FCC Staffers Preparing Six Media Items
FCC staffers are thought to be preparing items on at least six media-related issues as the commission looks beyond the Feb. 17 deadline for the National Broadband Plan, commission and industry officials said. The first expected to be released publicly is an order that Media Bureau staff are working on to allow radio stations to raise their digital power levels (CD Nov 10 p8), several officials said. Most of the other items -- some which have been contentious outside the FCC -- are expected to be released this quarter or next, they said.
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Among the more controversial items the bureau is believed to be continuing to work on, with an eye toward release in the next few months, is an order on a MPAA petition to allow pay-TV providers to pass along encrypted HDTV movies before they're released in Blu-ray and DVD formats. The bureau is expected by many at the commission and in industry to approve the waiver. But bureau officials have said no decision has been reached. Another item believed to be in the works is an order that would prevent cable operators from withholding channels they own from satellite and telco-TV companies even when the networks aren’t distributed over satellites. The tightening of what’s called terrestrial loophole may be voted on by the commissioners in early 2010, FCC officials have said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment.
The small number of media items being drafted under Chairman Julius Genachowski, compared with the volume under predecessors, is a result of the commission’s No. 1 priority continuing to be the broadband plan, said current and former commission officials. A broadband item that also deals with broadcast media and is being worked on is a public notice on reallocation of TV spectrum, commission and industry officials said. The notice may be released this month, after a delay from a previous target of November (CD Nov 23 p1). Omnibus Broadband Initiative staffers under Executive Director Blair Levin, not the Media Bureau, have taken the lead on the notice.
“It’s all-broadband, all-the-time, and I think they're focused on getting that plan out pursuant to the congressional directive and it’s all hands on deck for that purpose,” said Wiley Rein broadcast attorney Henry Rivera, a former Democratic FCC member. “They're dealing with other things if they absolutely have to.” Genachowski and Levin also are “very interested in broadband,” Rivera said. “So with the combination of their personal interest and the congressional interest you can understand why the commission is focused where it is and is basically doing little else at this point.”
Thought to be getting attention from bureau staffers is an often-delayed order to follow through on an FCC condition on Sirius’ purchase of XM, commission and industry officials said. The order will specify how the satellite-radio provider should set aside 4 percent of the combined company’s channels for qualified entities, they said. That amounts to six channels for the Sirius service and six for XM, they said.
Commission staff are believed to be figuring out how to create a mechanism to set aside the spectrum that doesn’t involve unconstitutional quotas for minorities, FCC officials said. The FCC had defined qualified entity as a minority-controlled body. The commission probably won’t put off the effective date of that condition past the Feb. 24 deadline, said commission officials and communications lawyers. Sirius XM representatives declined to comment.
Likely to be released in the first quarter is a notice of inquiry from the Media Bureau on the media ownership review, FCC and industry officials said. Bureau officials are believed to be working now on such an item, they said. The inquiry likely will be followed by field hearings on ownership and a rulemaking notice later in 2010, so commissioners can vote on an ownership order by the end of the year, broadcast and public-interest lawyers have said.