FCC chair promotes post-digital TV rule
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Here's the pitch from the cable TV industry: One way or another, all subscribers will still be able to tune in their favorite shows when broadcasters shift to digital-only transmission in 2009.
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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday adopted new rules about what parts of incumbent telephone carrier networks must be shared with competitors, backtracking on an earlier decision forcing incumbents to share local switching facilities in the residential market.
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FCC Chairman said the commission would investigate complaints that Comcast was blocking some peer-to-peer traffic.
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WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission this week hopes to do what Congress could not accomplish this year -- help AT&amp;T Inc. and Verizon Communications get into the television business faster.
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InfoWorld - In a broad discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show, U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Â Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday confirmed that the deadline for the country's switch to digital TV next year will not be postponed, explained the rationale behind the requirements for the current 700MHz auction, and gave hints about his thinking regarding various communications megamergers.
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As part of its goal to promote access to broadband services for all Americans and to encourage new facilities based broadband platforms, the Federal Communications Commission today adopted changes to Part 15 of its rules to encourage the development of
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U.S. communications regulators are expected to approve on Tuesday a plan to loosen media ownership restrictions, despite objections from consumer groups and a threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.
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Television service being launched by  telephone companies has not yet offered sufficient competition  to allow consolidation in the satellite television industry,  U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin  said on Thursday.
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Policy analyst Randolph J. May says the FCC needs to revise set-top equipment rules, or costs to consumers will be great.
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(InfoWorld) - Several lawmakers protested a spectrum auction proposal from the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), saying his plan could limit the number of bidders and raise costs to consumers. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's plan would require winners of part of theÂ 700MHz band of spectrum, to be auctioned by early next year, to accept any wireless devices, including phone handsets, allowing customers to transfer devices between mobile providers. Martin's plan would also include net neutrality-like rules, prohibiting auction winners from blocking or slowing Web content from other providers. But several members of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, many of them Republicans, questioned Martin's proposed rules, which have support of the majority of the FCC. Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, said he was "very disappointed" that fellow Republican Martin was proposing regulations for part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned. Some proposals byÂ consumer groups and Frontline WirelessÂ would also require auction winners to provide wholesale access to competitors, and Barton praised Martin for not including that provision. "It's not quite as bad as the Frontline plan, but I don't think it's as good as absolute no-condition auction," Barton said. Many Republicans suggested that auction conditions would decrease the value of the spectrum. Congress has budgeted the auction to raise $10 billion with about half of that going toward reducing the U.S. government budget deficit. "Congress has already spent that money," said Representative Charles Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat. Questions about Martin's proposal came from a handful of Democrats. Representative John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat and chairman of the full House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked FCC commissioners whether the device-portability rules would increase the cost of wireless phone plans. Customers want to be able to take their mobile phones with them when they switch carriers, but carriers generally haven't offered that option, Martin said. "I think the benefits outweigh the costs and concerns," he said. Barton suggested that winning bidders could implement the device-portability and net neutrality proposals without FCC mandate. Google has indicatedÂ it could bid billions of dollars, Barton noted. "Why shouldn't we just let Google bid?" Barton said. "If they've got a better idea, why don't they go into the marketplace and bid their four or five billion dollars?" There's customer demand for device portability, but carriers haven't acted on it, Martin said. Wireless carriers didn't offer phone number portability until the FCC forced them to in late 2003, then millions of U.S. residents took advantage of it, he said. Asked whether they supported Martin's proposals, the FCC's two Democrats said they did, while the two other Republicans said they hadn't made their minds up yet. "Please let me keep my phone and let me take it wherever I want," said subcommittee chairman Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. The so-called open-access rules are necessary for new broadband competition to challenge cable and telecom providers, said FCC commissioner Michael Copps, a Democrat. The 700MHz auction is the last major spectrum auction on the horizon, many participants said. "This is one proceeding where we cannot fail," Copps said. Some lawmakers suggested Martin's proposal doesn't go far enough. Representative Charles "Chip" Pickering, a Mississippi Republican, called on the FCC to require wholesale access rules as well. Wholesale access would allow new and innovative services to flourish on the networks using the spectrum, he said. Martin's plan would "enhance markets and competition," he added.
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WASHINGTON  - Brushing aside  congressional suggestions that the nation is ill-prepared for  the conversion to digital TV in 2009, the Department of  Commerce on Monday unveiled its plan to help subsidize the  switchover from analog.
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The Federal Communications Commission set new rules regulating the size and scope of the news and cable firms.
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Senate Democrats on  Thursday pressured the five FCC commissioners to set  programming requirements for broadcasters as part of the  industry's mandate to operate in the public interest.
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The FCC is preparing to  ask Congress for a broad expansion of its authority to regulate  the content of television programming, but it hopes to leave  the thorny issue of defining the parameters of how much  violence is too much to Congress.
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The Federal Communications Commission is pushing ahead to pass a rule today that would allow more consolidation of local media ownership in the nation's largest cities, despite the fresh threat of a legislative rebuke and continued protests from advocacy groups.
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Democrat says he'll take wait-and-see approach to pursuing new rules requiring wireless carriers to let consumers use whatever applications and devices they desire.
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By SETH SUTEL Associated Press  NEW YORK -- Robert McDowell, the newest member of the Federal Communications Commission, on Tuesday said he didn't see a compelling need for cable TV operators to sell channels individually.