Despite the end of the cable industry's premier trade show, NCTA's INTX, and CTIA folding its conference into GSMA Mobile World Congress (see 1606220030), telco and trade show industry experts and insiders see those as outliers in an otherwise healthy trade show ecosystem. American Cable Association President Matt Polka -- himself a longtime INTX attendee -- said it's too early to say whether new shows will spring up to replace INTX, or whether existing shows -- such as those ACA helps organize and sponsor -- will expand. ACA planning for its 2017 events is going ahead "as is," Polka told us.
FCC lifting of sunshine restrictions on Chairman Tom Wheeler's set-top box proposal seemed due at least in part to the sizable lawmaker and industry criticism leveled about lack of transparency in the proceeding (see 1610050051, 1609290076, 1609300062 and 1609270048), but it isn't mollifying critics, stakeholders told us. "If the item itself isn't released so people can see what [the FCC] is actually proposing, this is just cosmetics," said cable consultant Steve Effros Friday. A democratic congressional critic likewise wasn't mollified.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rulemaking notice on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) systems could be issued "soonish," said Toyota North America Director-Technology and Innovation Policy Hilary Cain Wednesday evening at an FCBA spectrum sharing CLE seminar. "We are hopeful and optimistic it will make its appearance in the next couple weeks." An NHTSA spokesman told us Thursday the NPRM "is coming soon." Some have criticized White House review of that NPRM as holding up FCC development of the 5.9 GHz band (see 1609010077).
Any CBS/Viacom reunion might not face particularly big regulatory hurdles to clear, experts tell us. For the companies and Wall Street, such a potential deal carries numerous upsides, said Jonathan Taplin, director emeritus, University of Southern California's Annenberg Innovation Lab. "The only potential derailing" is if CBS CEO "Les Moonves says, 'Viacom is so broken, I don't want to take it on,'" Taplin said. But, he added, Moonves "is an ambitious guy; he is smart enough to fix a broken thing."
Though the FCC is fighting a workplace retaliation complaint lawsuit by a worker (see 1609300016), other metrics point to the agency's workforce being not nearly as troubled as some agencies. The complaint is part of growing overall numbers of retaliation suits nationwide, partly because the bar is higher to prove workplace discrimination than retaliation, said Noah Peters, an employment lawyer with Bailey & Ehrenberg representing the plaintiff in that suit before U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Employees who bring Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints also face more retaliation, Peters said.
A series of votes at Thursday's FCC meeting on personnel matters became protest votes for the two GOP commissioners, who voted no on the six items. The personnel actions themselves weren't made public, but one FCC source told us the "no" votes had to do with personnel issues traditionally being handled differently and not on a meeting agenda. The other three commissioners voted "yes" on the six. At a Senate Commerce Committee oversight hearing earlier this month (see 1609150045), Commissioner Mike O'Rielly complained about FCC process reform, referring to a reform instituted days earlier by Chairman Tom Wheeler on disposal of personnel matters. "The Chairman contemplated, decided and declared a new procedure for addressing personnel changes that he believes are taking too long," O'Rielly said, in testimony made available online. "The Commission will now vote on these items at its monthly Open Meetings, without discussion or comment."
Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks were cited repeatedly Thursday as rationale for and a warning against FCC 3-2 approval of an NPRM that would limit pay-TV providers from including "unconditional" most-favored-nation and "unreasonable" alternative distribution method terms in carriage contracts with independent programmers. Pointing to ADM and MFN conditions in the Charter approval, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said such contractual terms "are what independent programmers face each and every day," and such terms unduly limit their businesses. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly both said they objected to the Charter conditions because the transaction approval was a first step to those conditions becoming industrywide rules.
Numerous parties interested in the diverse programming NPRM on the FCC's Thursday agenda tell us they expect a 3-2 vote along party lines. Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly seemingly don't think the agency has the authority to set new rules limiting most-favored-nation (MFN) and alternative distribution method provisions in program carriage agreements -- the focus of the NPRM (see 1609080083), one person who has been in multiple ex parte meetings with eighth-floor staff told us.
More competition than ever, hobbled by analog-era regulations: that's how multiple commenters described the video market as the FCC readies its 18th video competition report. NCTA, in a filing posted Thursday in docket 16-247, said the annual inquiry -- now treated as routine, done by the Media Bureau without consideration by the full commission -- "misses the point: The development of true marketplace competition means that a great many regulatory measures are no longer needed and should, if anything, be curtailed." Small and midsize multichannel video programming distributor representatives argued the market is too tilted in programmers' favor to be considered competitive.
The increased capacity in the satellite universe will mean challenges for satellite operators focused on traditional wide-beam coverage, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said at a Goldman Sachs investor conference Wednesday. "People putting up standard wide-beam capacity, they are going to have [internal rate of return] challenges when it comes to replacing those satellites," Spengler said. "It is not a sustainable model." He said Intelsat is moving to a model of its high-throughput Epic constellation providing spot beam coverage in dense areas of high demand, and using wide-beam coverage in areas like ocean coverage. Spengler said North America is a little-changed market for media distribution and direct-to-home coverage, and Ultra HD is coming but "slow in developing." The company's North American broadcaster and programmer customers are taking their time planning for Ultra HD, given higher production costs and the expense of Ultra HD infrastructure, he said, saying Ultra HD might be more readily adopted by over-the-top providers. Spengler said he sees a long tail for media distribution via satellite despite the growing prevalence of fiber networks due to the large number of communities off the fiber grid or that lack sufficient fiber connectivity. Close to 5,000 cable headends are served by satellite and a sizable number will remain "well into the next decade," he said.