Broadcasting&Cable

Incoming House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) has named Ray Baum, formerly senior policy advisory and chief strategist for the committee, as the committee's new staff director. He replaces Gary Andres.

Baum was named VP of government relations for the National Association of Broadcasters in March. Baum was a senior advisor to Rep Walden, who has been chair of the Communications Subcommittee, when he came to Washington in 2011. He got an expanded role as senior policy advisor to the full committee in 2013. Baum was also majority leader of the Oregon House of Representatives---he and Rep Walden were elected to the Oregon State House in 1988. Before that he was a commissioner with the Oregon Public Utility Commission, including chairman in 2010. He was also chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecommunications Committee. Baum's name surfaced as a candidate for the Republican seat of Commissioner Robert McDowell of the Federal Communications Commission back in 2013, a post that ultimately went to Commissioner Michael O'Rielly.

The Word Network has filed complaints against Comcast at the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission over Comcast's reduction of its carriage, a representative for the network confirms. Word Network wants the FCC and the FTC to investigate "[t]he unjust removal of The Word Network," as well as diversity and retrans-related issues. The Word Network is a religious network targeted to African Americans. The network said after it contacted Comcast about the carriage reduction and asked the reason, it was told "because we are Comcast, and we can." Comcast executives speaking on background said that was not accurate.

Some deregulatory groups are trying to prevent a possible "compromise" vote on the renomination of Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel of the Federal Communications Commission, suggesting instead that she leave the commission after the current congress but return during the next.

TechFreedom and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have joined with a couple of others in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to say they supported Commissioner Rosenworcel's renomination but not if it creates a deadlocked 2-2 commission. Additionally, the did not support a remonidation before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler leaves to remove the possibility of a Republican President and a Democratic majority on the FCC. That means they want Commissioner Rosenworcel to have to leave the FCC after the lame duck but then be returned to her seat after a new chair or third Republican commissioner is seated. They say they expect Commissioner Rosenworcel to be a "constructive participant" in reforming the FCC under a Republican majority but don't want her continued presence on the commission to prevent that majority during the transition.

In what they are calling an unprecedented, coordinated transatlantic effort, US and European privacy groups have filed complaints with European Union regulators and the Federal Trade Commission over "smart" Internet-connected toys, or what they dub "spy toys." US Groups filing the complaint at the FTC are Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (CCFC), the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), Consumers Union, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). The FTC complaint was lodged against Genesis Toys, the maker of My Friend Cayla and I-Que, and Nuance Communications, which provides voice recognition. Both Cayla and I-Que need to be linked to a Bluetooth-capable Apple or Android smart device to take advantage of their range of functions, the company says on its website. The groups say the toys propose significant security risks to kids and violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protections and FTC rules prohibiting unfair and deceptive practices. They want the FTC to investigate and then act to protect kids.

Stage three of the forward portion of the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction began and ended Dec 5 when forward auction bidders again refused to up their prices for reclaimed broadcast spectrum. In fact, the total after stage three was lower—$19,676,240,520—because the FCC reduced the amount of spectrum and the bidders simply reduced their demand along with it. That means the FCC will lower its spectrum-clearing target and proceed to stage four of the reverse auction.

The FCC said that stage four of the reverse auction will likely start Dec 13. It will provide details on Dec 9, including what the new clearing target will be. Stage three of the reverse auction ended last week with the broadcasters' new asking price now $40,313,164,425 for 108 MHz of spectrum (the "clearing target"). In stage two, the price was $55 billion for 114 MHz, but forward auction bidders, who had only ponied up $22 billion in stage one toward an opening price of $86 billion for 126 MHz, did not budge, simply reducing their demand rather than up the price. They did the same Dec 5, signaling broadcasters will have to drop their prices yet again, and wireless companies will get access to even less spectrum, in stage four. The FCC has nine different spectrum targets. Stage three of the reverse auction launched Nov. 1 at a 108 MHz clearing target. The next target is 84 MHz, which some see as the potential equilibrium point between broadcasters' asks and forward bidders' offers, perhaps around a $30 billion number.

Rep Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has been reelected by the House Republican Caucus to chair the House Judiciary Committee. The committee oversees some communications issues, particularly related to copyright and intellectual property, splitting oversight with the House Commerce Committee, whose new chair is Rep Greg Walden (R-OR) (outgoing E&C chair Fred Upton (R-MI) was term limited). In other committee election news, as legislators pick leadership for the new Congress seated in January, Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) was unanimously elected by his Democratic colleagues to remain ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.

With a new deregulatory Republican majority preparing to take the reins at the Federal Communications Commission under a President Donald Trump, the National Association of Broadcasters has petitioned the FCC to rethink its quadrennial media ownership review, which a divided FCC approved in August.

“After seven years of evaluating the rapidly changing media marketplace, the Federal Communications Commission recently adopted an order that remarkably retained—and in some cases made more stringent—its long-standing broadcast ownership rules,” NAB said in the petition. “Because these rules are divorced from current competitive realities, are based on faulty premises or misunderstandings of the law, lack evidentiary support and prevent local broadcasters from competing and serving their local communities effectively, the National Association of Broadcasters urges the Commission to reconsider major aspects of its Order."

President Barack Obama has signaled his intention to nominate Jeffrey Storey, president of Level 3 Communications, to the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

The President only has a few more weeks in office, but that is not stopping him from trying to fill numerous positions on the way out. Storey has been president and CEO since 2013 and was president/COO before that. He has also had senior executive positions with Cox—he was a founding member of Cox Business Services—and Southwestern Bell. Also being nominated to the advisory committee are John Donovan, group president of AT&T Technology and Operations, Steve Smith, president and CEO of Equinix; and Peter Altabef, president and CEO of Unisys.

A new American Consumer Institute (ACI) report concludes that federal regulations on broadband network companies—as distinguished from the edge providers not under that regime—has increased costs for those providers while lowering growth, suppressing investment and dampening job creation. “We’re witnessing a crippling wave of overregulation in the US telecommunications industry that is resulting in economic consequences that impede private investments and job creation, and at the end of the day the only losers are American consumers,” said Institute president Steve Pociask in a statement.

He called for a new approach. “Under this new administration, policymakers and regulators must put aside partisan agendas and work together to deliver practical broadband policies that level the competitive playing field and support our nation’s economy and encourages innovation.” One of the reports key points is the disparity between the regulated ISPs and the edge providers "who often call for the imposition of these rules on their would-be network rivals."

The third stage of the Federal Communications Commission's broadcast incentive spectrum auction closed Dec 1 after 52 rounds, with the broadcasters' new asking price now $40,313,164,425 for 108 MHz of spectrum. That is less than half of the broadcasters' original asking price, though that was for more spectrum. The FCC has said stage three of the forward auction is likely to begin Dec. 5, with all eyes on whether those bidders—wireless companies and others—will beat, meet, or at least approach that total. Beating or meeting it means the auction can close and the FCC can start the process of repacking TV stations into the smaller space, at least after there is a second mini-auction to allocate specific frequencies to the winning bidders.