Parents Television Council President Tim Winter sees no reason for Senate Republicans to hold up FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's reconfirmation following the November elections, Winter told us Monday. It’s now “all but certain” that FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will be stepping down and leaving the FCC with the incoming Donald Trump administration, Winter said, citing the condition ascribed to the GOP holds preventing Rosenworcel's reconfirmation. “It’s really sad” that her renomination “has been used like a political football” and “poker chip,” he said. One GOP Senate staffer told us last week that Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation is less likely following the recent elections (see 1611100050), although many agree it is a Senate leadership fight. Winter expanded on a news release that his group released earlier that day. Now is the ideal time to make PTC's priorities known before Congress, the FCC and the incoming Trump administration, Winter told us: “What we want to do is get out there early with a really solid laundry list.” He pointed favorably to Trump's having signed during the presidential campaign from the group Enough Is Enough to enforce obscenity laws. Winter also hopes that the Dec. 7 Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee hearing on AT&T buying Time Warner brings up the issue of network unbundling as a potential condition: “The bully pulpit is important.” He said the FCC should handle outstanding broadcast indecency complaints and that Congress and the agency should review the content rating system. Winter referred to meetings with Commerce Committee offices of both parties and chambers of Congress starting this summer and that all seem to believe that the content rating system “deserves a closer look.” He wants “some remedies” in that regard, Winter said, blasting the current system as “inaccurate, inconsistent, wholly lacking transparency.” It’s time for a public hearing on that, he said. Winter hopes that no legislation is necessary to achieve his goals, he said.
The future of the FCC draft set-top plan is seen as bound up in the questions of how long Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will remain in their seats, industry officials on both sides of the set-top issue told us. In the wake of Republican Donald Trump's win of the White House Tuesday, no one is sure what the answers to those questions are, many stakeholders agree. Rosenworcel has been seen as the swing vote on Wheeler's set-top plan (see 1611030055) since it was pulled from the September commissioner meeting (see 1609290076). The question of her reconfirmation during the lame-duck Congress and the amount of time Wheeler has left to convince her to vote for his plan are seen important factors in the fate of the item.
The future of the FCC draft set-top plan is seen as bound up in the questions of how long Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will remain in their seats, industry officials on both sides of the set-top issue told us. In the wake of Republican Donald Trump's win of the White House Tuesday, no one is sure what the answers to those questions are, many stakeholders agree. Rosenworcel has been seen as the swing vote on Wheeler's set-top plan (see 1611030055) since it was pulled from the September commissioner meeting (see 1609290076). The question of her reconfirmation during the lame-duck Congress and the amount of time Wheeler has left to convince her to vote for his plan are seen important factors in the fate of the item.
Commissioners approved ISP privacy rules Thursday in a party-line FCC vote, as expected, largely as proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1610260065). ISPs lost in their attempts to get the agency to drop a plan to classify web browsing and application use history as sensitive data, requiring opt-in consent. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was unsuccessful in her push for restrictions on ISPs inserting mandatory arbitration clauses in service contracts, though the majority did commit to seeking comment on that issue in early 2017.
Commissioners approved ISP privacy rules Thursday in a party-line FCC vote, as expected, largely as proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1610260065). ISPs lost in their attempts to get the agency to drop a plan to classify web browsing and application use history as sensitive data, requiring opt-in consent. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was unsuccessful in her push for restrictions on ISPs inserting mandatory arbitration clauses in service contracts, though the majority did commit to seeking comment on that issue in early 2017.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expressed impatience with the industry-led Robocall Strike Force, which presented its initial report to the agency Wednesday. The release was a high-profile affair, with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, chairman of the strike force, and all five commissioners attending. Members of the task force have met more than 100 times leading up to the presentation, commission officials said. “We have not reached the goal,” Wheeler said. “We need solutions now."
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler expressed impatience with the industry-led Robocall Strike Force, which presented its initial report to the agency Wednesday. The release was a high-profile affair, with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, chairman of the strike force, and all five commissioners attending. Members of the task force have met more than 100 times leading up to the presentation, commission officials said. “We have not reached the goal,” Wheeler said. “We need solutions now."
Incompas urged the FCC to curb business data service "market power abuse" at the commissioners' Nov. 17 meeting, the preliminary agenda for which is due Thursday. "Setting a vote on BDS would advance a proceeding that has dragged on for over a decade," said CEO Chip Pickering in a blog post Tuesday. "We currently live in the EpiPen world of broadband, where companies like AT&T and CenturyLink use their market power to overcharge customers. ... Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to adopt a remedy to address market abuse on legacy BDS services is an important first step toward more competition that we support." The FCC "should establish a mechanism or clear guidelines for Ethernet BDS pricing that fosters competition, not monopoly rates," Pickering wrote. He said the FCC should ensure wholesale rates always are less than retail rates, and further address "lock-up agreements." Representatives of Public Knowledge, Common Cause, New America's Open Technology Institute and the Computer & Communications Industry Association pressed the agency to "promote competition and address unjust and unreasonable prices that enterprise, wholesale, and mobile wireless backhaul customers pay for TDM and packet-based BDS services." The commission should phase in proposed TDM rate adjustments in two years, rather than three years, and rates should be cut by 17 to 20 percent instead of a proposed 11 percent, said a PK filing in docket 16-143 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, which also urged the commission "to address the high cost of Ethernet services." Charter Communications said the FCC "cannot lawfully regulate the large universe of BDS provided on a private-carriage basis." In a filing on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn, Charter opposed any Ethernet regulation, even of incumbent ILECs at lower speeds, which it said "could have a devastating impact on BDS investment for cable and other competitive providers." Alaska Communications asked the FCC to defer any consideration of BDS regulatory changes in Alaska, given the "state's unusual market dynamics," said a filing on meetings with every commissioner except Wheeler, aides (including to Wheeler) and other FCC officials. Sprint, Frontier Communications, Level 3, AT&T and others made further BDS filings in the docket in recent days.
Incompas urged the FCC to curb business data service "market power abuse" at the commissioners' Nov. 17 meeting, the preliminary agenda for which is due Thursday. "Setting a vote on BDS would advance a proceeding that has dragged on for over a decade," said CEO Chip Pickering in a blog post Tuesday. "We currently live in the EpiPen world of broadband, where companies like AT&T and CenturyLink use their market power to overcharge customers. ... Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to adopt a remedy to address market abuse on legacy BDS services is an important first step toward more competition that we support." The FCC "should establish a mechanism or clear guidelines for Ethernet BDS pricing that fosters competition, not monopoly rates," Pickering wrote. He said the FCC should ensure wholesale rates always are less than retail rates, and further address "lock-up agreements." Representatives of Public Knowledge, Common Cause, New America's Open Technology Institute and the Computer & Communications Industry Association pressed the agency to "promote competition and address unjust and unreasonable prices that enterprise, wholesale, and mobile wireless backhaul customers pay for TDM and packet-based BDS services." The commission should phase in proposed TDM rate adjustments in two years, rather than three years, and rates should be cut by 17 to 20 percent instead of a proposed 11 percent, said a PK filing in docket 16-143 on a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, which also urged the commission "to address the high cost of Ethernet services." Charter Communications said the FCC "cannot lawfully regulate the large universe of BDS provided on a private-carriage basis." In a filing on meetings with aides to Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Mignon Clyburn, Charter opposed any Ethernet regulation, even of incumbent ILECs at lower speeds, which it said "could have a devastating impact on BDS investment for cable and other competitive providers." Alaska Communications asked the FCC to defer any consideration of BDS regulatory changes in Alaska, given the "state's unusual market dynamics," said a filing on meetings with every commissioner except Wheeler, aides (including to Wheeler) and other FCC officials. Sprint, Frontier Communications, Level 3, AT&T and others made further BDS filings in the docket in recent days.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler anticipates the Enforcement Bureau tiger teams “should be up and running” by early 2017, he told House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. That was one of the many written answers Wheeler supplied in a 40-page document sent to the House Commerce Committee this month. He and the other four commissioners were responding to questions for the record that lawmakers submitted after a July 12 FCC oversight hearing.