protections than “commercially reasonable” - press release [links to web]
The Government Attack on the Internet - op-ed
Republican group convinces 772,000 people to oppose “Internet regulation”
Mobile Vs. Wired Broadband Speeds: A Reversal Ahead? - analysis
Gig-ecticut Is Coming [links to web]
City of Santa Clara, Google Finish First Phase of Google Fiber City Process - press release [links to web]
“Analog Thinking” for Digital Policymaking - analysis
WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
Wireless For Miles, By Leveraging Unused UHF TV Spectrum
Google testing drones that could provide Internet access to remote lands [links to web]
NAB’s Kaplan: World Is Watching Incentive Auction [links to web]
Mobile Networks Caught in 'Open Internet' Debate [links to web]
TELECOM
FCC Extends Deadline in Special Access Proceeding - public notice
FCC Plans $493,327 Fine Against Philadelphia Phone Card Company for Customer Privacy, Federal Fund Rules and Other Violations of FCC Rules - press release [links to web]
OWNERSHIP
Community Media Groups and Common Cause Ask the FCC to Stop the AT&T DirecTV Deal - press release
NAB: FCC Should Condition AT&T/DirecTV on TV Carriage [links to web]
AFL-CIO Backs AT&T/DirecTV [links to web]
Public Knowledge Files Petition to Deny in AT&T/DirecTV Merger - press release
Rally at Comcast building opposes cable merger [links to web]
Regulation, Media Mergers and the Consumers' Interest - op-eds [links to web]
CONTENT
Federal Intrusion: Too Many Apps for That - op-ed
Do violent video games actually make people more violent? [links to web]
How Much Television Can the TV Biz -- and Viewers -- Handle?
TELEVISION
Public Knowledge Sends Letter To Senators Rockefeller and Thune With STAVRA Concerns - press release [links to web]
How Much Television Can the TV Biz -- and Viewers -- Handle?
DIVERSITY
Not Just Silicon Valley: Feds Have a Gender Tech Gap, Too
Ed-Tech Leader Gender Gaps Identified in New Study
JOURNALISM
Gallup: Trust in Mass Media Returns to All-Time Low - research
POLICYMAKERS
Chairman Wheeler Speaks Out [links to web]
Micey Dickerson: No paper Pushing at US Digital Service
FCC REFORM
Chairman Walden: FCC Process Answers Raise 'Serious Concerns'
Streamlined Process for Resolving Requests for Review of Decisions by the Universal Service Administrative Company - public notice [links to web]
Termination of Certain FCC Proceedings as Dormant - public notice [links to web]
LOBBYING
Apple’s health privacy pitch hits Hill [links to web]
COMPANY NEWS
Clear Channel Renames Itself iHeartMedia, in an Embrace of the Digital [links to web]
Roberts Says Comcast Working on Future of Advertising [links to web]
STORIES FROM ABROAD
Virgin Media Sets 1-Gig Test [links to web]
Internet Power Balance Tilts Toward Asia [links to web]
MORE ONLINE
Meet the 2014 MacArthur Fellows - press release [links to web]
INTERNET/BROADBAND
NET NEUTRALITY COMPROMISE?
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
Internet service providers (ISPs) and network neutrality activists appear increasingly interested in a proposal that would give consumers more control over their Internet service, a hopeful sign for compromise in the debate about whether all Internet traffic should be treated equally. Speaking at a Federal Communications Commission roundtable, Stanford University net neutrality scholar Barbara van Schewick said that, under certain conditions, letting Internet users individually control which Web sites were delivered at a faster or slower speed by their ISP would not violate the principle of net neutrality. Van Schewick's idea is similar to a proposal that AT&T outlined this summer that would ban Internet providers from manipulating Web content — which is the FCC's goal — unless users specifically requested it. Under these approaches, known as "user-directed prioritization," consumers could ask their ISP to give streaming video priority over cloud storage traffic, or to give streaming music preferential treatment over online video games. Broadly, the practice could shift economic power for potentially determining the rise and fall of Internet businesses from ISPs to consumers; if implemented under the right conditions, user-directed or user-controlled prioritization could prevent ISPs from abusing their potential role as a gatekeeper.
benton.org/headlines/momentum-building-net-neutrality-compromise | Washington Post
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FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE GET FCC MEETINGS
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Leeann Doerflein]
Facebook and Google executives recently met with top officials at the Federal Communications Commission to discuss their opposition to “fast lanes” on the Internet. Two of the FCC’s five commissioners -- Jessica Rosenworcel and Michael O’Rielly -- held separate meetings with top Facebook officials. Rosenworcel’s meeting included Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. She also met separately with Google executives. Facebook stated that the company would like to see the Internet remain “free and open” and urged the FCC to enact rules against “fast lanes." It warned against the notion that websites should have to pay Internet service providers like Comcast or Cox for faster service — a prospect that would seem to be allowed under the proposal from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Google’s filing made clear that it feared the FCC could allow companies to create “scarcity and congestion” on Internet networks in order to force websites to pay for quicker access to Web users.
benton.org/headlines/network-neutrality-meetings-facebook-and-google | Hill, The
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DIVERSITY OF OPINION ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Over three dozen diversity groups have told the Federal Communications Commission that the current proposal to use Section 706 authority to restore network neutrality rules is the way to go, while a handful of groups calling themselves the "new generation of civil rights leaders" appears just as convinced that the FCC needs to reclassify Internet service providers under Title II common carrier rules to close the digital divide. The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council and its coalition partners say Sec. 706 would be a sufficiently robust and legally enforceable means for achieving their goals for communities of color, which is to prevent digital redlining and insure them "first-class digital citizenship." The coalition said a big advantage of Sec. 706 is that it will "will maintain a critical baseline level of regulatory certainty by preserving the current, bipartisan approach to regulating broadband communications..." By contrast, they argue, reclassifying broadband under Title II would introduce "unnecessary uncertainty" into the process and by discouraging investment and undermining adoption. In the other corner are National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC), ColorOfChange.org, 18MillionRising.org, joined by long-time Title II fans Free Press and the Voices For Internet Freedom. They argue that Sec. 706 would "destroy" the Internet as we know it and that Title II is the only way to prevent ISP's from "blocking and discriminating against content, exacerbating the digital divide.
benton.org/headlines/some-diversity-groups-diverge-over-net-neutrality | Multichannel News
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ATTACK ON THE INTERNET
[SOURCE: Revere Digital, AUTHOR: Karen Kerrigan]
[Commentary] The Internet is under attack by government. If the Federal Communications Commission succumbs to the small but vocal few calling for utility-style regulation of broadband networks, much of what we are experiencing today will dramatically change, and not for the better. The FCC is considering wrapping archaic telephone rules around high-speed broadband. These rules are designed for the long-gone domestic telephone oligopoly of the 1930s. In regulatory speak, broadband may be reclassified as a Title II telecommunications service, which means that onerous rules and red tape would interfere with existing competition among high-speed broadband providers. Under these rules, the government could micromanage common business decisions of companies large and small, like managing Internet traffic or determining the various prices for speeds and services consumers could choose from. Imagine how quickly the dynamism of the Internet would disintegrate if Washington bureaucrats were allowed to intrude in these technically complex and market-driven areas.
[Kerrigan is President and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council]
benton.org/headlines/government-attack-internet | Revere Digital
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OPPOSITION TO INTERNET REGULATION
[SOURCE: ars technica, AUTHOR: Jon Brodkin]
A Republican advocacy group called "American Commitment" said that 772,000 Americans have signed its petition asking the Federal Communications Commission to avoid "regulating the Internet" -- a reference to the agency's current net neutrality proceeding. "Regulating the Internet has always been a solution in search of a problem," says the petition, which is addressed to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "By trying for a third time to regulate the Internet, the FCC is demonstrating that it is no longer acting in the interests of the American people. Instead of doing its real job -- providing more spectrum for wireless users or deregulating wireline telephone service—it is trying to move backward in time to 1930s-era phone regulation. If the FCC drags 2014 technology back into 1930s regulations, the Internet will suffer, and so will the American people. Do not regulate the Internet."
benton.org/headlines/republican-group-convinces-772000-people-oppose-internet-regulation | Ars Technica
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MOBILE VS WIRED BROADBAND
[SOURCE: telecompetitor, AUTHOR: Gary Kim]
Mobile substitution has been a nightmare for fixed network service providers, the chief case in point being consumer purchases of “voice services.” In many markets, including the United States, consumers simply are abandoning use of fixed network voice, in favor of mobile calling. At the same time, cable companies have become the clear alternate suppliers of fixed network calling, so telcos have lost market share, as well. So the issue is whether “mobile substitution” could happen to Internet access, arguably the pillar supporting fixed network business models. Up to this point, that has not really been a big issue. It is something of a truism that fixed network Internet access is “faster” than mobile Internet access. True, Long Term Evolution has made U.S. mobile Internet access considerably “faster.” But the gigabit access trend only makes the gap wider, even if the immediate practical impact, in many cases, is a boost in fixed network speeds to 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps. Still, the rule of thumb is that fixed Internet access is “always” about an order of magnitude, or sometimes two orders of magnitude, faster than mobile access.
benton.org/headlines/mobile-vs-wired-broadband-speeds-reversal-ahead | telecompetitor
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ANALOG THINKING
[SOURCE: Brookings, AUTHOR: Stuart Brotman]
[Commentary] As a regulatory agency, the Federal Communications Commission must make decisions that promote effective long-term communication policies, after reflecting on public comment of its proposals. But the FCC always must keep its eyes on the courthouse steps, as well, since all of its final orders are subject to review by a federal court. Framing the FCC’s decision options as a binary choice reflects what I call “digital thinking” policy analysis-- expecting that policy choices consist of exactly two variables, one of which must be elected to the exclusion of the other. Regardless of the final outcome in this proceeding, the FCC should aim to counter this narrative. The best way to do this is through “analog thinking,” which is a term I use to describe a deliberate effort to think more broadly about policy options. The FCC has workable regulatory tools at hand, such as negotiated rulemaking, which have been used successfully in the past to help narrow differences among competing interests. In effect, by bringing these interests together at an earlier stage to help see what level of consensus is possible before a notice of proposed rulemaking is issued, the possibility for extending options beyond binary choices can be increased.
benton.org/headlines/analog-thinking-digital-policymaking | Brookings
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WIRELESS/SPECTRUM
WIRELESS USING UHF SPECTRUM
[SOURCE: Science 2.0, AUTHOR: ]
VFH and UFH portions of the radio spectrum are reserved for over the air television broadcasts and the Federal Communications Commission keeps plenty of space between channels to prevent interference. But unused UHF TV spectrum could be used for fat streams of data over wireless hotspots that could stretch for miles, according to a presentation at the Association for Computing Machinery's MobiCom 2014 conference. Researchers from Rice University's Wireless Network Group unveiled a multiuser, multiantenna transmission scheme for UHF, which combines several proven technologies that are already widely used in wireless data transmission. One is "multiple-input, multiple-output" (MIMO), a scheme that employs multiple antennae to boost data rates without the need for additional channels or transmitter power. MIMO allows for a larger wireless "pipeline," and the technology is standard in the latest generation of wireless routers and networking equipment.
benton.org/headlines/wireless-miles-leveraging-unused-uhf-tv-spectrum | Science 2.0
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TELECOM
COMMENT DEADLINES EXTENDED IN SPECIAL ACCESS PROCEEDING
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Public Notice]
On December 11, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking requiring providers and purchasers of special access and certain entities providing “best efforts” service to submit data and information for a comprehensive evaluation of the special access market. In the Special Access FNPRM, the FCC sought comment on possible changes to its rules for granting pricing flexibility for the special access services provided by incumbent local exchange carriers in price cap areas. The FCC invited interested parties to provide such comments after the FCC collected data for the market analysis to enable commenters to include analysis of such data in their comments. On August 15, 2014, the FCC obtained Office of Management and Budget’s approval for the collection subject to changes. On September 15, 2014, the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau released an order amending the collection to reflect OMB’s approval and announced a December 15, 2014 deadline by which parties are required to submit data and information. Because collection of the data must be completed and made available for review before parties can comment on the remaining questions posed in the Special Access FNPRM, the Bureau extends the deadline for filing comments and reply comments. The new comment date is April 6, 2015, and the new reply comment date is May 18, 2015.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-extends-deadline-special-access-proceeding | Federal Communications Commission | Chairman Wheeler | Order on reconsideration
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OWNERSHIP
PETITION TO DENY AT&T/DIRECTV
[SOURCE: Alliance for Community Media, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Alliance for Community Media, the Alliance for Communications Democracy and Common Cause asked the Federal Communications Commission to block the deal for AT&T to acquire DirecTV. The groups say the deal is misguided and will further hurt local media and PEG channels throughout the US. In their joint petition to deny, the groups outline both the flaws of the transaction and the inability of AT&T to support public interest requirements such as PEG Access channels. “Having justified its promotion of state video franchising laws with the promise that it would bring landline, cable-based competition to incumbent cable operators, AT&T through this transaction now apparently seeks to renege on that promise by fleeing to DIRECTV’s DBS service. The Commission should not reward that bait-and-switch.” The groups argue that AT&T would better serve consumers by improving the quality of its U-verse video service, or by investing in broadband buildout rather than further reducing video competition.
benton.org/headlines/community-media-groups-and-common-cause-ask-fcc-stop-att-directv-deal | Alliance for Community Media
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PETITION TO DENY AT&T/DIRECTV
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: John Bergmayer]
Public Knowledge and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance filed a Petition to Deny in the Federal Communications Commission's AT&T/DirecTV merger proceeding. This merger could cause public interest harms in a number of ways. Among other things, it would increase AT&T's incentive to push customers away from wired connections onto wireless ones that might not suit their needs, reduce the number of pay TV options customers have in U-Verse territories, and increase AT&T's incentive to discriminate against online video. The Commission cannot approve this merger unless it is satisfied that it can eliminate these harms, and unless it is satisfied it can verify and enforce any promises of broadband deployment. The most straightforward way for the FCC to protect TV viewers and internet users from the harm this merger would cause would be to block it.
benton.org/headlines/public-knowledge-files-petition-deny-attdirectv-merger | Public Knowledge
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CONTENT
TOO MANY APPS FOR THAT
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Geoffrey Manne]
[Commentary] The Federal Trade Commission claims the authority to second-guess product-design decisions under Section 5 of the 1914 Federal Trade Commission Act. The FTC may deem a product design "unfair" if it causes "substantial injury" to consumers that cannot reasonably be avoided. One caveat: The FTC by law must show that the consumer harm outweighs the design's countervailing benefits. But under Section 5, the FTC has especially broad discretion to decide what practices are "unfair." And because nearly all high-tech enforcement actions end in settlements, there is almost no case law to rein in the agency. These settlements -- known as consent orders -- always include significant oversight. And they are becoming common for tech companies. The FTC prefers consent orders because they extend the commission's authority with little judicial oversight, but they are too blunt an instrument for regulating a technology company. For the next 20 years, if the FTC decides that Google's product design or billing practices don't provide "express, informed consent," the FTC could declare Google in violation of the new consent decree. The FTC could then impose huge penalties without establishing that any consumer had actually been harmed.
[Manne is founder and executive director of the International Center for Law and Economics, which receives support from businesses, trade associations and individuals]
benton.org/headlines/federal-intrusion-too-many-apps | Wall Street Journal
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TELEVISION
TELEVISION PRODUCTION
[SOURCE: Variety, AUTHOR: Cynthia Littleton]
Industry executives are quietly starting to use the B-word -- “bubble” -- in surveying the landscape of scripted shows across the dozens of broadcast, cable and digital outlets that are serving up original programming. That growth has been fueled by the windfall of licensing revenue from expanding international sales and digital platforms that barely existed a decade ago. But after a more than 1,000% spike since 1999 in the number of scripted series produced for just pay and basic cable, there are growing concerns, even among those in the production world, about the unwelcome consequences of so much capital chasing talent, viewers and, most important, off-network profits. Industry veterans said that the biggest issues resulting from the gusher of production include:
A significant spike in the cost of securing top talent and sought-after source material, from hot scripts to life rights to existing books and movies.
Rising prices for crews, equipment, stages and locations, among other necessary ingredients for production.
Higher demand for promotional time coupled with declining ratings for linear channels, making marketing campaigns more costly and less effective.
Top cable nets cutting back on off-network buys because of increased commitments to original programming.
Netflix gaining outsized influence due to its growing clout as an off-net buyer.
benton.org/headlines/how-much-television-can-tv-biz-and-viewers-handle | Variety
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DIVERSITY
NOT JUST SILICON VALLEY: FEDS HAVE A GENDER TECH GAP, TOO
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jack Moore]
Women make up about 44 percent of the federal information technology workforce, according to the Office of Personnel Management. But the percentage of women in IT jobs government-wide hovers at only about 30 percent, according to an analysis of OPM data by CEB, a consulting firm. Women who work in the tech space in Washington aren’t exactly shocked that government -- which has struggled to recruit and hire technologists of all stripes -- hasn’t quite cracked the code of hiring a diverse tech workforce. "Those numbers certainly aren't surprising, because we can't be naive and think that the disparities that we see in Silicon Valley exist in one geographic region instead of applying more broadly to an entire industry and skill set,” says Laurenellen McCann, a civic innovation fellow at the New America Foundation.
benton.org/headlines/not-just-silicon-valley-feds-have-gender-tech-gap-too | nextgov
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ED-TECH GENDER GAP
[SOURCE: Education Week, AUTHOR: Benjamin Herold]
Female technology leaders working for US school districts appear to earn less money than their male counterparts and face more limited access to the top positions in their field -- despite tending to be more experienced and equally, if not better, credentialed. The results -- drawn from a relatively small survey administered by Consortium for School Networking -- do not offer a definitive verdict on the existence or scale of gender gaps in pay and professional opportunities in K-12 educational technology. They do, however, offer some quantitative validation of the concern increasingly being voiced by groups such as the International Leadership Network for Women in EdTech, formed in June 2014 in part to improve career opportunities and compensation for women in the public and private ed-tech sectors.
benton.org/headlines/ed-tech-leader-gender-gaps-identified-new-study | Education Week
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JOURNALISM
TRUST IN MASS MEDIA
[SOURCE: Gallup, AUTHOR: Justin McCarthy]
After registering slightly higher trust in 2013, Americans' confidence in the media's ability to report "the news fully, accurately, and fairly" has returned to its previous all-time low of 40%. Americans' trust in mass media has generally been edging downward from higher levels in the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Prior to 2004, Americans placed more trust in mass media than they do now, with slim majorities saying they had a "great deal" or "fair amount" of trust. But over the course of former President George W. Bush's re-election season, the level of trust fell significantly, from 54% in 2003 to 44% in 2004. Although trust levels rebounded to 50% in 2005, they have failed to reach a full majority since. Americans' trust in the media in recent years has dropped slightly in election years, including 2008, 2010, 2012, and again this year -- only to edge its way back up again in the following odd-numbered years. Although the differences between the drops and the recoveries are not large, they suggest that something about national elections triggers skepticism about the accuracy of the news media's reporting.
benton.org/headlines/trust-mass-media-returns-all-time-low | Gallup
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POLICYMAKERS
MIKEY DICKERSON: NO PAPER PUSHING AT US DIGITAL SERVICE
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jack Moore]
Mikey Dickerson, the head of the US Digital Service, a newly formed White House office responsible for improving government technology projects, is putting the federal IT community on notice: Don’t expect any paper pushing from his office. “Our primary work product is not memos and advisory statements and new processes and stuff like that. It’s actual working, functioning services,” Dickerson said. Dickerson, a former Google engineer, knows the fix-it mentality well, having taken the lead role in repairing the floundering HealthCare.gov. He said the US Digital Service, still in pilot mode at the Office of Management and Budget, will be equal parts early-warning detection center and rapid-response tech triage unit.
benton.org/headlines/micey-dickerson-no-paper-pushing-us-digital-service | nextgov
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FCC REFORM
FCC REFORM
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) is not happy with the Federal Communications Commission’s responses to the subcommittee's ongoing look into commission processes and plans to make that clear at a hearing Sept. 17. "Since our last hearing with Chairman [Tom] Wheeler, the subcommittee has examined additional aspects of the FCC’s operation including, management of backlog and current workload, staffing, its budget and operating expenses, as well as other related issues through inquires and information requests to the agency. The FCC’s responses to our questions, reports submitted by the Inspector General and reports in the media raise serious concerns as to whether the FCC’s house is in order," he plans to say in his opening statement for the hearing. He also takes aim at the FCC argument that it is trying to do more with less money. "[C]ontrary to Chairman Wheeler’s oft-touted remedy, the solution to the commission’s woes is not simply to throw more money at the problem, but to use the money available to the commission more effectively. Nowhere is this more evident than in the FCC’s IT expenditures."
benton.org/headlines/chairman-walden-fcc-process-answers-raise-serious-concerns | Broadcasting&Cable
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