Work by career FCC staffers on proposed media ownership rules is progressing, after an appeals court remand of previous regulations, industry and agency officials said. They said the last batch of studies the agency paid outsiders to do is heading toward completion, and a rulemaking notice will be issued later. The commission contracted to pay $725,000 for eight studies, according to contracting documents Warren Communications News, publisher of Communications Daily, got from the agency by a Freedom of Information Act request. The research is on local online content, “civic knowledge” and “engagement,” TV viewing, ownership and other areas. The FCC has released five studies dealing with the Web, TV and radio (CD June 16 p9).
An FCC panel is working on three reports on the accessibility of video to those with problems seeing or hearing, after finishing a 35-page set of recommendations Monday on captioning programming that goes online, committee members said in interviews. They said Thursday that the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) next is working on a report recommending how the agency implements part of legislation passed last year on emergency access for the disabled to video programming. The report posted to the committee’s wiki this week (CD July 14 p17) but not yet formally released asks the commission to implement various other deadlines under the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The VPAAC’s work includes consumer electronics, Internet and other communications issues.
Congress shouldn’t take on spectrum issues with a sense of crisis, as it tackles legislation in the Senate and House, NAB Associate General Counsel Scott Goodwin told the Congressional High Tech Caucus late Thursday. Cisco and Microsoft executives raised red flags about provisions reportedly in the Republican draft that could force auctions for all spectrum, including unlicensed spectrum.
Congress will finish off Universal Service Fund reform, Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., said at a press conference Thursday kicking off rural telecom associations’ marketing push on rural broadband. Terry said he’s “extremely optimistic” there will be a deal by the end of August that’s supported by industry, the FCC and the House Commerce Committee. Also at the event, Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, predicted that the Senate will get “very aggressive” on the issue.
Children’s online privacy rights will drive legislative efforts this session despite the lack of adequate protections for all Americans, said lawmakers at a joint hearing held Thursday by the House Communications and Manufacturing subcommittees. Among the slew of privacy queries directed to top officials from the FTC, FCC and NTIA, subcommittee members questioned whether there should be a revision of the 11-year-old Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Agency officials agreed children’s privacy protections should take priority but disputed which agency can dictate privacy rules to telecommunication carriers.
A draft spectrum bill similar to S-911 is circulating in the House courtesy of Commerce Committee Democrats. By proposing reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block to public safety, the bill stands in opposition to a Republican draft bill (CD July 14 p2) released Wednesday. With a legislative hearing scheduled for Friday morning, Democrats have told staff to continue talks with Republicans.
A popular item on consumers’ holiday gift lists this year could be digital content subscriptions, if announcements made Thursday hit their marks. On the same day Spotify unveiled U.S. availability of its long-promised streaming music service, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) said it began its licensing program for UltraViolet. That starts the infrastructure installation process for a fall start of the UltraViolet ecosystem.
The House Judiciary Committee passed the Wireless Tax Fairness Act with two amendments that call for exemptions and studies on the HR-1002’s potential impact and phone cramming. The bill, which will go to the floor, would ban state and local taxes on wireless for five years.
The economic downturn and rising costs make it hard for some tribal radio licensees to build stations before construction permits expire, some tribal broadcasters said. When the FCC opened a filing window for new noncommercial FM stations in October 2007, it provided an opportunity for the number of stations on tribal lands to increase, they said. Construction permits were granted in 2008, requiring recipients to start up their radio stations this year. Some recipients requested extensions from the Media Bureau.
The FCC considered speeding up the deadline for all wireless carriers to meet the location accuracy requirements faced now by carriers that use a handset-based 911 solution, but decided the better course was instead to require compliance for all new network builds, the agency said. The text of a third report and order on 911 location accuracy rules was posted online by the commission. All wireless carriers -- CDMA and GMS -- are required to meet the more stringent E-911 location-accuracy requirements by 2019.