Incentive auction proceeds of public TV stations should be set aside to fund local journalism, said Free Press in a release announcing a new effort by the organization Monday. “This auction of the public airwaves gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse the crisis in local news and re-imagine how local communities can get the information they need,” said CEO Craig Aaron. The campaign is initially focused on New Jersey public stations, but the group that often opposes industry consolidation believesthere are at least 54 public stations participating in the auction around the the country, and that their spectrum is “expected to bring in as much as $6 billion in the auction." Advocates for local journalism see the idea as promising.
CTA President Gary Shapiro called then-candidate Donald Trump “dangerous and unqualified to lead.” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Jim Cicconi, since-retired AT&T senior executive vice president-congressional affairs, publicly endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (see 1606230070). NAB President Gordon Smith donated to Trump's Republican primaries opponent Jeb Bush (see 1611150062) . Now that the election is over, those stances aren't expected to affect those entities' efforts to lobby the Republican-controlled Congress or the FCC, numerous attorneys, lobbyists and industry officials said in interviews.
While most view the nearly empty agenda for Nov. 17's commissioners' meeting as an indication the agency is on pause (see 1611150052) until the next administration takes over, there's room for commission action in the final gathering of this FCC, attorneys and industry officials told us. Legislators directed the FCC not to take up controversial topics. The agency has a statutorily required meeting Dec. 15, and many industry officials said there’s a lobbying opportunity during this limbo period for advocates of items that could receive support from all five commissioners or be resolved at the bureau level. The January meeting is after Inauguration Day. With the stance of the next FCC still unclear, many regulated entities may seek to conduct business in front of this commission while they still can, because of the increased certainty, said Fletcher Heald broadcast lawyer Peter Tannenwald.
Wireless carriers and broadcasters called on the FCC to introduce more flexibility into the post-auction repacking plan, in reply comments posted Wednesday in docket 16-306. Lawyers meanwhile told us the FCC is unlikely to grant a request filed in that docket Monday by GatesAir calling for the agency to incentivize broadcasters in the repacking to “Buy American” (see 1611150051). The FCC's repacking plan doesn't account for unexpected delays or broadcasters unable to meet the 39-month deadline, broadcasters and carriers said.
Donald Trump, much on the minds of many watchers of net neutrality and other FCC proceedings (see 1611090034), even came up in comments on the incentive auction. A broadcast equipment maker cited the president-elect's infrastructure spending plan as reason for those affected by the post-auction repacking to buy American. Also Tuesday, telecom panelists debated how Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan will affect lobbying and legislation strategies (see 1611150038).
NAB CEO Gordon Smith's contributions to the presidential campaign of former Republican primary candidate Jeb Bush won't be an issue in his lobbying efforts on behalf of NAB during the Trump administration, Smith told us during the Q&A portion of his address to the Media Institute Tuesday. "I hope not, no," Smith said, adding that he has friends on both sides of the aisle, a long-standing relationship with the Bush family and pointing out that Bush's campaign ended long ago. "Jeb didn't last long," Smith said. "I think we're in a new phase now." Along with the election results, Smith discussed the post-incentive auction repacking, ATSC 3.0 and FM chips in smart phones.
Verizon doesn't see the need to engage in “massive M&A” in 2017, President of Operations John Stratton said Thursday at a Wells Fargo investor conference in New York. He added that it's good to have the option to pursue mergers and acquisitions in case something comes up. Stratton also discussed the company's wireless business, its focus on fiber, its IoT business and its priorities for 2017, which include plugging cash into improving network infrastructure, he said: “Back to the fundamentals.”
The future of the FCC draft set-top plan is seen as bound up in the questions of how long Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will remain in their seats, industry officials on both sides of the set-top issue told us. In the wake of Republican Donald Trump's win of the White House Tuesday, no one is sure what the answers to those questions are, many stakeholders agree. Rosenworcel has been seen as the swing vote on Wheeler's set-top plan (see 1611030055) since it was pulled from the September commissioner meeting (see 1609290076). The question of her reconfirmation during the lame-duck Congress and the amount of time Wheeler has left to convince her to vote for his plan are seen important factors in the fate of the item.
Broadcast attorneys and public interest groups describe the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as “frustrated” with FCC actions on media ownership and likely to look favorably on appeals of the 2014 quadrennial review. Prometheus Radio Project filed one such appeal last week in the 3rd Circuit (see 1611040054), and NAB has said it will file another in the D.C. Circuit by Monday (see 1611070052). The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council has also said it will appeal the ownership rules.
An FCC NPRM on ATSC 3.0 is expected to contain few surprises, but it's not clear when it will be issued, broadcast industry officials said in interviews this week. The April petition submitted by NAB, CTA, America's Public TV Stations and the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance didn't include a mandatory transition (see 1604130065). So the NPRM isn't expected to be overly complicated, the officials told us.