Applications for Consumer Advisory Committee membership are due Sept. 14, the FCC said in a public notice Thursday. It said applicants should be ready for a two-year term and it wants representation of consumers, nonprofits, corporations and others.

Few companies are more “uniquely positioned” than CBS “to profit from the explosion of premium content” on over-the-top and direct-to-consumer services, said CEO Leslie Moonves on a Thursday afternoon earnings call. The call was his first since the CBS board voted the previous day to hire outside counsel to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against Moonves (see the personals section of this publication). Adam Townsend, executive vice president-corporate finance, at the top of the call put off limits any discussion or Q&A about the allegations or investigation. “In light of any litigation and other matters, and on the advice of counsel,” said Townsend, “the scope of today’s call and any questions will be limited to the quarterly results of the company.” OTT services “are becoming mainstream,” and CBS has its “own, well-established platforms growing right along with consumer demand,” said Moonves. The network’s previous goal was by 2020 to have 8 million subscribers combined for its two “cornerstone” services, CBS All Access and Showtime OTT, he said. CBS is now on pace to reach that milestone in 2019, so the network is upping its forecast to 16 million subscribers by 2022, he said. “In other words, we plan to double our original goal in just two additional years, and that doesn’t even include the subs we’re just beginning to get internationally.”

“Charter will halt airing certain advertising," as an olive branch to the New York Public Service Commission, the company said Wednesday. “We look forward to resolving all matters currently disputed with the PSC in the not too distant future.” Charter didn't say which ads. In June, the agency asked it to halt ads claiming the company is exceeding broadband deployment targets (see 1806260055). The PSC didn't comment. The state commission’s punishment last week revoking OK of the Time Warner buy is expected to bring Charter to the table (see 1808010040). Raymond James analysts “remain confident” both sides can find resolution. “We do not believe that Charter will end up divesting the assets or ceasing operations, but will either prevail in court or find a settlement,” they wrote investors. “We are hard pressed to see where the company was actually required to build out in less dense areas and as such appears to have satisfied the PSC requests. Nevertheless, we suspect politics is playing a part and this will take some time to become final.” Settlement may be best, Stop the Cap tweeted: "We're pondering if New York should settle its dispute with Charter/Spectrum, but only with new deal conditions enforced by the courts. Keeping Comcast and data caps out is priority #1."

Babette Boliek is a good choice as FCC chief economist, to oversee opening the Office of Economics and Analytics, said Jeffrey Eisenach, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a job Boliek has also held. Eisenach noted some fear the new office will take the economists out of bureaus where they are “embedded” with the lawyers who “really” run the FCC. “While the ‘Siberia effect’ is a valid concern in theory, the FCC Order establishing the new office makes it unlikely by giving it real bureaucratic ‘throw weight,’ including specific responsibility for overseeing spectrum auctions and a requirement that the office review every rulemaking before it is released to the public and conduct a formal benefit-cost analysis of all major rules,” Eisenach blogged. It “has a fighting chance to ensure that future FCC decisions are made through multidisciplinary collaboration in which economic analysis plays a significant role,” he wrote. “That has often been the case at the Federal Trade Commission, whose Bureau of Economics dates to 1915.”

Despite some restructuring, the FCC remains tethered to a Communications Act that requires it "to regulate the various industry sectors differently," said a Congressional Research Service overview of the agency. "Some policymakers have been critical of the FCC and the manner in which it regulates various sectors of the telecommunications industry -- telephone, cable television, radio and television broadcasting, and some aspects of the Internet," CRS said. "These policymakers, including some in Congress, have long called for varying degrees and types of reform to the FCC. Most proposals fall into two categories: (1) procedural changes made within the FCC or through congressional action that would affect the agency’s operations or (2) substantive policy changes requiring congressional action that would affect how the agency regulates different services and industry sectors."

The FCC is committed to getting a better picture of who's using the C-band, Chairman Ajit Pai said in a letter to Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Commissioners approved 4-0 an order and NPRM in July (see 1807120037). “I agree with you that our ability to intensify the use of this band is closely linked to gathering an accurate picture of how this spectrum is currently being used by incumbent earth stations,” Pai said. “That is exactly why Commission staff established a filing freeze on new applications for earth stations on April 19, 2018, and why stations have a 180-day window to register with the Commission and provide certain needed information (such as their locations) for us to proceed with this rulemaking.” Pai sent the same letter to Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. The FCC also understands the importance of the 5 GHz band to unlicensed, Pai said in a second set of letters to the two members. “The most important way that the FCC facilitates innovation is by freeing up spectrum for wireless services and making it available for flexible use, and I appreciate your support for this concept," he said. Pai repeated in letters to Reps. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., and Billy Long, R-Mo., that the FCC is likely to address rules for the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service band in coming months (see 1807250055). All the letters were posted Tuesday.

State and local laws stopping municipal broadband “are particularly offensive,” FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter tweeted Tuesday night. “What is the public interest rationale for preventing communities from banding together to add a broadband competitor in their markets?” The Democrat also tweeted concurrence with Georgetown Law Institute for Tech Law & Policy Fellow Gigi Sohn’s tweet urging Congress to pre-empt such laws and require dominant ISPs to share networks with competitors. “The lack of meaningful #competition in broadband is a real problem,” Slaughter said.

Comments are due Oct. 29 on FCC rules to be reviewed under Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act. "The purpose of the review is to determine whether Commission rules whose ten-year anniversary dates are in the years 2015-2016, as contained in the Appendix, should be continued without change, amended, or rescinded in order to minimize any significant impact the rules may have on a substantial number of small entities," said a proposed rule in docket 18-31 and Tuesday's Federal Register.

Having soft launched its mobile service June 30, Charter Communications plans to ramp up features and marketing this summer, expanding mobile devices supported and letting customers transfer handsets, CEO Tom Rutledge said in a Q2 call Tuesday. Rutledge said company labor issues in New York City "politicized the actions" of the state Public Service Commission, which revoked approval of the TWC takeover (see 1807270027). "We're in compliance with the plain reading and the buildout requirements that the state imposed on us in merger conditions and we have a very strong legal case and ability to defend ourselves," he said. "It could play out over a lengthy period of time, if required. If necessary, we'll litigate." Asked about T-Mobile/Sprint, Rutledge said Charter wasn't one of the parties interested in Sprint (see 1807310042). "It doesn't mean in the future mobile assets might be priced right and that natural convergence would occur," he said. The chief said 91 percent of the footprint is all-digital and 6 percent of legacy Time Warner Cable customers had a full analog video lineup. He said about half of the Bright House Networks footprint is analog, and the all-digital shift started in June. He said the whole company will be fully digital by year's end and plans to launch a cloud-based DVR later this year. Rutledge said 62 percent of residential TWC and BHN customers were moved to Spectrum pricing and packaging, up from 55 percent at the end of Q1. He said Charter offers 1 GB service in about 60 percent of its footprint and it raised its minimum Spectrum to 200 Mbps in about 40 percent of its footprint. Charter has 16.2 million residential video customers, down 1.8 percent year over year; 23.1 million residential internet customers, up 4.8 percent; and 10.3 million voice customers, down 0.5 percent. The stock closed Tuesday up 3.6 percent to $304.58

The Trump administration views development and deployment of 5G networks and other advanced communications and continued leadership in advancing cybersecurity and AI among its top research and development priorities for federal agencies to consider as they develop their FY 2020 budget proposals, said the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology in a Tuesday memo. OMB and OSTP highlighted cybersecurity and quantum computing among the Trump administration's FY 2019 R&D priorities. The focus on deployment of 5G and other communications networks follows the January release of a leaked National Security Council draft memo that proposed nationalization (see 1801290034 and 1803210019). 5G and other advanced communications networks “will be critical to an increasingly connected society,” OMB and OSTP said. “Agencies should support the development and deployment of these networks, including by prioritizing R&D to manage spectrum, secure networks, and increase access to high-speed internet.” Autonomous vehicles, drones and other connected systems “rely heavily on robust and secure connectivity to provide novel, low-cost capabilities,” with additional R&D needed to “safely and efficiently” integrate them “onto our roadways and into the national airspace,” they said. “Agencies should prioritize R&D to lower barriers to the deployment of autonomous vehicles and to develop operating standards and a traffic management system” for drones. Agencies should invest in R&D on cybersecurity to protect U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including “prioritized investment” in AI, computing and cyber capabilities, OMB and OSTP said. “Advanced cyber capabilities at scale require investment in new computing and technology paradigms, including adaptive and automated defensive measures.”