Spectrum harmonization might be a particularly big challenge at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), said FCC International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan at an FCBA event Thursday. Countries in the past have converged on a particular spectrum segment for particular use, but the focus increasingly is on spectrum slivers for uses that don't always align across different geographies, he said.
The Intelsat/Intel proposal for opening parts of the C-band to terrestrial 5G operations (see 1710020047) raises numerous questions and it's unclear what kind of support it could garner, either from industry or the FCC, experts told us. For many satellite operators using the band, the automatic response might be opposition, but knowing that spectrum sharing is an increased likelihood, some may see the plan as a way to have the ability to control timing and terms, a satellite official said.
Scripps/Tribune "should have been dead on arrival" at the FCC, said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now a special adviser at Common Cause, during a Coalition to Save Local Media news-media call Tuesday. The group strongly opposes Tribune's takeover (see 1708300053). Copps said no one company "should be allowed to wield the power that would be wielded by Sinclair," and it will lead to higher cable bills and local newsroom staffing cuts. He criticized the FCC as accelerating "corporatized media" trends. One America Network CEO Charles Herring said the proposed deal generated "the broadest opposition of any proposed merger ever," with a lot of cable programmers concerned. Sinclair has "unbalanced market powers," for example, forcing the Tennis Channel onto MVPD lineups at unfair rates and carriage terms. He criticized the reinstatement of the UHF discount, saying it "stinks worse than three-day-old fish." Rep. David Price, D-N.C., said the discount is a "consolidation power grab" that would be eliminated by the Local and Independent TV Protective Act he's co-sponsoring (see 1707280001). Copps said the bill needs sizable grass-roots support and organizing to move forward. Sinclair didn't comment.
Puerto Rican telco and media industry groups paint a grim picture of communications on the island after Hurricane Maria, with indications full resumption could be a long way off. Some said the FCC's information collection system continues (see 1709270061) struggling. Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing that carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands be allowed quicker use of their USF allocations for network rebuilding.
Intelsat and Intel are proposing satellite operators -- backed by wireless interest incentives -- clear portions of the C-band downlink spectrum in particular metropolitan areas nationwide, freeing it up for terrestrial mobile operations. Such a migration would provide "a lot of certainty and clarity" about the 3700-4200 MHz band, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler told us Monday. The satellite industry has been concerned about the FCC eyeing that mid-band spectrum for terrestrial operations (see 1708030052).
Any FCC rulemaking about the set-top box market first needs more-thorough study of the market and its dynamics, GAO reported. It may be moot because odds of Chairman Ajit Pai's administration picking up the set-top issue seem scant, experts tell us. "If I were Pai, I wouldn't want to touch this," Public Knowledge Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said. Pai conceivably could initiate a study of the set-top market just so it could be declared effectively competitive, closing the door on the matter permanently, said Gigi Sohn, who was an aide to former Chairman Tom Wheeler. She disputed the GAO saying the FCC didn't have enough analyses to back Wheeler's set-top regulation course.
Whether Wednesday's Senate confirmation of DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim (see 1709270058) will affect the department's review of AT&T/Time Warner isn't clear, with some seeing it likely speeding up resolution and others saying the agency demonstrably hasn't been waiting for a permanent head. AT&T told us it still expects the deal to close by year's end.
Cord cutting is accelerating, with roughly 23 percent of people surveyed who don't subscribe to a pay-TV service having been subscribers within the past 12 months but then quitting their subscriptions, up 4.8 percentage points year over year, TiVo reported Wednesday. It said of those without pay TV, 46 percent catch over-the-air broadcasts using an antenna, a trend up 12 percentage points over the past two years. Price and availability of subscription VOD services continue to be the leading reasons for cord cutting, TiVo said. It said 8.9 percent of those who subscribe to a pay-TV service switched providers in the past three months and churn is up 3 percentage points over the past three years. Comparing commonly selected a la carte channels with existing virtual MVPD offerings, the company said virtual MVPD offerings skew heavily toward sports and medium-to-large market channel offerings, indicating the virtual MVPD market can further diversify offerings without any notable increase in bundle size and that no bundle contains just core channels and most-watched channels, even though that's a bundle commonly cited as desirable by viewers. The survey of 3,069 adults in the U.S. and Canada was done by an outside party during Q2. The results show pay-TV operators can stem subscriber losses by aggregating online video services for customers, and they need to do so quickly since consumers increasingly are opting for subscription VOD over pay TV, nScreenMedia analyst Colin Dixon blogged Wednesday.
Garmin and Iridium brought concerns about Ligado's broadband terrestrial low-power service plans to meetings with Wireless Bureau and eighth-floor staff, said FCC docket 11-109 filings posted Tuesday. Recapping a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Garmin said it discussed its worries about Ligado interference with Garmin's certified aviation devices. It repeated its oft-made argument in favor of the 1 dB standard for determining harmful interference to GPS receivers. Iridium -- recapping meetings with the Office of Engineering and Technology, the Wireless and International bureaus and the offices of Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel (see here, here, here, here, here and here) -- said it repeated its technical analysis findings (see 1609020029 and 1612140061) that Ligado's L-band operations would cause significant harmful out-of-band emission interference to Iridium's mobile terminals. It said Ligado's proposed OOBE limit at 1626.5 MHz doesn't provide enough interference protection. It said the FCC shouldn't grant Ligado's application on its 1627.5-1637.5 MHz plans but that if it does, it must impose conditions to ensure enough interference protection for Iridium services. Ligado didn't comment.
The FCC International Bureau appears intent on getting at least some non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation applications processed and before the commissioners for approval before year's end, industry officials told us. Chairman Ajit Pai said Tuesday his office circulated U.S. market access applications of Space Norway and Telesat Canada, among 11 companies that submitted Ka- and Ku-band constellation plans in a processing round in November (see 1611160010). Asked after Tuesday's commissioners' meeting about the timing of processing and approving those NGSO applications, he said the agency will get them out "as we have the facts before us."