Experts see scenarios where major studios may or may not oppose Disney's planned buy of Fox (see 1712140038). Studios won't be happy about the increased competitive power and market share that comes with Disney/Fox, but many might also be looking to do their own mergers and acquisitions in response and don't want to raise too big an objection, said Avri Ravid, Yeshiva University professor of finance and an expert on M&A and the entertainment industry. The deal likely won't need to go through FCC review since no Fox-held FCC licenses central to operations are being transferred, a communications lawyer said.
With lawsuits coming and protests occurring outside the FCC meeting where net neutrality rules were changed, advocates for keeping the status quo said they will press on. And those for and against the regulatory rollback reacted in droves, with dozens of statements issued shortly after the 3-2 party-line vote. Free Press Senior Counsel Jessica Gonzalez said her group will sue the FCC. President Craig Aaron told us he anticipated lawsuits by a variety of other groups. And the FCC's chief technology officer had raised concerns, which he said have been addressed.
Whether DOJ would approve a Disney buy of nonbroadcast Fox assets is unsettled among mergers and acquisitions and other experts we talked to. A key question before regulators will be how to define what New Disney is -- a major player in sports content and movie production, or a much smaller content producer in the growing streaming landscape, they said. Disney and Fox reportedly plan to announce a deal as soon as this week. They didn't comment.
Boeing no longer intends to launch and operate the V-band non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation it submitted an application for in 2016 (see 1606230050), handing off its plans to an company owned entirely by OneWeb founder and Executive Chairman Greg Wyler. In an FCC International Bureau filing Wednesday, the company asked for permission to amend its V-band constellation application to substitute in Wyler's SOM1101 as the one authorized to launch and operate the broadband constellation. Boeing denied its initial application was a case of spectrum speculation, saying it submitted it "in good faith with intent to construct a satellite system," but it and SOM1101 concluded "it would be more appropriate" for SOM1101 to be the licensee with Boeing "remain[ing] available to provide manufacturing and advisory service as needed." Boeing said SOM1101 "is well-positioned to bring innovative services to market." It said it won't profit from a SOM1101 license transfer when it's partially reimbursed for part of its NGSO application costs. It has been common for satellite manufacturers to file "on spec" for different systems as a means of spurring interest in new technologies, so it wouldn't be fair to suggest Boeing never had any intention of operating its own system, said Andrew D’Uva, president of satellite and wireless consultancy Providence Access. If Ku-band systems are "oceanfront properties," D'Uva said in an interview, V-band "is tomorrow’s river or bay-front real estate" -- requiring development but inevitably built on. He said Wyler's record in NGSO constellation concepts like O3b, being brought to operational fruition by subsequent investors, means any project in which he's involved "is likely to attract wide attention and interest." Boeing, OneWeb and O3b didn't comment.
The World Telecommunication Development Conference in October in Bueno Aires "really laid in sharp relief" some challenges the U.S. faces in the ITU, with sizable pushes by several nations for a much bigger ITU role in managing the Internet, Steve Lang, acting director-multilateral affairs, State Department communication and information policy office, told International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) members Thursday. Lang said the U.S. had some successes at WTDC-17 in areas such as broadband deployment, emergency deployment and connecting rural communities. There was a clear division about the ITU, with the U.S. and allies on one side and Russia, China and some developing nations on the other, he said.
It could be tough to prove an MVPD's antitrust claims that AT&T is giving itself a back-door deal on Houston Astros, Houston Rockets and other sports content through its regional sports network that boxes out rival MVPDs, antitrust experts told us. A suit, as AT&T is trying to buy Time Warner, might be aimed more at trying to influence DOJ condition for deal approval on consent decree terms covering RSNs, said an antitrust expert.
Commercial, civil and defense space stakeholders agree now is the time for the federal government to start deciding what space operations it will maintain and what can be done through the commercial sector or international partners, said the authors of a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies paper issued Tuesday. There's general concurrence on direction, but specifics are being debated, said Aerospace Corp. Senior Policy Analyst James Vedda: He and George Washington University Space Policy Institute faculty member Peter Hays found broad agreement all satellites should have either passive or active tracking capabilities, but no concurrence on whether that should be mandatory. There's debate over how big a role government should have in fostering and encouraging commercial space debris removal offerings, said Vedda. The paper, done in collaboration with Aerospace Corp., said most experts favor moving space situational awareness activity from the Defense Department to a civil agency such as the FAA. It said there's general agreement that the expected smallsat boom means the current compliance rate for existing debris mitigation and end-of-life disposal guidelines must be strengthened, with the 25-year rule for post-mission disposal "shortened dramatically." Many said the 1972 Convention on International Liability for Damage Cause by Space Objects needs clarification and better common understanding about issues like what defines dangerous interference and encroachment, maybe in the form of a variety of separate bilateral or multilateral agreements, according to the paper. It noted calls for better valuing and protecting spectrum used in space-based telecom, remote sensing and positioning, navigation and timing service as that spectrum is increasingly sought for terrestrial mobile networks. It said respondents suggested indemnification for systems that support national security. Hays said there have for years been calls for government to make decisions about what space capabilities it will keep in-house and what it will outsource, and the breadth of commercial offerings coming online creates opportunity and impetus.
Along with luring cord cutters and cord nevers, AT&T's DirecTV Now over-the-top service also is helping it snag customers from rival MVPDs, which make up about half its customer base, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told investors Tuesday. AT&T said DirecTV Now subscribers surpassed 1 million. The company is beta testing its second-generation platform that will include a cloud DVR and 4K capabilities, pay-per-view events and movies, digital advertising inserts and data insight capabilities, Stephens said. He said DirecTV Now profitability "will get up into very acceptable levels," and though it isn't the same fat profit margin opportunity the traditional linear TV business was, it requires much lower capital expenditures. On FirstNet, any states that don't make a choice automatically will be opted in when the opt-in window closes this month, and many states may go that route, he said. He said the work orders to build the FirstNet network over the next five years will start to be issued in January, with the engineering work already complete. He said FirstNet is "a very good revenue opportunity for us," with the potential of new products and services targeting markets like first responders and smart city initiatives, targeting perhaps 10 million users. Stephens said the company expects to finish this year with 7 million homes passed with fiber, and instead of an earlier prediction of 12.5 million by mid-2019, it's on track to pass more than 14 million homes with fiber by then. Stephens said customers should see "no change" from a rollback of Communications Act Title II regulation of ISPs, with the company continuing its policies of no blocking or advantaging some websites over others. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Chairman Ajit Pai were at odds Tuesday about the likely ramifications of Pai's net neutrality proposal (see 1712050057). Clarity on net neutrality "will bring back an opportunity for more investment," Stephens said. He said the company "look[s] forward to trial" and prevailing in the DOJ lawsuit seeking to block its buy of Time Warner (see 1711200064).
The Entertainment Software Association's petition for extension of a waiver of FCC rules requiring advanced communication services (ACS) access by people with disabilities (see 1711010056) should be its last, disability advocacy groups said in docket 10-213 filings posted Friday, the deadline for replies. The National Federation of the Blind said the pattern of waiver extensions and delays in access to ACS features in videogames for people with disabilities "is a distressing trend" that hopefully ends with this last request. An array of groups support ESA on condition it be the final extension, to be followed by "large-scale compliance." Those groups said the FCC should make clear it will "skeptically" scrutinize claims that making ACS components of future videogames accessible isn't achievable. Signers include Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America, the American Foundation for the Blind, the American Council of the Blind, the National Association of State Agencies of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Networks. The Arc of the United States said in a filing posted Monday the petition is "problematic" in not showing usability and accessibility steps for people with cognitive disabilities, so approval should be conditioned on ESA submitting a progress report next year detailing steps members have taken to include people with cognitive disabilities in user research, product design and testing and online community curation. Arc said the report should cover insights ESA members generate about such needs and any changes the members make. The requested extension would go until Jan. 1, 2019.
The Commercial Smallsat Spectrum Management Association will focus foremost on spectrum, and CSSMA anticipates involving itself increasingly in an array of regulatory issues that affect smallsats. Some question whether it's on a trajectory to be in conflict with or redundant to the Satellite Industry Association. There could be conflicts and overlaps with SIA, but a bigger smallsat industry concern is startups moving forward to get into space without a good understanding of the licensing and regulatory compliance necessary, where CSSMA can play a role, said Christopher Stott, CEO of orbital frequencies and regulatory services company ManSat.