Whether the FCC has the authority to use the Clayton Antitrust Act as a way to review AT&T's bid for Time Warner (TW) isn't clear, with antitrust and agency experts divided. But some say the idea -- floated by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn this week (see 1702210027) -- is likely a nonstarter at the agency. "I don't see this idea getting any traction," Tech Knowledge Director Fred Campbell told us.
The Clayton Antitrust Act gives the FCC authority to review AT&T's planned buy of Time Warner, and it has the responsibility to do so, given the financial scope of the deal and significance of the combined company, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Tuesday. In an interview with Communications Daily, she expressed opposition to restoring the UHF discount and said the FCC should stay the course on making broadband more affordable and driving down inmate calling service rates.
Identification of bands for future 5G deployment and consideration of regulatory actions for high-altitude platform stations (HAPS) likely will be the two major areas provoking significant satellite industry debate at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), satellite industry insiders told us. The satellite industry is only in the early stages of readying its stance on the two agenda items and on preparation for WRC-19 overall, they said.
With its eye on 5G networks enabling products like virtual reality offerings and a route to better serve the enterprise market, Charter Communications is starting "5G-like" field trials using its wireline network and high-capacity radios using licensed and unlicensed spectrum "as learning opportunities," CEO Tom Rutledge said in an earnings call Thursday. He also raised the possibility of a partial commercial rollout before year's end of Charter's planned wireless offering (see 1611030041). And the operator may seek relief from FCC conditions on its approximately $90 billion in cable mergers and acquisitions.
The FCC now should have all the information it needs to decide on Ligado's LTE plans with release of National Advanced Spectrum and Communications Test Network (NASCTN) findings on LTE signals effect on GPS devices, Ligado officials said Thursday. The 428-page test report released Wednesday backs up the company's contention that its broadband terrestrial low-power service in spectrum adjacent to GPS won't interfere with the real-world functioning of various device categories, the company said. Ligado argued its proposed power and out-of-band emission levels protect GPS (see 1602250032). GPS Innovation Alliance didn't comment.
Ajit Pai's FCC direction on undoing broadband regulation doesn't surprise Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, since Republicans were clear under then-Chairman Tom Wheeler that they disagreed with some rulings and postures such as its approach to net neutrality, she said in a six-minute interview Tuesday on WNYC AM/FM New York's The Takeaway. But the principles of net neutrality aren't dead, she said, calling them "beyond partisanship." How "we execute them, that might be different," she said. Clyburn said there's a general expectation ISPs shouldn't be allowed to throttle or block web access and there should be some privacy protections. She also said there's infrastructure investment and business certainty "because we have clear rules of the road.”
The FCC is in for increased scrutiny of anything it does because of overarching interest in what it will do on net neutrality, agency watchers tell us. "As an issue, it sadly sucks a lot of the air out of any communications or FCC room," said NetCompetition Chairman Scott Cleland.
The consensus is broad that governmental/commercial spectrum sharing increasingly will be the norm, but one big hurdle is the lack of a good model for what that sharing would look like, said panelists at a Washington Space Business Roundtable lunch Friday. For now, the 3.5 GHz band "is the poster child for trying," said Russ Matijevich, HawkEye 360 vice president-sales. Ligado Chief Legal Officer Valerie Green said that "so far, 3.5 is working pretty well."
When FCC Chairman Ajit Pai axed numerous bureau inquiries and actions earlier this month without prior notice or explanation (see 1702030058 and 1702030070), he was well within his rights under the Administrative Procedures Act, APA and communications law experts tell us. Ending inquiries into issues like zero rating effectively signals taking a different enforcement direction without having to go through a process of eliminating those rules -- an approach numerous agencies under the Trump administration likely will take, some said.
Viacom's turnaround plan will focus primarily on six flagship brands, rebranding its Spike channel as the Paramount Network next year, and be "highly selective" in any over-the-top deals, with those being mostly for library content, CEO Bob Bakish said in an analyst call Thursday. The flagship brands are Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, BET, Comedy Central and Paramount, with Viacom planning for each brand to contribute a film or two per year to the Paramount slate, Bakish said, with one example being the four Paramount films planned through 2020 using Nickelodeon intellectual property. Other branded networks, like VH1, "will not go away" but will work to reinforce the flagship brands, Bakish said. He said Viacom's turnaround plan also involves using company resources like ad sales and data to help grow multichannel video programming distributor partners as it looks to deepen its MVPD relationships instead of what has been transactional relationships "related to zero-sum economic negotiations." Bakish said Viacom is creating a new business unit to produce short-form video content for distribution by owned-and-operated and third-party platforms. Chief Financial Officer Wade Davis said the company expects strong growth starting in the second half of the year from the changes. Viacom said fiscal Q1 revenue rose 5 percent to $3.3 billion from the year-ago quarter, due mainly to better theatrical sales and growth in domestic affiliate revenue from subscription VOD and OTT agreements. In a note to investors Thursday, Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker said the results "prove to us that the turnaround is real and likely to continue." She said Viacom's plan "makes sense" and likened it to past Time Warner efforts at breaking down silos between its brands, "which seems to have worked." She upgraded the stock to "outperform." The emphasis on the six flagship properties makes sense but doesn't go far enough, and there should be a wind-down of niche networks over time, Citi analyst Jason Bazinet emailed investors. Viacom shares closed up 4.3 percent on Thursday at $43.89.