The FCC almost certainly will revisit the definition of multichannel video programming distributors to include one subset of over-the-top providers in the near future, cable lawyers said in recent interviews, saying they expect new rules in coming months.
Matt Daneman
Matt Daneman, Senior Editor, covers pay TV, cable broadband, satellite, and video issues and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications in 2015 after more than 15 years at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, where he covered business among other issues. He also was a correspondent for USA Today. You can follow Daneman on Twitter: @mdaneman
Not many issues can get Google, Microsoft and NCTA on the same side of the table like Globalstar's proposal for the FCC to create a private Wi-Fi channel in the 2.4 GHz band. Microsoft and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute organized a panel about Globalstar's terrestrial low-power service proposal, with the panelists each raising questions about or criticizing TLPS. "It's not that we're all convinced it won't work," said Russell Fox of Mintz Levin, counsel to the Wi-Fi Alliance. "There's been no meaningful demonstration from an engineering basis that it will work."