March 2015

Stakeholders Spar Over Comcast/Time Warner, AT&T/DirecTV

At a panel session at the American Cable Association Summit in Washington, parties on both sides of the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV deals in particular and consolidation in general lined up to gauge the status of those deals inside the Beltway. Panel participants included Jon Lebowitz, of Davis Polk (which represents Comcast), and former Federal Trade Commission Chief; John Bergmayer of Public Knowledge; Jeff Blum from Dish; Hank Hultquist from AT&T and Ross Lieberman from the American Cable Association.

Blum, Bergmayer and Lieberman were arrayed against the deals. Bergmayer argued that Title II will not make it more likely for the Federal Communications Commission to approve the Comcast/TWC merger. He said it does not alleviate all the harms that the petitioners have raised. “Most of them are not even addressed by what we know about the net neutrality rules,” he said. The participants weren’t really willing to put odds on either deal’s approval, but the supporters thought it would go through and the opponents said it would not.

Time Is Running Out on NSA Reform

Lawmakers have less than 100 days left to decide whether they want to reform the National Security Agency's controversial bulk collection of US call data -- or risk losing the program entirely. Core provisions of the post-9/11 Patriot Act are due to sunset on June 1, including Section 215, which grants intelligence agencies the legal authority they need to carry out mass surveillance of domestic metadata -- the numbers and timestamps of phone calls but not their actual content. Government officials have said they have no backup plan for replacing the intelligence void if Congress fails to reauthorize the law in some fashion.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper suggested lawmakers should bear the brunt of blame if the program lapses and the homeland is struck by terrorism. Yet despite the agitation of the Administration, which endorsed reform legislation that narrowly died in the Senate in 2014, lawmakers have publicly done nothing to move forward on limiting the NSA's domestic phone dragnet, which was first exposed by Edward Snowden nearly two years ago. Closed-door negotiations are ongoing, but so far supporters of the USA Freedom Act have not found the Goldilocks language needed to appease both the privacy crowd and the security hawks.

Senate Offices Want New System to Track Website Vulnerabilities

While Congress is preparing for what are sure to be noisy debates about cybersecurity legislation, Capitol Hill administrators are quietly beefing up their own network defenses. A solicitation posted on FedBizOpps by the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms seeks a new system to scan for vulnerabilities across public-facing Senate websites and services. The Senate wants commercial, off-the-shelf software to scan, identify and help resolve vulnerabilities across 140 different Senate office websites, including members’ offices and committee and support offices.

Google's quest to make art available to everyone was foiled by copyright concerns

When Google launched its “Art Project” in 2011, it touted it as a huge boon for freedom of information and cultural connectivity. But if you peek into any of the museums on Google Street View in 2015, you’ll notice lots of big, blurred rectangles where paintings should be -- the result of a copyright system that keeps even important artworks from being viewed publicly. When it comes to art, even Google can only show so much. It’s digitizing the world’s cultural artifacts -- but only those that copyright law blessedly forgot.

An Important New Tool in our Data Revolution

We have reached an important milestone in the data transformation movement with the naming of members to Commerce Department’s new Data Advisory Council (CDAC). The 19 leaders we have selected will help guide the Commerce Department in revolutionizing our approach toward data optimization and usability.

They are bright stars in private and public sectors: thought leaders on data; respected and well-equipped to facilitate this transformation. Members’ expertise mirrors the spectrum of Commerce data -- demographic, economic, scientific, environmental, patent, and geospatial. Their agenda? To help us foster innovation, create jobs, and drive better decision-making throughout our economy and society. We are thrilled to have reached this important marker in our “data revolution” and look forward to the CDAC’s guidance on such key issues as data management; open data standards; public-private partnership; and ensuring a user-driven process.

Rural Small Cells: Forum Sees Cost Savings Across the US

Small cells could help network operators generate a business case for deploying wireless service in rural areas that currently lack mobile service, according to new research from wireless industry group Small Cell Forum. The forum estimates that network operators in developed nations could break even on a small cell deployment with as few as one or two subscribers per kilometer. To date most of the attention on small cells has focused on enhancing capacity in high-traffic urban areas. But some network operators also have begun to deploy small cell technology in rural areas as a more cost effective alternative to traditional macrocells.

Network operators in 16 US states could see a boost of at least 10 percent in the number of unserved people they could reach by deploying small cells rather than macrocells, according to the Small Cell Forum. And in all US states except Nevada, network operators could see at least a five percent boost in the number of unserved people they could reach by using small cells. Perhaps surprisingly, the 16 states that have the most to gain from small cell deployments are scattered around the country. They include Washington, California, Utah, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and Delaware.

Auction 97 -- More Lessons For Future Auctions

Additional reactions to Auction 97 are emerging with everyone putting their own spin on the results. Any serious analysis of the auction must be based on the facts of what actually happened in the auction -- not fiction and not bluster about “twin bell” monopolies.

Consider this an addendum to my last blog, with more lessons from the auction:
Lesson No. 6: You Can’t Win in an Auction if You Don’t Keep Bidding
Lesson No. 7: The Auction Mirrored the Industry – it was Intensively Competitive
Lesson No. 8: AT&T and Verizon Weren’t T-Mobile’s Competition in this Auction
Lesson No. 9: Perhaps We Need to Rethink Options for Small Facilities-based Entities

While others are now calling to expand the set asides, the cautionary tale of the AWS-3 auction suggests the contrary. Preferences and set asides can tilt the auction playing field in very unexpected ways. And history has shown us time and again how government preferences in a dynamic, rapidly changing industry can easily lead to perverse results. The 600 MHz auction is simply too important to get it wrong.

Statement From Broadcasting Board of Governors On CEO And Director Andrew Lack

The Broadcasting Board of Governors announced that CEO and Director Andrew Lack will be departing the agency. BBG’s Director of Global Operations André Mendes will serve as interim CEO and Director while a search is conducted for Lack’s replacement. Lack is in talks with NBC News for the top role overseeing NBCUniversal News Group, which has NBC News, MSNBC, and CNBC under it.

Chairman Walden: FCC Independence a Fiction

In a Q&A session hosted by the American Cable Association, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) said he had off-the-record conversations with companies that had told him Title II reclassification would translate into a 20 percent-30 percent cut in their broadband investments. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has downplayed warnings that investment cuts could be a byproduct of reclassification, pointing to statements by some executives that they would continue to invest.

Chairman Walden, continuing his recent criticisms of the White House’s push for Title II, said it is a “fiction” that the FCC is an independent agency and that the White House directive was a “tragedy” for professionals at the agency. Asked how he would define a successful new session of Congress, Chairman Walden said that would include "getting the FCC back in its box to do the things it is supposed to do.”

AT&T Pushes Ahead on Toll-Free Data Plans in Wake of Net Neutrality

AT&T continues to move forward with its trial of toll-free, or sponsored, data, despite concerns from the government. Sponsored data plans allow businesses to pick up the bill for consumers who use certain apps or services, and it’s still unclear whether that might run afoul of new network neutrality rules.

As he’s indicated previously, AT&T mobile and enterprise CEO Ralph de la Vega characterized the effort as a billing method and not a speed issue, which could be interpreted as a violation of neutrality. He said his initial belief is that the net neutrality policies passed by the FCC won’t impact the company’s plans. "It never was an issue of net neutrality,” he said. “I’m very pleased it looks like that will not be impacted.” The agency doesn’t exactly bar wireless companies from offering sponsored data plans or exempting some types of applications from data caps in the new rules. But it reserves the right to look at whether such plans violate the rules if it receives complaints.

Benton

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