32 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981 Add this Digest to your personal   or   The Telecom Digest for April 2, 2014 Volume 33 : Issue 49 : "text" Format Messages in this Issue: Incentive Auction Plan B: Government-Subsidized Cable? (Neal McLain) And Then There Were Four (Nationwide Wireless Carriers) (Neal McLain) ====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 22:03:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Incentive Auction Plan B: Government-Subsidized Cable?   
Message-ID: <10fc55d0-ee56-4d49-98c5-46c4fc5b19c9@googlegroups.com>

By FHH Law, CommLawBlog, April 1, 2014

To the bafflement of many, the FCC has consolidated its Incentive Auction and
Open Internet proceedings. The public notice announcing that move sheds no
light on exactly what the Commission might have in mind -- the only reason
given is that the FCC wants to 'streamline consideration of issues common to
both dockets'. Interestingly, it also mentions (in a footnote, maybe because
it figures that nobody reads the footnotes anyway) that the
soon-to-be-incoming Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger will also get channeled
into the Grand Unified Docket.

Interests common to both dockets? What could those be? And what's the Comcast
merger got to do with anything?

Thanks to our old friend, the hilariously-named Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA),
we have an idea.

The PRA, of course, requires the FCC to run new 'information collections' past
the Office of Management and Budget. And PRA requests have to be published in
the Federal Register, where they seem to be largely ignored by everybody but
us. (Our motto: We read them because we know you won't.)

And what should appear in this morning's Federal Register? A PRA notice
indicating that the Commission is contemplating reallocation of at least some
of the $1.75 billion TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund to a program that would
provide universal cable TV service to everybody in the U.S. (The PRA notice
describes, very generally, two questionnaires the FCC plans to send out - one
to all U.S. households to determine who's got cable and who doesn't, and one
to all U.S. cable providers, to get an idea of subscription prices.)

Continued:

http://www.commlawblog.com/2014/04/articles/fhh/incentive-auction-plan-b-governmentsubsidized-cable/index.html

-or-

http://tinyurl.com/opym9te

Well, golly gee -- that's one of my pet theories!  Of course, T-D readers
would expect that from an old cable guy like me.  But my theory goes something
like this: as the value of electromagnetic spectrum rises vis-a-vis the cost
of providing ultrabasic CATV (or satellite TV) service to the remaining OTA
viewers, at some point the graphs must cross ("ultrabasic" being defined as
the signals of the former OTA stations, plus some sort of "home screen" with a
list of available signals).

This is all just a theory of course -- I have no data to back it up.

The mechanism for government assistance of nationwide CATV service already
exists: the USDA Rural Utilities Service (RUS, formerly the REA).  RUS
supports rural development of electricity, telephone, water and waste disposal
infrastructure but it does not support CATV or any sort of communications
network except telephone.

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/utilities_lp.html

Maybe the time is coming when the graphs will cross.  Maybe the emphasis on
nationwide internet access will hasten that day.

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Neal McLain



Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 20:20:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: And Then There Were Four (Nationwide Wireless Carriers)  
Message-ID: <9a955557-23c3-491a-84a5-f9032547c96a@googlegroups.com>

By Donald Evans, ComLawBlog, March 31, 2014

FCC approval of AT&T acquisition of Leap Wireless reduces roster of 
nationwide carriers by 20%.

The FCC has taken another giant step toward reconstitution of the 
old Ma Bell monopoly by approving AT&T's acquisition of Leap 
Wireless, which operates nationally under the Cricket brand. Leap 
was the fifth largest facilities-based wireless carrier in the 
U.S., so it was surprising that the proposal for it to become part 
of the second largest carrier elicited so little opposition from 
anti-trust regulators, the public interest community, or even the 
remaining smaller competing carriers. The deal received little more 
than a shrug from the FCC's Eighth Floor, which let the Wireless 
Bureau, rather than the commissioners themselves, resolve the 
matter.   This curious lack of high level interest contrasted 
sharply with the strong signals from federal regulators that any 
move by Sprint to acquire T-Mobile (Number Three buying Number 
Four) would be regarded with extreme disfavor. How come Number Two 
buying Number Five didn't even merit a glance?

Continued:

http://www.commlawblog.com/2014/03/articles/cellular/and-then-there-were-four-nationwide-wireless-carriers/

-or-

http://tinyurl.com/pkrnq3x

Neal McLain 





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