Based on public broadcasting's success with lthe FY 2018 federal approprirations process, America's Public TV Stations (APTS) CEO Patrick Butler said . While the White House's FY 2019 budget proposal zeroes out CPB (see 1802120037), "we enjoy incredible support from Congress," APTS Chairman Ronnie Agnew said.
Some process and structural changes at the FCC should help ensure the agency operates differently even under future administrations, the agency's Republican commissioners said Friday at the American Conservative Union's (ACU) 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference. There, Chairman Ajit Pai was a surprise recipient of the National Rifle Association's Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award for his role in and the fallout from the net neutrality Title II rollback. Pai "saved the Internet" and weathered numerous death threats and having his property "invaded by the George Soros crowd," said ACU Executive Director Dan Schneider. Citing the newly created Office of Economics and Analytics (see 1801300026), Commissioner Brendan Carr said institutionalizing the idea of considering economic impacts of regulations should ensure that decision has long-term effect. Pai said his successor "will face a big fight" in the name of government openness if there are efforts to roll back his process change of making agenda items publicly available before meetings. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said the best way to help ensure that the free market path the FCC is on continues is to elect conservatives to the House and Senate and make sure President Donald Trump is re-elected. He also said "we could use everyone's help" in the looming fight in the Senate over Title II. Pai said his administration's focus on a Title II rollback was against the advice of some who urged him to take smaller, more incremental deregulatory steps, but "I don't play small ball." Carr and O'Rielly both highlighted the agency's efforts to foster 5G; Carr said the FCC should be able to complete this year the streamlining of federal permitting and processing procedures needed for 5G deployment. Asked about the vitriol he received on the net neutrality proceeding, Pai said it has "not been an easy time" and quoted a passage from Gandalf in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring: "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” He also said he would continue to speak out about the "poisonous political culture." The NRA award pre-empted a speech Pai was to deliver. The FCC didn't make available a copy of the speech but said Pai was "honored" by the recognition. According to the NRA, recipients have included talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Mike Pence, and the award is a Kentucky handmade long gun to be stored at an NRA museum.
ISPs are likely to get more stringent on policing copyright infringement by subscribers in light of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision on Cox Communications earlier this month (see 1802010026), with one possible result increased termination of subscribers, experts told us. People involved in Digital Millennium Copyright Act compliance at ISPs are likely to engage in more terminations to show the operator is assiduously following its own policies, said internet lawyer Lawrence Walters.
The National Space Council will bring to the president an array of recommendations, including that NTIA and the FCC work with the Commerce Department on spectrum protection policies that also facilitate commercial space activities. Among recommendations the NSC adopted at its Wednesday meeting at the Kennedy Space Center were a series from the Commerce Department, including relocating the Office of Space Commerce and all commercial remote sensing regulatory functions from NOAA, so they report directly to the Commerce secretary. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told the NSC a head of the Office of Space Commerce will be chosen soon. He also said Commerce is giving NTIA more funding for space-focused activities. Ross said Commerce is recommending it and the commercial space industry work on regulations for a mission authorization framework for all Newspace commercial activities, with those regulatory framework recommendations to be made by July 1. He said Commerce, the State Department and DOD jointly need to simplify the commercial remote sensing licensing regime. The current permitting process, which can run as long as five years, "is unacceptable and must change," Ross said. Vice President Mike Pence said recommendations for streamlined export controls affecting commercial space activities should be ready by year's end, and recommendations for a streamlined launch authorization process by March 1, 2019. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup told the NSC satellite operators need regulators to allocate sufficient spectrum for satellite use and to support satellite spectrum needs at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference. In prepared remarks, he also urged regulatory streamlining and faster turnaround in regulatory approvals, plus "common sense" rules for space safety and orbital debris.
Iridium continues to have profound worries about Ligado's proposed broadband terrestrial low-power service, CEO Matt Desch said in an interview. He said there needs to be industry-driven discussion on tackling space debris management. The company, meanwhile, expects this year to be in a position to start paying down debt and generating free cash flow instead of investing vast fortunes on building and launching satellites, he said.
MVPDs and broadcasters largely backed the FCC in its NPRM proposing changes to its Part 76 rules to allow more use of electronic delivery of MVPD communications. Broadcasters in docket 17-317 comments also called the proceedings good opportunities for changes in triennial carriage election rules. Replies are due March 2.
Despite a spate of programming blackouts coming with claims of cable operators violating the FCC's rule on 30-day notices of cable lineup changes, and Charter Communications pushes for clarity on that rule, it's not clear whether there's appetite or interest at the FCC, experts and insiders told us.
Video distributors and allies are in lockstep wanting the FCC to eliminate Form 325 reporting requirements. ITTA and the American Cable Association in docket 17-290 comments this week said most of the information requested by 325 hasn't been recently used in any major policy decisions, and the information the agency has used is available from other sources. ACA said the form's data -- asked only of cable operators -- is of shrinking value to evaluating the video market given cable's shrinking slice of that pie. It said short of eliminating the reporting requirements, the FCC should no longer require it of cable operators with fewer than 20,000 subscribers. ITTA said supports the NPRM tentative conclusions (see 1711160054) the form no longer should include channel lineup information, available elsewhere, or modem and telephony data, also being collected on Form 477. ITTA said if the agency retains the document, it could "alleviate its burdensomeness" by staggering the filings so smaller systems file only every five years rather than via random sampling and by establishing a fixed filing date so as to give abundant notice. ITTA said if 325 is retained, the FCC should automatically designate some sections as confidential since the information often has confidentiality requests. NCTA said 325 is "a prime example of unnecessary regulatory burden." Verizon said if the FCC needs similar information for a regulatory or reporting purpose, it can ask providers on an as-needed basis. Replies are due Feb. 27 (see 1712110009).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's championing U.S. market access for SpaceX's planned broadband constellation probably reflects him wanting to elevate forward-looking satellite related items, an FCC official told us. Several said the SpaceX item circulated Wednesday doesn't seem to raise any obvious red flags that might result in eighth-floor opposition. Pai, announcing Wednesday the draft was circulated, said SpaceX and other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operators seeking licenses or U.S. market access are one potential way to bridge the digital divide. Satellite technology can reach rural or unserved areas that fiber and cell towers don't reach and provide more competition in areas that have terrestrial Internet access, he said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement said, “The next generation of satellites will multiply the number of stations in our skies, creating extraordinary new opportunities for connectivity. The FCC will need to move quickly to facilitate these services and at the same time address new challenges with coordination and debris.” The FCC, Pai's office and SpaceX didn't comment. The commissioners at their June meeting approved OneWeb's application for U.S. market access for its 720-satellite NGSO constellation (see 1706220039). Space Norway and Telesat Canada NGSO applications were approved on circulation (see 1711030063). In a letter to the Office of Engineering and Technology earlier this month, SpaceX said it's planning for an upcoming launch of two test NGSOs, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b.
From ensuring localism to redefining media markets amid shifting industry dynamics, the FCC's eighth floor has a variety of media priorities, media aides to the five commissioners said at a FCBA panel Tuesday. Mike O'Rielly aide Brooke Ericson said with the 2018 quadrennial review of ownership rules this year (see 1801080059), her boss hopes for a redefinition of media markets that better reflects the market. Chairman Ajit Pai aide Alison Nemeth said he has been clear about his goals of either modernizing or eliminating regulations, especially given how media rules often have gone long without any review. Mignon Clyburn aide David Grossman said she continues to push her independent programming NPRM, though the issue hasn't moved since its 3-2 approval in 2016 (see 1609290036). She also remains focused on localism and diversity, he said. While the media market has changed, that doesn't necessarily translate into greater accessibility, since many over-the-top services are out of reach to some consumers due to broadband unavailability or finances, he added. Asked about the effect of publicly releasing items in advance of monthly meetings, Jessica Rosenworcel aide Kate Black said it gives more time for finding compromise on items. Aides said it also reduces the amount of guesswork in ex parte meetings on what's in items, making for more-focused meetings. Nemeth said along with front loading bureaus' work, leaving less time for last-minute tweaks, it resulted in people increasingly skipping meetings with bureaus and trying to set up meetings with the eighth floor, "a bad move." Commissioner Brendan Carr aide Evan Swarztrauber said parties shouldn't skip meeting offices they think will disagree with then, since eighth-floor offices want to hear an array of viewpoints. Asked about the broadcast TV repacking time frame and financing, Nemeth said Pai's office has no reason to think it will go beyond 39 months, but the $1.75 billion fund is likely insufficient. She and Ericson said neither commissioner is interested in revisiting the OTT-as-MVPD proceeding. Asked about last month's false missile alert in Hawaii, Ericson said O'Rielly was happy with how the emergency alert system worked in distribution, and problems came in the alert generation.