Broadcasting&Cable

The Protect Internet Freedom coalition said those with concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's proposal on broadband privacy have submitted over a quarter of a million comments to the FCC as of June 6, which is the deadline. The group said that was the total that had been submitted from its online platform. Given that the FCC's online docket showed 271,473 comments (218,198 in the last 30 days alone), the group was concluding that "despite all of the setbacks and glitches, opposition comments are still in the overwhelming majority of total comments filed." The FCC has had some problems with comment backlogs across all its dockets, including broadband privacy, due to an aging system that has recently been replaced. PIF complained to the FCC about the backlog.

Larry Downes, project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy, is no fan of the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy proposal. Downes filed a letter in the docket referencing his article in the Harvard Business Review on what he says is the three major problems with the FCC proposal:

False Premise – The FCC’s assumption that Internet service providers have 'unique' access to consumer information is flatly wrong. Thanks to a nearly-complete campaign to encrypt information flow, ISPs are largely blind to the kind of sensitive information the FCC claims as its chief motivation for the rulemaking.

Double Standard – Leaving out the dominant 'edge' providers who are in fact the 'gatekeepers' of transactional information unnecessarily subjects consumers to two sets of different rules and different enforcement mechanisms for information exchange.

Transaction Costs of 'Opt-In' – Subjecting ISPs and ISPs alone to 'opt-in' requirements for nearly any use of consumer information, as all economists agree, significantly raises the transaction costs of precisely the kind of information exchanges that have so far fueled the 'cycle of innovation' that elsewhere the FCC praises as the source of the Internet’s phenomenal success. To do so only for those providers who have the least access to transaction data is both arbitrary and capricious.

The National Association of Broadcasters says it is fine with the Federal Communications Commission extending its online political file mandate to all video services, including cable and satellite and even broadcast radio, though there are some issues with the last that might require a phased-in approach.

The Federal Communications Commission said it supports the National Association of Broadcasters' request for expedited hearing of NAB's challenge to a portion of the incentive auction rules.

While saying it was not agreeing with NAB's criticism of the FCC's auction order, or that broadcasters would suffer irreparable injury absent the quick turn-around, it agreed that it was "generally in the public interest" to resolve the issue as promptly as possible.

CBS radio stations KMOX in St. Louis, WCCO Minneapolis, KXNT Las Vegas, and KDKA Pittsburgh have rejected an ad from the American Television Alliance promoting a new "local choice" retransmission-remaking proposal that TV stations say threatens their business model and localism.

Most people looking for a new device for watching video want a big screen TV, and they want one that allows them to stream content -- or at least that is what is strongly suggested by findings of a qualitative study conducted for the Council for Research Excellence (CRE) by GfK.

We found that the dominant consideration driving video-device purchase and usage decisions was content, and that consumers demand devices that can stream content -- to enable time-shifting or binge-watching, for example. All participating households, regardless of demographic or technographic differences, sought ways to stream content, while some sought to “cast” content from one device to another.

Our longitudinal ethnography exposed us to what we and the research team have coined “hyper viewing.” We learned that special viewing events and favorite shows compel these behaviors: Pronounced simultaneous, multiscreen usage and mobile viewing; continuous conversation via social media, IM, in-person and remote chats; and the use of new applications, websites and platforms in the effort to enjoy an enhanced viewing experience.

[Brink is VP Digital Research & Analytics at Scripps Networks; Cowan is director, analytics and insight at MEC]

The National Association of Broadcasters wants the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to put the pedal to the metal when it comes to setting a briefing and oral argument schedule for its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's incentive auction or else the case may not be decided before the auction is over.

NAB filed a motion for expedited review, requesting a decision form the court on its motion by Sept 5.

Gray Television has entered into definitive agreements to transfer six TV stations to new owners. Gray retained the brokerage arm of the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) to find owners for the stations that it has acquired in multi-station deals, but cannot technically own.

Gray will provide services to the stations, which include markets in North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska and Louisiana.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler praised the move: “We applaud the commitment of MMTC and Gray Television to find buyers for each of the six Gray stations that would increase diversity of ownership and programming in each of these markets. Such actions demonstrate how our rules can actively promote both competition and diversity, keep stations on the air, and serve the public interest.”

Spanish-language programmer Entravision says the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger will harm the Latino community and competing Latino-market program providers, and says the Federal Communications Commission should make Comcast divest its Spanish language networks as a condition of approval of the deal.

In comments to the FCC on the proposed deal, Entravision says that the combined company will have more buying power in the Latino programming market and could favor its own Latino-focused programming over independent programming, including from Entravision. That means a probable pay cut to independent programmers, if they are not foreclosed altogether, the company says.

Sinclair Broadcasting has told the Federal Communications Commission it must either put conditions on the Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger -- including retransmission conditions --deregulate broadcasters, or deny the deal.

Sinclair wants the FCC to ensure, for example, that Comcast’s NBC could not charge more in reverse compensation to Sinclair than it does its own stations. And given that TWC has a management deal with Bright House and "routinely negotiates" for it, Sinclair says the FCC needs to take that into account when determining whether the new company controls more than 30% of video subscribers.