Matt Daneman

EstrellaTV's sizable white area distribution is a sign the network is home to largely undesirable programming, Comcast argued in a meeting with FCC Media Bureau and Office of General Counsel staffers. EstrellaTV parent Liberman Broadcasting countered it's a deliberate strategy. The companies Tuesday in docket 16-121 (see here and here) recapped a joint meeting with the FCC on Liberman's 2016 unsuccessful carriage complaint (see 1604080013) and current petition to reconsider (see 1609260049). Finding the EstrellaTV complaint gives it standing in white areas, even if the Media Bureau affirmed its dismissal order, would be valuable, Liberman said. It said in a proceeding before an administrative law judge it would ask that the FCC order Comcast to carry EstrellaTV on similar terms to Comcast-owned Telemundo. Liberman said nothing in the 2016 order disqualifies EstrellaTV from qualifying as a video programming vendor (VPV) under Section 616 of the Communications Act, and determining Liberman isn't a VPV would take away a tool to prevent unlawful MVPD behavior. It said the plain language of the Communications Act, FCC precedent and that EstrellaTV is distributed the same way cable network feeds are point to it qualifying as a VPV. It also argued it's similarly situated to Telemundo, with both having the same target audience and common advertisers. Yet Comcast distributes Telemundo in all of the Telemundo owned-and-operated stations and affiliate markets it serves, but carries EstrellaTV in only three EstrellaTV O&O markets, Liberman said. Comcast said the bureau should affirm its August order finding EstrellaTV isn't a VPV and lacks standing to file a program carriage complaint. It said the bureau should deny EstrellaTV's petition for recon. Comcast argued the record isn't established enough to rule whether EstrellaTV is a VPV with respect to its white area feed. It said if EstrellaTV wants to pursue that line of complaint, it should file a new one, but when looking at the existing record, EstrellaTV has no basis to assert it's a VPV for purposes of its white area feed. It said stations are EstrellaTV's primary distribution mode, so a white area feed -- serving areas outside broadcast signal range -- makes no sense. The cable firm said the Liberman demand for compensation for the white area feed "is out of step with how it is treated in the broader marketplace," since there's no evidence it gets such license fees from other MVPDs. Meeting participants were Comcast representatives including Senior Vice President-Legal Regulatory Affairs Frank Buono, Liberman representatives including CEO Lenard Liberman, and Media Bureau and Office of the General Counsel staffers.

FCC Electronic Comment Filing System woes that the agency says stem from a distributed denial-of-service attack point to necessary overhauls to the comment system, including more capacity, more protections and potentially a move to Regulations.gov, experts tell us. Such a move isn't likely in the foreseeable future. The FCC should release data on the ECFS issues it experienced earlier this month to definitively prove they were caused by DDoS attacks, experts said. The FCC says multiple DDoS incidents came amid an onslaught of comments on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposed revised net neutrality rules (see 1705080042, 1705090063 and 1705100062).

Given operational problems in recent days with the FCC Electronic Comment Filing System (see 1705120052), groups opposed to a net neutrality rules rollback say the agency should delay its planned Thursday vote on the NPRM. The agency has no plans to do so. "No consideration is being given to delaying the vote," the agency emailed us. "If the Restoring Internet Freedom Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is adopted on Thursday, there will be three months for the public to comment on the Commission’s proposal. We appreciate the input we have received on the Chairman’s draft and look forward to further public participation in this process‎."

Requiring all non-geostationary satellite operators in Canada to provide complete coverage of the country as a condition for market access would mean fewer competing NGSO services available for Canadians. That was the argument raised by U.S. satellite operators in replies posted Friday by Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Canada as it looks at a rewrite of NGSO rules (see 1704240026). Boeing said there's broad agreement that ISED shouldn't limit the number of licensed systems, require third-party arbitration of coordination disputes or make foreign NGSOs complete international coordination before being authorized for Canada, but there's broad disagreement on coordination requirements and Canadian coverage and capacity requirements. ISED might want to impose conditions on Canadian-licensed NGSOs on direction and control of the systems, but there's no valid argument for concluding Canadians won't see satellite service without Canadian coverage and capacity reservation requirements, it said. O3b said some proposals, such as requiring foreign-licensed NGSOs coordinate with Canadian-licensed systems before getting access to the Canadian market, could create an imbalanced competitive playing field. It advocated that ISED adopt in-line interference rules similar to the FCC's, with consequences such as spectrum splitting for two operators unable to coordinate as a means of encouraging coordination in good faith. ViaSat said requiring foreign-licensed NGSOs to complete coordination with Canadian satellite operators gives those Canadian operators the incentive and opportunity "to control the timing and pace of market entry by their competitors." ViaSat backed a proposal by a coalition of Canadian satellite operators that coordination be required, but requests for Canadian landing rights not be denied or delayed if a foreign-licensed operator has ITU date priority or is facing delays in reaching a timely coordination arrangement. OneWeb said ISED's proposed milestone requirement, that large NGSO systems have a third of their constellations up by year six after being licensed and fully deployed by year nine, would result in spectrum warehousing and give a milestone extension to already authorized NGSO systems.

Satellite broadband operators and the Competitive Carriers Association continue to joust over a satellite push for reconsideration of spectrum frontiers earth station deployment restrictions in the 27.5-28.35 GHz band. CCA objections come from "a fundamental misunderstanding as to the nature of satellite earth station deployment in this band" and don't recognize how extensively satellite is using the 28 GHz band already to provide broadband service, as well as the ability of satellite and terrestrial wireless to coexist, the satellite operators said in a filing Friday in docket 14-177. That satellite use of the band would be only "at discrete and identifiable locations, not ubiquitous deployment at customers’ premises" should satisfy many CCA concerns, the operators said. Boeing, EchoStar, Inmarsat, Intelsat, O3b, SES and OneWeb said the limited deployment of local multipoint distribution service, with 58 percent of the LMDS license areas not being issued licenses, particularly in rural areas, doesn't back up CCA arguments competitive carriers are using the spectrum in rural and regional service footprints. The satellite broadband proposals "will devalue and interfere with rural broadband providers’ mobile service to consumers in hard to serve parts of the country," CCA emailed us. It said issues like the unreliability of satellite service due to atmospheric conditions need to be considered "before granting more rights to satellite operators that could substantially interfere with more reliable terrestrial-based services. The FCC must consider the interference potential to reliable services before encumbering operators that have relied upon FCC rules to build out networks. This is sort of like changing the ‘rules of the game’ during halftime; it is not a good idea.”

Most municipal broadband networks probably back near-total forbearance of regulation on small ISPs since they operate "in an arena in which their customers can hold them directly accountable," Chris Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance Director-Community Broadband Networks, emailed us Friday. Nineteen municipal ISPs cheering the net neutrality draft NPRM​ up for a vote at Thursday's FCC commissioners' meeting are "not representative entirely" since while local governments generally abhor federal or state government directives on how to operate, those local networks were built to avoid the harms that have come from large providers "and the lack of market discipline or regulation that allows them to harm communities," he said. "Most of these networks are from smaller, more conservative rural communities that are particularly opposed to federal action in any arena." In a letter to be filed in docket 17-108, the 19 signatories to the American Cable Association-submitted document said that "returning to light-touch regulation of broadband service" will incentivize investments in their networks and future service deployments. They said that since the 2015 imposition of Communications Act Title II regulation on common carriers, their spending on lawyers and consultants to comply with the "complex and ... difficult to fathom" rules has increased and they often delay introductions of new services or features out of caution about facing a complaint or enforcement action. Muni ISP signatories included Monroe, Georgia; Bagley (Minnesota) Public Utilities; Oberlin (Ohio) Cable Co-Op and Auburn (Indiana) Essential Services. Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement Friday said that "the fact that ISPs lacking any profit motive agree that eliminating Title II regulation will benefit consumers and promote innovation and investment is a powerful endorsement of reversing the FCC’s 2015 Title II Order.” Mitchell said he questioned how many of the 19 can point to a direct harm from Title II regulation. The FCC is going full steam ahead toward Thursday's vote (see 1705120052).

MVPDs have numerous concerns about Sinclair's proposed $6.6 billion buy of Tribune, but not substantial confidence the FCC's review will fix those concerns. Meanwhile, public interest groups and left-leaning political organizations also could bring their own objections to the proposed deal, though they likely could see even less success, experts tell us.

The solution to fake news is for mainstream media outlets to do a better job convincing the public of their utility and the thoroughness of their content, said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a speech on media content regulation at a Media Institute luncheon Thursday. Steps like hiring fact checkers and use of algorithms intended to give lower priority to fake online news run the risk of limiting discourse or catching up legitimate news coverage in the net, he said. Some media outlets and social networking organizations announced plans in recent months to tackle fake news (see 1701040025).

Ongoing Electronic Comment Filing System woes at the FCC bothered all industry lawyers we queried, with many filings still unavailable and at times ECFS not working, as it has at times throughout the week (see 1705080042 and 1705100062).

The skinny bundle in the U.S. "is a fiction" for now, though an $8-$12 monthly package will be offered at some point, akin to what's available in other markets internationally, Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said in an analyst call Tuesday. So-called skinny bundle offerings in the U.S., with prices closer to $40 monthly, are "overstuffed turkeys." He said subscription VOD offerings like Netflix and Amazon Prime are effective, but "we as an industry need to complement that with a quality offering ... that's a true skinny bundle in the spirit of what's working around the world, and I think that'll happen." Discovery said Q1 revenue was $1.6 billion, up 3 percent due to gains in global distribution sales and progress in expanding digital and direct-to-consumer businesses. Zaslav said since the start of the year, the company has expanded its Amazon SVOD channels partnership and Eurosport Player streaming service and entered into a number of new digital partnerships, including creation of a streaming over-the-top service in Europe.