Public Knowledge seeks a fourth condition in exchange for its bac...
Public Knowledge seeks a fourth condition in exchange for its backing the XM-Sirius merger, it told the FCC in an ex parte filing Friday. The combined company should agree to make its device and network technical specifications of “open…
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and available to allow device manufacturers to develop, and consumers to use, any device they choose without interference,” Public Knowledge said. Devices should be FCC- certified “for receiving signals on the frequencies licensed to the merged entity” and have to comply with a “do-no-harm” requirement, Public Knowledge said. The new condition is needed “for the merger to be in the public interest,” it said. “After talking with hardware companies, we realized this is a concern of theirs,” a spokesman for the group told us by way of explaining why the proposal came so late. “As the FCC is still in the early stages of its analysis, we thought it proper to bring it to the attention of FCC staff.” Previously, Public Knowledge hinged its merger support on the combined company’s having to: (1) Offer a la carte or tiered programming pricing choices. (2) Make 5 percent of its capacity available to noncommercial educational and information programming over which it has no editorial control. (3) Hold the line on prices for its combined programming package for three years after the merger is approved.