The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit ordered the FCC to respond by Tuesday to broadcaster Mako Communications' emergency request for a stay of the TV incentive auction, in a Friday order. Mako’s request for stay was filed March 10. Court decisions on similar stays requested by Latina Broadcasters and Class A station Videohouse are expected this week, several broadcast attorneys told us. The D.C. Circuit's order for a fast FCC response could be seen as a sign it's sympathetic to the low-power TV position, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole in an email.
Monty Tayloe
Monty Tayloe, Associate Editor, covers broadcasting and the Federal Communications Commission for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2013, after spending 10 years covering crime and local politics for Virginia regional newspapers and a turn in television as a communications assistant for the PBS NewsHour. He’s a Virginia native who graduated Fork Union Military Academy and the College of William and Mary. You can follow Tayloe on Twitter: @MontyTayloe .
Access to consumer data may be the real prize in the battle between pay-TV carriers and supporters of FCC-proposed changes to the set-top box market (see 1602180065), cable attorneys, analysts and data experts said in interviews.
The FCC, several trade associations and a group of broadcasters attempted through court filings to fend off a stay of the incentive auction requested by Class A broadcaster Latina Broadcasters in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The auction is to start March 29. “Any unnecessary delay, especially this close to the start of the auction, would cause substantial harm” to companies that have delayed business plans or have investments or financing riding on the current schedule,” the FCC said in an opposition filing Friday.
The FCC lacks authority to tell pay-TV carriers and device manufacturers where in their user interfaces that closed-caption display settings must be located, said AT&T, CTA, NCTA and the Telecommunications Industry Association in comments in docket 12-108 in response to a second Further NPRM. A joint filing by several consumer groups, including the National Association of the Deaf and Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, supported the FCC proposal to require caption display settings to be on the first level of device menus.
The FCC voted 3-2 Thursday to launch a rulemaking (see 1602160072) seeking comment on numerous changes to set-top box rules intended to make it easier for third parties to build and sell retail set tops that can access pay-TV content. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly as expected (see 1601280066) opposed the proposal, which they said was “slanted” and an unnecessary regulatory intrusion. “I’m confident that most consumers would rather eliminate the set-top box altogether,” Pai said.
The FCC's upcoming NPRM on proposed changes to the set-top box market could compromise existing copyright law, said NCTA President Michael Powell Tuesday in a media call hosted by NPRM opponent The Future of TV Coalition. Copyright attorneys told us laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act could protect multichannel video programming distributors from many concerns they've raised about third-party set-top boxes. Powell said the FCC proposal would “tinker” with copyright protections, which is outside FCC jurisdiction.
The NAB is concerned that the FCC's set-top box proposals could threaten broadcaster control over their content and copyright, said NAB President Gordon Smith in an interview on C-SPAN's Communicators scheduled for telecast Feb. 20. If the FCC proposals for set-top boxes become rules, tech companies such as Google could become “gatekeepers,” Smith said.
Opponents and supporters of FCC proposals to make the set-top box market more competitive (see 1601270064) loudly disagreed at a briefing Friday whether the plan would improve prospects for minority programmers. Officials from the Consumer Federation of America, Free Press, National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC) and Public Knowledge said making the retail set-top market more viable would create opportunities for minorities. Opponents in the crowd loudly challenged that assertion. Wednesday, the Justice Department backed the FCC issuing an NPRM (see 1602030017).
The Department of Justice's expression of support Wednesday for the FCC's planned NPRM on opening up the retail set-top box market could be a product of the numerous recent mergers in the pay-TV and set-top box industries, industry officials on both sides told us Thursday. In recent years, federal antitrust officials have reviewed and heard competitive concerns about deals that include Arris/Pace, Comcast/TWC, Charter/TWC and AT&T/DirecTV. "Every time there's a deal, interested parties go to Justice and tell them what they don't like about the deal," said Mediacom Senior Vice President-Government and Public Relations Tom Larsen. DOJ's taking a public stance in support of the NPRM before it has been voted is seen as a bad sign for multichannel video programming distributors, industry officials told us. DOJ didn't comment.
Industry officials expect FCC Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly to oppose policy changes to move away from reliance on CableCARDs and toward successor standards, if not the NPRM set for a Feb. 18 vote that proposes the overhaul (see 1601270064). Both Republican commissioners repeatedly declined to comment Thursday on Chairman Tom Wheeler's proposed "opening up" of the set-top box market.