August 2016

AT&T has taken aim at the Computer & Communications Industry Association in comments at the Federal Communications Commission, calling CCIA's compromise proposal on set-tops, "a thinly veiled repackaging of the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)’s unlawful, unwise, and unworkable unbundling proposal." CCIA members include Google, Amazon, Dish and Tivo. The CCIA proposal was billed as a bridge over the divide between the FCC's "unlock the box" proposal and the National Cable & Telecommunications Associations app-based "ditch the box" proposal, but the white paper submitted recently read more like a defense of the FCC proposal, saying the NCTA alternative is " light in detail and heavy with loopholes" and would "box out" competition, while the FCC proposal is a solution that gives consumers "real choice."

The FCC proposal is to require MVPDs to provide their program and data streams to third parties for apps and competitive navigation devices. NCTA has countered with a proposal for an app that third parties could use to display MVPD programming alongside over-the-top programming, but would retain the channel lineup and that includes contractual placements and protections. AT&T pointed out in its critique of CCIA that while the white paper purports to remedy the copyright and contract issues raised by allowing third party access to MVPD's--like AT&T's U-Verse--disaggregated programming streams and data, CCIA instead explicitly concedes that its proposal would not hold third parties to all contractual requirements. "Because third parties are not parties to and lack access to programmers’ private contracts, there should be no expectation that competitive navigation devices can or should have to follow those restrictions," AT&T says, quoting from the CCIA white paper filing to the FCC.

[Commentary] Between election day and inauguration day, there are ten and a half weeks for a new President to get his or her policy agenda in order, and the next President will need to hit the ground running once in office. When it comes to internet policy, it will be necessary to build on the forward momentum that has brought this Administration closer to closing the digital divide.

President Obama’s technology agenda was ambitious, particularly on issues like network neutrality and broadband access and adoption, and his success on those issues is likely to shape his legacy as a technology leader. One of the most important tasks on the next President’s plate will be to resist the temptation to focus exclusively on newer, shinier policy priorities, and to instead continue to build on the groundwork that the Obama Administration laid to fully close the digital divide. President Barack Obama worked to ensure an open, robust, and affordable internet in communities across the country. He made impressive progress. But the next President must ensure that the benefits of broadband access are realized for all communities.