July 2015

Recap: Wireless Broadband and the Future of Spectrum Policy

The Senate Commerce held a hearing, Wireless Broadband and the Future of Spectrum Policy, on Wednesday, July 29, 2015. The aim was to explore US spectrum policy and how it could be improved to accommodate consumers' growing demands for wireless broadband. A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing the federal government to free up more wireless airwaves. Among the ideas floated by lawmakers and witnesses were proposals to incentivize federal agencies to hand over their valuable spectrum to the private sector. That could include providing more money to federal agencies to help them move their operations to different bandwidths, freeing up airwaves.

Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said, “This committee should exert that same degree of leadership and consensus in addressing this future spectrum policy,” but he cautioned later that it was unlikely any bill would be completed before the committee finished its series of hearings on the subject. He also said there is no guarantee a spectrum bill would be attached to a larger overall of the cornerstone Communications Act. “I suspect that it gets attached to some vehicle. … It would be hard to picture moving stuff like this as a freestanding bill,” Chairman Thune said. "But whether or not it gets attached to a vehicle coming out of this committee, which would be a broader telecom rewrite or update, I would say that’s a possibility or it could be freestanding or attached to something else,” he added. He said the focus of long-range plan should be on (1) improving how government manages, shares, and relinquishes spectrum; (2) identifying specific bands to open up for private, commercial use; and (3) reducing the cost of deployment.

Sen Bill Nelson (D-FL), ranking member of the committee, took the opportunity of Federal Communications Commission member Jessica Rosenworcel's appearance to praise her leadership on spectrum policy and, noting that her renomination is before the Committee, advised the majority to take it up without delay.

There was general consensus that the effort needed to balance licensed and unlicensed. Not surprisingly, witness Meredith Attwell Baker of CTIA: The Wireless Association, put the exclamation point on licensed. Commissioner Rosenworcel talked about a balanced approach, but put in a plug for unlicensed. "We need more Wi-Fi," she told the senators, and said that unlicensed need to get a "cut" of whatever spectrum is freed up going forward. Commissioner Rosenworcel has argued that to pry more spectrum out of the hands of government agencies, they should be given a carrot rather than shown a stick. She continued that pitch at the hearing, saying the government should consider a version of the broadcast incentive auction for government spectrum users. Baker agreed that would be a good idea, as did Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), who has teamed up on a bill to that effect. But Blair Levin, architect of the National Broadband Plan, said he had some doubts that a government version of the auction would work.

In his testimony, Levin urged Congress to direct the creation of a plan for repurposing the government spectrum.

Rep Shimkus: Senate must pass Internet domain bill

Rep John Shimkus (R-IL) said the Senate must pass his bill if Congress wants any oversight over the government's handoff of the Internet domain name system. Rep Shimkus, who sponsors an oversight bill that already passed the House, said his bill should move easily through the Senate chamber before adding, "nothing moves easily through the Senate chamber." "But if you really want to have an extension of the contract, so that you can do at least oversight over the final product, you have to pass the Dotcom Act, the President has to sign it into law," he said.

Bipartisan lawmakers recently struck a compromise that would give Congress 30 legislative day to review a final transition plan before it moves forward. It would also require the non-profit group in charge of the transition to implement a number of accountability measures before the move. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) has placed a hold on the legislation in the upper chamber. He wants to add an amendment that would require a congressional vote before the transition moved forward. The current legislation would allow the transition if Congress does not act. But GOP supporters of the bill, like Rep Shimkus, say that would upset the delicate compromise struck with Democrats.

The Senate's Cybersecurity Bill Is in Trouble

After a pair of massive cyberattacks compromised the personal information of more than 22 million people, most of whom work or worked for the government, lawmakers saw an opportunity to push for cybersecurity legislation that has been stuck in Congress for years. Despite the calls for urgency, passing a bill won't be easy. \

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, or CISA, a Senate bill intended to facilitate the exchange of cyberthreat information between the private sector and the government, has been dogged by conflict and concerns about overreach, and is falling prey to partisan fights that have nothing to do with the issue. Although the plan was to turn to CISA after the highway bill gets a vote, according to multiple Senate sources, Senators may instead take up a measure that would defund Planned Parenthood -- eating into time the Senate needs to vote on CISA. There's also a possibility that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will send lawmakers home this week after they vote on a highway funding bill, leaving the cybersecurity bill for the fall. "I'm sad to say I don't think that's going to happen," Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) said about a vote on the CISA bill. "I think we're just running out of time."

Want to listen to radio on your phone? AT&T’s about to make it a lot easier.

AT&T customers who miss listening to FM channels will soon be able to flip on their local stations and listen live anytime they want. Starting with every new Android phone it sells in 2016, AT&T will be activating the receiver inside that's designed to tap into FM signals. Many smartphones today already come with FM chips. In other countries, these get turned on. But not all cellular carriers in the United States support FM radio out-of-the-box. Sprint only began "lighting up" those FM chips in 2013.

Now AT&T is the latest telecommunications company to add support for FM radio, partnering with the company NextRadio to offer access to radio programs that come to you over the traditional airwaves rather than the Internet. NextRadio is an app that adds an FM tuner to your smartphone, letting you select and change channels.

RTDNA files comments with FCC over indecency fine

Earlier in 2015, the Federal Communications Commission gave notice that it planned to levy its maximum penalty for indecency over a three-second video clip in a news story, aired by WDBJ-TV in Roanoke (VA). The fine was announced in March, penalizing the station for a July 12, 2012 newscast, which apparently aired what the agency termed, "extremely graphic and explicit sexual content." The story centered on a former adult film actress who had applied to work on a volunteer EMT rescue squad, and included a still photo taken from an adult website. RTDNA objected to the FCC's decision to assess the maximum fine, for a fleeting and inadvertent image in the news story, and filed comments with the FCC in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters, calling on the agency to drop the proposed fine. "Our filing explains the key issues stations have with the FCC's indecency policy, which is that it is poorly defined and randomly enforced," said Mike Cavender, RTDNA Executive Director. "In particular, we are concerned about the chilling effect this kind of uncertainly creates for newsrooms until the FCC can adopt a clear and fair approach." Schurz Communications, the station's owner, has vowed to appeal the fine.

LPTVs Unconvinced by Chairman Wheeler

Low Power TV advocates were not reassured by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's pledge to Congress that the FCC was taking steps to mitigate the impact of the post-incentive auction TV station repack on LPTVs and translators, which he called important voices. Following an FCC oversight hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee at which Chairman Wheeler talked about the fate of LPTVs and translators, which are not participating in the incentive auction and do not have interference or channel placement protection after it per statute, LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition director Mike Gravino said the clock "is ticking" and that "if both the FCC and Congress do not want the incentive auction held up in the Court of Appeals, there had better be an accommodation for major market urban LPTV and small market and rural translators."

Gravino said his takeaway from the hearing was that "the FCC does not have an impact analysis for LPTV and TV translators, and that the auction process is a great unknown based on which broadcasters and buyers participate." Of particular concern to Gravino and his members is an FCC plan to reserve the last vacant channel in a market -- it is unclear just how many markets that would affect -- to unlicensed wireless. "[T]here are over 900 cities of license where there is only one LPTV or TV translator license, meaning unlicensed would get that last remaining channel," Gravino said.

NAB Says FCC Must Conduct Translator, LPTV Impact Study

The issue of the impact of the broadcast incentive auction on translators, which relay full-power TV station signals to hard-to-reach areas, is getting a lot of attention. On July 27, a day before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler was grilled on the issue in the House Communications Subcommittee, executives from the National Association of Broadcasters and others met with Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and staffers for Chairman Wheeler and other Commissioners to talk about the fate of low powers. NAB is particularly concerned about the FCC proposal to reserve the last vacant channel in a market for unlicensed use. While the legislation establishing the auction did not include participation by LPTVs and translators, which have secondary status to full powers when it comes to channels and interference, NAB said that did not make them "extraneous or expendable."

Instead, said NAB, they are "a vital part of the broadcast ecosystem and a lifeline to local news and information for viewers who otherwise could not receive over-the-air service." NAB concedes that the FCC is not required to protect the stations in the auction, and some will be displaced, "reserving for unlicensed users a channel that would otherwise be available in the broadcast band for television service will force more translators and low power stations off the air." The broadcasters urged the commission to conduct an impact study of translators and low powers that will be displaced after the auction. Chairman Wheeler told Congress that the FCC won't know the full impact until after the auction, but NAB said the FCC should do the study assuming a range of different outcomes. NAB said a study would have no effect on the timing of the auction, and that it would be glad to help with it.

Public Knowledge Joins Letter Opposing Act Limiting Independent Agencies

Public Knowledge joined more than 50 other consumer, small business, community, health, environmental and civil rights groups in a letter to the Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee urging members to oppose the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2015. Public Knowledge opposes this act due to its potential consequences on independent agencies like the Federal Communications Commission. These effects could then be subject to presidential influence and new burdens that might reduce its ability to protect the public interest.

Chris Lewis, Vice President of Government Affairs at Public Knowledge, said, "Public Knowledge today adds its voice to the long list of organizations concerned about the direction of this bill. In communications policy, we've spent the last eight months hearing net neutrality opponents falsely claim that net neutrality rules only happened because of undue influence by the administration on the FCC as an independent agency. Now many of the same folks are calling for the administration to direct the FCC in all its rulemakings. The FCC and other independent agencies were created by Congress with a broader public interest mandate beyond basic economic impact on companies. This bill threatens to tip the balance away from basic consumer protection and public interest rule making."

Chattanooga Gigabit: EPB Looking at Next-Gen PON

EPB, the first US company to broadly deploy gigabit service residentially, has put any plans to expand service outside its electric utility service territory on hold, said Danna Bailey, EPB vice president of corporate communications, at the company headquarters in Chattanooga (TN).

EPB has received requests from surrounding communities, some of whom must rely on dial-up internet, to expand service. Although the Federal Communications Commission earlier this pre-empted a Tennessee law preventing the company from expanding, the state of Tennessee has filed its own suit which argues that the FCC did not have the authority to overturn the state law -- and EPB does not plan to expand service until the issue is resolved, Bailey said. Tennessee laws also prevent EPB from offering home security and similar services, noted Colman Keane, director of fiber technology for EPB. Some other broadband providers have found home automation and security to be logical add-ons to their offerings, but some such offerings are off-limits for EPB.

Direct Video Calling Increases Access for Deaf Citizens

We are pleased to announce that two agencies that routinely interface with the disabilities community -- the US Census Bureau and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) -- will soon be taking up direct video calling technology to allow Deaf citizens to communicate directly with American Sign Language (ASL)-fluent call operators there.

This work responds to President Barack Obama's 2011 executive order calling upon agencies to use technology to improve customer service, and is another step in the right direction. Why? In general, citizens who are deaf reach federal agencies via third-party interpreters who facilitate their conversations by interpreting to those on the other end of the line. But broadband and faster connections have made direct video calling not just possible, but commonplace. With this technology, the result can be a call that is direct, clear, and can allow Americans who are deaf to communicate in American Sign Language. And that’s why the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) led the charge in 2014, as the first federal agency to accept direct video calls from the Deaf, so that ASL-speaking Americans could connect with customer service representatives fluent in ASL and communicate with them directly rather than via an interpreter. In June, the Small Business Administration responded to the FCC’s initiative by starting their own direct video communication pilot, which will allow entrepreneurs who are deaf to better access the Small Business Administration’s services. And now, two more agencies have joined this growing effort.

Benton

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