June 2016

FACT SHEET: Updating Media Ownership Rules in the Public Interest

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Wheeler is delivering on his commitment to Congress and the Third Circuit, circulating the 2010/2014 Quadrennial review and rules that, if adopted, will take into account the evolving media marketplace and the Commission’s obligation to conduct timely review of the rules. Consistent the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Commission considers whether the rules continue to serve its goals of promoting competition, localism, and diversity – in particular, diversity of viewpoints in local markets, thereby enriching local communities. The rules now circulated for vote by the full Commission:

Preserve the existing ownership restrictions, with targeted modifications.
Carry out the Third Circuit’s remand of diversity issues, re-adopt the small business revenue-based eligible entity standard, address proposals submitted by MMTC, and decline to adopt race- or gender-based measures.
Readopt the TV Joint sales agreement attribution rule consistent with the court’s guidance in Prometheus III and Congress’s guidance on grandfathering.
Adopt a definition of shared services agreements; require that these agreements be filed with the Commissionand made publicly available; and do not attribute any such agreements, other than JSAs, at this time.

FACT SHEET: Expanding the Tech Economies of Communities across the Country

The Department of Labor is awarding 39 grants—totaling $150 million—for programs in 25 states and Washington (DC) to support innovative ways to get workers on the fastest paths to well-paying information technology and high-growth jobs in in-demand sectors like healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and financial services. Of these grants, $126 million will specifically target strategies designed to best support young Americans, ages 17 to 29. All of the partnerships funded engage in the following practices:

1) Expand access to accelerated learning options that provide a quick path to good jobs, such as “bootcamp”-style programs, online options, and competency-based programs.
2) Use data and innovative hiring practices to expand openness to non-traditional hiring by working with employers to build robust data on where they have the greatest needs, identify what skills they are looking for, and build willingness to hire from both nontraditional and traditional training programs.
3) Offer specialized training strategies, supportive services, and other participant-focused services that assist targeted populations to overcome barriers, including networking and job search, active job development, transportation, mentoring, and financial counseling.
4) Emphasize inclusion by leveraging the high demand for tech jobs and new training and hiring approaches to improve access to tech jobs for all citizens, including out-of-school and out-of-work young Americans, people with disabilities, people learning English as a second language, and people with criminal records.

European Union moving toward new charges against Google

European officials are moving closer to potentially hitting Google with yet another set of antitrust charges, this time over its advertising business, apparently. Other companies which had complained about Google to regulators have been asked to remove confidential sections from their submitted materials. Such requests are usually a first step to allowing regulators to share the evidence brought against Google with the company. Similar requests to remove confidential information were made prior to preliminary allegations coming down in previous cases. There is no guarantee though that charges will ultimately materialize.

The case concerns the contract that Google signs with people who want to use its advertising tools. Ads still generate the majority of its revenue for Google, now a subsidiary of holding company Alphabet. Critics claim Google has unfairly targeted competing advertising services and search tools. If European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager decides to file a formal statement of charges against Google, it will be the third case the company currently faces in Europe.

Debunking Anti-App Claims

Unless the path is altered soon, the Federal Communications Commission is on course to force adoption of a set-top-box (STB) technology mandate that will harm US video distributors, content producers, local advertisers, and ultimately consumers – without any assurances of saving one thin dime. Even if this plan is adopted by the Commission, it will be multiple years, if ever, before anything actually materializes. During this time, video delivery innovation will be slowed, if not halted altogether, as the industry muddles through the Commission’s latest edict.

The common-sense, technology-friendly replacement for STBs is presently before the Commission in the form of downloadable apps used daily by millions of American consumers. The argument in support of apps has been strengthened further by new details offered by various video providers, including firm commitments on timing and price, offering further comfort to those worried about an app-centric solution. However, given the substantive debate and political winds shifting away from the Commission’s illogical regime, advocates have started to attack the apps solution as a counteroffensive tactic. It seems only appropriate to address some claims made, debunk inaccuracies, and see if any legitimate objections remain.

Commissioner O'Rielly Remarks at Broadband for All Seminar in Stockholm

The Growing Demand for Wireless Broadband and Next Generation Technology: This timely seminar focuses on an issue facing all of our countries – how to keep pace with the growing demand for wireless services. Mobile broadband use continues to accelerate, and all indicators suggest that we are just at the tip of the iceberg. In the end, physics, engineering and consumer demand will determine the fate of 5G, but only if governments enable, as opposed to get in the way of, innovation and investment.

My kids don't have a YouTube channel — but they pretend they do

When I was a kid, I’d pretend to be a soldier or a baseball player. Today, kids apparently aspire to be vloggers. It’s not enough for them to watch their favorite shows. They want to broadcast their lives, banter with commenters and keep their make-believe view counts high. It’s a shift from the era of Mickey Mouse or Hannah Montana – and one that bodes well for YouTube as it tries to capture a generation of children who couldn’t tell you what a cable box was for.

In 2015, YouTube launched its first kids app, YouTube Kids. The app, which had more than 10 billion views the first year alone, comes with stricter advertising guidelines, parental controls and voice search that has an uncanny ability to understand kids (It took me weeks to realize what my kids were saying when they kept asking to watch a channel with 2.7 million subscribers called CookieSwirlC. I kept calling it Kooky World Sea). Children ages 11 and younger are one of the fastest growing audiences for digital video, growing nearly four times as fast as viewers ages 18 to 24, according to eMarketer.

How The Democrats’ Leading Software Provider Is Planning To Win You Over

The next time a volunteer for Hillary Clinton or another Democratic candidate shows up at your door, they may know more about you than you ever imagined. NGP Van, the leading software provider to the Democratic party, is rolling out some new automation features.

They include: forms on websites that can automatically fill out volunteer information; automated generation of e-mails for voters; and even updates to their app that generate talking points for campaign volunteers depending on how a conversation goes. Using the script branching feature, volunteers can talk to voters door-to-door while referring to a smartphone app that provides what NGP Van calls "dynamic canvassing scripts" that contain talking points which change depending on the response given by the person opening the door. Another automation feature the company added to its SaaS (software as a service) web app automatically generates volunteer workflows, which trigger follow-up e-mails based on responses knocking door to-door, and creates single-click sign-up forms. This functionality takes advantage of 40 million "action profiles," similar to cookies, that the company has acquired from users. The e-mails are designed to be increasingly personalized as the election cycle goes on; these features are commonly found in commercial customer-relationship management software such as Salesforce, but are not as commonly seen in the world of politics.

Remarks of Commissioner O'Rielly at the 2016 Conference of New Jersey Broadcasters Association

It is not lost on me that New Jersey has a unique situation with regards to television broadcasting. New Jerseyans are some of the most sought after consumers in all the world but do not have a DMA of their own, given the proximity to other metropolitan centers....If you don’t mind, I thought I would take a few moments to talk about some policy issues before the FCC that either are or should be important to New Jersey broadcasters.

Pirate Radio: First on my agenda is a discussion of pirate radio. This is a key area needing significant attention by the Commission as it represents a very real problem that is growing.
Media Ownership: Turning attention to a slightly different topic, let me spend a few moments discussing the issue of Commission’s media ownership rules and the fact that these rules do not reflect the modern media marketplace.
Set Top Boxes: On a related issue area, one item broadcasters should remain vigilant on this year is the Commission’s Navigation Devices proceeding. Most people are calling this the set top box item, but it’s really about much more than that.

Comment and Reply Deadlines Set for Public Inspection File NPRM

On May 25, 2016, the Commission released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) proposing to eliminate two public inspection file requirements: (i) the requirement that commercial broadcast stations retain in their public inspection file copies of letters and e-mails from the public, and (ii) the requirement that cable operators maintain for public inspection the designation and location of the cable system’s principal headend.

The Commission set deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 and 60 days, respectively, after publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register. The summary of the NPRM was published in the Federal Register on June 22, 2016. Accordingly, comments will be due on or before July 22, 2016, and reply comments on or before August 22, 2016. Commenters should follow the filing instructions provided in paragraph 21 of the NPRM.

NCTA: Business Data Proposal Could Impair 5G

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association said that while Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler has been stumping for 5G, the Business Data Service proceeding could slow 5G, not speed it as the chairman has suggested. "5G networks will rely on substantially more cell sites than prior generations of wireless service and, as a result, there will be a need for significant new fiber facilities to provide backhaul connecting these cell sites. The BDS Further Notice seeks comment on a number of proposals that could result in extensive new rate regulation of BDS services, including backhaul, resulting in less, not more, deployment of fiber," NCTA said.

NCTA is, not surprisingly, not happy with the prospect of the FCC not deciding to potentially regulate the rates of competitive providers as though they were a threat to competition, rather than a spur. It called that puzzling, echoing the dissent by FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai to the March vote on the proposal. He likened it to Alice in Wonderland.

Benton

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