Matt Daneman

The 5.9 GHz band likely is the best near-term opportunity for additional Wi-Fi spectrum, said speakers at WiFi Forward discussions Monday. A benefit of the band is lack of significant deployed incumbents there, as opposed to the C-band, said NCTA Associate General Counsel Danielle Pineres, noting that, paired with the 6 GHz band, it could represent a wide swath of spectrum. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld said the change in administration at the Transportation Department could move things along since the Republican administration brings a suspicion of technology mandates and there are LTE options in the market.

Comcast and Charter Communications combined lost nearly 230,000 video subscribers in the most recent quarter, though Charter CEO Tom Rutledge said he expects the company's video sub loss history to turn around despite price and piracy pressures. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said changing consumer habits and "aggressive video activity from incumbents" are a challenge.

Increased orbital congestion is bringing with it more need for meaningful regulations on overlapping constellations, OneWeb Executive Chairman Greg Wyler said in testimony prepared for Wednesday's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on satellites. Minimum altitude spacing of 125 kilometers for large-scale constellations could isolate the impact of debris from a collision, he says. The U.S. last significantly addressed space debris via regulation more than 20 years ago, and while other nations are looking at rules, the U.S. "can take a leadership position and drive standards ... worldwide," he says. The company backed updating re-entry rules that require re-entry casualties be highly unlikely, since those rules still could see large constellations dropping "tens of thousands of fragments." The company's first launch is scheduled for May, with plans to bring low-latency broadband to Alaska in 2019, followed by nationwide broadband the following year. It says its system's initial speeds will be 500 Mbps, with its subsequent constellation, scheduled for 2021, to increase that to 2.5 Gbps, and that by 2027 its goal is "fully bridging the global digital divide." Also due to testify are Intelsat, SpaceX and ViaSat executives (see 1710180056).

VidAngel is trying to buy time with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize around its new, streaming-centric business model (see 1710190046), but there's no consensus among copyright experts on whether that new business model will fare better in court because it's not clear how the streaming model operates. VidAngel General Counsel David Quinto told us the streaming service does result in some technical violations of exclusive rights, but it doesn't cause any actual harm to copyright owners and ultimately benefits consumers. "The fair use argument is very, very strong," he said.

The coming boom in connected IoT devices brings increased cybersecurity concerns, but no consensus about or current push for a regulatory framework to address it, said IoT, cybersecurity and connected medical device experts at an FCBA CLE Wednesday evening. "Hard and fast rules aren't going to work," said NTIA Deputy Associate Administrator Evelyn Remaley.

Video industry groups and others put forth proposals including adding "standstill" rules and eliminating network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity for video market rules changes as part of FCC preparation of its 19th annual video competition report. Tuesday was the deadline for docket 17-214 comments, with replies due Nov. 9 (see 1708250052). The Ajit Pai FCC is generally expected to avoid further video regulation (see 1703170017).

Opposition to AT&T's proposed $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner is increasingly becoming a conservative cause celebre, with a tide of filings to the FCC in recent days -- an agency not overseeing the deal (see 1701060057). Some say that's not unexpected, even if it's a new flavor for a major deal. Regardless, few see the comments stopping the deal cold.

Scripps/Tribune "should have been dead on arrival" at the FCC, said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now a special adviser at Common Cause, during a Coalition to Save Local Media news-media call Tuesday. The group strongly opposes Tribune's takeover (see 1708300053). Copps said no one company "should be allowed to wield the power that would be wielded by Sinclair," and it will lead to higher cable bills and local newsroom staffing cuts. He criticized the FCC as accelerating "corporatized media" trends. One America Network CEO Charles Herring said the proposed deal generated "the broadest opposition of any proposed merger ever," with a lot of cable programmers concerned. Sinclair has "unbalanced market powers," for example, forcing the Tennis Channel onto MVPD lineups at unfair rates and carriage terms. He criticized the reinstatement of the UHF discount, saying it "stinks worse than three-day-old fish." Rep. David Price, D-N.C., said the discount is a "consolidation power grab" that would be eliminated by the Local and Independent TV Protective Act he's co-sponsoring (see 1707280001). Copps said the bill needs sizable grass-roots support and organizing to move forward. Sinclair didn't comment.

Any FCC rulemaking about the set-top box market first needs more-thorough study of the market and its dynamics, GAO reported. It may be moot because odds of Chairman Ajit Pai's administration picking up the set-top issue seem scant, experts tell us. "If I were Pai, I wouldn't want to touch this," Public Knowledge Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said. Pai conceivably could initiate a study of the set-top market just so it could be declared effectively competitive, closing the door on the matter permanently, said Gigi Sohn, who was an aide to former Chairman Tom Wheeler. She disputed the GAO saying the FCC didn't have enough analyses to back Wheeler's set-top regulation course.

Whether Wednesday's Senate confirmation of DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Makan Delrahim (see 1709270058) will affect the department's review of AT&T/Time Warner isn't clear, with some seeing it likely speeding up resolution and others saying the agency demonstrably hasn't been waiting for a permanent head. AT&T told us it still expects the deal to close by year's end.