fcc

Internet service providers are common carriers, beginning today

12 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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No blood, no foul, no stay.

The Federal Communications Commission’s common carrier rules for broadband infrastructure and service take effect today. Yesterday, a three-judge federal appellate court panel denied a request by telecoms companies to put the rules on hold while the appeals process moves forward. The judges didn’t give a specific reason, simply saying “petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review”.

However, the ruling did cite a U.S.… More

Net neutrality becomes just another congressional logjam

6 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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The wrangling over the FCC’s decision to regulate broadband service and infrastructure under common carrier rules will be decided in court and not in congress. That’s according to an article in the National Journal (h/t to the Baller-Herbst list for the pointer).

Congressional republicans have been talking about rewriting the 1996 communications act – the basic federal law regulating electronic communications – for the past couple of years. There’s good reason to do that, given the way the growth of Internet-enabled services and information have revolutionised the way we live since it was passed.… More

FCC hedging its common carrier bet in negotiations with AT&T

4 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Don’t worry, it’s not time to walk away. Yet.

AT&T’s bid to buy DirecTv and add nationwide direct broadband satellite television service to its portfolio is getting caught up in the same kind of debate about broadband access that sunk the Comcast – Time Warner – Charter mega deal. According to a Washington Post article by Brian Fung, AT&T is offering to make concessions in exchange for approval by the federal justice department and the Federal Communications Commission.… More

Limits on local authority over cell towers advance to the California senate

2 June 2015 by Steve Blum
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Cell towers and other wireless facilities are a matter of “statewide concern” and “not a municipal affair” according to California state assembly members. By a vote of 66 to 4, they approved assembly bill 57, authored by East Bay democrat Bill Quirk and sent it on to the state senate.

The core concept of the bill is that local governments shouldn’t be able to delay permits for building new towers or adding equipment to existing ones, beyond the limits set by the Federal Communications Commission.… More

A closer look at FCC's boundaries for state broadband regulators

31 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Out of bounds.

The FCC’s decision to bring broadband infrastructure and service under common carrier rules sets limits on both the ability of states to impose regulations under those rules, and on federal preemption of existing state authority.

As far as the latter is concerned, in paragraph 531 the decision specifically references the ability of states to choose to regulate pole attachment rules (section 224 of the common carrier law), manage universal service requirements and eligibility (section 214) – although not impose taxes (see paragraph 432 of the decision), manage the public right of way (section 253) and grandfather in rules (section 261).… More

Midwestern broadband experiments get most of the love from the FCC

29 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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No mountains or trees to get in the way of the view. Or the broadband.

Six Internet service providers have been given the green light by the Federal Communications Commission to move ahead with a total of 15 projects in its rural broadband experiments program. All together, the projects will receive $12.6 million in subsidies over ten years to serve areas that lack 3 Mbps down/768 Kbps up service.

As with most federal broadband subsidy programs, the lions share of the money went to projects in the midwest.… More

A new cable mega-deal for Charter and Time Warner

27 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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I said I’d pull myself back together.

Now it’s Charter Communications’ turn to try to buy Time Warner Cable. The latest mega deal would have Charter hanging onto its deal to buy Bright House, and paying $57 billion for Time Warner’s cable systems and 15 million subscribers. If successful, it would make Charter the second largest cable company in the U.S. and the largest in California.

Federal Communications Commission chairman and lobbyist-in-chief Tom Wheeler wasted no time in reassuring the world that this latest deal won’t necessarily meet the fate of the Comcast-Time Warner-Charter mega-deal that was killed by federal regulators…

The FCC reviews every merger on its merits and determines whether it would be in the public interest.

… More

FCC's unwritten privacy rules will have an equally ill-defined effect on Internet business

25 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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We can hope.

Your Internet service provider collects a lot of information about you and they use some of it for marketing purposes. AT&T is getting particularly aggressive about doing so, offering a discount on its GigaWeasel service to customers who agree to let it watch what they’re watching, and target ads accordingly..

Assuming that the Federal Communication Commission’s new, common carrier Internet regulations go into effect next month, the restrictions on what ISPs can do with their knowledge of you will get tighter.… More

FCC issues Catch-222 advisory

23 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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I’m glad we had this chat.

In case you were still wondering, the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to bring Internet service and infrastructure under common carrier regulation was not simply about whether Comcast can block you from watching Netflix. As a statement from the FCC’s enforcement bureau emphasises, there are a lot of other rules involved, particularly those that deal with how Internet service providers use and/or safeguard information about you.

Except, no one, not even the FCC enforcement bureau, knows what those rules are.… More

Rosenworcel gets a second term on the FCC

22 May 2015 by Steve Blum
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Jessica Rosenworcel is heading toward five more years as a member of the Federal Communications Commission. U.S. president Barack Obama “announced his intent to nominate” her to a full term on the commission. Once he actually does that, the next step will be confirmation by the U.S. senate.

It’s a good move. Rosenworcel has a history of independent thinking, and voting, as an FCC commissioner. She provided the intellectual push back against chairman Tom Wheeler’s original no lobbyist left behind plan for ensuring network neutrality, and tried to include consideration of common carrier Internet regulation and other alternatives from the beginning.… More