The FCC is starting an investigation of wireless calling problems following Monday’s bombings in Boston, a step urged by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and other officials Tuesday. Similar to other recent crises, there were wide reports after the attack about network overload. “There was a temporary surge in wireless phone use after the Boston attack, which caused network congestion,” said Public Safety Bureau Chief David Turetsky. He said Chairman Julius Genachowski instructed the bureau “to examine the events in Boston as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen network resiliency and reliability in the wake of a disaster. This includes steps that carriers and other stakeholders can take, as well as ways to improve public outreach and education.” Genachowski also released a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the victims of the tragedy in Boston,” he said. “It’s vital that communications service is available during crises, when the need to reach 911, family and friends is the most urgent. For the FCC, this is an institutional imperative.”
Wireless networks experienced service outages after Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon similar to the kinds of outages seen after last year’s Superstorm Sandy and the June derecho storm, the 2011 Virginia earthquake and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York. The FCC isn’t saying so far that it will launch an investigation, as it did after the other disasters. But former and current agency officials said Tuesday the FCC is all but certain to ask more questions. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC needs to better understand what happened after the bombs went off.
LAS VEGAS -- That News Corp. would consider making Fox a pay-TV network if Aereo is legally able to deliver that and other broadcast network stations’ signals to subscribers without paying retransmission consent caught some NAB attendees by surprise. “We're not going to sit idly by” with the upstart online service able to transmit stations to Aereo subscribers, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said in a Q-and-A with NAB CEO Gordon Smith. “Clearly there’s a path available to us, that’s a business solution available to us, if we can’t get our rights protected in another way.” Making Fox a cable network isn’t Carey’s preference, he said Monday at the NAB show.
LAS VEGAS -- That News Corp. would consider making Fox a pay-TV network if Aereo is legally able to deliver that and other broadcast network stations’ signals to subscribers without paying retransmission consent caught some NAB attendees by surprise. “We're not going to sit idly by” with the upstart online service able to transmit stations to Aereo subscribers, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said in a Q-and-A with NAB CEO Gordon Smith. “Clearly there’s a path available to us, that’s a business solution available to us, if we can’t get our rights protected in another way.” Making Fox a cable network isn’t Carey’s preference, he said Monday at the NAB show.
LAS VEGAS -- That News Corp. would consider making Fox a pay-TV network if Aereo is legally able to deliver that and other broadcast network stations’ signals to subscribers without paying retransmission consent caught some NAB attendees by surprise. “We're not going to sit idly by” with the upstart online service able to transmit stations to Aereo subscribers, News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey said in a Q-and-A with NAB CEO Gordon Smith. “Clearly there’s a path available to us, that’s a business solution available to us, if we can’t get our rights protected in another way.” Making Fox a cable network isn’t Carey’s preference, he said Monday at the NAB show.
The FCC asks a battery of questions in an NPRM approved Wednesday that tries to get to the bottom of what went wrong in June when the derecho storm led to problems at 77 public safety answering points across Ohio, the central Appalachians and the Mid-Atlantic states, with 17 PSAPs losing service completely. FCC officials said the NPRM is open-ended and doesn’t draw tentative conclusions, though it could lead to new requirements for carriers. The questions raised are based on the problems identified in the Jan. 10 FCC report on the storm (http://bit.ly/ZTzB3M).
Whether wireless can be an effective substitute for fiber was a key question industry representatives struggled with Monday at the inaugural meeting of the Technology Transitions Policy Task Force. The main objective of Monday’s workshop was to establish a “factual baseline” for understanding three main transitions, said FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski: the evolution of network protocols from TDM to IP, replacement of copper networks with fiber, and the shift from wireline to wireless service. More than a third of households have already cut the voice cord and gone totally wireless, several panelists said. But some said that, as a replacement for wired broadband, wireless leaves much to be desired.
The focus of the FCC in March is once again on public safety communications, with a rulemaking likely to force the agency to revisit whether to again impose backup power requirements on carriers. An NPRM for the March 20 meeting, which circulated late Wednesday, raises numerous questions following up on the commission’s January derecho report (CD Jan 11 p3).
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council no longer seeks an immediate vote on an FCC media ownership order that has deadlocked commissioners (CD Feb 19 p13). MMTC made a new proposal for steps to take before a vote on whether to deregulate newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules. The council last month sought a vote on the draft Media Bureau order before studies were complete on the rules’ effect on minority ownership (CD Jan 28 p7), saying if the research showed deregulation would harm people of color, the order could be reversed. Executive Director David Honig told us the council now wants the proceeding put on hold so a study the group will pay for on cross ownership’s effects on minority-owned stations can be done by a research firm.
The FCC approved 5-0 on Wednesday rules for cell signal boosters, designed to extend the reach of carrier networks. Commission Democrats and Republicans expressed some concerns about the order, which has been in the works since 2011 (CD Feb 20 p1). Major wireless carriers and 90 rural carriers have assured the FCC they plan to allow the use of boosters as long as they meet the technical requirements specified in the order, officials said. Public Knowledge criticized the order for not grandfathering in the use of more than two million cell boosters already being used by consumers. The order had not been posted online by the FCC by our deadline.