Over-the-top video services are the “bull's-eye of where everybody wants to be,” but limited disposable income and the integral role of advertising in financing content must be considered in a “post-merger world,” said John Penney, 20th Century Fox executive vice president-consumer business development and strategic partnerships, at a Parks Associates conference. Addressing AT&T’s Time Warner acquisition (see 1812130004), Disney/Fox assets and Comcast/NBCUniversal, Penney cited a “new balance of power” among studios, distribution platforms and ISPs. Media conglomerates hope to turn themselves into direct-to-consumer media companies to get in on the data trend, Penney said Wednesday in Marina Del Rey, California. The battle for market share by large consumer electronics companies and internet companies will make the home “even more cluttered with devices,” said Penney. Pushing for “reduction in complexity,” he said the living room has become a “rats’ nest of wires and boxes,” some due to competitive dynamics. In addition to Amazon and Google, Apple and Roku are trying to leverage hardware to sell services, creating a “mess” for average consumers who just want to discover content they want to watch and make it all work, he said. That’s a “real disservice to how good this can be,” said Penney, saying OTT “can be a lot better than traditional distribution by broadcast and cable,” but large internet and CE companies “have very little desire to pull together and create a more holistic mechanism for search, personalization and the like.” He said “something’s got to give” because it won’t be possible to make video content and distribution work economically. Penney referenced a comment on a previous panel that the new piracy in TV is shared accounts for OTT. Some in industry hope for relationship breakups so each member of the ex-couple ponies up for a separate paid account, quipped Michele Edelman, Vubiquity executive vice president-marketing.

The Department of Agriculture opened its $600 million rural e-connectivity loan and grant pilot ReConnect Program Thursday, including an online portal for the program. Congress appropriated funding for the pilot in the FY 2018 omnibus federal spending bill (see 1803230038). The department said its Rural Development division will be the primary agency in charge of the program, with assistance from other federal partners. USDA set out details in a notice for Friday's Federal Register. $200 million of the appropriated funds will go toward grants, $200 million to loan and grant combinations and $200 million for low-interest loans. Grant applications are due April 29, loan-grant combination applications are due May 29 and loan applications are due June 28, the department said. The department will begin accepting applications early next year, starting no later than the "second or third week of February," said Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue during an event announcing the program's rules and application schedule. The ReConnect Program, in conjunction with Rural Utilities Service broadband language in the farm bill Congress passed this week (see 1812120053), will go “hand in hand” to improve Agriculture's ability to improve rural broadband connectivity, Perdue said. “Our goal is to … open up the opportunity for transformative connectivity” in rural areas. Approved projects will be allowed to serve only rural communities of fewer than 20,000 people and that currently have either no broadband service or services with a maximum of 20/2 Mbps, Agriculture said. Projects must create a minimum 25/3 Mbps service. The department said it's prioritizing projects that will connect rural homes, agriculture production facilities, e-commerce, healthcare and educational institutions. It's "dedicated to spurring broadband deployment and investment in the areas that need it most,” said White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios in a statement. “We can’t allow rural America to fall behind.” NTIA “looks forward to providing technical assistance to potential applicants,” said Administrator David Redl. “NTIA’s BroadbandUSA team has extensive experience working in the telecommunications industry, building broadband networks and consulting with service providers and local governments.” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the program and similar initiatives “can help us close the digital divide." She "will continue to push for similar resources” in future bills. NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield praised the launch. The program and the farm bill's broadband provisions “highlight a much-needed shift in federal policy to make rural broadband a possibility for the estimated 23 million Americans who lack it,” said National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson.

The FCC issued a reassigned phone number database order with a safe harbor that was unanimously adopted by commissioners Wednesday (see 1812120026). The safe harbor from Telephone Consumer Protection Act liability wasn't in an initial draft but was added this week. "A safe harbor will incent greater [database] usage, thereby further protecting more consumers from unwanted calls," said the order released Thursday in docket 17-59. But the commission agreed with consumer groups the safe harbor shouldn't be broadly applied to every call made by callers who use the database without regard to whether they reasonably relied on it to make the call. "Once the database becomes operational, callers that wish to avail themselves of the safe harbor must demonstrate that they appropriately checked the most recent update of the database and the database reported 'No' when given either the date they contacted that consumer or the date on which the caller could be confident that the consumer could still be reached at that number," said the order. "Callers bear the burden of proof and persuasion to show that they checked the database before making a call. The safe harbor would then shield the caller from liability should the database return an inaccurate result."

External communications by the Office of Emergency Communications needs work, GAO reported. The Department of Homeland Security should assess methods for communicating with external stakeholders, GAO said. DHS concurred. Some FirstNet statewide interoperability coordinators (SWICs) and public safety officials said OEC could improve communications, GAO said, as “26 of the 54 SWICs responded that OEC could use additional tools or approaches, such as social media" and public safety officials "missed training because they were unaware of opportunities.” Also Wednesday, GAO reported it continues to monitor federal agencies’ implementation of its recommendations to strengthen cybersecurity. Agencies haven’t implemented 41 percent of more than 1,200 recommendations about IT management and operations, and 23 percent of about 3,000 cybersecurity recommendations since 2010, GAO said. “These recommendations include those to improve the implementation of CIO responsibilities, the oversight of the data center consolidation initiative, software license management efforts, and the strength of security programs and technical controls.”

The FCC ranks No. 17 among 27 midsize federal agencies for 2018 in an online list Wednesday by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. Its 64.4 engagement score, based on such aspects as effective leadership, employee skills-mission match, training and development, work-life balance and pay, is up 1.6 from last year, down from a 71.3 high in 2013. The agency’s male-female ratio is 50.6 to 49.4. On racial diversity, it’s 58.3 percent white, 28 percent black or African American, 9 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic/Latino, with the remaining Native American, multiracial, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and unspecified. The Office of Managing Director ranks 196 of 415 for agency subcomponents. In the same midsize category, the FTC rates No. 1 with an engagement score of 84, up 2.6 from last year, continuing its upward trend. GAO ranks No. 4. Among large agencies, the Commerce Department ranks No. 3 of 17 agencies, DOJ is No. 10 and the Department of Homeland Security is last. Rankings for Commerce subcomponents include: the Patent and Trademark Office , 60; National Institute of Standards and Technology, 86; NTIA, 144; and NOAA,154.

To improve FCC mapping, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel suggested "three C’s of broadband cartography." They are coordination with state public service commissions and the departments of Commerce and Agriculture and Ag's Rural Utilities Service; having correct information; and creative ideas like a Mobility Fund (MF) pre-auction audit by Universal Service Administrative Co. Friday's announcement of an FCC probe of carrier accuracy for MF Phase II broadband maps (see 1812070048) "is a welcome development," she told a Pew event Tuesday according to prepared remarks, but "we have a mess on our hands." So "while this investigation proceeds, we have a golden opportunity to revisit our wireless deployment data and rethink how we populate our maps," she said. It's good that earlier in 2018, the FCC, after more than three years, updated the National Broadband Map, but the wired broadband map had inaccuracies, she said. Her home was wrongly listed as having broadband services available that it actually lacked, she said. The agency declined to comment.

DOJ and the FCC “will undoubtedly” have the same concerns about Nexstar buying Tribune (see 1812070038) as they did with Sinclair’s attempt to buy Tribune and “require numerous station divestitures,” said Howard Stirk Holdings CEO Armstrong Williams in a Broadcast & Cable commentary Monday. HSH is a frequent “sidecar” partner of Sinclair and was to receive divestitures from Sinclair/Tribune. HSH’s high employment of minorities wouldn’t be possible without its relationship with Sinclair, Williams said: It was “shocking” opponents of the Sinclair deal opposed the Sinclair spinoffs to HSH and claimed Sinclair was giving HSH an undermarket price, he said. Those claims were “unsubstantiated,” Williams said. Nexstar/Tribune is "an historic opportunity to advance minority ownership and diversity within the context of the divestiture requirements the FCC and the DOJ will have,” Williams said. “As one of the only African-American owners of television stations in the nation, I sincerely hope this happens.” The acquirer's "focus on localism remains a key element of our broadcast platform and supporting" the FCC’s "key initiative of increased media ownership diversity complements this strategy” said a Nexstar spokesperson. “The Company has a long-term, well-documented record on this front.”

The FCC Office of Economics and Analytics opened, the FCC said Tuesday. “The communications sector is a major part of America’s economy, and our rules can substantially affect incentives of companies and consumers,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “This new office will ensure that strong economic analysis and data analytics inform our efforts.” Giulia McHenry, from NTIA, is acting chief and Wayne Leighton, who has been overseeing development of OEA, will be acting senior deputy chief. Also named: Eric Ralph and Andrew Wise, both acting associate chiefs, and Rachel Kazan, acting chief of staff. The four divisions are Economic Analysis, with acting Chief Emily Talaga; Industry Analysis, with Rodger Woock acting chief; Auctions, with acting Chief Margaret Wiener; and Data, with acting Deputy Chief Anne Levine. Others include FCC Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger, with agency Chief Economist Babette Boliek and Deputy Chief Economist Jonathan Levy. “This will be a single office to bring together the great economic and data work already being done by FCC staff,” McHenry said. The FCC approved the office in January over dissents by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (see 1801300026).

The FCC is discontinuing the national broadband map it inherited from NTIA, which used platform technology and June 30, 2014, data that are "dated." The map and its application programming interface will be decommissioned Dec. 21, blogged Rich Mansfield, Office of Managing Director associate chief information officer, Friday. He noted the FCC released a new fixed broadband deployment map in February that's updated twice annually -- including in September with June 2017 Form 477 data (see 1809100059) -- and has mobile broadband data and other resources available, including a collection of maps. An FCC spokesman confirmed Monday the new broadband map and other resources will remain available.

The FCC Public Safety Bureau sought comment by Jan. 9, replies Jan. 24 on how to ensure wireless carriers and backhaul providers better coordinate with each other and other stakeholders, before, during and after disaster. It asked about efficacy of the wireless industry’s wireless resiliency cooperative framework. In November, the FCC sought information from seven wireless carriers on implementation (see 1811060052). “The Bureau seeks a deeper understanding of the extent to which the Framework currently addresses issues associated with backhaul support for wireless service in such natural disasters,” said a public notice in docket 11-60. “We seek input from the public on these questions to better inform our understanding, as well as potential recommendations to the Commission on proposals that could help facilitate restoration of service after outages.” The PN seeks comment on including backhaul providers in the framework.