public policy

Three reasons to ignore the muni broadband debate at the FCC

28 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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Over the past few days, I’ve written several posts about what I characterise as FCC chairman Tom Wheeler’s muni broadband posturing. I don’t think anything good or useful will come of it. In a comment on yesterday’s post though, Christopher Mitchell, a muni broadband advocate, asked a very relevant question, which I will boil down to: so what?.

It’s a fair question. I take Robert Heinlein’s maxim as axiomatic: Certainly the game is rigged.… More

Muni advocates need to be careful what they wish for at the FCC

27 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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If you like the idea of cities and other local agencies encouraging broadband development and deciding to go into the business themselves – as I do – then FCC chair Tom Wheeler’s talk about sweeping away state-level restrictions is sweet music to the ears.

The City of Chattanooga certainly enjoys the tune. It filed a petition with the FCC on Thursday, asking it to override a Tennessee law that prevents it from expanding its fiber-to-the-home network.… More

Comcast to California: we want it all

26 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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Click for the full version.

One of the (apparent) revelations in the arguments Comcast submitted to the FCC in support of its proposed take over of Time-Warner Cable and a market consolidation swap with Charter Communications is that it is not going to give up even a tiny piece of California. I guess we should feel flattered.

When the market swap was announced in April, the plan was for Comcast to add all of Time-Warner’s and all of Charter’s cable systems to its extensive California holdings, except for the Lake Tahoe area.… More

Chattanooga forces Wheeler's hand: tear down muni broadband barriers

25 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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The City of Chattanooga formally asked the FCC yesterday to throw out a Tennessee state law that prevents it from extending its fiber-to-the-home network to surrounding areas. In doing so, the city is asking FCC chairman Tom Wheeler to make good on his high-sounding rhetoric about pre-empting state restrictions on municipal broadband.

The filing is a goldmine of information. The petition itself was written by muni broadband legal expert Jim Baller, and the attachments provide a wealth of case study material on the Chattanooga project specifically, and the history of muni broadband regulation and legislation in general.… More

State legislators draw the battle line for fight over muni broadband

24 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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A more serious – and serious-minded – challenge has emerged to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler’s supposed plan to pre-empt state laws restricting municipal broadband projects. The National Conference of State Legislatures sent Wheeler a letter threatening to take the FCC to court if he moves ahead…

As you consider your course of action on this matter, we encourage you to heed the principles of federalism and caution you of the numerous decisions by the United States Supreme Court with regard to the relationship between the state and its political subdivisions.

… More

Comcast apologises for beating up customers, all the way to the bank

23 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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You want to cancel? Squirt a few first.

Comcast’s senior management had a mommy/daddy moment this week. On Monday, COO Dave Watson sent a memo to employees saying basically that the viral recording of a Comcast customer service rep browbeating a subscriber who wanted to cancel was a wee bit over the top, but hey, we understand…

The agent on this call did a lot of what we trained him and paid him — and thousands of other Retention agents — to do.

… More

Comcast's broken promises detailed in letter to FCC

22 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”

The California Emerging Technology Fund and a long list of affiliated groups want the FCC to force Comcast to live up its own commitments, if the proposed merger with Time-Warner Cable and the market swaps with Charter Communications are approved. In a letter to the commissioners and supporting documents, CETF blasts the way Comcast has handled a program – called Internet Essentials – it claimed would give $10 per month Internet service to low income families with children…

In 3 years, Comcast has signed up only 11% of the eligible households in California and the nation.

… More

New season for broadband infrastructure subsidies in California

21 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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It’s time to close the door on the last round of applications for broadband construction subsidies from the California Advanced Services Fund. Of the 32 proposals submitted on 1 February 2013 – nearly a year and a half ago – 17 were funded for total of $48.6 million in grants and $127,000 in loans. The final two were approved by the CPUC in June – an FTTH project in Mono County and a fixed wireless system in Shasta County.… More

Six Californias are really one conversation piece

18 July 2014 by Steve Blum
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The Six Californias campaign had some good news and some bad news for its supporters. The good news is that it gathered 1.3 million signatures in its petition drive – half a million more than the number necessary to get it on the ballot. The bad news is that the proposal to split our state six ways won’t go to a vote in November. Instead, the initiative’s backers intentionally slipped the 26 June deadline for filing the petitions – the advice they gave to circulators was to mail signatures back by 7 July.… More

States rights invoked as muni broadband grandstanding continues in Washington


Blackburn’s not shy about extending a helping hand, particularly towards money.

States would be free to ban municipal broadband projects, under under language inserted into a bill and approved by the U.S. house of representatives (h/t to the Baller-Herbst listserv for the heads up). Since bills that get passed by the republican-controlled house seem to have a rocky time in the democrat-controlled senate (and vice versa), it’s unlikely have any practical effect. But the idea is to pre-empt FCC chairman Tom Wheeler’s (likely empty) talk about stepping in between local governments that want to get into the muni broadband business and states that want to ban it.… More