Comcast's announced plans to expand its TV Everywhere offerings had numerous critics of the FCC set-top box proposal pointing to those plans Wednesday as proof the agency is headed in the wrong regulatory direction. The FCC is "rushing forward with a regulatory proceeding that will upset a marketplace that is undergoing such a dramatic transformation and achieving the goals that it seeks [and] should study these developments and reconsider the path it appears to be on," NCTA said in a statement.
While Stream TV -- Dish Network's foray into over-the-top video service -- was first in the pay-TV universe to look at market segmentation as a business model, Dish's interests longer term lie in being "a connectivity company ... through satellite or wireless," CEO Charlie Ergen said Wednesday during the company's Q1 earnings call. Executives were largely mum about the company's spectrum strategy, citing the quiet period of the upcoming incentive auction, including whether it plans to take part in the auction. But, Ergen said, "We think we're positioned to participate in all kinds of connectivity -- cars are just one of them." He said the company sees connectivity revenue opportunities in IoT.
Dish Network is clashing with the FTC, DOJ and four states over an October hearing on a permanent telemarketing injunction that Dish says "would have grave consequences" for its and its retailers' businesses. The U.S. is misstating Dish's decision to decline supplemental discovery, it said, and Dish won't use documents in 2015 supplemental discovery disclosures, but it's "not barred from presenting, and will present, other evidence" against the injunctive relief, Dish said in opposition (in Pacer) filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Illinois. The filing was in response to an FTC and Justice Department motion (in Pacer) filed in March seeking to cancel the Oct. 24 hearing. The mandatory injunction issue was bifurcated from the rest of the trial that ended Feb. 24 of robocall allegations brought by the FTC, California, Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio (see 0903260144). Dish said in its filing it originally intended to present evidence during the Phase I trial dealing with the permanent injunction, but the court ordered that the scope of discovery would include nearly six years of call records, which would take a couple of years of discovery, so it opted "to decline to engage in that exercise." Dish said it plans in a permanent injunction hearing to introduce testimony and other evidence from witnesses "that will demonstrate the impracticability of the specific terms of the requested injunction, the adverse impact that it would have on Dish's business and the business of its retailers, and its excessive scope." The FTC and DOJ in their motion said that by choosing not to engage in discovery, the satellite company is waiving reliance on any compliance evidence that would postdate March 2010, the last date of call records it produced in discovery. It also said Dish had plenty of time at the four-week trial that ended Feb. 24 to present compliance evidence and "there is nothing new that Dish can offer at the October hearing except oral testimony about information that was turned over during discovery." In a separate response (in Pacer) Friday, the state plaintiffs said they support the U.S. request, citing Dish declining additional discovery and withdrawing its previously offered analysis. The states also asked that the court keep the Oct. 24 date open for other issues that may come up in discovery that Dish is scheduled to produce April 25.
If the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reopens Tennis Channel's complaint against Comcast, the sports programmer would likely produce expert evidence to the FCC showing all the business pain the cable company has endured in order to stifle competition to affiliated programming, from advertising revenue to audience interest in content, said Stephen Weiswasser of Covington & Burling, representing the channel, during oral argument Monday. Tennis Channel is appealing a 2015 FCC decision denying a program carriage complaint (see 1501280059) that mirrored a 2013 U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision, after the commission previously found in favor of the independent programmer. The three-judge panel's decision likely will come in two to three months, lawyers told us.
The broadcaster/pay-TV war of words escalated over possible changes to the FCC threshold for determining if either side in a retransmission consent agreement failed to act in good faith. Affiliate groups of the big four broadcast networks jointly wrote the agency to oppose the totality of the circumstances tweaks sought by multichannel video programming distributors. Meanwhile, Mediacom, which backs retrans changes, clarified its request to the FCC, and a retrans-reform group of many MVPDs including the company hit back at the network affiliates.
Considering the amount of time and money it takes to clear spectrum bands, the next White House administration likely won't deviate far from the current spectrum sharing approach, Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup said during an FCBA CLE Thursday: "There may be some tweaking, but I don't expect a major shift." Speakers all indicated the questions about spectrum sharing involve its degree and how to implement it, because the question of whether it will happen is settled.
The joint AT&T/EchoStar plan for sharing satellite spectrum with 5G applications won't be the final word because other sharing proposals are in the works, said industry officials and wireless and satellite companies. But the wireless industry could have an easier time finding consensus than satellite operators, industry officials said in interviews this week. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler criticized the industry for "intransigence" at the World Radiocommunication Conference last month on studying spectrum sharing with 5G (see 1603090057).
An AT&T/EchoStar proposal for satellite/wireless sharing of the 28, 37 and 39 GHz bands might work for some satellite network operators, but it might preclude launches of future satellite networks needing broader access to those bands for increased broadband capacity and throughput, Boeing said in an FCC filing Tuesday in docket 14-177. The satellite industry needs more time for discussions with terrestrial 5G backers about spectrum sharing, since such talks "will identify innovative and effective measures to enable real-time sharing," Boeing said. The joint AT&T/EchoStar proposal (see 1604070059) "could be improved," Boeing said, citing its setting aside densely populated urban cores for 5G services, "limiting satellite access to the band to individually licensed earth stations, often on a secondary unprotected basis." The proposal also is sketchy on how co-primary sharing would be accomplished, Boeing said. The proposal "provides only a single viewpoint on the potential use of the 28 and 37/39 GHz bands, and does not represent a consensus of the satellite industry," Boeing said, saying the FCC should allow time for satellite industry technical efforts "to reach a resolution." ViaSat, in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 10-112, also was critical of the joint proposal, saying it didn't have satellite industry consensus. It also "only partially addresses one aspect of the sharing environment under consideration, was offered before technical details were provided by the 5G industry, has critical details to be resolved, and in fact appears to meet the needs of only one or two satellite operators," ViaSat said. It said EchoStar has a conflict because the millimeter wave frequency band licenses it holds through Alta Wireless "will become much more valuable and could be a key in blocking competitors from accessing spectrum." In a statement Wednesday, EchoStar said that “as noted in our joint filing, we recognize there are still open issues to be resolved and we look forward to the input of other satellite operators and the terrestrial industry.” AT&T didn't comment.
Conditions proposed by a California administrative law judge on Charter Communications' purchase of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable likely won't influence the FCC's decision on the deals, cable experts told us. The FCC is on a different track from any state, and California's proceeding won't factor into the agency's process or deliberations, said a media attorney with transaction experience and who previously worked at the FCC. Other states have OK'd the deals, and in California, deal opponents have sought to block the takeovers (see 1601200060).
While broadcasters argue the retransmission consent market is working and doesn't need FCC intervention (see 1603150045 and 1603290050), an official said the agency feels otherwise. During a Practising Law Institute event Tuesday, Media Bureau Deputy Chief Michelle Carey said retrans negotiations are increasingly contentious and complex. Now the agency is looking at the filings in docket 15-149 and having a series of ex parte meetings as it tries to determine next steps, she said