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October 2014

October 6, 2014 (Title II)

Sorry we’re late today…

BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2014

This week’s agenda http://benton.org/calendar/2014-10-05--P1W/


INTERNET/BROADBAND
   Rep Waxman pushes ‘combination’ rules to ban online ‘fast lanes’
   Throwing Shade at Title II with Forbearance Fear Mongering - analysis
   EC clears telecoms groups of ‘throttling’ services of rivals
   Twenty-First Quarterly Status Report to Congress Regarding BTOP - research [links to web]

PRIVACY/SECURITY
   Privacy advocates sue Pentagon over Internet voting test results

OWNERSHIP
   FCC Extends Time to File Replies on Comcast-TWC Merger to 10/29/14 - public notice [links to web]
   CBS Trades Radio Stations With the Beasley Broadcast Group
   The Washington Post Regains Its Place at the Table [links to web]
   DC mystery: Jeff Bezos’ plan for The Washington Post [links to web]
   Film deals reflect Netflix's growing clout
   SoftBank investing $250 million in Legendary Entertainment [links to web]

WIRELESS
   Marriott to Pay $600K to Resolve Wi-Fi-Blocking Investigation - press release
   Evolution in the Cellular Service - FCC press release
   Accelerating Broadband, Part II - AT&T press release [links to web]
   Measuring Mobility: More Than Just Speed - Verizon press release [links to web]

TELEVISION
   Verizon takes the lead in move to a la carte pay-TV pricing [links to web]
   Value of US sports broadcast rights up 18.7% [links to web]

CONTENT
   The Turtles Extend Their Copyright Fight to Pandora [links to web]
   Common Sense Media Gives Out Its First Seal of Approval [links to web]
   After controversial study, Facebook is changing the way it does research
   Value of US sports broadcast rights up 18.7% [links to web]

POLICYMAKERS
   MMTC Names Kim Keenan New President [links to web]
   Lynn Chadwick, Federal Program Officer, State Broadband Initiative - press release [links to web]
   Antitrust Nominee in Europe Promises Scrutiny of Big Tech Companies [links to web]

STORIES FROM ABROAD
   Putin Supports Project to ‘Secure’ Russia Internet
   EC clears telecoms groups of ‘throttling’ services of rivals
   Hong Kong Protests Propel FireChat Phone-to-Phone App [links to web]
   To Reach China, LinkedIn Plays by Local Rules [links to web]
   Antitrust Nominee in Europe Promises Scrutiny of Big Tech Companies [links to web]
   Facebook Receives European Approval for $19 Billion WhatsApp Deal [links to web]
   Ofcom: UK rural-urban broadband speed divide narrows [links to web]
   Lower-cost handsets help drive Africa’s Internet revolution [links to web]

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INTERNET/BROADBAND

REP WAXMAN’S COMBO SOLUTION
[SOURCE: The Hill, AUTHOR: Julian Hattem]
Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a “combination” approach for new rules on Internet service companies. He urged the FCC to reclassify broadband Internet service to draw from the same legal authority it uses for traditional telephone service and also use a separate provision that allows the agency to speed up the deployment of broadband. A “combination” of those two legal powers “can establish a truly robust framework for open Internet protections that will withstand judicial scrutiny,” he wrote in a letter to the agency.
benton.org/headlines/rep-waxman-pushes-combination-rules-ban-online-fast-lanes | Hill, The
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TITLE II AND NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Public Knowledge, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]
[Commentary] As the groundswell for reclassifying broadband as a Title II telecommunications service and creating strong network neutrality rules grows, the arguments against reclassification have grown increasingly shrill and desperate. Most recently they have focused on “forbearance.” For those of you not living all of your lives in the world of telecom law, forbearance is the process the Federal Communications Commission could use to decide that some pieces of Title II should not apply to broadband. As illustrated below, these arguments do not stand up to scrutiny. Of course, forbearance only matters after the FCC has reclassified broadband access as a Title II service. If nothing else, the fact that we are now debating how to apply Title II to broadband is a huge win for advocates of strong net neutrality rules.
benton.org/headlines/throwing-shade-title-ii-forbearance-fear-mongering | Public Knowledge
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PRIVACY/SECURITY

INTERNET VOTING
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Nancy Scola]
Privacy advocates, worried that the Defense Department is sinking millions of dollars into unproven online voting systems, are suing the Pentagon for the release of long-promised test results on whether Internet-based voting is safe. The subtext of the lawsuit is that after spending millions on online voting experiments -- in 2010 alone, the Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance Program received $9 million from Congress to design and test Internet-based voting -- privacy advocates worry that online voting could spread in the United States without proper vetting. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit last month against the Pentagon, under the Freedom of Information Act, to compel the release of the results of the department's test of its online voting system.
benton.org/headlines/privacy-advocates-sue-pentagon-over-internet-voting-test-results | Washington Post
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OWNERSHIP

CBS RADIO SWAP
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Ben Sisario]
CBS announced a trade with the Beasley Broadcast Group that will involve CBS swapping 14 of its stations for five of Beasley’s. CBS will give up six stations in Tampa, seven in Charlotte, and one in Philadelphia (WIP-AM). In exchange, it will gain its first stations in Miami, including the country outlet WKIS-FM, the top 40 station WPOW-FM, and the sports station WQAM-AM. CBS will also get two FM stations in Philadelphia: WXTU, which has a country format, and WRDW, which is top 40. The deal is a trade, with no cash changing hands between the companies. As a result, Beasley will grow to 53 stations. The trade is subject to approval by federal regulators.
benton.org/headlines/cbs-trades-radio-stations-beasley-broadcast-group | New York Times
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NETFLIX MOVIE PRODUCTION
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Ryan Faughnder, Yvonne Villarreal]
Netflix wants to shake up Hollywood. The company will finance the Weinstein Co.'s sequel to the 2000 film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," coming next summer to its streaming service and certain Imax screens. And Adam Sandler will star in and produce four feature films for the service. The movies -- produced through Sandler's Happy Madison Productions with Netflix -- would be available exclusively through the site, bypassing the traditional movie distribution process. The deals are serious gets for Netflix, signaling its growing clout in the entertainment business at a time when consumer habits are rapidly changing in the digital era.
benton.org/headlines/film-deals-reflect-netflixs-growing-clout | Los Angeles Times
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WIRELESS

MARRIOTT TO PAY $600,000 TO RESOLVE WIFI-BLOCKING INVESTIGATION
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Marriott International and its subsidiary, Marriott Hotel Services, will pay $600,000 to resolve a Federal Communications Commission investigation into whether Marriott intentionally interfered with and disabled Wi-Fi networks established by consumers in the conference facilities of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, in violation of Section 333 of the Communications Act. The FCC Enforcement Bureau’s investigation revealed that Marriott employees had used containment features of a Wi-Fi monitoring system at the Gaylord Opryland to prevent individuals from connecting to the Internet via their own personal Wi-Fi networks, while at the same time charging consumers, small businesses, and exhibitors as much as $1,000 per device to access Marriott’s Wi-Fi network.
benton.org/headlines/marriott-pay-600k-resolve-wi-fi-blocking-investigation | Federal Communications Commission | FCC Order
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EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR SERVICE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Roger Sherman]
On October 2, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler circulated a draft Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that puts forth major changes to modernize and streamline the FCC’s rules and application processes for Cellular Service licensees. This reform would fulfill a recommendation in the Staff Report on FCC Process Reform by reducing regulatory burdens and fostering the deployment of new generations of Cellular Service across the country. The draft Report and Order would transition the site-based Cellular Service to a geographic-based licensing regime. This shift would bring the Cellular Service into greater harmony with other mobile services, including PCS, 700 MHz and AWS. Under this approach, the FCC would eliminate or revise a large number of filing requirements, reduce licensee filing burdens by more than 60%, and eliminate barriers to the timely deployment of advanced services to the public. In the Further Notice, the FCC would propose and seek comment on additional issues relating to Cellular Service reform, including technical changes that could foster the deployment of wider-band technologies, such as LTE.
benton.org/headlines/evolution-cellular-service | Federal Communications Commission
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CONTENT

FACEBOOK RESEARCH
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Andrea Chang]
Facebook is changing the way it does research after facing a widespread backlash for a study that manipulated news feeds to gauge emotional effect. Facebook does research in fields including artificial intelligence, user experience and social science. Its new rules for research cover internal work and research that might be published. They include clearer guidelines and an enhanced review process before research can begin; a new review panel that consists of senior subject-area researchers and people from its engineering, research, legal, privacy and policy teams; better training for researchers; and a dedicated research website that will be updated regularly. The new policies are being instituted following a controversial Facebook study published in June that revealed the company had tinkered with users' emotions.
benton.org/headlines/after-controversial-study-facebook-changing-way-it-does-research | Los Angeles Times
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STORIES FROM ABROAD

PUTIN’S INTERNET
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Andrew Kramer]
President Vladimir V. Putin appeared to throw his support behind a plan to isolate the Internet in Russia from the rest of the World Wide Web, but said the Russian government was “not even considering” censoring Internet sites. In a speech to the Russian National Security Council, Putin said the plan was intended to build a backup system to keep websites in the Russian domains -- those ending in .ru and .rf -- online in a national emergency. Putin said other countries had taken to using the Internet “for not only economic, but military and political goals” and said information security was a priority for the country.
benton.org/headlines/putin-supports-project-secure-russia-internet | New York Times
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THROTTLING IN EUROPE
[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: Duncan Robinson]
Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Telefónica have been cleared by regulators of “throttling” the services of rivals -- avoiding a potentially bruising competition case. In 2013, European Union officials raided the offices of the three telecoms groups over allegations that they were deliberately limiting access to data-heavy services, such as YouTube and Skype. But, on Oct 3, the European Commission said that, following a review, the practices of the telecoms companies “do not appear to breach EU antitrust law with a view to shutting out competitors from either the internet transit market or internet content markets.”
benton.org/headlines/ec-clears-telecoms-groups-throttling-services-rivals | Financial Times
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Rep Waxman pushes ‘combination’ rules to ban online ‘fast lanes’

Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Commerce Committee, is pushing the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a “combination” approach for new rules on Internet service companies. He urged the FCC to reclassify broadband Internet service to draw from the same legal authority it uses for traditional telephone service and also use a separate provision that allows the agency to speed up the deployment of broadband. A “combination” of those two legal powers “can establish a truly robust framework for open Internet protections that will withstand judicial scrutiny,” he wrote in a letter to the agency.

Throwing Shade at Title II with Forbearance Fear Mongering

[Commentary] As the groundswell for reclassifying broadband as a Title II telecommunications service and creating strong network neutrality rules grows, the arguments against reclassification have grown increasingly shrill and desperate. Most recently they have focused on “forbearance.”

For those of you not living all of your lives in the world of telecom law, forbearance is the process the Federal Communications Commission could use to decide that some pieces of Title II should not apply to broadband. As illustrated below, these arguments do not stand up to scrutiny. Of course, forbearance only matters after the FCC has reclassified broadband access as a Title II service. If nothing else, the fact that we are now debating how to apply Title II to broadband is a huge win for advocates of strong net neutrality rules.

Privacy advocates sue Pentagon over Internet voting test results

Privacy advocates, worried that the Defense Department is sinking millions of dollars into unproven online voting systems, are suing the Pentagon for the release of long-promised test results on whether Internet-based voting is safe.

The subtext of the lawsuit is that after spending millions on online voting experiments -- in 2010 alone, the Defense Department's Federal Voting Assistance Program received $9 million from Congress to design and test Internet-based voting -- privacy advocates worry that online voting could spread in the United States without proper vetting. The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit last month against the Pentagon, under the Freedom of Information Act, to compel the release of the results of the department's test of its online voting system.

Verizon takes the lead in move to a la carte pay-TV pricing

As more people abandon pricey cable and satellite services, the pay-TV industry may be finally waking up to the reality that if it wants to survive, it's going to have to give consumers what they desire. And that's a la carte programming -- paying only for the channels you watch.

Lowell McAdam, the chief executive of Verizon Communications, recently signaled his company's acceptance of a la carte by announcing the launch of an Internet-based TV service that would offer greater programming flexibility than any other pay-TV provider. In Verizon's eyes, that transition looks like a base package that includes the major networks, plus a collection of "custom channels" from which subscribers could pick and choose, McAdam said. The new service apparently will be separate from Verizon's FiOS pay-TV service, which offers cable-like programming in 20 cities nationwide, including Los Angeles.

The Turtles Extend Their Copyright Fight to Pandora

After a copyright victory in federal court against Sirius XM that is being widely celebrated in the music industry, the 1960s band the Turtles have taken aim at another big music outlet: Pandora Media.

Flo & Eddie, the company set up by members of the Turtles -- whose hits include “Happy Together” and “She’d Rather Be With Me” -- filed a class-action suit against Pandora in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing the Internet radio giant of copyright infringement under California law for playing its songs without permission. The suit asks for more than $25 million in damages.

CBS Trades Radio Stations With the Beasley Broadcast Group

CBS announced a trade with the Beasley Broadcast Group that will involve CBS swapping 14 of its stations for five of Beasley’s. CBS will give up six stations in Tampa, seven in Charlotte, and one in Philadelphia (WIP-AM).

In exchange, it will gain its first stations in Miami, including the country outlet WKIS-FM, the top 40 station WPOW-FM, and the sports station WQAM-AM. CBS will also get two FM stations in Philadelphia: WXTU, which has a country format, and WRDW, which is top 40. The deal is a trade, with no cash changing hands between the companies. As a result, Beasley will grow to 53 stations. The trade is subject to approval by federal regulators.

The Washington Post Regains Its Place at the Table

[Commentary] Nothing in God’s creation is ever as good as it once was, but The Washington Post is coming pretty close.

The once-embattled newspaper is in the middle of a great run, turning out the kind of reporting that journalists -- and readers -- live for. That includes coverage that played a role in the resignation of the director of the Secret Service and investigative work that eventually led to the conviction of a former governor of Virginia on corruption charges. The people who work at The Post have been clobbered for decades for not matching the glory days of Watergate -- it’s doubtful anyone ever will -- but more recently, after a series of buyouts and some management blunders, the decline in ambition and quality was there for all to see. The Post became seen as more of a basket case than best in class.

DC mystery: Jeff Bezos’ plan for The Washington Post

One year after Jeff Bezos’ acquisition of the Washington Post, media analysts remain puzzled by his decision to buy the paper.

There has been no major digital innovation, no radical new product launch, no change to delivery or presentation, and no promise of any specific plans for the future. Moreover, while Bezos is very engaged in his Amazon empire -- dreaming up plans like drone delivery -- and his spaceflight startup, he seems to treat the Post more like an ornament, in need of minimal polishing. And not all of his contributions have been positive for employees: In September, the Post announced that it would eliminate medical retirement benefits and end benefit pensions for nonunion workers, while seeking to do the same for union employees. The Post reporter who relayed that information to the public called it “one of the first indications of how The Post’s new owner… will manage relations with the staff of the news organization.

Common Sense Media Gives Out Its First Seal of Approval

Whenever James P. Steyer, the chief executive of the watchdog group Common Sense Media, is asked whether its family-friendly media ratings system is like the “Good Housekeeping Seal” of approval, he says it is more like nutritional labeling. But starting now, Common Sense Media will take a more assertive position on certain films, granting an approval seal to as many as 10 family-oriented movies each year. For the first time, Common Sense will make endorsements that may be used in advertising and promoting films. Historically, the group has discouraged studios from citing its film ratings in promotional material.

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