Jon Brodkin

President-elect Donald Trump announced a third advisor to oversee the Federal Communications Commission's transition from Democratic to Republican control. Roslyn Layton, Trump's new addition, joins Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison on the FCC transition team. All three are outspoken opponents of the FCC's Title II network neutrality rules and are affiliated with the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Layton argued on the AEI blog that government regulations aren't necessary to protect net neutrality.

"Regulation proponents argue that without such rules your Internet provider would speed up or slow down websites," she wrote. "There have never been rules against this, but Internet providers don’t do it anyway. Simply put, the business opportunity to deliver an open Internet is far greater. Failing that, antitrust laws deter discriminatory behavior, already ensuring net neutrality." Layton opposed proposed rules intended to provide alternatives to set-top boxes that must be rented from cable TV companies and customer privacy rules for Internet providers. She also supports ISPs' right to accept money in exchange for exempting some services from data caps.

The mere presence of gigabit Internet speeds in a metro area drives down the price of plans with slower speeds, according to new industry-funded research. Thus, the data suggests that even customers who don't purchase gigabit Internet benefit from its availability. This research also found—to no one’s surprise—that having more Internet service providers in a particular region drives prices down and that the presence of fast speeds encourages other ISPs to offer higher-speed plans to match their competitors.

The study, titled “Broadband competition helps to drive lower prices and faster download speeds for US residential consumers,” analyzed DSL, cable, and fiber broadband plans from the 100 largest DMAs (designated market areas) in the US. It was written by Analysis Group, an economics consulting firm, with research funding from the Fiber to the Home Council, an industry consortium founded by fiber network equipment manufacturers.

As Republicans prepare to take over the Federal Communications Commission, outgoing Chairman Tom Wheeler defended his Democratic majority’s decisions and said he hopes the FCC will continue to protect consumers under President Donald Trump. Chairman Wheeler said: "Certain of my colleagues identified the items on today's proposed agenda as controversial and asked that they not be considered today. I hope that this doesn't mean that these issues won't be quickly addressed after the transfer of leadership of this agency. It is unfortunate that hospitals and small businesses in search of competitive alternatives will be denied that opportunity. They deserve better from this commission. It is truly disappointing that 1.4 million Americans living in rural areas without LTE service will continue to be so deprived. They deserve better from this commission. And it is tragic that 1.3 million Americans who are blind and millions more who are visually impaired will not be able to enjoy expanded video description. They deserve better from this commission. All of these matters are so-called 'controversial' because they are opposed principally by the largest incumbent firms in the sector. As the deferred items reflect, when so-called controversy is the result of choosing between the broader common good or those incumbents preferring the status quo, I believe the public interest should prevail."

“Taking a fast, fair and open internet away from the public would be a real mistake,” a somber and steely-eyed Chairman Wheeler told reporters after the FCC’s monthly meeting. “Taking away network privacy that consumers enjoy as a result of our decision would be a real mistake.”

The Federal Communications Commission has deleted every major item from the agenda of its Nov 2016 meeting, apparently submitting to a request from GOP leaders to halt major rulemakings until President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated as President. Republicans from the House and Senate sent letters to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Nov 15 urging him to stand down in his final months as FCC Chairman. The GOP pointed out that the FCC halted major rulemakings eight years ago after the election of Barack Obama when prompted by a similar request by Democratic lawmaekrs. Chairman Wheeler's office hadn't said whether it will comply with the request, but Nov 16 it announced the deletion of all items that were originally scheduled to be presented and voted on at Nov 17's meeting.

The FCC said the items "remain on circulation," which means they can still be voted on, but a vote doesn't appear likely. Before the change, the agenda included votes on price caps for “special access” business data services; Universal Service funding to expand mobile broadband networks; wireless roaming obligations; and requirements for audio description of TV programming for blind and visually impaired people. The only item not deleted from Nov 17's meeting is part of the "consent agenda," which means it is routine and wasn't going to be presented individually.

Comcast has decided to stop enforcing data caps and overage fees in Maine and signaled that states in the company's northeast region will remain cap-free, at least for now. But for Comcast customers in other states, don't get your hopes up that data caps will disappear. Comcast dramatically expanded the caps on November 1 and will continue to apply the data limits and overage fees in 27 states out of the 39 states Comcast operates in. Comcast says that eliminating data caps in Maine is only about bringing the state in line with company policy elsewhere in the Northeast. A Comcast FAQ says that the data cap in Maine is being suspended effective December 1. If Comcast really wanted a consistent policy it could eliminate data caps nationwide (or enforce the caps nationwide), but Comcast's data cap policies have been anything but consistent.

Tom Wheeler’s time as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is nearing an end now that Republican Donald Trump has won the presidency. You can expect Chairman Wheeler to step down from his chairmanship on or before January 20, when President-elect Trump is inaugurated. It’s customary for the chair to step down when the White House shifts to the opposing party. All five FCC commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the US Senate, with the president’s party having a one-vote majority. (The president usually appoints minority party commissioners based on recommendations made by minority party lawmakers.) President-elect Trump can’t force Chairman Wheeler, a Democrat, to leave the commission entirely before his term expires, but the president can designate a new chairperson. “The president decides who is the chair, so Wheeler will certainly no longer be chair on the first day of the administration,” said Harold Feld, senior VP of advocacy group Public Knowledge.

Chairman Wheeler's FCC passed a number of controversial changes, none bigger than the reclassification of broadband providers as common carriers and imposition of net neutrality rules. If Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the election, Chairman Wheeler would still likely step down sometime in 2017, but he could push through some more rule changes without fearing that they would be quickly undone. With Republicans about to take over, any last-minute votes are in danger of being overturned. Chairman Wheeler’s attempt to save customers money by reforming the cable TV set-top box market may therefore be dead.

Once again, a Federal Communications Commission attempt to lower the price inmates pay for phone calls has been blocked in court. A ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted a petition for a stay filed by Securus Technologies. This puts a halt to rate caps on inmate calling services that were implemented in August.

“Petitioners have satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” judges wrote.

The FCC has repeatedly been stymied in attempts to lower the rates inmates pay for phone calls to family, friends, and lawyers. After a March 2016 federal appeals court ruling stayed new rate caps of 11¢ to 22¢ per minute on both interstate and intrastate calls from prisons, the FCC proposed new caps of 13¢ to 31¢ per minute in an attempt to satisfy the court. Those new caps were halted in the latest ruling.

Before Charter purchased Time Warner Cable (TWC) in May of 2016, the company promised New York state regulators that it would bring broadband to 145,000 unserved and underserved homes and businesses by 2020. The condition helped Charter win government approval of the merger. Christian Babcock of Schuylerville (NY) is one of the state’s unserved residents, but he has no idea if his home will be included in the required buildout to 145,000 locations.

Before the merger, TWC told Babcock he’d have to pay thousands of dollars up front to subsidize construction needed to serve his home. Even now, the Charter-owned TWC is demanding more than $9,000 in exchange for service. That's the price to cover Charter's construction; Babcock would have to pay that plus the usual monthly service fees. Making the situation even more frustrating, Charter wouldn’t have to extend the TWC network very far to reach the house owned by Babcock and his wife. One nearby house has Charter service already, Babcock says. But even just getting an accurate explanation of the costs has been a hassle.

The Federal Communications Commission has given a helping hand to Louisville (KY) in the city's attempt to enforce local rules that would make it easier for Google Fiber to compete against AT&T. AT&T sued the local government in Louisville and Jefferson County in February to stop a One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) ordinance designed to give Google Fiber or other new competitors faster access to utility poles.

Oct 31, the US government submitted a statement of interest on behalf of the FCC, which says that one of AT&T’s primary legal arguments is incorrect. AT&T—also known as BellSouth Telecommunications in Kentucky—argued that the Louisville ordinance is preempted by the FCC’s pole-attachment rules. The local ordinance "conflicts with the procedures created by the FCC, and upsets the careful balances struck by the FCC in crafting its pole attachment regulations," AT&T's lawsuit said. But that is false, the FCC says. The FCC does have rules ensuring reasonable access to utility poles, but states are allowed to opt out of the federal pole-attachment rules if they certify to the commission that they regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of pole attachments. Kentucky is one of 20 states that has opted out of the federal regime and imposed its own rules, the FCC noted. “Accordingly, the federal pole-attachment regulations enacted under Section 224 [of the Communications Act] simply do not apply here,” the FCC wrote. More generally, One Touch Make Ready rules are consistent with federal communications policies and regulations that seek expanded broadband deployment, the FCC also wrote.

Some news organizations have reported that Time Warner has only one Federal Communications Commission license, for a TV station in Atlanta, and that the AT&T/Time Warner merger wouldn't be reviewed by the FCC if Time Warner sells that TV station to a third party. That is not correct, however.

Time Warner programmers such as HBO, CNN, and Turner Broadcasting System also have dozens of FCC licenses that let them upload video to satellites used by pay-TV companies. These licenses are crucial for distributing video to cable TV providers. It isn't only satellite TV companies like Dish or the AT&T-owned DirecTV that use satellites to send programmers' video to consumers' homes—even cable companies like Comcast use what's called a "headend in the sky" to receive and distribute video. The FCC's list of active satellite Earth station licenses shows that CNN America has 36 such licenses covering operations at specific locations. HBO and HBO Latin America have a combined seven licenses, and Turner Broadcasting System has 14 licenses. That's 57 licenses that could trigger an FCC review. Licenses for some of the same locations were part of the FCC's review of Time Warner's merger with AOL in 2001. AT&T would love to avoid an FCC review, which in the past has killed deals such as AT&T/T-Mobile and Comcast/Time Warner Cable.