Carriers and broadcasters face some quick decisions as the FCC moves toward the TV incentive auction, now projected to start March 29. Applications from both broadcasters and bidders for the spectrum they're willing to sell will be due at the FCC in a few months, agency officials said last week at the commission’s monthly meeting. One complicating factor for carriers is that the Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise interest rates in September, meaning raising capital to buy spectrum will become more expensive.
New York City opposes repacking broadcasters into the duplex gap, said a letter to the FCC from Maya Wiley, counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, posted online Friday. “I am deeply concerned about the potential impact on New York City, one of the media markets the Auction Task Force has indicated would most likely see a broadcaster placed in the duplex gap post auction,” Wiley said. The duplex gap should be preserved for unlicensed use and for wireless microphones to protect news teams' ability to cover breaking news in the city and the city's ability to host major sporting events like the Super Bowl, Wiley said. An impaired duplex gap could also discourage auction participation, Wiley said. “Having a common channel available for unlicensed users in every market nationwide -- especially in the country's largest market: New York City -- is essential to encourage private investment in the integrated Wi-Fi chips that will bring greatest value to smartphone users in urban areas,” the letter said. The FCC should follow the wishes of the “broad stakeholder consensus” and not repack TV stations into the gap, Wiley said.
The Senate Commerce Committee will investigate ways to obtain more spectrum, at its Wednesday hearing on the topic, its chairman told us. “We’re obviously interested in freeing up as much spectrum as we possibly can,” Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview Tuesday. “Every issue that we deal with in front of the committee or for that matter, for any of the committees I serve on, kind of comes back to the need for more spectrum.”
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he's skeptical about a new task force on FCC process reform, announced by the agency last week, speaking Tuesday at a Free State Foundation lunch. Unlike most staff task forces, this one includes representatives of all five commissioners' offices, according to an FCC blog post.
AT&T, which completed purchase of DirecTV (see 1507240055), names John Stankey CEO, AT&T Entertainment & Internet Services, to lead combined DirecTV and AT&T Home Solutions; DirecTV President, Chairman and CEO Mike White plans to retire ... Wiley Rein's McBee Strategic hires Greg Garcia, ex-Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, as executive vice president, leading its cybersecurity policy advocacy, communications and coalition management practice ... TierPoint, cloud computing and colocation firm, names Jerry Kent CEO, and he remains chairman, will stay in those roles at Suddenlink until its deal to be bought by Altice is complete, and remains CEO of Cequel III, telecom management firm with management agreements with Suddenlink and TierPoint; he succeeds Paul Estes at TierPoint, who remains Cequel III executive vice president ... Allied Minds' BridgeSat, developing an optical system to improve wireless data transfer from satellites, hires David Mitlyng, ex-SSL, as senior vice president-business development and strategy ... Electronic Recyclers International promotes James Kim to chief financial officer ... National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications elects to board James Anderson, Turner Broadcasting System ... Lobbyist registration: Pearl Mobile DTV, Podesta Group, effective May 1.
The Copyright Royalty Board should reduce the rates noncommercial broadcasters pay in online music royalties, said the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee during closing argument Tuesday in the CRB proceeding on streaming music royalty rates (14-CRB-0001-WR [2016-2020]). SoundExchange, which represents artists and record labels, has argued that the noncommercial streaming rates shouldn't change. In June filings, Wiley Rein attorney Karyn Ablin pointed to superior deals made by College Broadcasters Inc. and NPR as evidence that the rate should change.
A ruling on the rates streaming music services will pay for music licensing is expected in December, after closing arguments in the case (14-CRB-0001-WR (2016-2020)) were held before the Copyright Royalty Board Tuesday. The hearing included long stretches of closed session, where the room was shut to outside parties because confidential information was under discussion, according to CRB staff.
Major telecom policy players endorsed 2016 presidential candidates with their pocketbooks this summer. The lion’s share of top executives leaned toward establishment candidates: Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who has polled strongly among GOP contenders. Clinton in particular was flooded with donations from executives from Comcast, Dish and Verizon and from senior aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler himself, according to the latest campaign records released to the Federal Election Commission. Several industry observers told us to expect less telecom change if Clinton wins the White House.
Former FCC chairmen battled over net neutrality and broadband reclassification along partisan lines on a panel Wednesday at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council's Access to Capital and Telecom Policy Conference. Democrat Reed Hundt said the FCC should be focused on addressing income inequality, and while some of the ways to do that involved selling spectrum in blocks that are affordable and imposing spectrum caps, another was through net neutrality because it protected Internet entrepreneurs seeking to reach customers over broadband Internet systems. Net neutrality created a level playing field “because this platform called the Internet should be shared by everybody,” said Hundt, who is founder and CEO of Coalition for Green Capital.
Wiley Rein hires Richard Feasey, ex-Vodafone, as senior international policy adviser, Telecom, Media & Technology Group ... Polycom hires Christopher Jones, ex-Avaya, as president, Polycom Americas, effective Aug. 3 ... Brightcove promotes Andrew Feinberg to president-international operations, and David Plotkin to general counsel, succeeding Feinberg; Senior Vice President-Worldwide Operations Paul Goetz leaving at month's end to pursue other interests ... Windows 10 devices to be theme of IFA Show keynote by Nick Parker, Microsoft corporate vice president-OEM Division, Sept. 4, 3 p.m., CityCube event hall, Messe Berlin fairgrounds ... Lobbyist registration: News Corp., Palladian Hill Strategies, effective July 1.