The FCC unanimously approved two Public Safety Bureau items on outage reporting and the emergency alert system Wednesday, as expected (see 2103120057). Though the final versions haven’t been released, industry officials told us they don’t expect either the NPRM on wireless emergency alerts (WEAs) and state emergency alert plans nor the order on outage reporting to have undergone significant changes from their drafts. The FCC “needs to fundamentally refresh its playbook for disaster preparedness and resiliency,” said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at Wednesday’s meeting of commissioners.
Country of origin cases
Technicolor CEO Richard Moat doubts other studios will replicate AT&T’s “interesting move” to funnel WarnerMedia’s 2021 slate of feature film releases direct to streaming (see 2012030053), he said Thursday on a Q4 call. “I don't see that as being a fundamental shift in the industry paradigm.” AT&T’s motive “was obviously to try to drive up subscriptions on HBO Max,” said Moat. “They were taking a big bet there in terms of the number of incremental customers” they would gain. “It remains to be seen whether that was a sensible financial bet,” he said. “Under normal circumstances, the studios are going to make a lot more money from pushing the product out into cinemas than they are through going exclusively to a streaming platform.” AT&T declined comment Friday. Connected home “delivered a strong year” for Technicolor in 2020, “exceeding the original targets” set before the pandemic, said Moat. “Increased demand from cable customers in North America drove revenues, but we were hit by a slowdown and supply constraints in Eurasia. Latin America was negatively impacted by the difficult macroeconomic situation in the region.” The strong consumer demand for upscale set-top boxes is driving “very high sales amongst our major cable and telco customers,” said Moat. Comcast picked Technicolor as the supplier for its latest-generation XB8 box, he said. Comcast referred our request for comment about the XB8 to Technicolor, whose spokesperson told us Moat "made a misstatement," and he meant to refer to Comcast orders for the XB7. She said the XB7 is a "gateway" device, not a set-top box, as Moat mistakenly called it. “Traditional video” will continue “to be on the decline” the next few years, “despite a transitional rebound” expected in 2021, said Moat. “Multi-gig broadband access markets and streaming Android TV are on the rise with solid growth. In 2021, the market will continue to be driven by the expansion of fiber and the adoption of Wi-Fi 6.” The electronics supply chain will continue “to be stretched by excess demand” for semiconductors, he said.
The FCC Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved a report Wednesday with recommendations on measuring risks and remediation costs in 911 and next-generation 911 networks. During its virtual meeting, CSRIC also OK'd reports on making standalone 5G networks more reliable and addressing session initiation protocol (SIP) security challenges. The meeting was the last under the group’s current charter and the first under President Joe Biden's administration.
COVID-19-related timing provision adjustments are extended through May 10, the Copyright Office said Tuesday. Originally to expire May 12, 2020, adjustments previously were extended to July 10, Sept. 8, Nov. 9, Jan. 8 (see 2011090029) and March 9.
Democrats bowed two broadband bills Tuesday as the chamber headed toward an expected Wednesday vote on Senate-passed changes to the American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 budget reconciliation package. HR-1319 includes emergency broadband and CPB funding (see 2103080057). The House received the amended bill Tuesday and was readying a procedural vote that afternoon. Rep. Anna Eshoo of California and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey led refiling of the Community Broadband Act, which would guarantee municipalities and other local governments retain the right to build their own broadband networks in competition with ISPs. Eshoo originally filed the bill in 2016 after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down FCC pre-emption of state laws restricting municipal broadband networks (see 1609130059). The measure “will bridge the digital divide and help local governments enable connectivity, increase economic growth and create jobs,” Eshoo said. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine is a co-sponsor of the House version. Reps. Marc Veasey of Texas and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, meanwhile, filed the Enhanced Emergency Broadband Act, which would provide additional emergency broadband benefit money (see 2103040049).
The Washington state House wasn’t expected to have passed its privacy bill by Tuesday’s deadline for bills to clear their origin chamber. Instead, HB-1433 sponsor Rep. Shelley Kloba (D) planned to use the language in a proposed amendment to the Senate-passed SB-5062, said Kloba Legislative Assistant Brian Haifley. The House bill backed by the American Civil Liberties Union “will not be moving forward this session, but we are working to assure that any bill, including SB 5062, incorporates the most important provisions of HB 1433: opt-in consent, a private right of action, no loopholes, and no local preemption,” an ACLU-Washington spokesperson said. “These are the baseline protections needed for meaningful and effective data privacy regulation.” The Senate passed SB-5062 last week, for the third straight year (see 2103040007).
Lobbying intensified before an expected Wednesday sunshine notice on what model FCC members should approve March 17 for auctioning frequencies at 3.45 GHz, filings showed. Cable and satellite stakeholders were among those seeking changes to the auction draft rules so that bidding resembles that used in bidding for citizens broadband radio service airwaves. Others seek for the regulator to stick with the C-band auction approach, which is what the original draft that recently circulated would do.
FCC media modernization on deregulation and rule streamlining seemingly came to an end with a new administration. Broadcast and cable lawyers told us there weren't major items left on the to-do list. No media items were on the first two monthly agendas of Jessica Rosenworcel's tenure as acting chairwoman, though we're told it's unlikely that signals media items will be completely back-burnered. The FCC didn't comment.
ViacomCBS launched its “reimagined” streaming service, Paramount+, Thursday, replacing CBS AllAccess. Consumers can subscribe directly. The $9.99 monthly premium tier has live sports, breaking news and commercial-free, on-demand entertainment including exclusive content and library shows and music with 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision, plus mobile downloads, said ViacomCBS. The ad-supported $5.99 tier, including live CBS programming, is available until June, when new subscribers will be offered an ad-free version for $4.99 minus the live local CBS programming. Viacom CBS told existing subscribers they will be automatically rolled over to Paramount+, and the limited-commercials plan will be discontinued later this year, replaced by the $4.99 service. CBS Sports touted the launch. Roku announced the service, hoping to steer its customers to Paramount+ through its platform. Sixteen original series will be offered this year, said ViacomCBS.
The Washington Senate passed a comprehensive state privacy bill for the third straight year. Wednesday’s 48-1 vote sent SB-5062 to the House, where similar bills died in the previous two sessions due to enforcement and other concerns. “Numerous other states, including Virginia, are moving forward with strong privacy legislation,” said sponsor Sen. Reuven Carlyle (D). The House has rival HB-1433 supported by the American Civil Liberties Union that differs from Carlyle’s bill by including a private right of action and opt-in consent (see 2101290053). Tuesday is the Washington State Legislature’s cutoff to pass bills in their originating chamber. Following California in 2018, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signed the nation’s second major privacy bill Tuesday (see 2103030060).