Action-packed, Pee-wee!

NCTA – The Internet & Television Association has produced a 20-minute documentary showcasing the challenges and perils cable crews face as they lay fiber in rural America. 

In the doc, Every Last Mile: The Untold Story of Connecting Rural America, a Mediacom crew races against time and weather in frigid conditions to lay fiber in Lakewood Township, Minn, a community near Duluth with a population of around 2,000 people and an average annual snowfall of about 86 inches. 

In Congress, Arizona, a Cox Communications crew faces extreme heat of up to 115 degrees, as well as challenging rock topography, as it tries to deliver high-speed internet for the first time to a seminal gold rush community. 

And far north, in King Cove, Alaska, a community of 800 residents on the Aleutian Peninsula located 497 miles southwest of mainland Alaska, GCI crews struggle to avoid underground utilities which have locations that have not been precisely recorded. 

“The film is being used to highlight both the importance and challenges of connecting every community to modern internet service,“ NCTA communications chief Brian Dietz told us Thursday. “We all know about the importance of reliable internet and how high-speed internet changes the lives of people, but we don’t often focus enough on the hard work required on the ground to bring this critical infrastructure to rural and remote communities that are still waiting to be connected. This docufilm captures that story.”

Likely seeing the re-regulatory handwriting on the wall, cable internet service providers have told the FCC just how it should reclassify broadband as a Title II service and what it should and shouldn’t do when it reimposes new net neutrality rules, as it is expected to do after a suitable timespan following the public comment period on its reclassification proposal.

In reply comments to the Federal Communications Commission (due January 17), NCTA – The Internet & Television Association continued to argue against either reclassification or the return of rules against blocking, throttling and anticompetitive paid prioritization, which it said are illegal (beyond the agency’s authority), unnecessary, burdensome and counterproductive to the goal of universal broadband.

Also Read: Former Democratic Iowa Official Opposes Net Neutrality Rules

But given that a Democratic majority supports the return of broadband regulatory authority, NCTA told the FCC just where to go on the path to regulating its internet access service. That includes preempting any state attempts to go beyond the FCC rules, as well as not applying the rules to interconnections between ISPs and streamers like Netflix.

Netflix has long argued for interconnection neutrality, saying the fee ISPs charge streamers for such connections are an arbitrary tax levied by powerful ISPs that control streamers' access to their subs and the quality of the video they deliver.

NCTA, joined by over a half-dozen state associations, said if the FCC goes ahead with the plan, it should do the following:

1. Provide exceptions for reasonable network management;
2. Permit usage-based billing and zero-rating;
3. Refrain from extending those rules to non-BIAS [broadband internet access service] data services or internet interconnection and traffic exchange arrangements;
4. Avoid drawing “unwarranted” distinctions between broadband technologies (as in, apply it to wireless, fixed wireless, satellite-delivered broadband or any other broadband delivery technology).
5. Forbear from all Title II provisions that would authorize the FCC to regulate rates and mandate unbundling, as well as from other “burdensome and ill-fitting” provisions of Title II.
6. Preempt state and local regulation of broadband services and reject proposals to deem any federal framework as merely a “floor,” “as such an approach would only invite states and localities to attempt to override federal policy determinations.”

NCTA pointed out in its comments that the Democrat-led imposition of net neutrality rules in 2015 included a directive that states “could not disturb [the FCC’s] ‘carefully tailored regulatory scheme’ by regulating more or less stringently.” It said the regulator should follow the same course.

Now that reply comments have been received, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel can schedule a vote on a final order as soon as those comments have been sufficiently vetted.

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.”

Cable lobbying group NCTA–The Internet & Television Association is asking the Federal Communications Commission to reject a proposal made by Google Fiber, ALLO and Ting to increase the government’s definition of “broadband’ as symmetrical 100 megabits-per-second speeds. 

”The arguments for such an approach are disconnected from the reality of broadband user experience, investment, and deployment and would yield results that have a variety of negative consequences,“ reads a letter filed earlier this week by NCTA to the FCC.

The group added that “consumer [internet] usage has always been highly asymmetrical, and that this pattern has continued in recent years notwithstanding the widespread use of video streaming and the COVID-era shift to greater use of remote work and learning.”

Meanwhile, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) said the proposed benchmarks “can only be established in the future, when they become relevant based on marketplace forces and technological advancement.”

And for its part, the NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association is pushing for adoption of a lesser standard, 100 Mbps upstream/20 Mbps downstream, claiming the majority of internet service providers are “quite capable” of delivering those speeds today. 

The current standard of 25 Mbps downstream/3 Mbps upstream was established back in 2015. 

In their letter to the FCC last week, Google Fiber, ALLO and Ting argued that the current standard is “outdated and no longer meets the needs of consumers.”

The Federal Communications Commission has voted along party lines to prohibit cable and satellite TV operators from imposing early termination fees (ETFs) on their video subscribers, calling them junk fees that discourage competition.

But there was a strong suggestion a majority of commissioners also wanted a conversation about just what the effects of those fees are and whether there were pro-consumer benefits that could be offset by protections from unfair fees.

Cable operators said the rules would hurt their competitive position concerning video streamers that aren’t subject to the same FCC regulations, and that the regulator lacks the authority to adopt them in any event.

Long-term contracts with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) come with a fee for dropping the video service before the end of the agreed-upon contract period.

The FCC voted Wednesday (December 13) on a notice of proposed rulemaking that would end the fees as well as require MVPDs to provide rebates to customers who cancel service before the end of a month for which they have already paid (billing cycle fees).

The notice begins a cycle of comments and reply comments from interested stakeholders before a vote on a final order, though given support by the Democratic majority, the item is expected to make it onto the FCC’s rulebook at the end of that process.

In proposing the fees, FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel had cited President Joe Biden’s executive order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which “encouraged” the FCC to prohibit “unjust or unreasonable early termination fees for end-user communication contracts.”

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, the cable industry’s main trade association, has told the FCC the proposal is misguided because it would “deprive consumers of competitive options they currently enjoy and would raise cable operators’ costs of providing service while creating additional disparities between competitors in a hypercompetitive marketplace.” It’s a marketplace in which streamers continue to drain away video share due to the rise of “streaming services not subject to the same” rules, NCTA said. 

If the FCC does ban the fees, NCTA said, it needs to preempt state or local regulation of early termination fees, since that would further impair the ability of MVPDs to compete with unregulated streamers.

NCTA also pointed out to the FCC before the vote that the Biden executive order had not proposed banning all early termination fees, just those that were unjust or unreasonable. 

(After the vote, NCTA said: "We look forward to participating in this proceeding to ensure it preserves consumer choice and competitive parity. For instance, we do not support banning consumers from choosing a service plan with discounted rates in exchange for long-term service agreements that may include early termination provisions. The FCC should understand that its proposals would amount to rate regulation and result in consumers having fewer options.”)

If the FCC’s final order did switch gears and focus only on “unjust and unreasonable” fees, the commission would have to come up with a standard for what is or isn’t just and reasonable.

As to the FCC's authority to adopt the rules, NCTA said an ETF ban is a rate regulation on video service that the agency cannot impose given that it has determined that there is effective competition nationwide, and thus no basis for rate regulation.

Republican commissioner Brendan Carr agreed with NCTA that the prohibition was illegal rate regulation preempted by the FCC’s decision that MVPDs are subject to effective competition.

The FCC said it can regulate the fees under its customer service regulatory authority under the 1984 Cable Act, but Carr said he disagreed and so was a no on the item.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, a Democrat, said he could see the value in some ETFs if they provided for discounted service for consumers, so wanted a conversation about whether there were ways to protect consumers and still allow some such fees.

GOP commissioner Nathan Simington said consumers would wind up paying more for service if the item makes it onto the rulebook and so he, too, was a no. He also pointed out that, in terms of billing cycle fees, other businesses that don't provide rebates include Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Apple and Spotify.

Simington said the ban would reduce consumer choice and make it harder for MVPDs to compete.

Democratic commissioner Anna Gomez also said there needed to be broad questions asked about what possible value there was in ETFs before a final decision.

Rosenworcel did use the term “restrict” rather than “ban” when discussing the relevant fees, so it was unclear just how the final item would come down on whether the fees were unfair and unreasonable on their face, or as applied unfairly and unreasonably.

DENVER — With the Democratic FCC majority once again on the offensive with proposed net neutrality legislation, the cable industry's top policy figure, NCTA: The Internet & Cable Association president and CEO Michael Powell, used an opening session at his industry’s annual tech trade show Wednesday to launch a full-throated, very libertarian-leaning counter-offensive. 

Powell labeled Federal Communications Commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel’s new attempt to reclassify and regulate broadband as a Title II common-carrier service, setting rules preventing ISPs from establishing abusive restrictions and tolls, as an “illusory” effort trying to solve a “fabricated” problem.

Interviewed during a SCTE Cable-Tec Expo keynote session by CableLabs president and CEO Phil McKinney, Powell described the FCC’s approach as being rooted in regulatory solutions for problems that existed with railroads in the 1800s.

“It’s a shocking mistake,” he said. “It’s not only dated, it’s your father’s Oldsmobile.”

Powell said the cable industry has no economic incentive to arbitrate who does and who doesn’t have access to its network infrastructure. 

“We’re doing pretty damn good with having open pipe,” he said. 

And with artificial intelligence, piracy and Big Tech, Powell questioned the FCC's regulatory priorities. 

Further, he kicked the tires on their use of time and money, given that a Republican win of the White House and Congress next year — or the Supreme Court — could quickly wipe all of the FCC’s net-neutrality work away. 

Net neutrality legislation does have an ephemeral quality that comes and goes with the political cycle. 

In 2017, the FCC under Republican chair Ajit Pai scrapped net neutrality rules established two years earlier by Pai's predecessor, Democrat Tom Wheeler. 

The NCTA and its president, Michael Powell, introduced the term "10G" back at CES 2019. It's been cable's aspirational counter-offensive to the wireless industry's omnipresent 5G initiative ever since. 

Member company Comcast -- on the forefront of HFC network innovation -- has run with the term. It even used it this past week as it promoted the cable industry's first live-deployment of a next-generation DOCSIS 4.0 broadband services, which Comcast says can deliver symmetrical speeds of up to 2 gigabits per second over old-world hybrid-fiber coax cables. 

But T-Mobile filed a complaint in February with the National Advertising Division. And the watchdog said Friday that it has sided with the wireless company. The group said Comcast shouldn't market its Xfinity wireline broadband service with the "10G" moniker unless it can actually deliver 10 Gbps over it. 

Comcast does sell the $300-a-month "Gigabit Pro" fiber-to-the-home service, but NAD contends that's not the package that Comcast is plying the "10G" term to. 

"In evaluating support for this claim, NAD found that Comcast’s description of its entire network as '10G' conveys the message that all consumers on the network will receive a significant increase in speed up to 10 Gbps speeds," NAD said. "However, only one of Xfinity’s many plans (Gigabit Pro) can reach 10 Gbps, and to access that service tier requires the installation of fiber to the premises. Further, NAD determined that the evidence in the record was insufficient to support the broad, unqualified message that the 'Xfinity 10G Network' is vastly superior to 5G."

NAD said it concluded that Comcast didn't provide a "reasonable" basis for the terms “10G," “Xfinity 10G" and “Xfinity 10G Network," and it needs to stop using the marketing term that way. Alternatively, the group added, Comcast can modify its marketing so that it's clear that 10G is an "aspirational" term. 

Comcast, perhaps perplexed that the wireless industry has gotten away all these years with "5G" describing "fifth-generation" networks and not 5 Gbps service, has appealed the decision, NAD added. 

TMT companies tend to abide by NAD rulings. Earlier this week, for example, Google said it would stop making the claim that its YouTube TV service is "$600 cheaper than cable" after the NAD sided with a Charter Communications complaint and then subsequently rejected Google's appeal. 

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.

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.”

Cable broadband providers told the Federal Communications Commission this week that preventing digital discrimination in the provision of broadband services is a laudable goal but that they already offer equal access to high-speed service, and the proof is in the data.

In December 2022, the FCC began seeking input on how it should implement the digital discrimination provisions in the Biden administration's Infrastructure Act. The statute ties its billions of additional dollars in broadband buildout subsidy money to equal access to deployment.

In seeking that comment, the FCC asked how it could “prevent internet providers from engaging in digital discrimination,” which, at least linguistically, suggests there is a problem that needs fixing.

NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, in comments filed this week, said that both FCC and census data make it clear that “cable broadband networks are available across providers’ service areas to homes and businesses, regardless of income level, race, ethnicity, color, religion or national origin.”

The association cited FCC and U.S. Census data showing 99.8% of homes with median incomes above $100,000 have access to cable broadband at 1 Gigabit per second, but so do virtually the same percentage (98.2%) for those with incomes below $35,000 per year.

Data also shows that in areas where 80% or more of residents are African-American, 99.5% have access to 1 gig service, NCTA said. That’s a tick higher than the 98.1% of homes in ares where less than 5% of the residents have 1 gig available, the group said.

The NCTA signaled the problem would be if the FCC were to overregulate in an effort to achieve broadband adoption or affordability goals addressed elsewhere in the Infrastructure Act that aren’t germane to the broadband deployment portion that should be the inquiry’s focus. 

The things NCTA wants the FCC to steer clear of include conflating adoption with deployment. NCTA said the FCC’s definition of availability should rely only on studies that “distinguish availability from adoption and do not rely on third-party speed tests.”

The Biden administration has signaled it thinks those quality and adoption goals — and competition benchmarks — should all be factored into the deployment equation.

If the FCC does find evidence of discriminatory deployment, it should base any action on a proof of intent to discriminate rather than inadvertent discrimination. NCTA argues that distinction can be shown via evidence of “a pattern of discriminatory intent, the sequence of events leading to the decision, departures from normal procedures and a consistent pattern of actions imposing much greater harm on the protected class.”

The FCC has proposed sanctioning unintentional as well as intentional discrimination, which would obviously raise the stakes for internet-service providers on just how the FCC defines discrimination.

Intent or not, though, NCTA said the FCC should not give complainants the power to file class-action suits or any private right of action.

The FCC notice NCTA was commenting on proposes adding digital discrimination to the agency’s informal consumer complaint process, coming up with model policies and best practices for states and localities and next steps and potential rules for combating discrimination in broadband access.

One policy it thinks it would be best for the FCC to adopt is expressly preempting laws in those states and localities that differ from the agency’s digital discrimination rules. ■

Cable operators say various commitments made by Standard General to address their concerns about its deal to acquire station group Tegna need to be modified and expanded before the FCC considers signing off on the $8 billion-plus merger.

Tegna, which owns 64 TV stations in 51 U.S. markets, agreed to be acquired by Standard General in February for $8.6 billion including debt. Tegna also owns multicast networks True Crime Network, Twist and Quest, as well as advanced advertising company Premion.

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association has signaled to the Federal Communications Commission in comments on those commitments that while Standard General was close to addressing NCTA’s concerns, it was not ready to hand out the cigars.

The FCC has been vetting the proposed transaction for most of a year. At the end of 2022, Standard General offered up commitments it hoped would finally seal the deal, saying, among other things, that it met “all of the conditions on the transaction requested by NCTA.”

But in its comments on those commitments, NCTA told the FCC that while it appreciated the move, it went only “toward resolving our members’ concerns” about the transaction and its “potential for information-sharing and coordination of retransmission consent negotiations,” signaling there was still work to do.

“Some of the conditions that they set out in their letter, however, do not accurately reflect the conditions we sought and appear intended to narrow the scope of the conditions,” NCTA said.

That narrowing, according to NCTA, included limiting information sharing to those involved in retrans agreements. NCTA said what it had asked for was sharing with those involved in the negotiations as well.

NCTA had six conditions back in June and has now resubmitted them in light of Standard General's proposals, with language ensuring its cable operator members get exactly what they are looking for in terms of retrans protections.

NCTA also wants the FCC to make previous Standard General commitments into enforceable conditions, and add another condition as insurance against any percieved attempt to do an end-around of any of those other terms.

That new condition reads: “Standard General and/or TEGNA and CMG [Cox Media Group] and/or [Apollo Global Management] are barred from doing indirectly (e.g., through employees or agents shared by Standard General and/or TEGNA and CMG and/or Apollo) what the preceding conditions directly prohibit.

Also: Deadlocked FCC Still Has Power to Block Standard General-Tegna Deal 

NCTA also wants clarification of a new Standard General proposal, which is that none of the conditions “require the parties to take any action” that would (a) prevent entry into ATSC 3.0 hosting or sharing agreements; (b) “restrict competition or limit the distribution of syndicated or other programming, such as TEGNA’s diginets”; or (c) “prohibit any party from reselling non-broadcast station products in any market or providing support services for producers of such products.”

NCTA said it is not clear what “non-broadcast station products” those are. It said the FCC needs to get that explained before NCTA or others could fully respond to the Standard General proposal.

On December 16, Standard General told the FCC it would not try to apply retransmission-consent agreements currently in place between Standard General’s Cox Media Group TV stations and Tegna stations (so-called after-acquired clauses). Multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) critical of the deal have pointed to the potential of those clauses as meaning they would have to start shelling out more for Tegna stations.

Then, on December 22, responding to concerns about newsroom cutbacks, Standard General pledged to the FCC “not to conduct any journalism or newsroom staffing layoffs” for at least two years, and said it would recognize the labor unions with current collective bargaining agreements with Tegna. Standard General has consistently said concerns about post-merger staff cuts at Tegna stations were unfounded.

On December 23, Standard General, which was clearly hoping to get the FCC to make a decision ASAP after months of vetting, said it would agree to all of the retransmission consent-related conditions NCTA had wanted for as long as it owned Tegna.

But the FCC sought comment on that latest proposal, with comments not due until later this month. The comment period could go even longer if the FCC agreed with NCTA that more comment was needed on the “non-broadcast station products issue.”

The FCC is currently on day 272 of its informal 180-day shot clock on reviewing proposed mergers, though it has more than occasionally honored that deadline in the breach rather than the observance. ▪️

Even as the Federal Communications Commission was voting to take concrete steps to combat digital discrimination — including proposing to sanction inadvertent as well as intentional inequities in broadband service — NCTA-The Internet & Television Association said the regulator’s new maps show that the highest of high-speed broadband service is being distributed equitably.

NCTA, the main cable industry group, said that one clear takeaway from the maps, which it concedes are in the early stages of an iterative process, is that gigabit-speed service is being deployed equitably "regardless of income level or racial composition."

NCTA said its analysis confirms that cable operators "have deployed and upgraded high-speed networks within their footprints regardless of demographics, in both urban and rural areas."

Cable critics have long made claims of digital "redlining."

Also: FCC Task Force Draws Line Against Broadband ‘Redlining’

The FCC, at the direction of Congress, created an "all-of-agency" task force to address digital equity issues and also told the FCC it must adopt rules, which is what the FCC proposed to do this week.

But NCTA said its analysis of the FCC data suggests that, at least when it comes to gigabit service, that equity goal is already being achieved without FCC rules.

"There is virtually no difference in cable gigabit availability based on the racial composition of a given area," NCTA said, adding that it was the same with income levels, with similar 95% of all locations having access to gigabit broadband regardless of income or ethnicity.

The "bottom line," NCTA said, is: "[G]overnment data shows that providers have a track record of deploying their fastest services ubiquitously to communities they serve regardless of income level or race.

"While there is more work ahead in connecting remaining unserved communities and bringing broadband to all, smart, targeted funding combined with cable’s decades of experience in building powerful networks throughout our communities can help America bridge the digital divide." ▪️

Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, plans to tell Congress Tuesday (December 13) that a lot could go wrong with the government’s multibillion dollar, multiagency effort to achieve universal broadband if the Biden administration isn't careful about how it hands out that money.

According to a copy of his prepared testimony for a Senate Communications Subcommittee hearing on “Ensuring Solutions to Meet America’s Broadband Needs,” Powell points to several risks given that the broadband subsidy money is being handed out via more than 100 programs and by a “dizzying array” of government agencies.

Powell pointed to four main risks, number one being the forces pushing for spending the money “in towns and communities with better economics, where broadband already exists.”

The White House has made it clear that availability entails more than access and includes affordability, competition, access to information about the value of broadband and training in how to use it and service quality.

Powell said that to spend limited resources on places where there is broadband service already would be a fatal error that would leave unserved “still hunger for their first taste of broadband.”

Powell says the other risks are 2) insufficient coordination among those 100-plus programs, which could lead to “confusion, delay, waste and poor results”; 3) policy creep, in which a “bottomless number” of policies and regulations could destroy a viable revenue model and drive some providers away, policies/regulations like “forms of rate regulation, open-access requirements, buy American provisions, and labor rules”; and 4) a failure to hew to clear, measurable criteria for buildout success and effective oversight, without which he said “ambiguous criteria, poor controls, and grants to inexperienced providers will, as it has in the past, lead to a great deal of waste, fraud and abuse.”

Powell told the subcommittee that he thought the programs held great promise, but only if it learns from and does not repeat past mistake that he said “have often failed because resources were mistargeted, or poorly administered by both government agencies and ineffective providers.” ▪️

NCTA: The Internet & Television Association has nominated Charter Communications VP, regulatory affairs Christine Sanquist to the Universal Service Administration Co., which oversees billions of dollars in the agency's Universal Service Fund broadband subsidies.

By law, the USAC's board of directors has to have a representative from a cable operator, a post currently held by Comcast VP, regulatory affairs Beth Choroser, whose term expires at the end of this year.

Sanquist's duties at Charter include dealing with the USAC and other federal subsidy programs supporting broadband and voice. Those programs include the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, the Affordable Connectivity Program, the Rural Health Care program, and the E-Rate program, which covers rural, low-income and educational subsidies.

Before joining Charter, Sanquist was an associate in the Communications, Internet and Technology group at law firm Jenner & Block LLP.

She also has past history with the FCC, beginning her career there as an intern in the office of commissioner (and later chair) Mignon Clyburn and then as an attorney in the Wireline Competition Bureau. ▪️

Wonya Lucas has been named to the board of directors of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association.

Lucas, who is president and CEO of Hallmark Media, will serve as an appointed — rather than elected — at-large director for a term of two years.

Lucas oversees linear networks Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama, as well as the company's subscription on-demand video service, Hallmark Movies Now.

Before Hallmark, Lucas oversaw PBS and NPR stations in Atlanta as president and CEO of Public Broadcasting Atlanta and before that, president and CEO of TV One, where she was the second African-American woman to serve in that capacity for a cable network.

Her resume also includes stints at Discovery and The Weather Channel Networks. She is currently on the Peabody Awards board of jurors and the Cable Center's board, as well as on the board of trustees of the Sundance Institute. ■

The cable and telco broadband and technology industries, working together, have cut set-top box energy use by 57% since a voluntary energy-efficiency effort was launched almost a decade ago. In 2021 alone, that saved consumers $2.5 billion on their energy bills.

Those findings come from an annual report from independent auditor D+R International, a report was required as part of the voluntary agreement. 

It hasn't hurt that the number of deployed set-top boxes has decreased significantly, down nearly one-third since 2012. The overall decrease in boxes is combined with more energy-efficient set-tops and an increase in purchases of non-DVR internet protocol (IP) boxes that consume far less energy, the report pointed out.

Then there is the cord-cutting that has reduced the number of U.S. TV homes with a set-top from 58% of those homes as recently as 2016 to only 37% in 2021.

In 2012, NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, the Consumer Technology Association and CableLabs signed the Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Set-Top Boxes, with other signatories that accounted for 95% of the traditional pay TV market in 2021, according to NCTA.

Among the companies that struck voluntary agreements are Comcast, Charter Communications, Cox Communications and DirecTV and Dish Network.

There will be more reports to come.

Last year, the signatories extended the agreement through 2025, with more rigorous energy-savings targets and the goal of cutting set-top energy use by two-thirds, with 86% of that reduction goal already reached by the end of 2021, the report concluded. ▪️

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.” ■

Cable operators are telling the FCC that it should continue to require broadcasters transitioning to ATSC 3.0 to deliver a signal in the current ATSC 1.0 standard, and that the programming on that signal must still be substantially similar to their ATSC 3.0 signal.

The FCC sought input on the status of broadcasters' transition to the next generation TV standard, which allows for interactivity, targeted ads and alerts, datacasting and 4K pictures, but also is not backward compatible, so that folks without a new TV set or tuner can't get all that.

Also: Noncoms Tell FCC ATSC 3.0 Transition is Challenging

To make sure that stations still delivered content in the current ATSC 1.0 standard, the FCC back in 2017 required a station’s ATSC 1.0 simulcast of its primary video stream to be substantially similar to the primary stream it is transmitting in ATSC 3.0. The NexGen TV standard is not backward compatible with current sets, so to minimize disruption the FCC wants to make sure viewers can still receive a primary signal during the transition. Thus, stations must continue to deliver their main signal in ATSC 1.0 for an initial five-year period. (The FCC authorized ATSC 3.0 in November 2017.)

In its comments to the FCC, NCTA said that mandate should no sunset next year but, instead, continue until at least 2028, and even then the FCC should simply launch an inquiry into whether it should sunset even then.

Broadcasters have argued the mandate should sunset and that they have every reason to continue to deliver a viewable signal to their audience.

But cable operators say the transition is still in its infancy and has not progressed as fast as the FCC expected when it set the five-year sunset.

It points out that only 54 markets have a full power station transmitting in ATSC 3.0, an in most of those it is only one station. Then there is the dearth of sets capable of receiving the signal without an outside tuner, which is about 1.5% of TVs in use.

"If the substantially similar requirement were to sunset, broadcasters would be free to provide the most desirable programming only to those with 3.0-compatible TV equipment, placing viewers at risk of losing access to popular programming should they be unwilling or unable to pay for this new equipment."  

That would disproportionately affect lower income residents, said NCTA. But it would affect NCTA members' bottom lines as well.

"Cable operators would also be forced to expend additional resources to receive 3.0 signals, only to then down convert the signals if they wish to make the programming viewable to all of their subscribers—costs that would also ultimately impact consumers," it said.

The issue's bottom line, says NCTA: "The Commission should extend the substantially similar requirement and reconsider [it] in a rulemaking to be conducted in five years." ■

Michael Powell, president of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, took aim at new legislation unveiled Thursday, the latest effort to classify internet access as a Title II telecommunications service, or what Powell calls "the nuclear option."

Saying the effort would "slap an outdated and burdensome regulatory regime on broadband networks," Powell argued the result would be to damage the "mission to deploy next-generation internet technology throughout America and get everyone connected." The Biden Administration is investing tens of billions of dollars into that mission.

"Twenty years into an increasingly stale debate over net neutrality, the justifications for it seem increasingly limp," said Powell, who as FCC Chairman oversaw an initial statement of open internet principles, though a court later ruled that it was not an enforceable regime.

Also: Sen. Markey to Introduce Net Neutrality Bill

"The breathless assertions over the years that the internet is gravely threatened because ISPs would block or throttle traffic and erect toll booths to charge internet companies to reach consumers have proven hollow and unrealized," Powell continued in a statement following the bill's unveiling in a Zoom call, with plans to answer questions via Reddit. "The claim that ISPs would not invest in expanding capacity and speed wilts in the shadow of massive expansion to gigabit networks today with efforts driving rapidly to 10G networks in a few years," he argued.

Add in the "massive expansion" of wireless networks, he said, and the reality on the ground "hardly align(s) with the corroded narrative that ISPs are motivated to create scarcity on their networks to hold internet companies or consumers hostage."

"The case is particularly thin to justify the famed 'nuclear option' to reclassify carriers under Title II utility regulation which empowers the FCC with the authority to go big on new regulation."

It is the nuclear option because while Republicans have supported net neutrality rules against blocking, throttling and anti-competitive paid prioritization, doing so under Title II is a nonstarter on that side of the aisle and may not have everyone on the other side, either.

Powell said it was time to focus on building out broadband, not "taking a ride on the net neutrality carousel for the umpteenth time for no discernable reason." 

Powell's sentiments were echoed by Jonathan Spalter, president of USTelecom. 

"Broadband providers support net neutrality and already operate under these important principles while delivering real value and performance to customers. Providers are making critical investments at record highs even as prices continue to drop. Especially during a period of inflation, this is an incredible success story," he said. "There is bipartisan support for net neutrality, but legislative proposals that would put any of this progress at risk are not the right answer. Let’s keep our focus on moving consumers’ internet experiences forward, not backward."

"Net Neutrality may be a mixed bag, but common carrier regulation would inhibit competition, private investment and innovation, and further confound the complex task of eradicating of the digital divide," said Eric Slee, VP of government affairs for WISPA, the wireless internet service providers association. 

Slee says "the specter of open access, service and rate regulation, among other Title II mandates, would result in fewer solutions and deployment growth in the very areas most in need of it."■

For several years now, cable operators have been arguing that the FCC needs to recognize the shift in children‘s video consumption from “traditional linear television” to “unregulated online programming” and deregulate accordingly.

The 1990 Children's Television Act set limits on ads in children’s programming and the Federal Communications Commission in 2004 limited the display of website addresses during children's programming.

NCTA told the FCC this week, as it did in 2018, that it was time to eliminate those restrictions.

Also: FCC’s O’Rielly Says Kids TV Rules Have Not Produced Great TV

In a July 1 filing, in response to a request for comment on the FCC's upcoming report on the state of competition in the communications marketplace, NCTA said that video competition among MVPDs is “vibrant” and video regulation should reflect that.

It said that means that Congress’s concerns — some 30 years ago — about a lack of competition to cable and potential anti-competitive conduct by cable have been obviated by that robust competition, including from over-the-top video providers like Netflix.

NCTA suggested that children’s regulations imposed on cable (and broadcast) but not over-the-top “artificially distort and suppress the pro-consumer benefits of competition.”

“[E]ntities that compete in the provision of like services should not face different public interest or customer-service obligations, which is both arbitrary and capricious and skews the marketplace,” NCTA said. “For example, the commission should take a fresh look at its children’s television advertising rules, which should at the least be revised consistent with NCTA’s prior recommendations. None of the new online video providers that target children — such as YouTube, Netflix and Amazon — are burdened by FCC restrictions on advertising. This disparity negatively impacts competition in children’s television programming. This is particularly detrimental given that cable networks have invested countless hours and billions of dollars in developing trusted brands that serve the programming needs of parents and children.”

And while not calling out program access and carriage regs by name as some others in need of jettisoning, NCTA might as well have. “[I]t is time for regulations premised on a lack of competition in the video marketplace to be repealed,” NCTA also told the FCC in its advice on the upcoming competition report. ■

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association is joining Big Tech companies in trying to head off any Federal Communications Commission effort to establish “one-size-fits-all” standards for 5G receivers, and cable has a big dog in the fight.

NCTA pointed out in comments this week that cable operators are both incumbent licenseholders — whose satellite programming transmissions can be affected by harmful wireless interference — as well as operators of “the largest WiFi networks in the country.” Unlicensed WiFi has been cable’s big competitive play in the wireless internet access space through hot spots that blanked the landscape.

Rules to prevent new services from causing such harmful interference are absolutely necessary, NCTA said, but locking in receiver mandates would “limit overall utility and spectrum efficiency, make deployment unnecessarily expensive, and undermine innovation and deployment, which ultimately harms consumers.”

Also: CTA Says Receiver Mandates Could Stifle Innovation

And while NCTA agrees the FCC should look at the receiver side of the equation — it has been focused on transmitters and there is some debate over whether the agency has authority over the consumer-facing receiver side — the association told the regulator it should not single out unlicensed receivers for special regulatory treatment.

It says a flexible approach featuring incentives and good-faith collaboration is the better way to go.

The FCC in April opened an inquiry into setting wireless receiver standards, one of several routes the regulator could take, alone or in tandem, to protect signals in increasingly crowded spectrum bands, a road map laid out by FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel back in April. “We recognize that a variety of approaches may be appropriate, whether through industry-led voluntary measures, Commission policy and guidance, or rule requirements where other approaches would be insufficient,” she said after the FCC approved the notice of inquiry (NOI).

The NOI was unanimous, but that was not necessarily an indication of any unanimity on which approach to take. At this stage the NOI is only an effort to collect info on how to improve receiver performance and expand the FCC's traditional focus beyond transmitters alone.

Also: Simington Has Dynamic View of Spectrum Sharing

The heavy lifting will be when the FCC comes up with a proposed new approach — or if, since the FCC has tried to address receiver standards in the past without coming up with a new way forward.

NCTA has some definite suggestions. It told the commission it should not adopt “specific receiver performance or design rules or mandate standards” because those are “time-intensive and difficult to design and implement across services and industries, and would be inherently less adaptable to specific circumstances.” ■

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, said it has no problem with the FCC approving the Standard General-Tegna deal, but only if the commission imposes binding conditions that hold the companies and their deal financing partner--Apollo Global Management/Cox Media Group, to their pledge that they would not strike TV station sharing arrangements or sidecar deals post-merger.

NCTA is concerned that the complex web of license transfers and spin-offs in the deal could prove a way to end-run the FCC's ban on joint, coordinated, retrans negotiations by two stations in a market unless they are commonly owned, joint negotiations that can drive up the price cable operators pay for local TV station signals.

NCTA told the commission in comments on the proposed $8 billion-plus deal this week that the FCC prohibition on coordinated retrans could be thwarted by "interlocking relationships that may allow one station to exert significant influence over another even while remaining 'non-attributable' under current FCC rules, and/or by so-called 'sidecar agreements' such as Joint Sales Agreements (“JSAs”) and Local Marketing Agreements (“LMAs”)."

Also: Graham Media Joins Opposition to Standard General-Tegna Deal

NCTA pointed to Apollo Global Management's (AGM) financing role in the deal--AGM also owns Cox Media Group (CMG), and markets where both Tegna and CMG will own stations--Atlanta, Seattle, Charlotte, Jacksonville, Memphis and Spokane, as potential opportunities for coordinated retrans.

Standard General and Tegna have told the commission that they have no intention of negotiating retrans jointly or “enter[ing] into any Sharing Agreements or other agreements related to programming, operations, or sale of advertising with each other for any station," NCTA said. The companies also said that neither ABM or CMG have any ability to participate in the management or operations of Tegna stations, including retrans negotiations, after the deal.

But NCTA wants the FCC to adopt binding conditions to that effect, saying that despite those pledges, "the collection of interlocking relationships creates, in the aggregate, a high risk that the parties, post transaction, will have the incentive and the ability to share information or otherwise coordinate their retransmission consent negotiations."

Also: Unions Try to Block Standard General-Tegna Deal

To remove that incentive and ability, NCTA wants the FCC to adopt binding conditions that keep the deal from becoming a vehicle (with "sidecar") for bypassing joint negotiation prohibitions. And since the commitments would simply align with the pledges already made, it should not be a problem for the merging/swapping/investing parties.

NCTA offered some suggesting conditions:

1. "No employee or agent of TEGNA or CMG/Apollo involved in retransmission consent negotiations may review any retransmission agreement to which the other entity is a party, or receive non-public information with respect to such agreement."

2. "No employee or agent of TEGNA or CMG/Apollo may provide a copy of a station
agreement or non-public information regarding such agreement to any employee or agent of the other entity involved in retransmission consent agreements."

3. "TEGNA and CMG-Apollo may not engage common legal counsel or other agents in
connection with retransmission consent negotiations."

4. "TEGNA and CMG/Apollo must each maintain in its online public file a list of all other broadcast stations with which it has a sidecar agreement, the licensee of each such station, and whether Tegna or CMG/Apollo has an attributable interest in the licensee."

5. "As the applicants committed in their June 13 Letter, the FCC should also adopt a merger condition that the “Combined Company, AGM, and CMG . . . will not enter into any Sharing Agreements or other agreements related to programming, operations, or sale of advertising with each other for any station.”

6. "Any new JSA, LMA, SSA or similar agreement involving TEGNA or CMG/Apollo that is not otherwise barred by the immediately preceding condition must be filed in the stations’ online public files and separately in the instant merger docket 30 days prior to taking effect."

If the FCC imposes those or similar conditions, said NCTA, it "does not oppose the transaction under consideration in this docket." ■

Pat McAdaragh, president of Midco, has been elected chairman of the board of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association. He succeeds the outgoing chairman, Comcast Cable president Dave Watson, who, not surprisingly, becomes immediate past chair.

That June 22 election also saw the following officers installed: Charter chairman Tom Rutledge, vice chairman; Cox Communications president Mark Greatrex, treasurer; and Paramount Global president and CEO Bob Bakish, secretary.

Other board members elected were Ron Duncan, CEO, General Communication, to a three-year term as at-large system director; Dick Sjoberg, president, Sjoberg’s, Inc.; to a two-year term as rural/midsize director.

At-large programmer directors elected were Paramount Global's Bakish; David Nevins, chief content officer, scripted originals, Paramount Plus, and chairman and CEO, Showtime Networks; and Paul Buccieri, president, A+E Networks Group, all for for two-year terms.

Alfred Liggins, CEO, Urban One, was elected to a one-year term to fill the seat vacated by David Zaslav, who became president of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Elected associate director was Frank Drendel, chairman, CommScope, for a two-year term.

Joining the NCTA board was Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Discovery's U.S. Networks Group, as corporate programmer director, succeeding former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who exited after the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.

Cable operators said complaints from broadcasters about opening up the 6-GHz spectrum band for WiFi are “unfounded … untimely, unsubstantiated and irrelevant.”

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association made that argument in comments to the Federal Communications Commission on June 10 regarding unlicensed use of that band, comments prompted by a court remand of one part of the FCC's unanimous April 2020 decision to allow the entire 1,200 Megahertz of the 6-GHz band to be shared with unlicensed WiFi. The decision was at that time the FCC‘s latest move in freeing up more spectrum for connecting 5G in-home devices — video streaming, video calls — and connecting internet of things (IoT) devices to the internet. Cable operators and technology companies supported it.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a decision handed down last December, said the FCC‘s conclusion on the risk of harmful interference was just the sort of technical call to which the court owes “significant deference.” It rejected the broadcasters’ challenge, arguing TV stations had not provided a basis for their claim  the band could not be opened up without “a significant risk of harmful interference.”

But while the court denied the petitions to review in most respects, it did say the FCC had not sufficiently responded to a request from broadcasters that it reserve a sliver of the band exclusively for mobile licensees, so that aspect of the decision was remanded to the FCC for "further explanation."

NCTA said that explanation is easy. In its comments, it said the FCC should tell the court ASAP that broadcasters‘ unsupported assertions “do not alter the Commission’s conclusion that the risk of harmful interference to mobile indoor operations from unlicensed 6 GHz low-power indoor (LPI) devices is
insignificant.” ■

Cable operators are telling the Federal Communications Commission to vigorously defend its conclusion that it can open up the 6-Gigahertz band to unlicensed mobile indoor WiFi without causing harmful interference with broadcast electronic newsgatherers (ENGs), which also use the band.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association told the FCC in comments that broadcasters had not provided any credible evidence of harmful interference to mobile indoor operations. “The commission can easily dispel [the National Association of Broadcasters’] concerns,” it said, encouraging the regulator “to do so promptly to ensure that American consumers can benefit from the panoply of innovative services and applications that unlicensed access to the 6-GHz band will make possible.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in December upheld most of the FCC’s decision, but did say the agency had not sufficiently responded to a request from broadcasters that it reserve a sliver of the band exclusively for mobile licensees due to potential interference. It asked the FCC to make a better case.

NCTA's comments were in response to that court remand.

NAB Appeals 6-GHz Order

Petitioning the court to reverse the FCC’s decision were AT&T, Lumen Technologies, electric utilities, the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International (APCO), and the NAB.

Broadcasters had argued for protecting ENG crews already using the band by reserving an 80-MHz sliver for them, saying there was too much risk of harmful interference to that ever-more-crucial service in a time of pandemic.

But FCC engineers concluded that the band could be shared and ENG (and utility companies) protected with the conditions the agency had imposed. All of the commissioners agreed, but at least on the point of a sliver for mobile licensees, the court did not.

NCTA said the FCC should be able to assuage the court's concerns given what it calls the “insignificant” risk of harmful interference. ■

NCTA-the Internet & Television Association has told the FCC that cable operators do not discriminate in the provision of broadband service because they provide equal access, which NCTA said means "comparable deployment."

"FCC and census data demonstrate that cable operators provide equal access to broadband by deploying high-speed networks, including gigabit offerings, throughout their service areas," NCTA said.

That came in comments on the FCC's congressionally mandated inquiry into what rules it needs to adopt to insure that Americans get equitable access to the broadband connections that the Biden Administration is spending tens of billions of dollars to insure go to all Americans.

NCTA said the FCC's focus should be on "the deployment of comparable broadband offerings across providers’ service areas." It said issues like adoption and affordability are beyond the scope of Congress' direction to the FCC and are already being addressed through other legislation and programs.

NCTA points out that the Infrastructure Act defined equal access to broadband as “the equal opportunity to subscribe to an offered service that provides comparable speeds, capacities, latency, and other quality of service metrics in a given area, for comparable terms and conditions, and specifically talks about preventing "deployment discrimination."

Even just focusing on deployment the FCC added, the FCC should make the standard similar rather than identical. "In a dynamic and competitive marketplace, in which intermodal competition is only increasing, some differences in speeds offered and service quality metrics across a provider’s service area are to be expected and should not give rise to a claim of unequal access to broadband within the meaning of the statute." Such differences in speed and quality can also occur during plant upgrade cycles it pointed out, something the FCC has recognized.

Some other commenters, including the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), have argued that the definition of nondiscriminatory access should include a bunch of other factors like price and quality, and other actors like content providers and others in the broadband ecosystem.

MMTC said the FCC should define the statute's equal opportunity to subscribe from a consumer perspective and should look beyond whether comparable services on comparable terms and conditions are available. "[A]vailability" is not equity if the cost prohibits its adoption in low-income or minority neighborhoods, MMTC told the commission. ■

Kyle Dixon, VP for public policy for WarnerMedia, has joined NCTA–The Internet & Television Association as VP and deputy general counsel of program network policy, one of several new hires and one promotion at the cable/broadband association.

Dixon advised Warner Bros., HBO and Turner on federal agency and Congressional policy while at WarnerMedia, so he is well-versed on program-network issues. Before joining WarnerMedia predecessor Time Warner, Dixon was a partner at Washington communications law firm Wilkinson Barker Knauer and, before that, a legal adviser to then-Federal Communications Commission chairman (now NCTA president and CEO) Michael Powell, as well as deputy bureau chief of the Media Bureau.

Also joining NCTA is Jeff Freeland as VP of government relations after over a decade at the White House and as a staffer in the House of Representatives, most recently as a Trump administration liaison to House members.

Becky Tangren has joined NCTA's legal team as VP and associate general counsel focusing on wireless and spectrum policy. Tangren had been with CableLabs as director of technology policy. Prior to that, she was at the FCC in a variety of positions including adviser to the Wireless Bureau. She was also head of regulatory and government affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association.

Lastly, Lee Friedman, who has a decade-plus experience at NCTA dealing with third-party organizations and industry coalitions, has been named deputy chief of federal legislative affairs. ■

Cable broadband operators are telling the FCC that it should not start making them pay into the Universal Service Fund broadband subsidies, especially given the tens of billions of dollars in broadband subsidies the Biden Administration has offered up in COVID-19 and infrastructure programs, but that if it does, mobile broadband, including texting revenue, and edge providers, should be added to the contribution rolls as well.

Edge providers and competitive carriers have already weighed in saying that the current model of only making telecoms subsidize advanced communications that is increasingly broadband-focused is unsustainable and that ISPs need to take up the slack.

Also: Edge Tells FCC to Add ISPS, Not Them, to Contribution Base

In its comments on the FCC's inquiry into what USF changes, including who contributes, need to be made, NCTA The Internet & Television Association said that the FCC should leave any action on USF sustainability to Congress and should not take up contribution reform "at this time," particularly given marketplace changes over the past few years and "the issuance of massive amounts of federal funding
to address important broadband deployment and adoption needs."

In particular, NCTA said: "Any solution involving an expansion of the existing contribution base to include broadband revenue would represent a fundamental shift in USF contribution policy that should be undertaken by Congress." It told the FCC that such a "fundamental repositioning" requires The Hill's "buy-in and guidance."

As to Big Tech, NCTA said one way to make the contribution base more equitable includes "moving to an appropriations based system or directing the Commission to develop a more equitable contribution base that includes the very largest tech platforms that have benefitted immensely from and owe their very
existence to the deployment and use of the Internet."

Also: Could the FCC Make Streamers Pay Into USF

NCTA is also proposing a freeze--then a cap--on the USF high-cost support given those "massive amounts" of infrastructure-related broadband subsidies.

But cable ISPs also argue for getting rid of the contribution factors entirely, fees that wind up being passed along to customers. They suggest that a direct congressional appropriation for broadband support, rather than a fee/tax on communications services is the better way to go, something edge providers and competitive carriers would be OK with as well. ■

Internet-service providers weighed in Monday on the White House‘s promotion of the 10 million households now served by some of its billions of dollars in broadband subsidies. 

The ISPs wanted to point out they have been offering affordable broadband to millions through their own subsidy programs for years, though they welcome the Biden administration‘s help (as long as it is targeted to the unserved and not to overbuilding in the name of price and competition).

“As the nation’s leading broadband industry, we join the Administration in celebrating the milestone of connecting ten million households to the internet via the subsidy program that Congress included in last year’s infrastructure legislation,“ Michael Powell, president and of NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, said. ”For the past decade, over 14 million consumers have subscribed to the internet via NCTA member company broadband adoption programs which include low-cost services of $10-$20 per month, discounts for computers and digital skills and literacy training. 

Also: Broadband Prices Have Been Dropping

“Cable broadband providers strongly supported inclusion of the federal subsidy in the infrastructure legislation and are active participants in the Affordable Connectivity Program,“ Powell added. “These collective public-private efforts are making a real difference in closing the digital divide and we remain committed to the mission of connecting all Americans to the internet through these programs plus our efforts to build new networks in areas that don’t yet have service.”

Comcast also pointed to its Internet Essentials program.

“Comcast is an active participant in providing connectivity through this program and has been working on the issue of broadband adoption among low-income families for over a decade,” the company said, including pointing to its own 10 million benchmark.

“In 2011, we launched Internet Essentials, a $9.95 tier of service geared for low-income families,” Comcast added. “Since the program launched, we’ve kept the price the same while increasing speeds and features, and we’re proud to have connected 10 million people, including 5 million students, over the past 10 years. Comcast is working to get the word out to customers and community partners about the ACP and help get even more people connected to broadband, example materials are attached.”

The White House called on the public and others to help spread the word about the ACP program, including at community events and on social media. ■ 

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. ■

Cable and telecom internet service providers are pushing back on Democratic Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn‘s promise to recuse herself from some issues if confirmed. They‘re suggesting such an offer signals a wider problem with which issues she would or should be weighing in on, and what impact that would have on the agency and the industry.

NCTA – The Internet & Television Association and USTelecom, in separate but similar letters to the chair and ranking members of the Senate Commerce Committee, told them they had issues with Sohn‘s promised recusal from certain broadcast matters. The Commerce Committee is holding a confirmation hearing vote Wednesday (February 2) on Sohn‘s nomination. The trade groups signaled there are some cable/broadband-related issues — think net neutrality — for which her past advocacy should raise similar concerns, if there are any concerns to be raised.

Sohn has pledged not to participate in agency decisions regarding retransmission consent or copyright issues if she is confirmed to the open Democratic seat on the commission.

That stems from her advocacy on those issues when she headed Public Knowledge.

Also: Preston Padden: ‘Wall Street Journal’ Declines Letter in Defense of Gigi Sohn

In her recusal offer to FCC general counsel Michelle Ellison, Sohn promised that, for the first four years of her term as commissioner, “I will recuse myself from participation in FCC Docket No. 10-71 or any related FCC docket concerning the same issues.” But she went beyond that.

“For the first three years of my term,” she also wrote, “I will recuse myself from any proceeding before the Commission where retransmission consent or television broadcast copyright is a material issue in the Commission’s disposition of that proceeding.” She defined material issue as “one that has influence and effect on the ultimate disposition of the matter or matters considered in the proceeding.”

Sohn said she would look to the general counsel‘s office to “make any necessary determination on the application of this recusal to a particular matter.”

In his letter, NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell said that while NCTA ”strongly supports” following government ethics rules that are meant to prevent a conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict, “Ms. Sohn’s letter raises several serious concerns.”

While he said the letter should not be read as opposition to the nomination, Powell has a couple of issues with the recusal pledge.

He said it is not clear why those would be the only issues from which she would recuse herself, “given the breadth of issues in which Public Knowledge was involved” under Sohn. He said the recusal should ”logically extend“ to all the matters she advocated for at Public Knowledge, or none.

Second, he said: “Next, in the more recent years since her service at the Commission during the Obama administration, Ms. Sohn has been publicly involved on matters of direct interest to our membership. There is no logical basis for treating these matters differently from the retransmission and copyright issues for purposes of recusal.”

Arguably the main issue she was involved in after Public Knowledge was the Title II-based net neutrality rules she stumped for as a top counselor to then-FCC chairman Tom Wheeler.

More than one Washington insider has suggested that her support for Title II, and broadband operators‘ ongoing unhappiness with that advocacy, was a big reason she was getting so much pushback on the nomination from Republicans.

Also: CWA’s Christopher Shelton Calls for Gigi Sohn’s FCC Confirmation

Powell also has issues with the scope of the recusal, which could cover a wide range of proceedings, past and future, he said. Sohn signaled in her recusal letter she would not be recusing from media ownership rules. But Powell said that “the Commission will repeatedly be required to determine whether retransmission consent or copyright issues are ‘material’ to a particular docket — including media ownership proceedings where the impact on retransmission consent rates can be at issue.” Powell is a former chairman of the FCC.

In its letter, USTelecom also said it was not taking a position on the nomination, only on the recusal offer.  

“It appears highly irregular to recuse an official from any proceeding that addresses two broad, important issues because of a prior filing in a rulemaking more than a decade ago,” said USTelecom president Jonathan Spalter in his letter. “In fact, the ethics rules generally state that prior participation in a rulemaking proceeding is not a basis for recusal. Thus, it appears that Ms. Sohn’s reasoning for recusing herself would establish a new standard for FCC commissioners participating in proceedings in which they were previously active.”

USTelecom said the recusal was clearly to assuage the broadcast industry, there are other issues much broader than a single industry. “Can the FCC be confident that Ms. Sohn will not be perceived as being able to act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual based on her prior FCC advocacy if, as it appears from her letter, she is concerned may not be the case for certain issues?”

USTelecom asks whether Sohn‘s failure to recuse herself from other issues on which she has advocated [like Powell“s letter, Spalter does not say which, though net neutrality is the elephant in the room], will that create the appearance of benefitting one industry over others with no precedent or rational basis."

Both NCTA and USTelecom said they want Congress to at least take these into account before they vote “in order,” as Spalter put it, “for you to assess their practical implications for the adjudicatory and rulemaking functions of the FCC as well as on the continued effectiveness and impartiality of the Commission.”

“Rather than ensuring impartiality,“ Powell said, ”Ms. Sohn‘s targeted recusal has instead raised serious questions regarding transparency together with significant concerns that one industry has been singled out for special treatment to win their support for her confirmation.“ ■

Cable and telco broadband operators have joined with computer companies and others to ask that they be allowed to "buy (less) American" when they are using the monies provided for in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to build out networks.

In a letter to the heads of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce and Transportation, NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, USTelecom, CTIA and others said the Buy American requirements for broadband spending could delay closing the digital divide.

"Americans without access to broadband cannot wait for a domestic supply chain to be developed out of whole cloth.... We believe that a limited, programmatic waiver is a necessary precondition to effective and efficient investment in broadband," they said.

Also: White House Issues Guide to Broadband Infrastructure Billions

While they agreed with the long-term goal of promoting more U.S. production, in the short term they said a 55% U.S. content requirement, as the IIJA mandates, does not reflect the current reality of the global supply chain, which includes "switching, routing, transport, access, operations systems, and customer premises/end user equipment and devices," each with hundreds of components with their own supply chains sourced from "trusted vendors and suppliers" around the world.

In fact, they went so far as to say that "no combination of network products would meet the IIJA’s content requirements from end-to-end."

Instead, they said, a limited waiver acknowledges what can be done in the real world. They also point to the precedent of the 2009 American Recovery Act, which imposed similar "buy American" broadband build-out provisions, but at the behest of the Agriculture and Commerce Departments, granted a "buy American" waiver. It also pointed to a similar waiver that Congress built into the Federal Acquisition Regulations. ■

A federal appeals court has refused to block enforcement of California‘s network neutrality rules, which internet service providers are challenging.

Cable ISPs — including those represented by ACA Connects and NCTA-the Internet & Television Association — had asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a District Court's decision not to grant a preliminary injunction against the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act.

But 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 — instead upheld the lower court.

Also: ACA Connects Makes Its Case Against Calfornia Law

ISPs had argued the California law was pre-empted by the Federal Communications Commission's 2018 decision to eliminate rules against blocking, throttling and anticompetitive paid prioritization, a move that had prompted California to create rules of its own.

The appeals court agreed with the district court that the FCC lacked the authority to pre-empt 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 the way it did when it was a Title II telecommunications service.

It pointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upholding the FCC reclassification but striking down the accompanying order asserting pre-emption 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 pre-empted because it conflicted with the underlying FCC policy or because interstate service was the sole province of the federal law.

The underlying case against the California law has yet to be adjudicated. This ruling only settled whether enforcement should be delayed until the underlying ISP challenge is resolved.

“Like a lot of 9th Circuit decisions, it is arguable that the court got the law wrong regarding whether California's net neutrality law is pre-empted," Randolph May, president of the market-oriented think tank Free State Foundation. “Given the inherently interstate nature of today’s tightly integrated broadband internet networks, there’s a good chance that other circuits might reach a different conclusion regarding pre-emption. But the risks of Internet service providers being subjected to a legacy common carrier regulatory regime established initially to regulate railroads in the 19th century and then Ma Bell last century, and a patchwork of varying state regulatory regimes with different mandates, should prompt Congress to resolve the decades-old net neutrality controversy by adopting a new law that prevents consumer harm while recognizing the technologically dynamic nature of today’s Internet ecosystem." 

Also joining the ACA Connects appeal were CTIA, representing wireless ISPs, and USTelecom, representing telecom ISPs.

They can appeal the panel decision to the full court if they choose.

“Today is a great day for the free and open internet," said California Democrat Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), a big supporter of net neutrality rules. "The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld California’s net neutrality law, the strongest in the nation, a major win for small businesses and internet users across my state,” said Eshoo. “A free and open internet is critical for innovation, free expression, and our economy. Now Congress and the FCC should follow California’s lead and expand net neutrality to all Americans as I’ve advocated for years.” ■ 

Amy Bender, a top Washington, D.C., executive at NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, has made the switch from wired to wireless broadband.

Bender, who had been VP government relations and legislative counsel at NCTA, has joined CTIA, the trade organization representing the wireless communications industry, as VP of regulatory affairs.

She knows quite a lot about those regulatory affairs, having been a legal adviser to onetime FCC chairman Kevin Martin and then to commissioner Michael O'Rielly.

Bender, a Harvard Law School graduate, joined NCTA in September 2018. Her FCC experience also included deputy division chief and legal counsel in the Wireline Competition Bureau. ■

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. ■

The Cable Center said Tuesday that it has elected four new members to its board of directors -- National Cable Television Cooperative CEO Lou Borrelli, NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association chief of staff Nilda Gumbs; Curiosity president and CEO Clint Stinchcomb and Comcast Central Division president Christine Whitaker. Each of the new board members will serve a two-year term. 

“The opportunity to collaborate with such distinguished leaders on our Cable Center Board is an honor and a privilege," The Cable Center board chair and CEO of Penthera Partners Michael Willner said in a press release. "Their inspiring leadership, business acumen, and unmatched industry expertise will support The Cable Center as we advance innovation and intrapreneurship to help grow our thriving and expanding connectivity industry.”

Borrelli was named CEO of the NCTC in May, and has spent more than four decades as a media executive, entrepreneur, investor and advisor. As CEO of the NCTC, Borrelli represents more than 700 broadband and cable operators operating in all 50 states and the U.S. territories, serving 40 million video and broadband connections.

A seasoned government affairs and communications professional with more than 25 years experience, Gumbs joined the NCTA in 1994, and before being named chief of staff, most recently served as VP of external affairs where she was an integral part of the state government relations team responsible for working with state and local legislators and various intergovernmental groups on policy issues.

Another 25-year-plus industry veteran, Stinchcomb joined Curiosity in 2017 as chief distribution officer, becoming CEO in 2018. A long-time Discovery Inc. executive, where he worked closely with Discovery and Curiosity founder John Hendricks, Stinchcomb oversees Curiosity’s flagship CuriosityStream streaming service, its linear Curiosity Channel, Curiosity Studios original programming, and One Day University. 

As  president of Comcast’s Central Division, Whitaker manages about 27,000 Comcast employees with more than 12.7 million customer relationships throughout 15 states. She most recently served as senior VP of finance and administration for Comcast's Northeast Division, where she was responsible for overseeing all customer experience and financial aspects of the business for the division, which served about 10.1 million customers.

“The Cable Center Board of Directors and I are honored to welcome our four newest Board Members,” said The Cable Center president and CEO Jana Henthorn in a press release. "Our board members’ incredible collective industry wisdom, experience, insight, and knowledge are instrumental to The Cable Center’s success. We look forward to continuing our work to create an inspiring and innovative future through The Cable Center’s mission and programs.” Henthorn, who is retiring at the end of 2021 after 17 years leading the nonprofit, will remain on the board of directors as the immediate past president. ■

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. ■

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association‘s top government relations executive is retiring.

Joanna McIntosh, senior VP and chief of government relations, is exiting the trade group at the end of the year. She will be replaced by Cliff Riccio, who is currently VP and deputy chief of government relations, overseeing both federal and state legislative efforts.

Also read: NCTA‘s Rob Stoddard Retiring

McIntosh‘s 30-year government affairs career has included posts at AT&T, Verizon Communications and the Motion Picture Association. She has also been a lawyer in private practice and at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).

Riccio has been with NCTA for two decades and was named deputy chief of government relations in 2017. Before that, he was an analyst for former House Energy & Commerce Committee chairs Tom Bliley (R-Va.) and Billy Tauzin (R-La.).

“Joanna has made an extraordinary contribution to our policy successes in her time at NCTA and we deeply appreciate her strong leadership and excellent advocacy for our industry in the halls of Congress and throughout our federal government. We wish her all the best as she begins this new chapter of her life,” NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell said. “Cliff’s ascension to head our government relations team is recognition of his effectiveness advocating on behalf of our member companies and the profound regard in which he is held by our industry, his peers, and policymakers.”

The Federal Communications Commission has granted cable operators' request for more time to comment on competition, consumer prices and choice in broadband service to multi-tenant environments (MTEs) — apartment buildings, condos and offices.

Under acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC back in September asked for a new round of comments on its proceeding.

NCTA had asked for a 30-day extension until Dec. 6.

The FCC‘s Wireline Competition Bureau said that while it was in the public interest to grant an extension so that the parties had some more time to address the complex issues, it was only making it 15 days — until Nov. 19 — because 30 days would “unduly delay Commission consideration of the important issues raised in this proceeding.”

The FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, which issued the request for comment, said it wants commenters to focus particularly on three issues: 1) revenue sharing agreements and how they affect price, competition, and quality of service; 2) exclusive wiring deals, and whether those do or don't prevent new entrants or inhibit choice; and 3) whether marketing arrangements confuse people.

Cable broadband operators said the Federal Communications Commission needs to free up more spectrum to handle the explosion of internet of things (IoT) devices, including everything from smart thermostats and locks to garage door openers and refrigerators.

The FCC sought comment on the once and future spectrum needs of IoT. NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, which pointed out its members have built some of the nation's largest WiFi networks, said told the agency in comments filed this week that it should work with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to free up spectrum in the 7 GHz and lower 3 GHz bands for unlicensed and shared use. Finding more spectrum is critical to the growth of IoT, NCTA said.

NCTA pointed out that millions of IoT devices attach to its members' networks, in many cases through WiFi services and equipment supplied by those members. WiFi remains central to wired broadband's mobile profile. Just one of NCTA’s members, Charter Communications, estimated almost half a billion IoT devices were connected to just its network, the group said. 

“Even in commercial settings, WiFi is often the go-to IoT network technology,” NCTA said. “For example, DeepBlue, a Comcast Business company, provides managed WiFi solutions to support IoT functionality in hospitality, retail and entertainment venues such as contactless check-in, keyless entry, touchless controls and entertainment, UV disinfecting robots, AR/VR, wearables, smart elevators and lobbies.”

Unlicensed spectrum means IoT innovators don't need to get permission from the government or secure private licenses to grow the sector. “[U]nlicensed spectrum bands have emerged as playgrounds for the experimentation that is critical for continuing development of new wireless innovations, including in IoT,” NCTA said.

It also pointed out that the shared 3.5-GHz Citizens Broadand Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum is starting to be used for IoT and is proving to be a “critical complement” to licensed use.

Cable operators have asked for a little more time to comment on competition, consumer prices and choice in broadband service to multi-tenant environments (MTEs) — apartment buildings, condos and offices.

NCTA–The Internet & Television Association filed the request this week, asking for a 30-day extension — until Dec. 6 — to file reply comments given the number of initial comments, more than 35, and their range of perspectives.

It said those comments raise issues regarding network configurations, various federal, state and local regulatory frameworks and “highly specific fact patterns.”

It said that the public interest would be served by allowing all parties “a meaningful opportunity to review and respond to these analyses in order to develop a complete record,” arguing that the current 15-day reply comment period was insufficient for the appropriate level of consideration given the goals of bridging the digital divide and enhancing deployments in MTEs.

The FCC back in September asked for a new round of comment on its proceeding.

The goal, said the FCC, was to “better understand how the Commission can promote increased competition, consumer choice, and lower prices for Americans living and working in these buildings.”

In announcing the new look, acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said it was time to examine how exclusive agreements can “lock out broadband competition and consumer choice.”

The economic impact of cable on the U.S. economy in 2020 approached a half-trillion dollars, according to a new impact report.

The report, commissioned by NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, looked at "the direct and indirect impact of the cable operator industry on employment, personal income and gross output in 2020" and concluded it was approximately $460 billion and accounted for over 2.9 million jobs.

The report said cable operator revenue in 2020 was more than $141 billion and the industry provided direct employment to 255,600 people, whose compensation totaled close to $26 billion.

And for those counting, and cable operators certainly are, the industry contributed $3.5 billion in state and local fees.

Cable's economic impact is spread through major sectors, with the largest private sector impact on manufacturing.

That is all according to a report from the Bortz Media & Sports Group, which combined reviews of public financial documents, surveys of large and small MSOs (respondents represented operators with more than two-thirds of subs nationwide), and reviews of secondary source data.

"The decades of investment and innovation made by the cable industry have resulted in the fast and robust broadband services and rich entertainment programming that millions of Americans rely on and enjoy every day," NCTA said of the report.

Rob Stoddard, senior VP of industry and association affairs at NCTA-the Internet & Television Association, is retiring after two decades at the association.

Stoddard told staffers that he would be departing Jan. 3, 2022. "Following great runs in journalism and government, I’ve been so lucky to leverage my passion for the wonders of our business into an immensely satisfying and gratifying cable career. I feel blessed to have spent these last two decades serving NCTA," he said.

Stoddard has headed up public affairs, member relations events and other projects for the trade group.

Before NCTA, Stoddard was a top communications executive at AT&T Broadband, MediaOne and Amos Hostetter Jr.'s Continental Cablevision.

His resume also includes experience on Capitol Hill, wire service (UPI), trade journalism, and radio (WKNE[AM]-WNBX-FM in Keene, N.H.), a journalism history he recounted in an oral history for the Cable Center. 

On the Hill, Stoddard was press secretary to Sen. Nancy Kasselbaum (R-Kan.).

In that Cable Center interview, Stoddard said of his job: " I love the fact that I can go into any major market in the United States and I have cable friends there. I don’t have to buy friends, I don’t have to look for them, I know where they are and most of them know where I am too. So it is a godsend to have those kinds of relationships."

He out an exclamation point on the combination of his communications and journalism career in the memo to staff about his retirement: "It’s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together. That’s been my good fortune these past 36 years."

“Rob Stoddard will be sorely missed," said Media Institute President Richard T. Kaplar, "not just by the cable industry, but by everyone across the media realm and in government who has had the good fortune of knowing him. Rob has earned the respect of the cable industry as an outstanding advocate for NCTA and its members, yet he’s one of those rare persons who is admired far beyond a single industry for his ability to build bridges and create synergies.

“Rob has always appreciated the importance of the media and a strong First Amendment in our democracy. He’s been a great supporter of organizations, including The Media Institute, that work to support a free press and excellence in journalism."

Women in Cable Telecommunications extended its condolences to Michael Powell, president of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, on the death of his father, Colin Powell.

Colin Powell, former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died Monday of complications from COVID-19. He was reportedly fully vaccinated. He was also battling cancer.

“General Powell, first Black U.S. Secretary of State and youngest chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serves as a role model for generations of individuals who aspire to greatness,” WICT said. “Our love and prayers go out to the entire Powell family during this time of sorrow.”

NCTA also stated a message of condolence to the Powell family. Dave Watson, President & CEO Comcast Cable and NCTA Board Chair, said: “On behalf of the staff of NCTA and the Board of Directors, we would like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of Gen. Colin Powell, including our dear colleague and friend, Michael Powell. Today, America lost a trailblazing leader who always put his country first and led with compassion, dignity and grace. We join with the rest of America in mourning the loss of this remarkable human being.”

Colin Powell was also founding chairman of America’s Promise Alliance, an alliance of various groups that advocates for effective education and opportunities for youth, as well as safe and supportive, all issues that implicate broadband given the internet's role in education, opportunity, and virtual environments. Michael Powell is vice chairman of the group.

“Americans will remember Gen. Colin Powell for a long time as a model soldier, diplomat, White House advisor and a voice of wisdom and reason who reassured the country that it can meet any challenge by living up to its best ideas," said ACAC Connects President Matt Polka. "Gen. Powell leaves a remarkable record that we are proud to honor and recognize as so many others around the nation are properly doing today.

“We want to express our support and prayers for Gen. Powell’s family, including NCTA-The Internet & Television Association President & CEO Michael Powell, on the loss of this fine man. They should know that America is a great country because people like Gen. Powell led her with unselfish devotion.”

Also weighing in was the association representing the nation's public/educational ,media. 

America's Public Television Stations (APTS)  President Patrick Butler said millions of children had benefitted from Colin Powell's work with America's Promise. "[Powell] ensured that the welfare of children was a priority not only for parents, teachers and government agencies but also for some of the nation’s largest corporations, foundations and community organizations," said Butler, adding: "“It was my honor to serve briefly with General Powell during Senator Howard Baker’s tenure as White House chief of staff for President Reagan, and it was such a pleasure to know that the wise, humble, sensible, profoundly decent man the public saw over five decades in public life was just the same in private."

President Biden said of Powell: "He led with his personal commitment to the democratic values that make our country strong.  He repeatedly broke racial barriers, blazing a trail for others to follow, and was committed throughout his life to investing in the next generation of leadership.  Colin Powell was a good man who I was proud to call my friend, and he will be remembered in history as one of our great Americans."

Cable operators aren't gerrymandering their broadband service in urban areas but instead delivering fast speeds equitably throughout their footprint, said NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, which also said it has the data to back up that assertion.

NCTA said that the claim that ISPs favor some communities “absolutely” does not apply.

Citing its own just-released analysis, NCTA said that gigabit speeds are offered to 91% of all urban households, and while that percentage rises to 94% of middle income residents, it actually falls to 90% of those with the highest income.

Also Read: House Dems Focus on Digital Disparities

As to any claims of a difference in availability according to race or ethnicity, NCTA said there is “virtually no” difference.

For urban areas with the highest percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics, that availability of gigabit speeds from cable broadband providers is 92% and 94%, respectively. For urban areas with the lowest percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics, the figures are 92% and 94%, said NCTA.

The data, said NCTA, "clearly shows that cable broadband providers have built and continue to update broadband networks throughout their entire service areas, including urban centers."

The NCTA study is based on FCC broadband availability data, which the association concedes needs improving, and Census Bureau data for racial composition. 

Cable broadband operators are telling the Federal Communications Commission that service to apartments and condos is in good shape, even as the agency considers whether any new regulation is needed to promote choice and improve service to those and other multiple tenant environments (MTEs).

In a meeting last week with staffers of the Wireline Competition Bureau, representatives of NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, and of NCTA members Cox Communications, Comcast and Charter Communications, said that the record in the proceeding demonstrated that "deployment, competition, and consumer choice" are "strong."

NCTA said the current prohibition on exclusive access agreements between cable and telecom providers and MTEs should be extended to all broadband providers.

But the trade group said the FCC should not prohibit exclusive wiring agreements, because those do not deny new entrants access to those apartments and condos. Rather, they are pro-competitive because they “help ensure that state-of-the-art wiring will be deployed in MTEs to the benefit of consumers.”

NCTA also put in a good word for bulk billing and exclusive marketing arrangements.

The FCC this week signaled it was taking “a fresh look at how exclusive agreements between carriers and building owners could lock out broadband competition and consumer choice,” as acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel put it.

Energy efficiency commitments by the top cable/broadband providers saved consumers more than $2.2 billion in energy costs in 2020, according to a new report from the Consumer Technology Association, which along with NCTA-the Internet & Television Association and Cable Labs led the agreement.

Among the companies that struck voluntary agreements are Comcast, Charter, Cox and AT&T (DirecTV) and Dish.

Also Read: NCTA, CTA Renew Set-Top Agreement

Since the agreements were struck eight years ago, the set-top savings are pushing $10 billion and in total, set-top energy use was cut by more than half over those eight years, even as function and features have expanded.

The agreements got an upgrade in 2020 with some more rigorous efficiency standards -- some 97% of new set-tops purchased in 2020 met those tougher standards -- that boosted efficiency by 20% over the previous targets.

Also Read: Audit Shows MVPDs Meeting Energy Efficiency Goals

“The group has achieved remarkable success both by driving down the energy used by set-top boxes and through innovations that have reduced the number of set-top boxes used by consumers,” said NCTA General Counsel Neal Goldberg in a statement.

One energy-reducing factor has been the increasing use of laptops, tablets and smart phones to access video as an alternative to powering up a set-top.

The next boost in efficiency levels will come in 2023 per a new (2021) agreement.

Cable operators are telling the FCC to dismiss or deny auto companies' challenge to the FCC's decision to allow the 5.9 GHz band to be divided up between incumbent intelligent auto communications systems and the Wi-Fi that remains cable broadband operators primary mobile broadband play.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation and the 5G Automotive Association have petitioned the FCC to reconsider all or parts of its decision, in part siting the change in administration.

Also Read: FCC Votes to Drive Wi-Fi Expansion

The FCC voted unanimously in the waning days of the tenure of FCC chairman Ajit Pai, to free up the lower 45 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band for wireless broadband while transitioning the remaining upper 30 MHz to the latest iteration of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, and cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technology.

In a formal opposition to that auto company appeal, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, said the FCC's "unanimous bipartisan" decision to divvy up the band, a compromise proposal that was years in the making, reinvigorated a band that had gone virtually unused.

And while auto makers said sharing threatened auto safety, NCTA said the FCC order advances that goal "by enabling new innovations promised by proponents of Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) technology—and by enacting conservative technical rules designed to protect Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) users from adjacent-channel unlicensed operations."

NCTA also argues that freeing up the band for Wi-Fi use can help close the rural digital divide, a big priority of the FCC and the Biden Administration, which is putting tens of billions of dollars into a broadband deployment effort.

"Importantly, providers can use 5.9 GHz spectrum to bring the benefits of cost-effective, next-generation wireless connectivity to consumers in rural communities across the country where next-generation mobile connectivity may not be immediately available," NCTA said.

In addition to asking the FCC to reverse its decision, Intelligent auto tech makers and highway officials last month appealed the decision to a federal appeals court.

Cable broadband operators are OK with most of the Treasury Department's framework for handing out billions of dollars in broadband deployment and adoption funds via the state and local COVID-19 Fiscal Recovery Funds in the American Rescue Plan, but definitely not prioritizing government owned or operated networks when it comes to handing out that money.

Treasury sought public input on the framework and NCTA-The Internet & Television Association gave them an earful on that score.

Also Read: Warner Says Virginia Will Be Among First with Universal Broadband

While NCTA said there could be limited circumstances--where there is insufficient business case for any private capital to build out--but a blanket priority for government nets should be off the table.

NCTA's bottom line: Leave it to the professionals. "Constructing, managing, and upgrading a broadband network is a complex undertaking requiring enormous funds and experience," it told Treasury.

It said studies show that government nets are financially risky and without "massive" ongoing investment beyond that of building out don't result in lower consumer prices, one of the Biden Administration's priorities.

NCTA also said local governments have "unfair" advantages that private companies don't have, like preferential access to rights of way, exemption from pole attachment rules, borrowing money at below market rates or taxing residents to cover operational shortfalls.

Also Read: ACAC Says Treasury Should Not Play Favorites with Rescue Bucks

NCTA said Treasury should instead encourage public-private partnerships rather than government nets, especially when there are private companies ready and willing to enter such partnerships and deliver the requisite services.

If the money does go to government nets, they should be required to compete fairly, it told Treasury, which NCTA said should ensure that a government net:

1. "Does not exercise regulatory, legislative, or other governmental functions;
Does not receive favored treatment for use of the public rights of way and/or access to utility poles;

2. "Complies in full with all of the legal requirements applicable to private sector
providers of broadband service;

3." Establishes safeguards to prevent the cross-subsidization of such ventures through the use of taxpayer funds or obtaining credit in reliance on the government entity’s taxing authority; and

4.  "Is prohibited from bundling broadband with other municipal services."

Cox Communications CEO Patrick Esser’s decision to retire at the end of the year — he will be succeeded by company veteran Mark Greatrex — was met throughout the industry with equal parts regret at losing yet another of cable’s old guard and good wishes that one of the good guys gets to end his decades-long cable story on his own terms. 

Esser got his start in the cable business in 1979 as a pole climber for a small cable operator in Waterloo, Iowa. According to an interview he did with this reporter back in 2013 after receiving the industry’s highest honor — the Vanguard Award for Distinguished Leadership — Esser packed up his belongings and drove 1,000 miles to Hampton Roads, Virginia, the site of Cox's latest system buy. The catalyst? One of his sales managers in the Waterloo system was a former Cox employee who couldn’t stop talking about what a great company it was to work for. The then 20-something Esser decided to see for himself.  

“I knocked on the door of the cable system and I got a job as the public-access director,” Esser said at the time. “Everything I heard about Cox was true from the moment I stepped on the property.”

Esser’s first job at Cox was officially director of programming at the Hampton Roads system, and he was part of the management team that pioneered Cox’s advertising sales division now known as Cox Media. In 1991 he was named corporate vice president of advertising sales, rising to vice president of operations for Cox’s Western Division in 1999. A  year later he was promoted to senior vice president of operations and in 2004, Esser was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer.

In 2006, Esser was tapped to succeed CEO James Robbins, who had said earlier that he would retire that year. Robbins, who died in 2007,  said in a July 2005 interview he couldn’t have hoped for a better person to take the reins.

“Pat has absolutely been the home-run selection,” Robbins said in that July 2005 interview. 

Esser didn’t just have an impact on his own company. While he spearheaded and pushed along efforts to diversify Cox’s workforce and bring the company into the information age, he also enthusiastically waved the cable banner wherever he went. Throughout the years he served as chairman of  NCTA: The Internet & Television Association;  C-SPAN; CableLabs; adviser to the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and on the national Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. 

“Pat Esser’s contribution to our industry has been invaluable,” said NCTA: The Internet and Television Association CEO Michael Powell in a statement. “He’s a true cable success story, rising through the ranks from local executive to company CEO. Throughout, he has represented the heart and soul of our industry, always committed first to the welfare of Cox customers and employees.”

Through his journey throughout the industry, Esser has worked closely with other cable and telecom CEOs. He serves on C-SPAN’s board with Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge and has served with Mediacom Communications founder, chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso on the C-SPAN and NCTA boards. 

“Pat’s had a great career starting at entry level and rising to the top,” Rutledge said in a statement. “I’ve enjoyed working aside him on Industry efforts at NCTA and CableLabs.  Pat’s contribution to the industry is unmatched.  I have been personally lucky to work with Pat in an industry where long term business success has kept us on the same team for decades.  It’s been a pleasure.”

National Cable Television Cooperative CEO Lou Borrelli has known Esser for years, dating back to their early days in cable. Borrelli has logged 43 years in the cable business, beginning with UA-Columbia Cablevision in 1978. Borrelli also was a founding partner of Marcus Cable in 1986. 

"I had the good fortune to meet Pat back when our cable careers were getting off the ground," Borrelli said in a statement. "His energy was infectious and his word was his bond. Through numerous CTAM collaborations, Pat never ran out of ideas and always was up to the challenge. His track record at Cox is a testament to his work ethic and his ethics in business and life. Good luck and godspeed."

Esser also helped drive Cox forward as the industry changed, building on its decades-long reputation as the “gold standard” for the cable industry and unafraid to invest in new businesses like broadband.

“During Pat’s 15 years at the helm, Cox Communications became the gold standard of U.S. telecom companies,” Commisso said in a statement. “Through his many operational successes at Cox and his leadership within NCTA, Pat motivated us all to make the significant private investments necessary to turn our collective broadband networks into America’s most powerful technology platform.   I thank him for his tremendous contributions to our industry and wish Pat and his family all the best in the years ahead.” 

Powell also pointed to Esser’s history as a champion of the NCTA, leading its board of directors and trade show several times, and his commitment to diversity, both at Cox and throughout the industry. 

“Pat has been a leader and innovator in cable marketing; a visionary in cable operations and technology; an ally and champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a thoughtful, forward-looking President & CEO of his company,” Powell continued. “As one of our industry’s most trusted and authentic voices, Pat has immense credibility with policy makers. He has helped provide a strong presence for our industry here in Washington and always has committed Cox Communications to the public good. I will miss Pat enormously as a friend, mentor, and advisor on all of our critical issues. We wish only the very best for him in his next chapter. We’re looking forward to working with Mark Greatrex, another formidable presence in our industry who will be a positive force as we move into the future.”

Esser has served as chairman of C-SPAN for about two years but has been a member of the organization since 2005. The Cox chief has also been a regular video contributor, participating in trade show forums broadcast on the channel ranging from the future of the cable business to Open Internet and consolidation. 

“You can't ask for a better chairman than Pat Esser,” C-SPAN said in a statement. “He is passionate about C-SPAN's mission and shares that enthusiasm throughout Cox. Over the past two years, he has been readily available with strategic guidance and encouragement as our network navigates a changing marketplace and we are confident we can continue to call on his wise counsel into the future.”

In 2006, Cox was first named in DiversityInc's listing of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity and in 2020, reached its highest ranking at No.11. Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) regularly recognizes Cox among the top operators for women.

"Pat Esser is an industry legend — 15 years of exemplary leadership at the helm of Cox and countless beneficiaries of his dedication to the industry and its DEI efforts,” Maria E. Brennan, WICT President & CEO, said in a statement. “We likewise congratulate Pat’s accomplished successor at Cox, Mark Greatrex, and look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the Cox leadership team."