Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are considering proposing $45 billion of the $83.1 billion the chamber allocated to the panel for its portion of the coming budget reconciliation package (see 2108100062) be used for next-generation 911 and broadband. House Commerce Committee leaders, meanwhile, are gearing up for a planned Sept. 13 markup of the panel’s reconciliation priorities. That measure is likely to draw from broadband and NG-911 language in the Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (Lift) America Act (HR-1848), lobbyists told us.
Country of origin cases
Vizio added the HBO Max app to its SmartCast TVs, said the TV vendor Wednesday. Vizio will feature an HBO Max content discovery “carousel” on the SmartCast home screen, it said. The SmartCast carousel will include access to 13 HBO Originals programs, plus a rotation of new titles from the HBO Max library.
With the FCC setting up processes for challenging C-band accelerated clearing certification (see 2108040060), satellite and wireless interests made suggestions in docket 21-320 Monday. Verizon, warning of delayed deployment of 5G, said concerns need to be raised now with the relocation coordinator instead of via certification challenges. It urged the Wireless Bureau to clarify that the 30-day period in the challenge and reply process for announcing cert deficiencies applies to initial and refiled certifications. T-Mobile said the bureau should clarify when overlay licensees can use the 3.7 GHz spectrum in the partial economic areas where they won the auction, since there's potential for approval of different certifications at different times by various satellite operators. It said if one satellite operator submits a validated cert by the relevant accelerated relocation deadline, auction winners should be allowed to access their licensed spectrum by that deadline. It argued against challenges to refiled certs being limited to the new information, since the amendment is to replace the original. Make clear that if a C-band satellite operator can address a challenge without amending that cert, it may do so, Eutelsat asked. It said the bureau should require each challenger to demonstrate how it qualifies as a “relevant stakeholder,” and staff should let satellite operators and challengers seek confidential treatment for eligible information that's in their agreement. Intelsat said there seems to be no requirement that challenges focus on potential deficiencies specific to the C-band order's requirements and not to matters outside of phase 1 C-band clearing implementation. It sought clarity on how the bureau will screen for the entities that are “relevant” and have standing to challenge satellite operator certs. Not making that clear could "open the door to abusive challenges based on competitive or commercial motivations," it said. The process the FCC proposes could stretch the time frame for determining the validity of a certification by weeks to years, SES said, urging instead sticking with 60 days for resolution. It said amended or refiled cert shouldn't trigger a new challenge cycle.
Valens Semiconductor, originator of the HDBaseT high-speed connectivity standard for home theater and autonomous vehicles, said the SEC declared effective its registration statement to combine with special purpose acquisition company PTK and take itself public on the New York Stock Exchange. A special meeting of PTK's shareholders is Sept. 28 to ratify the $1.16 billion combination, which was first announced in May (see 2105250023). Valens still expects the transaction to close by fall, it said Monday.
The FCC unanimously approved an order and NPRM on FY2021 regulatory fees released Thursday, shelving a proposed increase to broadcaster fees (see 2108260050), adopting subcategories of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite regulatory fees based on system complexity, and seeking comment in docket 21-190 on getting regulatory fees from tech companies and unlicensed device manufacturers in the future. A proceeding on extending the payer base of fees is likely to be a struggle, said Pillsbury broadcast attorney Scott Flick, who represented state broadcast associations in the reg fee proceeding. “Almost any result would be better than the current approach,” he said.
Facing consumer advocate concerns in California, AT&T said Wednesday it will delay migrating residential landline customers to Frontier Communications in areas of the state where AT&T currently resells Frontier's ILEC service. The carrier originally set Friday as the date for moving to Frontier any customers who didn’t make an alternative selection. AT&T is seeking to discontinue residential service in Frontier territory and relinquish its eligible telecom commission designation this fall (see 2108030041). “As Communications Division Staff has directed, AT&T Corp. will begin migrating customers 30 days after” the carrier mails a third customer notice, which awaits staff approval, the carrier told the California Public Utilities Commission in a Wednesday filing (docket A.21-05-007). The letter will be co-branded with Frontier and include information on LifeLine renewals, it said. The original Friday termination date became “increasingly more concerning with wildfires and Red Flag warning in certain parts of the state,” said The Utility Reform Network (TURN), Center for Accessible Technology and the CPUC’s Public Advocates Office in a separate statement in the same filing. They raised concerns about possible impacts to California LifeLine users, people with disabilities and medical alert customers. AT&T assured the commission the transition “will be a seamless process that will ensure residential service customers do not lose essential local voice service.” Since AT&T service is "provided under a UNE-P [Unbundled Network Element-Platform] arrangement by Frontier, customers ... will be served with the same network they are on today,” it said. "Frontier will not need to dispatch personnel or equipment, and residential service customers will not be charged disconnection or activation fees due to the migration.” Frontier already handles trouble and repair tickets, AT&T added. The new transition time frame isn’t certain because the CPUC “is looking at this closely and continues its review of the transfer,” including concerns raised by consumer groups, emailed TURN telecommunications staff attorney Ashley Salas. AT&T "continue[s] to work with all applicable regulatory bodies to determine the effective date to no longer resell home phone service in California," a spokesperson emailed Thursday. "Once approved, a very small number of our customers’ services will be transferred to Frontier."
Shorter attention spans, competition for entertainment time share and continually rising rights fees are ongoing challenges as the TV sports world straddles traditional pay-TV and over-the-top video models, said panelists on a Thursday FierceVideo webcast on TV monetization in the sports industry.
Startup space companies got $7.6 billion in investments in 2020, with most of it coming from venture capital, said a BryceTech report Thursday. It said 124 companies received funding, 38% of them U.S. firms that netted 67% of the total financing. SpaceX was the single largest recipient, receiving 30% of the funding, followed by OneWeb and Blue Origin, it said. BryceTech said counting debt financing and acquisitions, $26 billion was invested in space startups from 2000 to 2020 -- $22 billion since 2015.
State broadcast associations are split on whether to proceed with conventions and member gatherings in the face of the surging COVID-19 delta variant, association leaders said in interviews.
The FTC’s amended case against Facebook should survive a new motion to dismiss and go to trial due to solid evidence in the amended complaint demonstrating market power and the rising price of advertising, former FTC officials said in interviews.