Bartees Cox Jr

Public Knowledge, CFA, and EFF Submit Music Licensing Testimony to House Judiciary Committee

Public Knowledge, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) submitted written testimony to the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet for the hearing titled, "Music Licensing Under Title 17 Part Two."

The following can be attributed to Jodie Griffin, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge:

"Law that shapes the music licensing system should encourage a competitive and innovative market of music platforms that are accountable to music fans and musicians. This requires a set of well-developed structures that promote efficient licensing practices that minimize costs for everyone while promoting competition between intermediaries like record labels, publishers, collective licensing organizations, and distribution services.”

Public Knowledge to Testify in House AT&T DirecTV Merger Hearing

Public Knowledge senior staff attorney, John Bergmayer, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in the hearing titled, "The Proposed Merger of AT&T and DirecTV."

In Bergmayer's testimony he will call on Congress to be vigilant as multiple mergers come before it in the coming months.

"Policymakers and the press are paying a lot of attention to rumored deals like Sprint/T-Mobile, and pending mergers like Comcast/TimeWarner Cable," said Bergmayer. "But during this time of consolidation Congress must pay close attention to the specifics of each new deal as they are announced."

The following can be attributed to John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge: "AT&T and DirecTV directly compete in more than 60 local TV markets. This deal runs afoul of the Department of Justice's antitrust guidelines. It's hard to accept AT&T's claims that buying a direct rival can be good for competition.”

Letter Warns Senate of Adverse Implications in DOTCOM Act

A letter was sent to the Senate supporting the National Telecommunications Information Administration's (NTIA) intent to shift the stewardship of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions to an international multi-stakeholder model of Internet governance.

The letter also voices concerns with the House of Representative's approval of the Shimkus (R-KS) Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which reflects the language of the Domain Openness Through Continues Oversight Matters Act (DOTCOM Act) of 2014.

The DOTCOM Act would effectively stop the NTIA from upholding its commitment to the global Internet governance multi-stakeholder approach.

The following can be attributed to Carolina Rossini, Vice President of International Policy: "The DOTCOM Act stops the United States from upholding it's decades long commitment to the rest of the world that NTIA's stewardship of IANA functions are temporary. A transition would reassure the world of the United States’ commitment to an open, participatory, and decentralized approach to Internet governance.”

She added: "Those who drafted the DOTCOM Act expressed concerns that the multi-stakeholder approach would open the door to Internet governance by authoritarian regimes. However, the DOTCOM Act could have the opposite effect in empowering nations seeing greater governmental control of the Internet."

The signees of the letter are as follows: Public Knowledge, Access, New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Democracy & Technology.

Public Interest Spectrum Coalition Sends Letter to Support Competition in Incentive Auction

The Public interest Spectrum Coalition (PISC) submitted a letter supporting the Federal Communications Commission's plan to ensure that competitive carriers can bid on spectrum in the upcoming Incentive Auction.

"Specifically, we believe that reserving some reclaimed broadcast spectrum in each local market for competitive carriers will be a significant step forward. This proceeding may represent one of the last chances to clear and auction low-band spectrum for some time, and that low-band spectrum is critical for offering competitive mobile broadband services."

The letter listed three reasons why the FCC should reserve at least 30 MHz for competitors:

  • In light of the recent efforts by AT&T and Verizon to confuse the issues, we want to stress the three most important reasons the Commission should reject these last minute efforts to undermine the existing auction proposal.
  • If even AT&T and Verizon need 20 MHz each to make participation worthwhile, then how can competitors with even less low-band spectrum hope to compete without a reserve of 30 MHz or more?
  • The Commission must nurture the current “green shoots” of reinvigorated competition.

Consumers should have more good choices as a result of the auction, not just an increasingly entrenched duopoly.
The letter was signed by the following organizations: Public Knowledge; Benton Foundation; Center for Media Justice; Center for Rural Strategies; Common Cause; Consumer Federation of America; Free Press; Institute for Local Self-Reliance; National Hispanic Media Coalition; Open Technology Institute; New America Foundation; TURN--The Utility Reform Network; United Church of Christ; Writers Guild of America, West; and X-Lab, New America Foundation.

FCC Phases in Rate Floor Increase and Proposes Increased Broadband Speed Requirements

The Federal Communications Commission announced that it would delay implementing an increase in the rate floor for high cost area funding until January 2015.

At that point the FCC will increase the rate floor incrementally instead of increasing the rate floor from $14 to $20.46 for phone service. The FCC will also conduct a new urban rate survey, and it will not apply the rate floor increase for lines with customers using the Lifeline program.

In addition to the rate floor announcement, the FCC proposed an increase in the minimum broadband speed requirements for the recipients of high cost support.

"Broadband is an evolving standard and connections should become more robust to access the growing number of services that depend on ubiquitous and reliable connectivity," said John Bergmayer, Senior Staff Attorney at Public Knowledge. "It's good to see the FCC revisit the standards an Internet connection must meet to qualify as broadband, but there is still work to be done. Broadband connections should offer fast and reliable upload as well as download capability. The FCC must continue to update its standards as the needs of the public continue to evolve."