With OneWeb hoping to get the beginnings of its planned 720-satellite network in orbit as soon as late 2017, the company is seeking access to the U.S. market for its planned low earth orbit (LEO) non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) constellation. But OneWeb's petition for declaratory ruling (PDR) filed Thursday with the FCC International Bureau could face challenges in the first major test of NGSO fixed satellite service (FSS) rules crafted during the last NGSO satellite boom, but for much smaller constellations, satellite industry experts tell us. Meanwhile, the agency is preparing some updates.
Charter Communications hopes to close on Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks "within a few days" of the California Public Utilities Commission's expected May 12 vote, if the CPUC approves it and the FCC has given approval by then, CEO Tom Rutledge said during the company's Q1 earnings call. TWC CEO Rob Marcus, in a separate earnings call also on Thursday, said the company is "optimistic the transaction will close sometime next month."
Small multichannel video programming distributors and allies continue to press the FCC for changes to its totality of circumstances test, while NAB continues to push back, according to a series of ex parte filings Tuesday in docket 15-216. One pay-TV industry official told us Wednesday the uptick in activity in the docket shows the issue is being discussed by the agency. But eighth-floor action probably isn't imminent, though the agency is likely to do something before year's end, the official said.
That Comcast would have fared better in its failed attempt to buy Time Warner Cable if it had taken an approach like Charter Communications is unlikely, industry experts tell us. Since Comcast/TWC would have created a company with incentive for stifling competition, "the best path was still denial instead of specific conditions," said John Bergmayer, Public Knowledge senior staff attorney. The FCC and Justice Department Monday made public potential conditions on Charter's purchases of Bright House Networks and TWC (see 1604250039).
Ligado expects to hear feedback from the weather community seeking FCC protection from interference in the spectrum used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and support from the wireless industry for its terrestrial LTE plans, but not as much from major GPS companies. That is now that the FCC has opened the door to comments on its proposed modifications to those LTE plans, one company representative told us Monday. Whether the pair of public notices issued Friday lead to the FCC's taking action this year is impossible to say, the representative said.
The FCC Media Bureau has put together a draft order that would let the National Cable TV Cooperative (NCTC) file complaints, American Cable Association President Matt Polka told us Monday as the FCC hosted the second of two workshops on the state of the video market. ACA had sought such an order (see 1507020018) to help small multichannel video programming distributors gain some leverage in negotiations with major programmers. The workshops, plus the FCC's now-closed notice of inquiry into the challenges for independent and diverse programmers, could help push the agency on such issues before it as a buying group rule change and its current NPRM looking at changes to retransmission consent rules, Polka said. The FCC didn't comment.
The FCC is considering requiring New Charter to stick to its pledge not to charge for interconnection, along with other conditions from the commission and DOJ that would bolster online video. A draft order also would expand its high-speed broadband footprint by 2 million customer locations as a condition of Charter Communications being allowed to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, the agency said Monday. In a statement, Chairman Tom Wheeler said an order is circulating on the eighth floor that contains some seven-year commitments by the cable company. That follows proposed Justice Department conditions that agency announced Monday as terms of a lawsuit it also filed Monday that would bar New Charter from any contractual alternative distribution method (ADM) limits on online video distributors.
A point of agreement between independent and diverse programmers and major content companies was that many parties in the FCC indie programming notice of inquiry have cited practices like bundling as inimical to a fair and competitive market. Otherwise, the programmers and content companies diverge sharply, with CBS, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, Viacom and Walt Disney calling such arguments "a rehash," while a number of indie programmers and allies said it was clear those programmers face an uphill struggle getting onto multichannel video programming distributors' channels. "There is widespread agreement that independent programmers face significant obstacles in reaching consumers," RFD-TV said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 16-41.
The cable industry is leveling both barrels at FCC-proposed set-top box rules. The American Cable Association and NCTA said they likely would pursue legal redress in response to agency implementation. "I've seen very few things I'm this confident contravene the express wishes of Congress," NCTA CEO Michael Powell said Thursday in a call with media.
The FCC is seeing some push to follow up its notice of inquiry on independent and diverse programming with action. Tuesday was the deadline for replies in docket 16-41, and the FCC's filing systems were partly down. While numerous large conglomerates have argued that the video market is too competitive for them to have any real gatekeeping power, and that they also provide wide programming diversity in their lineups, indie programmers see the opposite, the American Cable Association said in comments to be filed in the docket. Indie programmers' comments also show that forced bundling is a problem since it constrains capacity on multichannel video programming distributors' systems, that penetration requirements often relegate indie programming to higher tiers, and that most-favored-nation clauses end up preventing carriage of indie networks, ACA said. It said the FCC at some point should move to a diversity rulemaking, and it "can and should act now" through addressing bundling involving stations via its current proposed retransmission consent rules changes and by updating its program access rules to let the National Cable TV Cooperative bring complaints. The FCC also could use its authority under Telecom Act Section 706, which allows for regulating practices -- including video service provision -- if they hinder broadband deployment, it said. The FCC's focus needs to not be on surface issues like what genres of networks are on an MVPD's channel lineup, but on ownership diversity and making sure indie networks have access to those linear platforms, One World Sports (OWS) said Tuesday in the docket. MVPDs often don't have the bandwidth and programming dollars to add such networks because of such practices as forced bundling by large media conglomerates, OWS said, saying the agency's next step should be an NPRM on a prohibition of or limits on forced bundling and tying of programming. Not every indie programmer is seeking an FCC fix. National Religious Broadcasters bemoaned the difficulties indie programmers have in getting carriage but cautioned against "a [regulatory] move in the name of diversity towards a subjective, government-favored content regime or so-called 'fairness' censorship on video programmers or any other form of electronic media." Instead, it said in a filing that it hopes the NOI will lead to programmer talks with MVPDs that result in their being more interested in carriage "for the valuable faith and family programming of religious channels."