Matt Daneman

An array of forthcoming seismic technological changes necessitates that policymakers and tech companies start talking about those applications and the policy questions they raise, NCTA President Michael Powell said Thursday at The Near Future. The joint CableLabs-NCTA event -- NCTA’s replacement for its now-canceled INTX show (see 1703060044) -- didn’t delve into those policy questions, but focused on tech, with hands-on virtual reality displays and an array of presentations. CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney said the intent was to showcase applications that could be realized in the next three to five years, all dependent on high-speed networks -- applications including for entertainment, videoconferencing, retail, manufacturing and healthcare. Powell and McKinney said the connective tissue for much of the highlighted tech will be the 1 GB-speed networks expected to become increasingly common over the next couple of years. Video content increasingly will be immersive and short form, with social interactivity aspects, said Technicolor Senior Vice President-Corporate Development Tim Dodd. He said videogame engines are increasingly being used in digital effects and video, because of their interactive real-time and high-end capabilities. VR has been talked about since the 1990s, but smartphones have “softened us up” to finally making that level of content interactivity go mainstream, said 20th Century Fox Futurist Ted Schilowitz. He said unlike the “box on face” model with clunky headsets, “it’s going to get a lot better,” with wearables coming quickly. He said he's working on VR original content now tied to other content, such as motion pictures.

Wireless industry watcher responses were mixed after Comcast unveiled further details Thursday about its Xfinity Mobile wireless service. This "could be [Comcast's] next growth driver," Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker wrote investors. The offering "highlights cable's optionality and introduces another potential negative to the wireless industry," Macquarie's Amy Yong said.

Creation of gigabit opportunity zones got tentative bipartisan support from some lawmakers, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at American Cable Association event Thursday, adding he hopes to see such zones incorporated into any national infrastructure spending plan or as a stand-alone. He has pushed the idea for these zones -- featuring tax breaks to encourage private-sector gigabit broadband deployment -- for months (see 1609130061). Pai said that with infrastructure investment being a top national priority, the agency is particularly focused on looking at rules to see what can be eliminated or revised so as to encourage infrastructure-related investments. He said the agency is reviewing options for how to revisit Communications Act Title II classification of broadband. "We want every consumer … to have that open internet experience," Pai said. "But networks need incentive to invest and innovate." He said he had no idea of the status of the draft order on circulation removing the network overbuild condition on Charter Communications (see 1702240029). Pai said he hasn't talked with other commissioners about it, though he supports the revamping because the overbuild requirement "accentuates the digital divide." The cable industry crowd repeatedly applauded Pai, a marked contrast from the frost between the industry and previous Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1605200037). "We don't view you as an enemy," Pai said, because Washington “recognizes this is the challenge of our time -- building a digital infrastructure across this country" -- and cable ISPs need incentives to make those investments. The FCC now has more focus on cable industry economic freedom, Macquarie analyst Amy Yong wrote investors Thursday. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, speaking before the ACA this week, was clear that some previous FCC rulings could be reopened and amended, such as the Title II ban on paid prioritization by ISPs (see 1703290026), Macquarie said. With net neutrality rules likely to be rolled back, providers will have more options for favoring or prioritizing content, but removing such barriers benefits consumers by letting providers enhance their services, Macquarie said. Asked about future video regulation issues, Pai said the current independent programming NPRM has keyed up some of these issues and will "hopefully ... give us a better sense of what's going on in the marketplace." He said the commission is "trying to figure out the appropriate role for the FCC ... in this space."

Higher Ground (HG) doesn't understand possible interference issues arising from its planned satellite earth station network for various broadband applications, with its "deficiencies in the relevant physics and engineering" putting fixed services (FS) at risk, said the Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition in an FCC International Bureau filing Tuesday. FWCC said HG's promise to comply with out-of-band emissions limits -- in response to concerns raised about adjacent channel interference -- is "troubling" since those are different problems. The coalition said HG assertions that low signal strength and small likelihood of proximity to an FS station means low risk of adjacent channel interference have no analysis to back them up. It said HG shows deficient technical understanding when it tries to argue there won't be interference from unwanted reflections in the environment. The filing responded to an HG ex parte filing earlier this month on meetings between CEO Rob Reis and International, Wireless, Public Safety and Homeland Security bureau and Office of Engineering & Technology representatives about FCC authorization of its earth stations and the subsequent opposition (see 1702100055). The firm argued the earth station transmit power levels will be a hundredth of point-to-point microwave stations' and that its software will let an earth station transmit only if its emissions are at least 6 dB below thermal noise at an FS receiver in line of sight. The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association in filings Monday (see here, here and here) said it opposed HG's use of 5925-6425 MHz band, which it said could interfere with 6 GHz microwave paths. HG outside counsel Adam Krinsky of Wilkinson Barker -- echoing language in HG's consolidated opposition to the applications for review filed by FWCC, Enterprise Wireless Alliance, Utilities Technology Council and APCO -- emailed us Tuesday that the FCC, after more than 18 months of dialogue with the company and numerous demonstrations, concluded its interference protection regime "provides necessary safeguards against harmful interference and granted Higher Ground’s application. The applications for review are based on ‘what if’ speculation, they don’t provide any technical analysis or support, and they disregard the Order’s finding.” FWCC in a reply Tuesday said the only proof HG's system will prevent interference comes from the firm's statements. With no one ever before having done unilateral coordination of mobile transmitters among fixed receivers, "the stakes here warrant the Commission asking for more in the way of assurance than a further repetition of HG's own claims," FWCC said.

Whether the Supreme Court takes up FilmOn X's legal fight to be allowed to stream broadcast programming could hinge on a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit or 7th Circuit ruling, now that the 9th Circuit on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling that was in FilmOn's favor, legal experts told us. "The decision is a significant setback for streaming services," emailed Rodney Smolla, Delaware Law School dean and writer of an amicus brief in the case on behalf of the broadcaster and copyright holder plaintiffs. The 9th Circuit decision plus the Supreme Court's 2014 Aereo decision means "all the bargaining chips are now owned by the copyright owners, which is likely what Congress intended," he said.

With marketers increasingly fed up with different audience measurement standards used by different platforms, TV programmers Fox Networks Group, Turner and Viacom are looking to fill that gap and get ahead of the issue with the announced launch Wednesday of their OpenAp consortium, Syracuse University advertising associate professor Beth Egan said. Better audience targeting "doesn't need to be that complicated," Fox and others said, saying adoption of better audience targeting has been stymied by the lack of transparency and consistency in audience buying. They said the OpenAP standard audience targeting platform will open the door to more transparency in audience buying by being a standard for cross-publisher audience targeting and independent measurement. The OpenAP announcement didn't include some details, including who the independent auditor will be. Nielsen in a statement said it backs OpenAP efforts "to create a clearinghouse to audit the audience-based advertising delivery of its members" and to give audited and verified data on ad delivery. "This is an important part of what is needed to create openness and transparency in ad buying and selling," it said, saying its own ratings data will underpin the consortium data. OpenAP should make buying across different media owners easier, removing some friction, Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said. He said it's significant that NBCUniversal isn't part of the consortium since it, along with Viacom and Turner, are among the major suppliers in the alternative ad data market. Procter & Gamble Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard in an address earlier this year at the Internet Advertising Bureau was critical of digital companies like Facebook and said more third-party auditing of and transparency around its ad data is needed, Egan noted. That may have influenced the timing of the OpenAP announcement, Egan said. In their announcement, Fox and the other programmers said OpenAP will bring "consistently designed audience targets [that] can be activated across any OpenAP member publisher" as well as independent measurement and an open platform backing industry-standard data and measurements.

Dish Network's IoT plans have bought more time for the company to use its AWS-4 and lower 700 MHz E block spectrum, but whether that ultimately is how the satellite-TV provider uses it remains a big question, company watchers told us. Some are skeptical of an IoT network business plan and see a strong likelihood Dish will end up either partnering with a third party on such a network or selling its spectrum. Dish earlier this week told the FCC it expected to have a NarrowBand (NB) IoT network in operation by March 2020 (see 1703080026). Dish didn't comment. It announced Friday plans to perhaps buy additional spectrum.

With its March interim milestone deadline almost up, Dish Network now says it will roll out a 5G-centric NarrowBand (NB) IoT network within 36 months, and detailed unsuccessful attempts at mergers and acquisitions with carriers including Sprint. "We do not believe that it serves the public interest or makes business sense to build out a 4G/LTE network now that would duplicate networks already offered by the wireless incumbents, and subsequently require an almost immediate upgrade in order to be competitive," Dish said in an FCC interim construction notification Tuesday. The company said it has two possible buildout routes for its AWS-4 and lower 700 MHz E block spectrum licenses: an interim milestone deadline of this month with a final milestone in March 2021, or an accelerated final milestone with a March 2020 deadline.

Satellite industry self-protection against cyberattacks, particularly through sourcing of components and software, "is not where it should be," said Greg Garcia, Signal Group executive vice president and former Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary-cybersecurity, Wednesday at a CompTIA panel. The industry's awareness about and sophistication in response to threats also "has more room for growth," he said.

The growth of virtual multichannel video programming distributors and of their subscriber bases is ratcheting up the competitive pressure on legacy MVPDs to consider launching their own, industry experts and watchers told us. That virtual MVPD growth likely will be followed by increased calls for regulation of them, they said. Google meanwhile is stepping up its offerings.