ACA Connects has named three new members of its leadership team, including staffers from both sides of the political aisle and one longtime top communications executive from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Zamir Ahmed has been named VP of external affairs for the association, which represents midsized and smaller independent broadband and cable providers. Ahmed was most recently VP of communications for NAB. He is a former deputy press secretary for the House Committee on Small Business and began his career as an intern for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

Joining ACAC as VP of public affairs and communications is Olivia Shields. Most recently Fields was the communications director for the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which oversees communications issues in tandem with the Senate Commerce Committee.

Shields is also former communications adviser to former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and the House Republican Conference.

Finally, Max Staloff, most recently an attorney in private practice dealing with communications and tech issues, including for trade associations, has moved to the association as VP of regulatory affairs. He will advocate for regulatory policies, including at the FCC, where he was once an attorney. He will work with Brian Hurley, chief regulatory counsel.

Broadband providers are applauding the Biden administration’s guidance on implementing its multibillion-dollar broadband subsidies to states, guidance those ISPs said will make it easier to build out the universal high-speed broadband that is the administration’s end-of-the-decade goal.

The National Telecommunications & Information Administration, which is administering the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program subsidies to states, on Tuesday (December 27) issued guidance on how that money should be handed out. The guidance essentially lines up with the Treasury Department’s guidance on broadband subsidies connected to COVID-19 recovery and capital projects.

NTIA had sought comment on the proposed new guidance. NCTA–The Internet and Television Association, the group representing big cable providers, had warned that not providing added flexibility could discourage participation in the program. It pointed out that what it called the “onerous” rules for the administration’s BTOP broadband grant program had discouraged “experienced“ and “more established and qualified” ISPs, as contrasted with the 60% of the awards that went to government or not-for-profit entities.

The NTIA clearly heard those comments.

For one thing, NTIA said the period over which ISPs will still be bound by the terms and conditions of grants — the so-called Federal Interest Period — will be shortened from 20 to 10 years. Cable broadband operators represented by NCTA, among others, had asked for a shorter compliance period.

Also Read: Republicans Slam Broadband Subsidy Program

NCTA had argued that the 20-year compliance period would “negatively impact an ISP’s ability to obtain financing for future broadband projects and thus impair their ability to participate in future BEAD bids.” ACA Connects, representing smaller, independent cable operators, had also sought an eight-year period.

Also music to ISPs’ ears is that they will be able to use income from BEAD-funded programs without restrictions and states won’t have to track where that income goes. ISPs can also upgrade BEAD-funded plant without getting NTIA's permission first.

ACA Connects president and CEO Grant Spellmeyer called the NTIA guidance a “significant step forward in implementing the BEAD program.” He said the “exemptions and modifications” to the BEAD requirements will “encourage participation by ACA Connects members and other broadband providers, leading to more cost-effective deployments.”

Telco broadband providers were also pleased.

“Getting the details right matters and today’s action by NTIA is a positive step towards streamlining the broadband deployment process for providers and consumers alike,” USTelecom CEO Jonathan Spalter said. “Waiving burdensome requirements will help encourage participation in the BEAD program and ensure more efficient utilization of federal funds. Also, NTIA’s commitment to align with Treasury’s approach on this issue will help ensure the overall success of BEAD.”

If cable and broadcast executives are right, absent some government action to level the playing field, their traditional video businesses are in danger of being steamrolled out of existence by the juggernaut of online streaming, news aggregation and virtual MVPDs.

Against the backdrop of dual writers and actors strikes and union attacks on big studios as unregulated distribution monopolists, the heads of the National Association of Broadcasters and ACA Connects, which represents smaller and midsized independent cable and broadband companies, testified before the House Energy & Commerce Committee on the state of the video marketplace on Thursday (September 14).

The hearing, dubbed "Lights, Camera, Subscriptions: State of the Video Marketplace,” tacked a range of issues from retrans blackouts to the artificial intelligence-driven costs of protecting the integrity of local news and information in a world of easily manipulated misinformation, to the threat to traditional business models by new ones.

In his testimony, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said that Big Tech’s “market power and largely unregulated practices in both the marketplace for digital advertising and as gatekeepers to digital content” have diverted ad dollars away from free, ad-supported broadcast video, which is also devalued when it is appropriated online.

LeGeyt slammed streaming services as loss leaders propped up with Big Tech money.

With ad dollars being drained away, broadcasters must increasingly depend on retransmission consent revenues from traditional, facilities-based multichannel video programming distributors to support vital local news, but those MVPDs are a dwindling revenue base themselves, a point made by ACA Connects president and CEO Grant Spellmeyer.

Spellmeyer pointed out at the hearing that some of his members have exited the traditional regulated cable video business, while other smaller operators have closed up shop altogether after cable video became unprofitable, which he ascribed in part to pay video financing the broadcast video sector (via retransmission consent payments).

LeGeyt said that, given that defection due to unregulated online video, the FCC needs to at least look at whether virtual MVPDs should have to pay retrans fees, something Spellmeyer and ACA Connects definitely don’t support.

LeGeyt agreed that a level playing field with Big Tech was a must, but through antitrust oversight. Keeping Big Tech from getting too big is definitely on Congress’s agenda.

The Federal Communications Commission has rejected most of the requests that it reconsider its online broadband-labeling rules, but did grant a request by ACA Connects that it reconsider its requirement that broadband providers document each instance when they direct a consumer to a label on an alternate sales channel, and to keep that documentation for two years.

That came in an order released Tuesday (August 29).

As ACA Connects, which represents smaller, independent cable providers, suggested in a petition joined by NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, the FCC will clarify that the requirement to document such redirects will be satisfied if: 

1. “The provider establishes the business practices and processes it will follow in distributing the label through alternative sales channels [i.e. in retail stores or phone interactions].”
2. “Retains training materials and related business practice documentation for two years.”
3. Provides such information to the Commission upon request, within 30 days.”

Otherwise, the FCC largely declined to reconsider the rules it came up with for the consumer broadband labels. That means that providers will have to itemize the fees they pass along to consumers. Providers, including ACAC, had wanted the FCC to allow them simply say, “Additional fees may apply.”

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said: “Every consumer needs transparent information when making decisions about what internet service offering makes the most sense for their family or household No one wants to be hit with charges they didn’t ask for or they did not expect. That’s why Broadband Consumer Labels are so important.”

Congress mandated the labels so consumers can better gauge just what kind of broadband service they are getting, including price, speed and quality. The FCC then came up with rules for the program, which they released in a Report and Order. The ACAC/NCTA petition was filed Jan. 17. The rules were passed in November 2022.

The rules will not become effective until the new data collection requirements are vetted and approved by the Office of Management and Budget. Smaller operators — of 100,000 or fewer subscribers — will have an additional 12 months past that OMB approval date to comply.

Ted Hearn, VP of communications for ACA Connects and former Washington bureau chief for Multichannel News, has apparently left the association.

His X (Twitter) handle has changed to one no longer associated with ACAC and he is no longer listed among the staff there.

No word on where Hearn is headed — ACAC execs were not available for comment at deadline — but he was one of the most experienced and respected communications beat reporters when he joined ACA Connects, then the American Cable Association, in March 2009.

Hearn oversaw all communications for the trade group, which represents small and medium-sized independent communications providers.

“He knows the issues, he knows how Washington works, and he knows how to tell people about it,” former ACAC president and CEO Matt Polka said when he hired Hearn away from the journalism pool. Polka said he tapped Hearn because his efforts would be “invaluable to telling the story and unique challenges of independent cable operators and their customers.”

Together Polka and Hearn had an increasingly good story to tell, with ACAC scoring Washington victories on several fronts, including collective programming negotiations.

“Ted’s got an encyclopedic knowledge of the media biz and a virtual Rolodex of reporters who call on him for insight on policy and regulation that’s a mile long,” said Dennis Wharton, former top communications executive at the National Association of Broadcasters, who like Hearn was plucked from the pool of experienced D.C. journalists. “ACA will be hard-pressed to fill Ted’s shoes.”

ACAC executive VP and chief operating officer John Higginbotham declined to comment on Hearn’s departure, or who might be succeeding him, “as a matter of policy.” But he did say that “in the interim,” media inquiries would be going to digital media specialist Nathan Penrod at npenrod@acaconnects.org.

Even as the Federal Communications Commission is proposing a new broadband labeling program — this one for Internet of Things devices — cable and telco broadband operators are looking for some movement on another labeling front, the broadband “nutrition” labels mandated by Congress.

Congress mandated the labels so consumers can better gauge just what kind of broadband service they are getting, including price, speed and quality. The FCC then came up with rules for the program, which it released in a Report and Order. A couple of those rules didn’t sit well wit cable-operator groups ACA Connects and NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, which joined in a petition to clarify or reconsider a couple of requirements, a petition that was filed Jan. 17. The rules were passed in November 2022. 

The first is the requirement that operators itemize ederal, state and local government fees being passed on to consumers; the second is the mandate that ISPs “create and retain documentation” regarding “each instance when [a provider] directs a consumer to the label at an alternative sales channel,” i.e. in retail stores or phone interactions.

Also Read: Look for the Broadband Label

Seven months later and with no action yet on the petition, representatives of NCTA, ACAC and the major telco associations, pressed both points with the commission in a meeting last week.

They said documenting each instance of a labeling redirect is unwarranted and poses “significant burdens” on operators large and small “with no discernible benefit.”

If the FCC wants to make sure an operator is directing consumers to the label, they should accept a general business practices plan to that effect, with documentation retained for two years," they said.

As to itemizing all the pass-through fees on the labels, the groups said that would “add unnecessary complexity and burdens to the label for consumers and providers and could result in some providers having to create many labels for any given plan.”

Executives from small, independently-owned cable operators across the U.S. gathered at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis from July 30 to August 2 for The Independent Show, the annual joint event staged by the National Content and Technology Cooperative (NCTC) and ACA Connects. Click below for a photo gallery from the event. 

ACA Connects has lined up a bipartisan duo of former Federal Communications Commission chairs — Democrat Mignon Clyburn and Republican Ajit Pai — to keynote its 30th-anniversary dinner during the ACA Summit in Washington.

The dinner is scheduled for February 28 at the National Museum of American History.

Pai was chair from 2017 to 2021, during the administration of President Donald Trump, and is arguably most closely associated with the FCC’s decision to roll back network-neutrality rules. He is currently a partner at investment firm Searchlight Capital Partners in New York.

Clyburn was the first woman to lead the FCC when she was appointed acting chair by President Barack Obama in 2013 after the exit of chair Julius Genachowski. She advocated for affordable and equitable broadband deployment and stayed on as commissioner after Tom Wheeler took over the chairmanship. Clyburn is currently principal of her own firm, MLC Strategies.

Pai and Clyburn join current FCC commisioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington among the ACA Summit speakers. ▪️

Senior FCC Republican Brendan Carr will speak at ACA Connects’ 30th Annual Washington Summit, the first in-person gathering for the small-cable trade group since the pandemic began in 2019.

Carr will address the conference March 1 at the Grand Hyatt Washington hotel.

With the Federal Communications Commission at a 2-2 political tie for the past couple of years, Republican members have more power than usual, since agency decisions must be bipartisan to be approved.  As a result, issues like new network-neutrality rules and some types of Universal Service Fund reforms, which Democrats generally favor, have been on the back burner.

Carr, appointed by former President Donald Trump, has been a commissioner since August 2017.

Carr was FCC general counsel under then-chair Ajit Pai, as well as wireless, public safety and international legal adviser to then-commissioner Pai. Before that, he was an attorney at Wiley Rein, something of a bullpen for future FCC commissioners.

Carr has been a strong advocate for reining in Big Tech and has also been an advocate for strengthening the tower crew and construction workforce as part of the rollout of 5G.

He has also been a leader in the FCC’s Connected Care Pilot Program telehealth initiative.

Carr is a graduate of the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and got his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University. ▪️

Fiber-optic network company Hotwire Communications has named Ross Lieberman senior VP of government affairs. Lieberman was the longtime Washington government-affairs executive for ACA Connects.

Lieberman, who exited ACAC at the end of August, will be based in Washington for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) company.

Before joining ACAC, which represents smaller, independent cable operators in the capital, Lieberman was in government relations with Dish Network.

"Ross has been a great partner to independent broadband providers and possesses a unique and deep knowledge of the political, policy, and regulatory environment that providers operate under and knows how to achieve effective outcomes with lawmakers and regulators," Hotwire chief product and strategy officer Jonathan Bullock said. ▪️

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association and ACA Connects have joined with the other major broadband associations to school state broadband leaders, the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA), and others on the “opportunities, challenges and mitigation strategies“ of the Broadband Equity, Access and Development (BEAD) program.

“Our primary goal is to make it as easy and efficient as possible to navigate through the BEAD program’s requirements and potential deployment challenges,” they said. They could have added, but didn't, that they preferably navigate their subsidies toward the associations’ broadband-deploying members.

BEAD is the $42.5 billion in state broadband deployment grants being overseen by the NTIA and which is available to those major broadband association members and others — like municipal broadband and co-ops — through a raft of subsidies.

The broadband groups say they plan to hold monthly, half-hour webinars, starting Wednesday, September 14, at 1 p.m. and continuing every second Wednesday of the month through January.

The initial dates and topics are:

• September 14: Supply Chain/Build America, Buy America 
• October 12: Workforce Development
• November 9: Affordability 
• December 14: Permitting/Rights-of-Way 
• January 11: Cybersecurity

Future topics, according to the groups, could include on best practices and maximizing provider participation.

"Congress, via the NTIA, has presented our industry with a monumental opportunity to close the digital equity gap for good. The leading industry associations have aligned to present this monthly webinar series and attendees will be able to leverage our united expertise and bring back proven broadband deployment tips and best practices to their own communities.” ■

Ross Lieberman, senior VP of government affairs for ACA Connects, is leaving at the end of the month, according to the association, which said he was exiting “to pursue other interests.”

Matt Polka, who helmed ACAC during the majority of Liberman's tenure, exited in July to spend more time with his family and pursue outside interests.

Lieberman, a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association, joined ACAC as VP of government affairs in June 2007 and was named senior VP in May 2014.

Lieberman “[has] delivered fantastic results for ACA Connects Members on any number of fronts, including broadband, voice and video issues,” said new ACAC president and CEO Grant Spellmeyer.

Also: Hill Leads Toward Public Auction of C-Band

Among ACAC's victories in Washington during Lieberman's tenure were extending good faith retrans negotiation to buying groups (NCTC most prominently), money for the C-band transition, and helping shape the infrastructure bill's billions in broadband subsidy funding, said ACAC.

"Over the past 15 years, the ACA Connects board decided one big issue after another based on the candid appraisals offered by Ross stemming from his deep understanding of the political environment in which we had to operate," ACA Connects board chair Patricia Jo Boyers said. "We owe Ross a great deal."

Before joining ACAC, Lieberman was in government relations with Dish Network, which has been an ally of ACAC in calls for retransmission consent reform at the FCC and in Congress.

No word on who will succeed Lieberman. ACAC said it has begun the search process. ▪️

The National Content and Technology Cooperative said Monday that an unspecified number of people who attended the Independent Show conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, July 24-27 have tested positive for COVID-19. 

“It has come to our attention that some of our Independent Show attendees have tested positive for COVID upon returning home,” NCTC said in an email message to members. “We are alerting you so you can take the proper measures to self-test and should you test positive, to ensure you are taking the proper precautions and following CDC recommended guidelines.” 

The show was the first the organization, in partnership with ACA Connects, had held in person in two years. Highlights of the show included several panel discussions, the unveiling of the NCTC’s new name and the status of a pending MVNO wireless deal for member companies. 

Also: Borrelli Says New Name Emphasizes NCTC Strength 

COVID continues to be a factor hanging over travel and big gatherings. Out of caution, the Television Critics Association switched a planned return to an in-person summer press tour to make it virtual. Attendees of the recent Comic-Con convention in San Diego, too, shared on Twitter that they went home with COVID. 

“We take the safety of our members and staff seriously,” NCTC CEO Lou Borrelli said in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are alerting attendees that we have received reports from a small number of attendees that they have tested positive so that others may be proactive in the care of themselves and their families. We will not share any specifics due to privacy and other legal regulations and concerns.” 

Also: Former Congressman Gives Advice on How to Win Broadband Funding  

Prior to the event, NCTC had estimated that 150 to 170 NCTC and ACAC member companies would send more than 300 staffers to the show, and more than 120 exhibiting companies would send more than 300 staff members. ■  

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — With more than $40 billion in federal funding available through state agencies for rural broadband expansion, most small cable operators are hard pressed to know how to navigate the bureaucratic quagmire. But one former Congressman has a simple answer — get to know the decision-makers.

The federal government is making about $42.5 billion in rural broadband grants available to companies through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program, which will be administered through several states. At the Independent Show Tuesday session “Uncle Sam’s Broadband Bucks, Who’s Holding the Purse Strings,” and moderated by outgoing ACA Connects CEO Matt Polka, former Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) suggested that to win those funds, small operators are going to have to learn how their state government machinery works.

“[E]ach state is going to be a little different, some will be better staffed and ready for this money,” Walden said. “You’re going to have to work and get to know who makes those decisions in your state and how do you take advantage of it.”

That means not just getting to know the heads of the state agencies that distribute funding, Walden added, but local and state legislators as well, who can be supportive in dealing with the various bureaucracies involved with each application.

“The extent to which you can build partnerships when you go in, [is] probably the better,” Walden said. “Most elected officials don’t like to choose among their children, so if you can move up, you’ll have a stronger case to make and they will too to whoever is going to make the decision in the state.”

Legislators on both the federal and state side also will have to work hard to ensure that funds go to the right companies, adding that stringent oversight was not a hallmark of past federal programs. But he was encouraged by the current BEAD structure.

“This is a much better statute,” he said.

Stricter oversight could be in store for the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which Walden chaired for six years before retiring on January 3, 2021. With expectations that there will be big turnover in Congress after the 2023 midterm elections, Walden was confident that friendly ears will abound in the House.

“Watch for Congress,” Walden advised, adding that typically the party in power loses 26 seats in Congress after its first midterm election.

“If your president has more than a 50% approval rating that number changes to 14 seats, if it’s less than a 50% approval rating that’s 36 seats,” he continued. President Biden’s current approval rating is about 38%.

“So I would look for a change of control, which means Republicans will take over,” Walden said.

Walden also had some advice for operators who are considering applying for grants to build out broadband services.  

“I would find out what your state has, if they have any kind of broadband buildout plan already, so they already have an idea about what they want to do,” Walden said. “I would also watch for other unmet needs.”

Walden added that in some large rural states, governors are worried about the overall lack of communications infrastructure in their states and could use the lure of broadband money to improve that. 

“They are going to try to leverage this to improve communications overall,” Walden said. “I think, especially in the big rural states, the Montanas, the Wyomings, they are really struggling to get adequate communications one way or another.” ■ 

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — ACA Connects said Monday (July 25) that it has re-elected chairman and vice chairman Patricia Jo Boyers and Mike Bowker to those positions for another two years, while five incumbent board members received new three-year terms. 

Boyers is president and CEO and co-founder of Boycom Vision, while Bowker is chief operating officer of Cable One, both member companies of ACA Connects.

“I am honored to continue as chairman of ACA Connects at a time when the challenges have never been more serious or consequential,” Boyers said in a press release. “As in the past, my role is to ensure that ACAC staff have the tools they need to work on our behalf and our members have all the information they need to ensure positive outcomes, especially as government broadband dollars begin to flow to the states.”

Small cable operators are facing several regulatory and legal challenges, including  major government action in promoting broadband deployment via the Commerce Department’s $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

“I’m very pleased to continue to serve with Patty Boyers in these important leadership roles at ACA Connects, an organization that protects and promotes the interests of more than 600 independent video and broadband providers in the hallways of government in Washington, D.C., and increasingly across the U.S.,” Bowker said. “With a massive influx of government broadband money on the way, we will do everything we can to ensure this funding is used wisely in helping close the digital divide.”

ACA Connects president and CEO Grant Spellmeyer thanked Boyers and Bowker for their leadership and dedication to the organization.

“As ACAC’s new leader, I am truly appreciative that Patty and Mike have agreed to work with me and the ACAC staff over the next two years to build on the many successes we had over the past few years,” Spellmeyer said. “With Patty and Mike at my side, I am confident that ACAC can meet the challenges ahead in advancing the interests of our members.”

ACAC’s election results were announced today at ACAC’s annual Members Meeting at the 17th Independent Show here. The Independent Show is a  gathering that unites a range of industry participants, including company leaders, informative speakers, tech vendors and various supporters of the independent video and broadband industry.

In other election results, ACA Connects also elected five incumbent members of its board of directors to new three-year terms: Leslie Brown, SVP and general counsel, Breezeline; Carla Framil-Ferran, VP of legal, Liberty Puerto Rico; Ed McKay, executive VP and chief operating officr, Shentel; Drew Petersen, SVP, corporate affairs, TDS; and Bob Wieand, controller, Service Electric Cablevision. 

“The Board of Directors elected today have the talent and deep experience that will surely translate into future success for ACAC. Their advice and guidance will be invaluable in telling our Members’ story and highlighting all the great things happening in their markets and communities fueled by a light-touch, investment-friendly regulatory environment,” Spellmeyer said. ▪️

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — In unveiling the NCTC’s new moniker at The Independent Show here Monday, president and CEO Lou Borrelli said the change is in part an effort to emphasize the organization’s position in the industry and to ensure that its membership still has a strong voice.

The NCTC officially changed its name to the National Content and Technology Cooperative on Monday. It had previously been the National Cable Television Cooperative.

In announcing the switch on the Independent Show stage, Borrelli said the purchasing of programming will still be at the group’s core, but added that membership engagement is needed as the organization moves forward.

Also from The Independent Show: Small Ops Say Communication is the Key to Customer Experience

“Fundamentally, the relationship that we have as a co-op with our members is changing,” Borrelli said. “We've had a fairly passive relationship under the way the Co-op was formed originally with buying programming: We negotiate deals, you launch channels and then we wait until the renewal. 

“Our path going forward requires all of us to be more active and be more engaged,” he continued. “This is not a passive relationship anymore. It can’t be, because what’s happening in Washington with the money that is going to be flowing, what’s happening with technology and direct-to-consumer, we all have to be in this together active and involved. If not, it puts our sustainable future at risk.”

Borrelli added the co-op will still purchase programming and equipment for members, but added that its size has been overlooked in the past.

NCTC members represent more than 34 million homes, or one-third of all of the connected households in the U.S., he said.

“That puts us on par with Comcast and with Charter, and gives us a seat at the adults table,” Borrelli said. “We will be more engaged, more active in the industry, we will have a voice on your behalf, to make sure that the independent operators are not left behind in the conversation.”  

He added that NCTC also has great partners in ACA Connects, who do the same in Washington with legislators and with elected officials, locally, statewide and nationally.

"I couldn't be happier to be joined at the hip with them," Borrelli said. ▪️

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida — A panel of top small cable company executives said that while improving the overall customer experience is a primary goal for operators — especially as broadband competition heats up — maintaining a strong line of communication with customers is essential.

“I think A-plus-B equals customer experience,” said Buckeye Broadband president Geoff Shook at The Independent Show panel session titled “The Impact of Industry Evolution” and moderated by NCTC president and CEO Lou Borrelli. “I think the A would be customer service, but the B part that we have to zero in on is customer care. We have the opportunity as the more personalized provider to accelerate to accentuate the customer care, the fact that the service doesn't stop at the side of the house.” 

Schurz Communications chief technology officer Tom Williams added that it is essential that operators not only keep the lines of communication open with customers, but that they communicate in the way they want to. 

Also from The Independent Show: Borrelli Says New Name Emphasizes NCTC Strength

“Maybe they don’t want to make a phone call,” Williams said. “Maybe they want to do a text chat over their phone. They want to get the information and talk to us the way that they want to talk to us, not in the way that we want them to talk to us.”

Shook added that while communication is essential, techs and other cable employees should keep the message simple, direct and with as little jargon as possible. Sometimes, he said, too much information can “torpedo” the customer experience. 

“There’s a razor’s edge between too much communication and not enough,” Shook said. “We tend to not saturate but thoroughly communicate.”

Communication also means letting customers know in advance when there is going to be a service disruption due to planned maintenance or other factors, he added.  

“Bad news does not get better with time,” Shook said. “If we know that there is something intrusive getting ready to happen, in the field we like to make absolutely sure that we’ve communicated it thoroughly so it is not a surprise.”

Williams added that operators have to consider what messaging they are sending out to customers and be careful not to flood them with marketing messages that force them to overlook important service information.

“You can throw so many marketing messages out that they're not going to listen to the technology message of an outage,” Williams said. “There's a real balance you have to play there, or else their not going to listen to ‘There’s going to be a 5 minute outage on Tuesday night at 12:30 a.m.,’ and then they're online and it drops anyway, because you’ve sent so many marketing messages that they just delete all the messages coming from us.”

Conway Corp. chief marketing officer Crystal Kemp said it is important for operators to stress that customer experience isn’t just a priority, it is one of their core values.

“Because our priorities can change, our values usually don't,” Kemp said. “We are constantly putting that in front of people, in front of our employees, in front of our customers, to say along with reliability, along with innovation, along with all of those things, customer experience is a core value.”  

Operators also stressed the importance of their local presence, which gives companies a regular opportunity to reinforce their brand. 

“I’ve been to more franchise meetings than I care to talk about, but every single one of them they are appreciative of how local we are,” Williams said. “It is their residents that are answering the phones every day, or responding to a message or coming to their homes.” 

He added that it makes a big difference, especially when small operators are competing against larger operators that have huge bureaucracies and make it difficult for customers to access care reps. 

“It’s not hard,” Williams said. “You have to make it easy to work with. You want to delight your customer.” ￭

Smaller cable operators have a big issue with today's communications marketplace, telling the Federal Communications Commission that while fixed broadband competition is thriving, the retransmission consent video marketplace is broken.

ACA Connects, which represents small and medium-sized independent operators, was providing comment for the FCC Office of Economics and Analysis‘s upcoming report on the State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace.

ACAC said the retrans fees broadcasters charge have gone through the roof, and have come with requirements that multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) carry lower-rated channels and multicast signals if they want to carry the higher value primary signal.

That challenging marketplace disproportionately affects smaller MVPDs and their customers, given the imbalance in bargaining power.

“The situation has always been bad, but has become worse over time as more station groups have grown larger across markets and within them,” ACAC said, arguing that broadcasters have evaded media ownership limits and used that to build even more retrans muscle.

“For providers, the options are either to accept the record-setting retransmission consent fees or face a blackout that can wreck a small business,” the group said. ACAC pointed to the 5,557% increase in total retrans-fee revenue over the past dozen-plus years — from $0.21 billion in 2006 to $11.88 billion in 2019.

Also: Cable Retrans Blackouts Declined Sharply in 2021, But 2022 Could See an Uptick in Disputes

Broadcasters had argued for years that they are basically making up for the early days of retransmission consent, when they did not get enough compensation for their high-value content.

Under the direction of the Television Viewer Protection Act, the FCC has allowed the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) to bargain for its smaller operators. But ACAC said that while that improved the situation, it “did not and could not” rectify the fundamental imbalance. ▪️

The ACA Connects board has tapped veteran communications executive Grant Spellmeyer to succeed current president and CEO Matt Polka, who is exiting the association in July.

Spellmeyer most recently was VP of government affairs for US Cellular, bringing with him wireline and wireless legal issue experience at the local and national levels.

At US Cellular, he was responsible for directing federal and state legislative regulation for the 21-state carrier and was the company's primary contact with Congress and the FCC. He joined that company in 2006 from TDS Telecommunications (TDS) -- an ACAC member -- where he was director of legal affairs and carrier relations.

"Grant Spellmeyer’s indisputable qualifications and his understanding of smaller, independent companies made it clear to me he’s the President and CEO we need at this time," said ACAC Vice Chairman Mike Bowker. "Simply put, Mr. Spellmeyer has a reputation for getting things done – and we like that at ACAC," said ACAC Board Chair Patricia Jo Boyers. 

“Simply put,” Boyers added, “Mr. Spellmeyer has a reputation for getting things done – and we like that at ACAC.”

“I look forward to working with ACAC’s experienced staff, ACAC members, and federal and state policy makers to strengthen the position of independent companies in the communications marketplace,” Spellmeyer said in a statement. “One overarching goal is to ensure ACAC members continue to succeed in providing consumers with a variety of competitive services – regardless of company size or geography – today and in the future.”  

Spellmeyer's resume also includes telecom and corporate law at Axley Brynelson in Madison, Wisconsin. He got his bachelor's in economics and Master's in public policy and administration as well as his law degree from the University of Wisconsin. He was also a legislative staffer in the Wisconsin assembly, and was an intern to Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Jon Wilcox.

“I want to thank Chairman Boyers, Vice Chairman Bowker, and the selection committee for their time and dedication to choosing the right person to be our next ACAC leader,” Polka said of his successor. “Grant Spellmeyer has an impeccable record and the essential experience needed to successfully guide the ACAC team and our members into the next 25 years.”

Polka announced his departure earlier this month, passing on to his successor a legacy of looking for common ground to achieve important goals as well as a willingness to be tapped as a resource going forward. 

"We have always sought to find people in Washington who are willing to work together to solve the communications issues facing our citizens, nation and industry," Polka told Multichannel News following the announcement of his departure. "We haven’t always agreed, but we have never been disagreeable.  It hasn’t been the easiest path, but it has been the right path, and I am very proud that we stuck to it regardless of the political winds that always swirled around us."

ACAC represents about 600 smaller and midsized cable/broadband/telecom carriers.

“I would like to offer my congratulations to both ACA and Grant Spellmeyer on today’s announcement," said Michael Powell, president of NCTA-the Internet & Television Association. "Grant is taking the helm of ACA at a very important time for the industry as we all work on the important mission of connecting every American to broadband. We wish Grant all the best on his transition to ACA and look forward to working closely with him and his team on these important issues.” ■

ACA Connects President Matt Polka is stepping down in July, according to the association, which represents small and midsized cable/broadband operators.

In announcing the leadership change, Polka said that after 25 years at the helm of the organization, he thought it was time to "pass on the privilege of leadership for the healthy growth and future success of the organization,” Polka said. 

There‘s no word on a successor, but ACAC said it has almost wrapped up the search and expects to unveil the name during its mid-May board meeting.

Polka said he plans to spend more time writing, with his family, and serving his local church.

Also: Five Spot with Matt Polka

As for ACAC? “It’s onward and upward,” said Polka in announcing the move. “I will always be there for our members, the board, and the experienced ACAC team, whom I have been privileged, honored and blessed to serve for 25 years. But what is most important is the future success of our members and association, and that’s bigger than any one person. ... I know that new vision and energy will take ACA Connects to even greater accomplishments, built upon our solid foundation of doing things the right way and never backing down or giving up.”

Polka has headed the association since 1997 and before that, was VP and general counsel for Star Cable Associates and a communications attorney.

Under Polka, ACAC grew to be a lobbying force in D.C. for the interests of smaller cable and then broadband operators, including securing collective programming negotiation rights for its members. 

“The cable industry will miss Matt’s leadership, integrity and effective representation, and I’ll miss his friendship and collegiality that makes him such a great advocate for his members," said NCTA-the Internet & Television Association President Michael Powell. "Matt’s 25 years of leading ACA Connects is a remarkable tenure in which the industry faced significant policy battles and he tackled every issue with a calm demeanor and steady hand. Congratulations to Matt on his upcoming retirement and we wish him all the best in the coming months and the next chapter of his life.”

“NAB congratulates Matt Polka on his 25 years of service to ACA Connects, where he has been a steadfast champion for his members and served the organization with distinction," said National Association of Broadcasters President Curtis LeGeyt. "NAB and America’s broadcasters wish him all the best going forward.”■

Cable and telecom internet service providers, wired and wireless, have signaled they will be filing an appeal by Friday (February 11) of a lower court decision not to block enforcement of California's net neutrality rules, asking a full complement of U.S. appeals court judges to review a panel decision that went against them.

According to a document filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, "by February 11, 2022, plaintiffs/appellants will be filing a petition for rehearing en banc [by the full court] in their appeal of the Court’s February 23, 2021 Order before the 9th Circuit."

Those plaintiffs/appellants are ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA–The Internet & Television Association and USTelecom.

Cable ISPs had asked the 9th Circuit to overturn a U.S. District Court‘s decision not to grant a preliminary injunction against the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act.

ISPs had argued that California‘s adoption of rules was preempted by the FCC‘s decision to roll back its rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization, which had prompted California to create similar new rules of its own to fill what it saw as a regulatory void.

Also: ACA Connects Makes Its Case Against California Net Neutrality Law

Two weeks ago, the lower court decision to allow the rules to go into effect while the underlying challenge works its way through the courts was upheld by a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The three-judge 9th Circuit panel (Judges Mary M. Schroeder, J. Clifford Wallace and Danielle J. Forrest) — one of the most liberal circuits in the federal appeals court system — agreed with the district court that the FCC lacked the authority to preempt the state law because in reclassifying internet access as an information service under Title I of the Communications Act, the FCC no longer had the authority to regulate in the way it did when broadband was a Title II telecommunications service.

The panel pointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the FCC reclassification but striking down the accompanying order asserting preemption of state net neutrality rules.

Also: California Net Neutrality Law Victory Draws Crowd

The 9th Circuit panel also rejected the ISPs’ contention that the California law was preempted because it conflicted with the underlying FCC policy or because interstate service was the sole province of the federal law. ■

Stakeholders on all sides have asked the Federal Communications Commission for more time to digest and comment on the agency‘s request for input on the impact of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's $65 billion investment in broadband on the Universal Service Fund advanced telecom subsidy program.

Currently the deadline for comments is January 18-31 for reply comments, but the parties argue the issues are too complex and the stakes too high not to provide more time to stakeholders. “Evaluating how this longstanding fund and the newly-minted IIJA can work together to accomplish the FCC’s mandate to connect all Americans will require time,“ the stakeholders said.

Those stakeholders, ranging from NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, ACA Connects and USTelecom to Common Cause, Public Knowledge and the Benton Foundation, joined Wednesday to petition the FCC for 30 more days for comment —until February 17 — and until March 17 for reply comments.

Also: Landrieu to Oversee Historic Biden Broadband Investment

“While not granting this extension will significantly curtail the Public Interest and Industry Stakeholders’ ability to fully participate in this proceeding, granting an extension at this early stage will have little impact on the proceeding and will not prejudice any other party to proceeding,“ they told the FCC.

They opined that the large number of active proceedings has made it “incredibly difficult” for stakeholders to “fully participate.”

They also pointed out that the notice of inquiry (NOI) was issued just 10 days before Christmas with a mid-January due date. “Holiday travel, staff vacations, and end-of-the-year obligations create significant hurdles to evaluate the complexity of the Infrastructure Act’s impact on the USF,” they said, adding that public interest groups have limited resources and tend to be understaffed over the holidays.

Also: New Bill Pushes Reform of Universal Service Fund Support

The FCC does not routinely grant extensions of its comment deadline, but does so on a case-by-case basis for good cause, which the petitioners are convinced they have, including so the FCC can develop a better record on which to base a decision. The FCC also has pushed deadlines in recognition of holiday issues. ■

Cable/telecom trade group ACA Connects is telling the FCC that it should not mandate Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) participation by its members.

The FCC is seeking comment on potential changes to the system and suggested that smaller providers may not be volunteering information to the system as much as larger providers do, and so might need the impetus of a mandate.

The FCC is seeking input on DIRS, the web-based system it created in 2007 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, including on whether to make the voluntary system mandatory.

ACA Connects said it was tough to tell from the NPRM the extent to which smaller operators don't participate and to what degree nonparticipation affects the "situational awareness" of the FCC and federal agencies, suggesting smaller systems might not significantly improve that awareness.

Also: Broadcasters Oppose DIRS Mandate

ACA Connects said it wanted to be clear it supports and encourages DIRS participation, but that a mandate could pull staffers away from critical tasks in a disaster, the same argument broadcasters made for opposing the mandate.

Also like broadcasters, ACA Connects members are advising the FCC against backup power mandates, the cost of which the association says could divert funds from network upgrades and expansions--expanding broadband deployment being a big priority at the FCC. It also suggested the increased cost of compliance could wind up on consumer's bills and "suppress broadband adoption," another FCC priority. ■

ACA Connects and the NTCA-the Rural Broadband Association have teamed up to track the billions of dollars in broadband subsidies flowing from President Biden's infrastructure package.

The largest outlay in the $65 billion for broadband deployment and adoption is the $42.5 billion in state grants in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) initiative being overseen by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration.

Since both associations represent smaller, often rural, ISPs, they stand to be big beneficiaries of the program.

To make sure their members can draw a bead on that big and potentially lucrative target, NTCA and ACA Connects are teaming up on a state-by-state tracking project as the states begin to roll out their respective programs next year, including deadlines for application and challenge processes for whether a location is served or underserved, to make sure that the money is not being spent to overbuild existing systems.

The tracking project will be available only to members of the associations.

"At the end of the day, making sure you are well-armed with information will help you seize the BEAD Program’s opportunities and reduce any harms," said NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield. ■

ACA Connects member Barbourville Utilities is cutting the cord. The Kentucky cable operator has told its customers that it is getting out of the traditional cable business to focus on broadband.

It is not signing up any new cable customers, but will help any current customers who want to keep traditional video service through a deal with Dish Network, while pointing broadband subscribers to all the over-the-top video streaming service choices available through their broadband connections.

Cable operators large and small have made no secret of their view that the event horizon for traditional cable was not a lengthy one, witness NCTA's change to "The Internet & Television Association."

Barbourville overbuilt its traditional system with fiber-to-the home — it serves an Appalachian town of about 3,500 — so it would be ready for the next iteration of service.

“While Barbourville Utilities will no longer offer cable TV service to new customers, we are not leaving our valued customers without alternatives,” the company said on its website. “With our BLINK high-speed internet service you can easily stream your choice of subscription television services, or we can help connect you to more traditional live TV via satellite.”

The Dish deal is a promise of a two-year price guarantee, free installation, and a $100 gift card underwritten by Barbourville Utilities. Not surprisingly, it is encouraging them to stick with BLINK for their broadband.

But it also points out that subs don‘t have to have a traditional service to watch TV, thanks to streaming services including Sling TV, Hulu Plus Live TV, and YouTube TV.

For those concerned about losing access to TV stations by moving to broadband-only video, the operator points out that various streaming services deliver broadcast nets and local stations, and Netflix, Paramount Plus and Amazon Prime Video, for example, have on-demand TV shows.

Barbourville Utilities is not making any recommendations saying customers should do their own streaming service research, but its chart of services for comparison shopping does call YouTube TV “one of the best services for overall live streaming” and said Fubo TV is ”great for sports.“

Cable broadband operators are concerned that localities could start putting a thumb on the scale for Google Fiber when it comes to broadband service — making it a less-free market in which to compete for eyeballs and subscription dollars — and they want the Federal Communications Commission to nip that notion in the bud.

The current battleground over the extent to which municipalities can build out broadband is West Des Moines, Iowa. Incumbent provider Mediacom Communications wants the FCC to require the city to stop construction on Google Fiber‘s network, stop marketing service to residents and reconfigure the network and contract. 

Also Read: NCTA Says Google Fiber Definition of Competition Is Too Narrow

Opponents of the petition — comments were due Oct. 7 — said the FCC does not even have the authority to grant it.

Mediacom earlier this year asked the FCC to declare that the preferential treatment it says the city was extending to Google Fiber violated the Communications Act requirement that providers get nondiscriminatory access.

ACA Connects — the trade group representing Mediacom and other smaller, independent cable providers — filed comments in the proceeding saying preferential rates, terms and conditions obtained by Google Fiber clearly did not fit the competitively neutral directive of the Communications Act’s Section 253.

ACAC suggests the potential problem goes further than West Des Moines, and the commission needs to recognize that.

“[T]he FCC should recognize that the City’s alleged actions are of general concern to all providers regardless of location,” ACAC said in its comments. “Incumbent providers of telecommunications service and new entrants alike, including ACA Connects members, are concerned that actions by state or local governments in providing access to [public rights of way], including those like the City’s, may skew the market, such that they cannot compete in a fair and reasonable legal and regulatory environment as envisioned by Section 253.“

Muni Advocates Weigh In

Not surprisingly, Next Century Cities, which comprises advocates of municipal broadband service, filed in opposition to the Mediacom petition.

Next Century told the commission that Mediacom was trying “to prohibit a local government’s public-private partnership agreement that is designed to increase competition and expand broadband service options for residents.” It said the declaratory ruling would set the “negative precedent” that could discourage cities from forming public-private partnerships to close the digital divide.

Next Century was certainly suggesting ACAC‘s fear that not declaring such muni deals with Google Fiber violated the Act could encourage others was well-founded.

Also Read: More Muni, More Money

“Local officials nationwide are exploring opportunities to bring high-quality, affordable broadband within reach for residents and businesses,“ Next Century said. “These initiatives are often necessary, innovative, and community-driven, yet face numerous obstacles,“ including what it called "federal interference," and what ACAC would call the obstacle that favoring Google Fiber violates FCC rules.

But Next Century said that even if the FCC wanted to invalidate the Google Fiber deal, it gave up that authority when it reclassified broadband as an information service under Title I of the Communications Act. “Mediacom‘s complaint only pertains to the deployment and delivery of broadband Internet access service and does not affect the delivery of telecommunications services,” Next Century argued. “Therefore, the commission lacks authority to rule on this matter.”

Google Claims Mischaracterization

In its comments, Google said Mediacom‘s petition mischaracterizes its agreement with the city, which it says is not a grant of monopoly control of conduits; is not a subsidy to the company; grants it no special permitting or access rights; and is not on more favorable financial terms than other all-fiber ISPs.

Besides, the FCC has never been in the business of rewriting private contracts and should not start now, it said.

Among those filing in support of Google and West Des Moines were INCOMPAS, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisers (NATOA), the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and National League of Cities, among others.

INCOMPAS, whose members include Google, urged the FCC to deny the petition, saying West Des Moines was just trying to create an open conduit network that will provide fast, competitive fiber to residents throughout the city.

Municipal networks have a friend in the White House. President Joe Biden has signaled that he would favor targeting broadband subsidy money to municipal nets and public-private partnerships, which he has signaled equates to better and cheaper broadband service and cable broadband providers argue often leads to failed efforts and taxpayers holding the bag.

ACA Connects is telling the Federal Communications Commission that some of its competitors appear to be gaming Congress's $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) subsidy program, and is urging it to investigate.

The FCC said this week that the program already has more than 6 million sign-ups.

In meetings with Wireline Competition Bureau staffers, representatives of ACAC members Armstrong Utilities, Mediacom Communications and WideOpenWest, who are participating in the EBB subsidy program, said they were alerting the FCC to “potential misconduct among some EBB providers in performing benefit transfers,” conduct they said causes confusion and frustration for households.

FCC rules allow households to switch EBB providers at any time by signing up for the program with a new provider. But those rules also say a provider may not enroll a household already enrolled with another provider if the household “is not seeking to transfer” the benefit, according to an ACAC member.

ACAC, which represents smaller, independent cable operators, said some providers are doing a lot of benefit transfers without the household even knowing about it, much less seeking it. ACAC told the bureau that when its members have contacted households to confirm the intention to switch the benefit to another provider, “the household has been surprised to learn that a benefit transfer has occurred and that, as a result, the household’s up-to-$50 benefit would no longer be applied to the service they are receiving from the ACA Connects member company.”

ACAC said those transfers tent to come at the end of each month, suggesting providers are attempting to game the reimbursement process by getting the full month‘s benefit, “while the ACA Connects member or other provider that had been serving the household for virtually the entire month loses any right to claim any reimbursement.”

ACAC said it wanted the FCC to investigate and take any enforcement action necessary, as well as issue an enforcement advisory that clarifies that a provider may not transfer the benefit without the the household’s informed consent and that such consent must be adequately recorded as part of the FCC's document compliance process.

The EBB provides as much as $50 per household — $75 for homes on tribal lands — and a one-time device subsidy of up to $100 for laptops or desktops, as long as the household chips in at least $10 toward the device cost.

ACA Connects made its case to a federal appeals court Tuesday (Sept. 14) that broadband providers should not face a “patchwork of conflicting state regulations” on broadband access, including to a majority of judges who said they had issues with how the FCC reclassified broadband as an information service and pre-empted state regulation that differed from that approach.

Also Read: Net Neutrality Goes Back to Court in California

That came in oral argument in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in ACA Connects v. Rob Bonta. The trade group representing smaller, independent cable operators had challenged a lower court's refusal to grant it a preliminary injunction blocking California's network neutrality law, the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018.

California's bill was a response to the Federal Communications Commission's 2017 decision under Republican chairman Ajit Pai to eliminate the FCC's open internet rules and reclassify access as an information service under Title I of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 not subject to common carrier rules.

The ACAC case was heard by a three-judge panel of the court, Judges Mary M. Schroeder, J. Clifford Wallace and Danielle J. Forrest.

Also Read: California Net Neutrality Law Victory Draws Crowd

The state of California vigorously defended the law against what it said was an FCC policy decision that did not square with statute.

ACAC's lawyer, Scott Angstreich of Kellogg Hansen, told the court that providers faced the prospect of 50 different sets of rules for streaming Netflix shows or accessing Zoom calls or relaying national news to customers in different states.

Angstreich said that the FCC concluded that Title I is the best regime for ensuring an open internet and that, further, using a Title II common-carrier regime would harm the internet.

He pointed out that the court has already found that when the FCC regulates interstate services (such as broadband access) under Title I, the regulation of intrastate services, like broadband in California only, is pre-empted if it undercuts that federal regime. ACAC argues the California rule does just that, since it imposes the same rules the FCC found harmed an open internet when it classified broadband access as a Title I service.

Judge Schroeder said she was struggling with what FCC pre-emption authority flows from simply reclassifying a service.

Angstreich said the FCC had the authority to figure out the best way to regulate broadband, and chose the best statutorily sound way to do that, including the pre-emption of intrastate regulation that conflicted with its approach.

Judge Forrest said she was also struggling. She said she didn't read the statute as meaning that deciding which category to put a service in was a policy choice.

Judge Schroeder pointed out that California has other consumer protection statutes. Supposing the court agreed that the net neutrality statute is pre-emptive and someone sued a provider who tried to block access or unfairly charged for access in a way that violated consumer protection laws as an unfair business practice, she asked, would that also be pre-empted?

Angstreich said current consumer-protection laws enforce promises by broadband providers, and that if they promised not to block and did, enforcement would not be pre-empted. What would be pre-empted, he said, would be regulating access differently from the federal regime, as California is trying to do.

Judge Wallace suggested that rather than continue the preliminary injunction, the appellants might want to simply press for a decision on the underlying case, then seek a permanent injunction, pointing out that the judges' time is limited.

Angstreich said that because the preliminary injunction was denied, his clients are facing the very harms it identified in seeking that injunction, so waiting until the final judgment creates “real and pressing” harms.

At least in terms of pre-emption questions, ACAC says there is no factual development left on that issue “and the harm persists,” Angstreich said.

Patty Lee, the lawyer for California, defended the law and its prevention of blocking, throttling and some paid prioritization, which are the practices the FCC’s scrapped net neutrality rules prevented.

Without those “essential protections,” she said, broadband providers can “discriminate against content providers they disagree with or charge them fees for reaching internet users.”

Lee also said that case law did not support pre-emption unless backed by ancillary authority, authority which she said the FCC did not sufficiently establish.

She invoked the COVID-19 pandemic to argue that no one can doubt the value of an open internet with so many people online. Immediate access to information, like on California wildfires, can be a matter of life and death, she said.

To that point, she argued that states are the primary protectors of their citizens' health and safety and don't need “prior federal authorization” to do so, “especially when it comes to a basic necessity like access to the internet.”

She said there was no conflict between California's law and the FCC’s 2018 order reclassifying the internet under Title I and eliminating the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.

Asked by Judge Schroeder about the policy issue, she said the FCC's decision might reflect policy, but that does not mean the decision has pre-emptive effect, which flows from the statute and not the policy. Under Title I, she said, both the FCC and the states have the authority to regulate broadband.

Schroeder said if the court concluded it was a policy decision, there would be a direct conflict because there is a totally different policy approach, i.e. no need for bright-line rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization (FCC), versus a definite need for bright-line rules (California).

Lee said that an agency can't regulate — and certainly can’t pre-empt — on policy preferences alone. She said the classification decision should not be a way to get around the statutory language that says the FCC only has ancillary regulatory authority under Title I.

Schroeder asked if Lee thought there was any way the FCC could take a deregulatory approach to internet regulation that would pre-empt state efforts to do the opposite.

Lee said that the agency could reclassify broadband access under Title II, though she conceded that comes with regulations that "generally should be imposed on common carriers," then forbear from enforcing some of those rules.

In effect, Lee was suggesting that the prior approach of net neutrality regulations under Title II with forbearance of rate regulation, among other things, was that deregulatory approach — something ISPs would definitely take issue with.

In rebuttal, Angstreich said the 9th Circuit has already held that the FCC can pre-empt under Title I, including state laws that get into the FCC's intrastate regulatory lane.

"When a state copies the FCC's definition and tries to regulate the exact same service as the FCC in a way that the FCC has held is harmful to broadband deployment, and unnecessary to internet openness," he told the court, "it is pre-empted."

ACAC had no comment on the oral argument.

"It is always dangerous to draw broad inferences from oral argument, especially when there is only 15 minutes per side," said veteran attorney Andrew Jay Schwartzman, “but the panel did seem skeptical about the pre-emptive effect of the FCC's action in light of the Mozilla holding.”

The Independent Show, slated to return to live-and-in-person for the first time in about a year, has told its members that the conference, slated for Oct. 5-6 in Minneapolis, will now be held virtually.

This will be the second virtual Independent Show -- the 2020 conference was also held virtually because of pandemic concerns. Although the show’s organizers -- the National Cable Television Cooperative and ACA Connects -- were enthusiastic about returning to an in-person format (this year's show is titled "The Power of Together"), concerns about the COVID-19 virus (and its delta variant) forced their collective hands.

“After thoughtful discussion, ACA Connects and NCTC decided to take the Independent Show online next month because of difficult planning issues despite strong enthusiasm for such an important industry event to take place in Minneapolis. It’s the correct decision, with broad support from both ACAC and NCTC members,” ACA Connects Chairman Patricia Jo Boyers said in a press release. “I’m positive the online event will be a smashing success.”

Other industry events that had also been slated to be in-person have pulled back to virtual status because of concerns over the pandemic as well as continued business travel restrictions. In June the Cable Center said it would hold its Hall of Fame celebration virtually in October. Earlier this month, it pushed the date to Nov. 15. Last week, the Mid-America Cable Telecommunications Association said its annual conference would be held virtually as well. 

TIS organizers had planned several COVID precautions, including requiring attendees show proof of vaccination or provide a negative test for the virus prior to the meeting, that face masks be worn indoors at conference events regardless of vaccination status and that social distancing be practiced. The organizers had also planned to live stream sessions so members could watch the events from home or at the show.  

But that apparently was not enough to quell concerns.

“COVID-19 and the Delta variant have been a moving target. While our plan was to finally meet in-person, it has become more and more clear that it was not the responsible thing to do,” NCTC CEO Lou Borrelli said in a press release. “Nevertheless, the online show to me is a can’t-miss program, and I greatly look forward to seeing friends and members on the big screen.”

Smaller and midsized cable/broadband operators have asked the FCC to reject an effort by electric utilities to limit refunds to operators in pole attachment complaint proceedings, saying the FCC has clearly established that state rules about breach of contract claims applied in pole attachment complaint proceedings.

The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) petitioned the FCC for a declaratory ruling that the Communications Act trumps state statutes of limitations on such complaints--which involve the rates, terms and conditions of such attachments--and that refunds in those complaints should only apply from a period following good faith notice of a dispute.

But ACA Connects, which represents those small and midsized operators, begs to differ, it told the FCC this week. "Commission precedent and its rules further provide that a complainant in a pole attachment complaint proceeding may seek and receive relief, if warranted, going back for the entire statute of limitations period prior to the date of the complaint—not merely for a prospective period that commences with 'good faith notice' of a dispute," it said in its official opposition to the EEI petition, adding: "Because EEI's petition for declaratory relief is unfounded and procedurally flawed, the Commission should dismiss it without further consideration."

Also Read: FCC Opposes Private Suits Over Alleged Wireless Buildout Rule Violations

ACAC says the FCC has made clear that pole attachment complaints are similar to breach of contract actions, which means state statutes should apply in the states where the poles are placed.

EEI counters that pole attachment rate complaints are attempts to seek relief "outside the terms of their contracts," and that applying different state statutes would be "discriminatory, [and] lead to highly variable results, and regulatory uncertainty."

ACAC says that argument does not hold water.

ACA Connects is telling the Treasury Department that it should direct the American Rescue Plan block broadband grants — it estimates those will total about $20 billion to $30 billion — to areas without broadband service of at least 25 Megabits per second upstream and 3 Mbps downstream. That‘s currently the FCC‘s minimum for high-speed data. 

But the trade group representing smaller, independent cable operators also said the regulator should not prioritize municipal broadband and co-ops over other providers.

The Treasury Department issued a proposed framework for handing out the money, including proposing that it prioritize buildouts by local governments, nonprofits and co-ops, that new builds should deliver symmetrical 100 Mbps (download and upload) speeds, and that the definition of unserved and underserved should be set at 25/3 Mbps.

In comments to Treasury, ACAC agreed that 25/3 should be the definition of “unserved” areas eligible for the broadband buildout money. It also agreed that those getting the funds should be required to offer 100/100 Mbps, arguing that the government can afford to build to that standard, which would help future-proof the funding. “[F]unding anything less — and then having to fund it again in the near future — is a bad investment,“ it said.

As to prioritizing municipal or nonprofit buildouts — Treasury said those had “less pressure to turn profits and a commitment to serving entire communities” — ACAC was not on the same page. It said Treasury should not put the thumb on the scale for anyone, including the co-ops and municipal systems who are also members of ACAC.

“[W]e know first-hand that all have a deep commitment to serving their entire communities and take a long-term approach to building networks and providing services,” ACAC said. But ACAC was also hedging its bets. It said that if Treasury does prioritize, it should give the highest priority to “any small entity that is an experienced broadband provider.”

ACAC said it would prefer auctions to grants for handing out the money, and that given that there is an adoption as well as an availability problem, for every dollar spent on deployment, at least a third as much should be spent on adoption programs.

A new report from ACA Connects and consulting firm Cartesian says it could take up to $179 billion in government subsidies to build out universal, "future-proof" (at least 100/100 Mbps) broadband, more, even than the Biden Administration has proposed in all its broadband subsidies.

The money would be needed to fill the gaps in broadband infrastructure, availability and adoption, according to the report.

A somewhat less costly investment -- still $61 billion-$118 billion -- could achieve gigagit broadband to all locations with less than 100/20 Mbps service that are not part of the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Phase I, with enough left over to boost adoption for about half of the 33 million Lifeline-eligible households over five years.

Among the other key takeaways from the report:

1. "[A]pproximately 12 million households – including 8.2 million in partially served Census blocks not previously accounted for in FCC data – do not have access to 25/3 Mbps broadband [the FCC's current high-speed minimum], while approximately 30 million households do not subscribe to fixed broadband when it is available.

2. "Gigabit service availability has increased by approximately 50% since 2018, while areas that lack at least 100/20 Mbps service have declined by just 3 percentage points in the same period.

3. "Income Remains the Largest Barrier to Adoption, Regardless of Geography. An estimated 30 million households (~25% of U.S. households) do not subscribe to fixed broadband at home for reasons other than network availability, and 36% of non-subscribing households earn less than $20,000 per year. A comparable percentage of homes in rural and non-rural areas (29% versus 28%) do not subscribe even when service is available."

ACAC President Matt Polka says that if the country is going to make a "once in a generation" investment, then it needs analysis like this report to help it get the most broadband bang for its buck.

“We look forward to sharing our findings with all government policymakers, industry sectors, consumer interests, and other stakeholders," said Polka. "It’s a public resource for all stakeholders to use to help ensure the available funding is put to the best use.”

The report's funding model is based on maximizing essential access, which means prioritizing funding in unserved and with the least mature infrastructure.

ACA Connects, which represents small and midsized cable and telecom providers, has made several executive changes in some key service areas, according to ACAC president Matt Polka.

John Higginbotham, who has been EVP of membership and finance has been named EVP and chief operating officer, responsible for all operations and staff, a move ACAC said will allow Polka to focus on the association's relationships with members, partners and Washington.

"He is a true leader with vast industry and management experience who will help ACAC meet the needs of today and our future," said Polka.

Also Read: ACAC Names SHEMA Replacement

Before joining ACAC in February 2020, Higginbotham was assistant general manager of Telecommunications at the Frankfort (Ky.) Plant Board in Kentucky, an ACAC member. During that time he was a director of the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC).

Caroline Persinger, who had been grass roots manager before leaving ACAC to move to Florida with her family, has returned in that post.

Also Read: ACAC Faithful Hope to Sway Legislators

Tomeika Slappy, who has been executive assistant, has been named assistant to the the president and CEO.

"Our entire ACAC team is focused this year on coming out of 2020 stronger than ever for our Members in the areas of advocacy, communications and education," said Polka, and I thank John, Caroline and Tomeika, and all of our terrific team for their Member service and leadership." 

Broadband providers are united in their support for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act as part of a whole-of-government approach to protecting supply chain security.

Also Read: Biden Supply Chain Security Order Includes Semiconductors

Following President Joe Biden's executive order issued Wednesday (Feb. 24), which included a government agency review of semiconductors, NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, ACA Connects, CTIA, the Wireless Association and USTelecom wrote to the President urging him to work with Congress on passage of the bill, which would encourage investment in chip manufacturing facilities and research in the U.S.

They said that would help "ensure a thriving pipeline for this critical input into the U.S. economy and pointed out the importance of chips to the broadband industry. 

"In the broadband sector, semiconductor chips power network infrastructure and the end user devices that, together, enable American consumers to connect to the Internet to work and learn from home, see their doctor through telemedicine, order delivery of groceries and other essentials, and keep connected to their loved ones and the world around them," they told the president. "The strain on global supplies of critical semiconductor components could negatively impact broadband providers’ ability to continue to deliver world-leading services."

They added that with other countries starting to compete in the chip space,  Moreover, as other countries make major investments to compete in this space, "the United States must also invest to revitalize its semiconductor industry."

The ISPs also said that the immediate government agency review of semiconductors the President's order mandates should include also input from stakeholders and "leverage existing public-private partnerships addressing specific supply chain risks."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a pioneering wireless executive introduced the bill.

Warner attended a White House meeting on the supply chain executive order Wednesday, after which he renewed his own call for passage of the bipartisan bill.  

Also Read: Roseworcel Pushes Deep Dive on ORAN

Among other things, the bill 1) creates a 40% investment tax credit (ITC) that decreases to 30% in 2025, 20% in 2026 and phases out the next year; 2) creates a $10 billion federal matching program through the Commerce Department for state and local incentives to build semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, and 3) funds STEM workforce development.

On the international front, the bill "establishes a trust fund in the amount of $750M over ten years to be allocated upon reaching an agreement with foreign government partners to participate in a consortium to promote consistency in policies related to microelectronics, greater transparency in microelectronic supply chains, and greater alignment in policies towards non-market economies." 

The House Energy & Commerce Committee held a hearing Wednesday--with witnesses--entitled "Connecting America: Broadband Solutions to Pandemic Problems," but wired broadband providers and/or their advocates were nowhere to be found, despite their central role in coming up with those solutions.

Turns out it wasn't that they were no-shows. They were "no-asks"

NCTA-The Internet & Cable Association, the largest association representing wired broadband providers, had no comment, but a source familiar with the group said the reason it was not represented was that it had not been asked. "We were not invited to testify," said ACA Connects VP of communications Ted Hearn.

Committee spokespeople had not returned a request for comment at press time on the absence of any wired broadband association of company representative, or from major wireless associations USTelecom and CTIA.

The hearing included legislators sometimes complaining about the price of wire--and wireless--broadband service and industry critics doing the same, while still talking about the need for wired connections to "fully engage in distance learning" as Matt Wood from Free Press put it. 

Then there was Christopher Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America, who told the committee that cable providers were "infamous for striking deals with each other to swap customers, creating cable monopolies in areas they deem profitable enough to serve, and using their dominance to avoid pressure for upgrades."

Jonathan Adelstein, president of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, was invited and said that his industry was meeting the broadband challenge and performing "exceedingly well."

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was not the only one praising Congress for maintaining/boosting broadband spending in must-pass legislation they have hammered out.

“The COVID emergency has highlighted both the value and importance of broadband connectivity and that all Americans must have access to such service during the emergency and beyond," said ACA Connects President Matthew Polka.

Also Read: Pai Praises Broadband Funding in Hill Legislation

“It is for that reason that ACA Connects urged Congress in the COVID emergency legislation to direct support to help in-need individuals obtain such connectivity, and we commend Congress for adopting this approach. By providing $3.2 billion in direct support for broadband connectivity for low-income families, as well new stimulus checks and additional unemployment assistance, Congress will help Americans stay connected for the months ahead to the reliable, robust broadband connectivity that ACA Connects members and others provide."

"If it wasn't glaringly important before, the pandemic has confirmed the vital need of a broadband internet connection — one that is reliable, affordable, and for some of us, simply available,” said Jonathan Schwantes, senior policy counsel for Consumer Reports, in a statement. “Too many Americans are not able to access or afford broadband. This is especially true for people who've lost their jobs or can't find regular work since the coronavirus shuttered many businesses.

“When all of us are working, teaching and getting our medical care online, it is an imperative to ensure everyone has connectivity,” added Consumer Reports President Marta L. Tellado. “This is a good step, but if we truly want to ensure everyone has an opportunity to reboot the American dream in this digital era, there is far more work that needs to be done in the near term to invest in new and upgraded infrastructure.”

“For years, I have been working to ensure that first responders in Massachusetts and across the country have the resources they need to do their jobs,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) of the bill's inclusion of a provision eliminating the congressional directive to auction public safety spectrum. “Every day, brave women and men on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic rely on T-Band spectrum to communicate with each other. By passing this bill into law, Congress will say loud and clear to our public safety heroes, ‘We have your back.’"

ACA Connects said Tuesday (Oct. 13) that it, too, is teaming with EducationSuperHighway to support the K-12 Bridge to Broadband initiative to provide broadband connections to students.

The effort, launched last month, is intended to help public school districts and states identify the low-income students who need help to join the remote hybrid learning educational system prompted by the pandemic.

Related: Trump Signals $1.5 Trillion Infrastructure Investment

“The K-12 Bridge to Broadband program is a great opportunity for ACA Connects members to support students, schools, and their communities. We are honored to join with EducationSuperHighway in this initiative,” said ACA Connects president Matt Polka. “Broadband is essential for students, and never has this been truer than during the COVID-19 emergency. Without robust broadband connectivity for online learning, students who need to learn from home will be left behind, and that is simply unacceptable. The K-12 Bridge to Broadband program is targeted at addressing this problem, and our members are well-positioned to help."

Related: Charter Re-Launches Free Educational Broadband

ACAC said over three dozen members have so far signaled they will participate after the association reached out to them.

The basic approach of the K-12 Bridge to Broadband is that participants will offer a "sponsored service" through which school systems can buy broadband for low-income students at a discount. ISPs will also work with school districts to identify the eligible students who don't have broadband.

ISPs will agree not to use any information shared with them by the school for target marketing to participating families or for other services unrelated to the sponsored service.

The new initiative got a shout-out from FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who urged school systems to use some of the billions in existing connectivity funding to help with the remote learning effort.

ACA Connects has added a new media production staffer to help guide its expanding digital presence.

Nathan Penrod has joined the association as digital media specialist. 

Serving constituencies via digital connections has become a necessity during the pandemic as conferences, meetings seminars and more have moved online.

Penrod is formerly a marketing and design specialist with the Frankfort (Ky.) Plant Board, which provides cable and telecom services (as well as electric and water utilities) to two counties.

"Clearly, digital communications have an even more vital role in every aspect of our lives since the start of the COVID pandemic," said ACA Connects President Matt Polka. "We look forward to working with Nathan and the entire ACA Connects team to showcase our members’ dedication to delivering broadband to all. We are committed to reporting to all our constituencies and policymakers how our members have ‘stepped up’ during this pandemic. We look forward to working with Nathan on all levels of ACA Connects media efforts.”

Responding to the FCC’s request for additional input in its “Collecting Broadband Deployment Data” proceeding, ACA Connects filed comments this week recommending that the Commission relax some of its proposed filing requirements for small cable systems.

The Commission established a new broadband deployment data collection process last year that requires providers to submit geospatial maps of their fixed broadband coverage areas and improve the existing Form 477 data collection. Last month, “to maintain that momentum,” the agency opened a “Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” seeking to get “more granular, precise maps” that will find out more details about broadband access and availability.

“Accurate and precise broadband maps are of enormous importance” for FCC and other federal policymaking, the Commission said in opening the process.  

Related: FCC Broadband Data Map Rules Go Into Effect Sept. 17

In its response, ACAC acknowledged that the “collection of accurate and more granular broadband deployment data, as required by the Broadband DATA Act” is important but that the process should not “unnecessarily burden smaller providers.”

“Both the FCC and Congress have taken steps toward achieving” the goal of upgrading the broadband mapping process, said ACA Connects president and CEO Matthew M. Polka, adding that “ACA members are more than willing to do their part in this collection, especially because they serve and want to serve more rural areas of the country.”

But he cautioned that, “smaller broadband providers have limited resources and should not have to comply with requirements that are overly burdensome, especially in responding to challenges to their submissions.”

The ACAC response includes a seven-point list of recommendations to make it easier for smaller cable firms (its primary membership) to comply with FCC reporting requirements, including “technical assistance and other relief to help smaller providers meet” their obligations. ACAC also seeks elimination of a mandate to submit an engineering certification for every Digital Opportunity Data Collection (DODC) report – which ACAC calls  a “burdensome” obligation.

Echoing the comments of others, ACAC contends that, the Commission should “value accuracy over speed” particularly in early stages of the review process.

ACAC wants the FCC to assist smaller providers in reporting Geographic Information System (GIS) data and “reduce their burdens by giving them more time to file their initial shapefile (polygon) reports.”  This process would also allow small operators to report broadband data in the format of their choosing. The ACAC plan asks the FCC to permit small operators 60 days to respond to challenges involving a single location and 180 days for bulk challenges involving multiple locations.

The ACAC filing wants the FCC to waive the requirement for an engineer’s certification in certain situations: specifically for broadband providers using DOCSIS or FTTx network technologies. ACAC claims that “these technologies are subject to established standards that ensure consistent transmission performance throughout the network.”

Most emphatically, ACAC asks the FCC to “adopt an enforcement regime that focuses on facilitating compliance rather than punishing providers for flawed broadband data submitted in good faith.”

The Federal Communications Commission and ACA Connects - America’s Communications Association have taken predictably contrary stances in their filings Tuesday (Sept. 8) about the FCC’s proposed Sept. 14 deadline for C-Band earth station operators (which includes cable companies) to opt for a lump sum payment to abandon spectrum that will be reallocated quickly for a 5G spectrum auction.

In filings to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which ACAC asked last month to stay the FCC’s Sept. 14 deadline, both sides explained the dire implications of next week’s target date - either meeting it or delaying it.

There is no initial indication of when the Appeals Court will respond. 

The FCC, in its opposition to ACAC’s Writ of Mandamus appeal (asking the Federal court to stop the clock), contended that “speed is essential.”

The Commission said that stakeholders ”have repeatedly emphasized the need to make C-Band spectrum available for [terrestrial wireless] use as quickly as possible,” and emphasized that “delaying the transition of this spectrum longer than necessary will have significant negative effects …[on] the American consumer and American leadership in 5G.”  The FCC contends that the C-Band’s 3.7 GHz and 4.2 GHz spectrum “is essential for 5G buildout due to its desirable coverage, capacity, and propagation characteristics.”

Related: FCC Sets December Auction for C-Band Spectrum

ACAC countered that the FCC’s demand that earth station operators make “irrevocable elections about their technological future” is unreasonable.  It cited possibilities for relocation or fiber adoption and argued that the upcoming deadline has destroyed the promised equality that was an intent of the lump sum payment process.

The Association also argues that the relocation lump sum “pales in comparison to other uncertainties” of the 5G auction, where bidders may spend $43 to $77 billion dollars for licenses, according to ACAC.  “At most, lump-sum elections would affect barely 1% of total payments,” it said, adding that results of a competitive auction are ”inherently unpredictable” and may “vary by tens of billions of dollars.”  

“Speculation that a stay could jeopardize the C-Band transition is unfounded,” ACA said, pointing out that the “earliest transition date is not until December 2021.”

Harsh Regulatory Skirmish

Setting the tone for its stance, the FCC in its introductory comments charged that the “ACA’s (sic) desire for more money to subsidize member MVPDs’ transition to fiber fails to justify its request for this extraordinary relief.”

“The FCC has consistently made clear that the lump sum was not intended to provide this sort of windfall to MVPDs,” the filing continues, further charging that “disrupting the C-Band relocation would severely harm the interests of the many other participants—and the public—in a smooth and speedy transition.” The agency further argues that pushing back the lump sum payment deadline will affect the repacking process, which would “impede the efforts of potential bidders to prepare for the upcoming C-Band auction.”

The FCC also singles out the potential “harm to programmers and broadcasters that depend on satellites to deliver their programming to television viewers.” It cites concerns that shortening the timetable would delay “the determination of critical information for satellite operators’ planning”  which could “increase the potential for mistakes” during the transition, including the “failure of program delivery.”

For its part, ACAC said that the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau was wrong in its fundamental decision about the payment plan.

ACAC said the FCC has not explained the inconsistency in claiming that “physically installing earth station IRDs [integrated receiver/decoders] is ‘necessary’” but that the cost of “obtaining those same IRDs is not.” Excluding the cost from the lump sum payment “is utterly illogical.”

The Association also charged the Wireless bureau with violating standard decision-making procedures, and not disclosing its calculation process.  It claimed that “threshold” estimates vary widely - sometimes affecting 5% of earth stations, other times 30% - with no explanation for the “glaring inconsistencies.” ACAC pointed out that its own methodology for cost estimates was transparent.

“The Bureau’s deficient lump-sum determination defeats efficient decision-making,” ACAC said, adding that the harm of a premature process “cannot be dismissed as purely monetary.”

“An MVPD that elects a lump sum now and applies the money toward relocation cannot later go back in time and reallocate already spent funds toward fiber – even if the MVPD would have applied a properly-determined lump sum toward fiber” initially, ACAC said.

Finally, ACAC dismissed “alarmist” cries that a stay would interfere with the C-Band transition. Delaying the deadline would only affect “the subset of earth stations that would opt out of relocation if offered a properly-determined lump sum. … And if a stay enables more earth station operators to opt out of relocations, that would lessen satellite operators’ burden.”

The FCC has denied ACA Connects' (ACAC) request that it stay its deadline, now Sept. 14, for earth station operators to elect a lump sum payment for their move out of the lower C-Band to make way for a 5G auction.

The cable operators represented by ACAC were already looking to a federal appeals court to step in and stay the deadline.

The FCC's Wireless Communications Bureau concluded that ACAC had not shown a likelihood of winning a review of the FCC's lump sum payment final cost catalog on the merits, or that ACAC members would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, or that the stay would not harm others, or that the public interest would be served by the waiver. "ACA falls far short of the required showing for each of those required elements," said the bureau.

Related: ACAC Asks Court to Force FCC Stay

In a move last month that ACAC had signaled could land the FCC in court, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released the final cost catalog for C-band relocation expenses and lump sum elections and it did not include compensating cable operators for integrated receiver/decoders (IRDS), as ACA Connects and other cable operators had pushed for.   

Related: Cable Ops Say FCC Is Lowballing C-Band Payments 

Including the IRD costs would make it easier for cable ops to move to fiber delivery, but the FCC said the lump sum was meant to approximate the cost of moving earth stations, not moving to a new distribution technology. 

The C-Band is used to distribute network programming to broadcasters and cable operators and remote signals to studios. 

IRDs receive and decode satellite signals from programmers and are needed if cable ops move earth stations, but not if they transition to fiber delivery.   

The FCC is clearing the lower 300 MHz of the 500 MHz C-Band satellite spectrum for auction to wireless carriers for terrestrial broadband. The incumbent users, including cable operators, are being compensated for their move out of that spectrum.   

Cable operators wanted the lump sum to include payment for relocating all of their earth stations but be free to use it to transition some or all of their earth stations to fiber delivery instead. ACAC urged the commission "to give earth station operators flexibility to pursue alternative technology upgrade strategies if doing so would be more efficient." 

“ACA Connects is disappointed, but not surprised, by the Bureau’s untimely denial of ACA Connects’ Request for Stay," said ACA Connects. Untimely because ACAC had asked the FCC for a decision last week given the fast-approaching deadline--the FCC did extend it from Aug. 31--and failing to get that sought a court stay.

"The Bureau reviewed its own decision and unsurprisingly concluded that it did nothing improper – all while evading rather than answering ACA Connects’ arguments," said ACAC. “That is why ACA Connects has sought relief from the D.C. Circuit – a neutral and disinterested venue for reviewing the Bureau’s errors, which include a lump sum determination that departed from the FCC’s C-Band Order and regulations, was the product of secret meetings with unidentified stakeholders, and rests on undisclosed data and an impossible-to-reproduce methodology.”

Content companies and broadcasters have told the FCC to reject ACA Connects' request to stay the deadline for earth station operators to elect lump sums in their move out of lower C-Band spectrum so the FCC can auction it for 5G. 

ACA Connects last week asked the FCC to stay its Aug. 31 deadline for picking the C-Band reimbursement lump sum payment and is asking the commission to reconsider its decision to exclude IRDs (see below). 

In a move last month that ACAC had signaled could land the FCC in court, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released the final cost catalog for C-Band relocation expenses and lump sum elections and it did not include compensating cable operators for integrated receiver/decoders (IRDS), as ACA Connects and other cable operators had pushed for.    

In a petition for stay and for review filed Aug. 13, ACA said that the FCC's decision "is inconsistent with the Commission’s C-Band Order, rests on arbitrary and capricious reasoning, and was developed in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act’s public-notice and disclosure requirements." 

“Staying the election deadline now will give the FCC an opportunity to review and correct the Bureau’s determination and will also reduce the risk of future significant disruption that would occur if the Bureau’s lump-sum determination were later set aside on judicial review,” said ACAC president Matt Polka. 

But in a filing with the FCC, Discovery, FOX Corp., Disney, and ViacomCBS (collectively "the content companies") joined with the National Association of Broadcasters to oppose the stay request.  

"In appropriately concluding that the cost of integrated receiver/decoder ('IRD') equipment is a space station expense that cannot lawfully be included in the lump sum payments, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau ('Bureau') made a well-reasoned decision based on a comprehensive record in this proceeding," they told the FCC. 

And more to their particular interest, the content companies said the stay "would needlessly delay the determination of information critical for satellite operators to make an orderly transition, thus putting the Nation’s video delivery system—and the public that relies upon it—at risk."

The FCC is seeking comment on ACA Connects petition to stay the FCC's lump sum election and review its cost catalog for C-Band repack reimbursement.  

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau put the stay petition out for comment Friday (Aug. 14), with any opposition to the petition due Aug. 19. ACA Connects filed the petition Aug. 13. 

That quick turnaround--five days--is because the deadline for the lump sum election is Aug. 31. ACAC, had asked the FCC to act with dispatch on its request to stay the Aug. 31 deadline until Sept. 14 to give it time to seek a court stay if the FCC does not grant the stay. 

The bureau said oppositions to the ACAC request for review of the cost catalog is due by Aug. 28 and responses by Sept. 8. 

In a petition for stay and for review filed Aug. 13, ACA said that the FCC's decision "is inconsistent with the Commission’s C-Band Order, rests on arbitrary and capricious reasoning, and was developed in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act’s public-notice and disclosure requirements."

“Staying the election deadline now will give the FCC an opportunity to review and correct the Bureau’s determination and will also reduce the risk of future significant disruption that would occur if the Bureau’s lump-sum determination were later set aside on judicial review,” said ACAC president Matt Polka.

In a move last month that ACAC had signaled could land the FCC in court, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released the final cost catalog for C-band relocation expenses and lump sum elections and it did not include compensating cable operators for integrated receiver/decoders (IRDS), as ACA Connects and other cable operators had pushed for.    

Related: Cable Ops Say FCC Is Lowballing C-Band Payments 

Including the IRD costs would make it easier for cable ops to move to fiber delivery, but the FCC said the lump sum was meant to approximate the cost of moving earth stations, not moving to a new distribution technology.   

The C-Band is used to distribute network programming to broadcasters and cable operators and remote signals to studios.  

IRDs receive and decode satellite signals from programmers and are needed if cable ops move earth stations, but not if they transition to fiber delivery.    

The FCC is clearing the lower 300 MHz of the 500 MHz C-Band satellite spectrum for auction to wireless carriers for terrestrial broadband. The incumbent users, including cable operators, are being compensated for their move out of that spectrum.    

Cable operators wanted the lump some to include payment for relocating all of their earth stations but be free to use it to transition some or all of their earth stations to fiber delivery instead. ACAC urged the commission "to give earth station operators flexibility to pursue alternative technology upgrade strategies if doing so would be more efficient."   

Related: FCC Provides Guidance for C-Band Payment Clearinghouse 

Broadcasters teamed up with TV content companies--broadcast and cable programmers--to ask the FCC not to allow MVPDs to include IRDs in the lump sum.   

They argue, and the FCC agreed, that the expenses are properly assigned to programmers and satellite operators, not MVPDs.   

Cable operators said it is appropriate to include IRD costs in lump sum payments "to the extent an average earth station operator reasonably would expect to pay such expenses itself if it elected to submit actual costs for reimbursement."  

The content companies suggest that would balkanize the process impeding a smooth transition out of the lower C-Band.

ACA Connects is asking the FCC to stay its Aug. 31 deadline for picking the C-Band reimbursement lump sum payment and is also asking the commission to reconsider that decision.  

ACAC, which represents small and medium sized cable operators, wants a swift FCC decision either way so it can seek a court stay before the Aug. 31 deadline. 

In a petition for stay and for review filed Aug. 13, ACA said that the FCC's decision "is inconsistent with the Commission’s C-Band Order, rests on arbitrary and capricious reasoning, and was developed in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act’s public-notice and disclosure requirements."

“Staying the election deadline now will give the FCC an opportunity to review and correct the Bureau’s determination and will also reduce the risk of future significant disruption that would occur if the Bureau’s lump-sum determination were later set aside on judicial review,” said ACAC president Matt Polka.

In a move last month that ACAC had signaled could land the FCC in court, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released the final cost catalog for C-band relocation expenses and lump sum elections and it did not include compensating cable operators for integrated receiver/decoders (IRDS), as ACA Connects and other cable operators had pushed for.   

Related: Cable Ops Say FCC Is Lowballing C-Band Payments 

Including the IRD costs would make it easier for cable ops to move to fiber delivery, but the FCC said the lump sum was meant to approximate the cost of moving earth stations, not moving to a new distribution technology.  

The C-Band is used to distribute network programming to broadcasters and cable operators and remote signals to studios. 

IRDs receive and decode satellite signals from programmers and are needed if cable ops move earth stations, but not if they transition to fiber delivery.   

The FCC is clearing the lower 300 MHz of the 500 MHz C-Band satellite spectrum for auction to wireless carriers for terrestrial broadband. The incumbent users, including cable operators, are being compensated for their move out of that spectrum.   

Cable operators wanted the lump some to include payment for relocating all of their earth stations but be free to use it to transition some or all of their earth stations to fiber delivery instead. ACAC urged the commission "to give earth station operators flexibility to pursue alternative technology upgrade strategies if doing so would be more efficient."  

Broadcasters teamed up with TV content companies--broadcast and cable programmers--to ask the FCC not to allow MVPDs to include IRDs in the lump sum.  

They argue, and the FCC agreed, that the expenses are properly assigned to programmers and satellite operators, not MVPDs.  

Cable operators say it is appropriate to include IRD costs in lump sum payments "to the extent an average earth station operator reasonably would expect to pay such expenses itself if it elected to submit actual costs for reimbursement." 

The content companies suggest that would balkanize the process impeding a smooth transition out of the lower C-Band. 

ACA Connects is telling the FCC it could find itself in court if it excludes IRD (integrated receiver/decoder equipment) costs from the lump sum payment it is offering incumbent earth station operators to pay for moving off of their C-Band spectrum. 

Related: FCC to Vote on C-Band Auction Procedures 

That is according to a meeting between ACAC and FCC officials last week, who argue that the FCC's C-Band order is clear about IRD costs and do veer from that could render the order illegal. 

IRDs receive and decode satellite signals from programmers and are needed if cable ops move earth stations, but not if they transition to fiber delivery. 

Related: FCC Rejects Second Petition to Stay C-Band Order

The FCC is clearing the lower 300 MHz of the 500 MHz C-Band satellite spectrum for auction to wireless carriers for terrestrial broadband. The incumbent users, including cable operators, are being compensated for their move out of that spectrum. 

Cable operators want the lump some to include payment for relocating all of their earth stations but be free to use it to transition some or all of their earth stations to fiber delivery instead. ACAC urged the commission "to give earth station operators flexibility to pursue alternative technology upgrade strategies if doing so would be more efficient."  

Related: ACAC Gives FCC Lumps Over C-Band Lump Sum Payments

Broadcasters teamed up with TV content companies--broadcast and cable programmers--to ask the FCC not to allow MVPDs to include IRDs in the lump sum they can opt for in their move out of C-Band spectrum, arguing that IRD costs would artificially inflate the payments to cable operators. 

But cable operators say that under the plain language of the C-Band order "whether the lump sum recipient actually needs IRDs is irrelevant; the lump sum, which is 'in lieu' of C-band relocation cost reimbursement, is to be based on the money that would have been spent to upgrade all of an operator’s earth stations." 

In their meeting with the top FCC lawyers, ACAC president Matt Polka and others from ACAC warned that to exclude IRD costs "could invite legal challenges that could delay the transition." 

The C-Band auction is scheduled to begin in September. Satellite operators have already agreed to exit early in exchange for billions of dollars from the FCC. FCC chairman Ajit Pai has promoted the launch of the auction this year and its beachfront midband spectrum as important to winning the race to 5G.  

The National Cable Television Cooperative and ACA Connects said Wednesday its 2020 Independent Show will be a virtual online event.

NCTC said the “reimagined” virtual Independent Show will take place Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and will feature national, industry and political speakers. The theme of the six-hour, three-day event is "Trailblazing in a Digital World," and will bring together nearly 1,000 industry professionals from across the country, the NCTC said. 

"The goal is to help independent providers better understand the changing landscape of broadband Internet, advanced video and other technical and policy issues in a post-COVID 19 world, including in the marketplace, on Capitol Hill and at the Federal Communications Commission," NCTC  said in a press release.

The 2020 Independent Show event was originally scheduled for July 26-29 in San Antonio, Texas, but was changed due to restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related: 2020 Diversity Week Events Go Virtual

“We’re very excited to bring our members together once again for our 15th annual Independent Show, and while this show will be different from all of the others it will be the same in delivering the best information that will help our members meet their communities’ broadband and video needs in our new normal,” NCTC CEO Rich Fickle said in a press release.

CNN political analyst Ron Brownstein will lead a keynote session on politics today in America and the upcoming 2020 election. A full schedule of speakers and sessions will be announced soon, including political, regulatory and industry leaders, member presentations and breakouts, and a review of the key business and policy issues facing NCTC and ACAC Members.

Related: Cable TV Pioneers Names 2020 Class

“Our members have delivered the broadband promise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the political and regulatory stakes are higher than ever, and that’s why we’re glad to meet at #TIS20 to cover these important issues,” said ACA Connects CEO Matt Polka in a press release.

Registration opens July 20. More details are available at The Independent Show website.  

"Serving our communities also means ensuring that our workforce is equipped to provide top-notch connectivity while keeping customers and themselves healthy. ACA Connects members provide their employees with the necessary protective equipment and have policies in place to keep our communities safe." -Matt Polka, ACA Connects

These difficult times have presented enormous challenges to all of us, and, as we are urged to stay apart, digital connectivity has never been more important. During this unprecedented period, we have learned just how essential high-performance broadband service is for keeping us connected to our families, jobs, schools, health-care providers, government, and businesses. And we have found that ACA Connects members have continued to provide to their nearly 10 million customers high-quality broadband services while protecting the health and safety of their employees who work on the front lines.

Just last month we completed an exhaustive analysis of how ACA Connects members' networks have managed the huge increase in data demands. Based upon detailed metrics, our Broadband Dashboard demonstrates that, even as traffic has increased by more than 25%, network utilization - the key metric for user experience - has remained within normal operating ranges in virtually all instances. Where a rare network issue arose, it rarely involved an outage, and our members typically dealt with any issue in less than 24 hours. The survey also found that ACA Connects members continue to actively oversee their networks to provide customers with an unparalleled experience, by adding transit capacity, splitting nodes, managing channels, and upgrading hardware. This means schoolwork gets done, video business calls are uninterrupted, patients connect with doctors, and families watch their favorite shows online together, among many other things.

The fact our members' networks have thrived during this crisis should come as no surprise. Our ACA Connects members have invested more than $10 billion over the past decade in their networks, and they continue to invest about $1 billion annually to deploy the most current broadband technologies, including DOCSIS 3.0/3.1 and all-fiber technologies. Those investments have given consumers the high performance they need and have made our networks more resilient.

In addition to managing our networks through these unforeseen circumstances, our members are contributing to their communities in meaningful ways. For example, TDS Telecom is picking up the lunch tab for any public safety official and any essential worker at local restaurants in Idaho. Vast Broadband in South Dakota opened all its WiFi hot spots to anyone who needs access. It also is working with its local school districts to ensure students remain connected. Mediacom in Des Moines is working with the school district to connect 1,800 students. HTC in Conway, South Carolina, donated one ton of food so that local children could continue to receive free lunches.

Our members also are going to great lengths to address the needs of their employees. Many, like Sparklight in Fargo, North Dakota, are hiring to address increased customer demands for service. We even have companies literally feeding their own employees, like BOYCOM Vision in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, where the owners are donating cows from their own herd to take care of their employees. The stories are as numerous as the companies we work with across the country.

Serving our communities also means ensuring that our workforce is equipped to provide top-notch connectivity while keeping customers and themselves healthy. ACA Connects members provide their employees with the necessary protective equipment and have policies in place to keep our communities safe. Members are delivering broadband equipment to homes and then use their phones to talk customers through installations instead of going into homes. They are reworking their offices to ensure customers and employees are protected during their interactions. These are just a few examples of how our members are taking appropriate steps to protect everyone's health.

We are also aware that against this backdrop, policymakers are hearing from consumers that are struggling to deal with the impact of the emergency. Many are faced with the inability to pay their rent or mortgage, their water bill, and put food on the table, let alone cover their broadband and video bills. As Congress and other government policymakers contemplate helping these consumers stay connected, we support programs that will give assistance to our customers who have been financially harmed by the emergency, including by enhancing the Federal Communications Commission's Lifeline program, so they can maintain or obtain the same broadband service that most other consumers receive. We also support Congress providing funding to enable needed connectivity of customer households with students, so they can engage in vital video online learning on par with other students. Further, we support additional funding for the FCC's Telehealth program. The FCC is already working to get the additional funds provided in the CARES Act out the door to health care institutions around the country. Programs like these, which use existing support mechanisms and recognize the value that our members and other communications providers bring to the table, are most efficient and limit waste, fraud, and abuse.

Should Congress decide to consider broadband infrastructure legislation, we recommend the following. First, recognize that private providers and others have built incredibly robust and reliable broadband networks. In other words, policymakers should make sure "to do no harm" and continue "light-touch" regulatory policies. 

Second, Congress should focus on removing barriers to deployment, especially in rural areas. This should include facilitating access to poles, ducts, conduit and rights-of-way at cost-based and non-discriminatory rates, terms, and conditions.

Third, and most importantly, Congress should step up and close the digital divide by bringing high-performance broadband to unserved areas using efficient and effective support mechanisms. Together, these steps will incentivize the free market to raise capital and providers to build out to areas that previously were uneconomic, and efficiently direct taxpayer dollars to those homes and businesses most in need.

This pandemic has shown that our country has built incredibly robust and resilient communications infrastructure that has managed an exponential increase in traffic during this difficult period. We also know that there is more to be done to ensure we have the latest and best networks in the world, and that everyone can avail themselves of all that the connected world provides. Our ACA Connects members are here and ready to navigate through this difficult time together, and believe we can come through this as a more productive, innovative, and connected society.

ACA Connects has released its version of a broadband dashboard, which it said shows that despite the COVID-19 crunch, its members are handling the load. 

According to the data for small and midsized providers, said ACAC, while broadband traffic has understandably surged, its members continued to provide a high-quality service. 

Related: COVID-19 Crisis Hits TV Industry

"Even while usage surged, network utilization – the key metric for user experience -- remained within normal operating ranges in virtually all instances," said ACA Connects. 

ACAC said that when there was a network issue, it was "slower-than-expected" speeds, not outages, and that they were usually dealt with in less than 24 hours. 

And while it says COVID-19 has had relatively low impact on service, its members have identified some parts of the traffic surges (video conferencing and chat, for example) that might be the new normal long term. 

Among the actions taken to handle the traffic load were adding transit capacity, splitting nodes and upgrading hardware. 

The dashboard data is from the past three weeks, collected by consulting firm Cartesian.

ACA Connects, which represents small and midsized cable and broadband operators, said it will not reschedule its policy summit, which had been scheduled for March 17-19 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington before the coronavirus pandemic hit. 

Related: ACA Connects Postpones Summit

The association said it would decide "later" if there was some way to get its members to D.C. later in the year for Capitol Hill visits and a "mini-summit" of some type, but that making it clear now that there would not be a delayed full summit was the right thing to do.

“We made the right decision early on to postpone the Summit for the health and safety of our members and attendees, and this is another decision that we believe is the best thing for our members and attendees at this time,” ACA Connects president Matt Polka said. “We look forward to our Summit 2021 program when we can be back in Washington, D.C., with our members and attendees.”

ACAC said it was working to get refunds for registered attendees, sponsors and exhibitors--it expected about 300 to have gathered for the event.

Mike Jacobs, VP of regulatory affairs at ITTA, has joined ACA Connects as VP of regulatory affairs.

Before joining ITTA in 2016, Jacobs was an attorney with the FCC, including legal advisor to the chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau.

“I’m thrilled that Mike Jacobs has joined ACA Connects to help our members navigate the complicated legal and regulatory landscape that challenges independent video and broadband providers on a daily basis," said ACA president Matt Polka. "I have no doubt that Mike, with his background as an experienced legal advocate, will make lasting contributions to our progress in the months and years ahead."