Monty Tayloe

The FCC’s indecency rules are too vague to survive court challenges or provide a clear definition of what constitutes a violation, said a host of filings from trade associations, broadcasters, affiliates and public interest groups on Wednesday,the deadline for comments on the commission’s indecency public notice. The Family Research Council said the commission has never defined “egregious,” while the Radio Television Digital News Association said the commission’s indecency policy is “unknown and unknowable to broadcasters, journalists, and program producers alike.” The commission must “step back from substituting its own editorial and artistic judgment for that of broadcasters and the creative community,” NAB said. “The Commission should decline to act absent a significant abuse of discretion."

FCC indecency rules are doomed to be struck down by the Supreme Court, said a group of public interest organizations that often disagree on other policies and their staff in follow-up interviews. Public Knowledge, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation and TechFreedom’s filing (http://bit.ly/13TElLx) came Wednesday, when several other organizations also commented on the last day for comments on the commission’s proposed “egregious” standard for enforcing indecency rules (CD April 2 p1). “Anything the FCC does will be tied up in court so long there won’t be any broadcasters by the time it’s done,” said Berin Szoka, president of TechFreedom. “Indecency regulations should be something parents do, not the FCC.”

Federal government spectrum users can’t easily be relocated to make way for commercial uses, said NTIA Office of Spectrum Management Associate Administrator Karl Nebbia Tuesday. “These systems can’t just be uprooted.” Government and commercial uses would have to learn to share the same spectrum, Nebbia said in a Washington Post-organized panel. “Sharing is the new reality."

Sinclair agreed to buy the assets of Dielectric, the largest U.S. antenna manufacturer, as “insurance” that the broadcaster’s TV stations can continue operating, said Sinclair Vice President-Advanced Technology Mark Aitken in an interview Tuesday. Dielectric parent company SPX announced the shuttering of the antenna manufacturer in April (CD May 7 p4). Aitken said his company paid an “immaterial and leverage neutral price” of “less than $5 million” for Dielectric, which will continue operations as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair, and remain in its Raymond, Maine, headquarters. Though Dielectric had stopped taking new orders, Aitken said the company had been scheduled to continue operating into July before the sale. Aitken said over 120 of Sinclair’s 140 stations use Dielectric antennas.

Gannett and Belo may have to get FCC waivers to get approval for their deal (CD June 14 p7), said several communications attorneys in interviews Friday. The companies have market overlaps in five cities, their executives said on a conference call with investors Thursday. In Louisville, Ky., and Phoenix, Gannett would be acquiring Belo TV stations in markets where it already owns newspapers, which would put the merger squarely afoul of FCC cross-ownership rules, noted lawyers who both back consolidation generally and those opposed to it. “They're taking a very aggressive approach that is very likely to spark a challenge,” said public interest lawyer Andrew Schwartzman, who has represented Free Press in the FCC’s media-ownership review.

An FCC reconsideration of IP closed captioning rules released Friday encourages captions for video clips but wouldn’t require them. As expected (CD May 17 p3), it would delay implementing caption rules for DVD or Blu-Ray players. The order was approved by all three commissioners, though Commissioner Ajit Pai approved in part and concurred in part. Pai said the commission should not impose IP closed captioning rules on “removable media.”

Gannett’s agreement to buy Belo Corp. for $1.5 billion likely will be approved by the FCC, said analysts we asked about prospects for the deal disclosed Thursday. It will give Gannett control over 43 TV stations. CEO Grace Martore said in a conference call with investors that the deal will make the “super-group” the “largest player in the top-25 broadcast markets.” Though Gannett and Belo said there are potential overlaps in five markets, the companies said the ownership of those stations would be restructured to comply with those rules. Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvikker said in an email to investors that the restructuring would take the form of shared service agreements (SSA).

The communications industry and policymakers will spend too much time discussing “usage based pricing” for wireless carriers, said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. The agency has only limited authority to regulate usage-based pricing, and “too much oxygen” will be consumed by debate over that topic, he said Wednesday at a Cable Show luncheon. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel predicted the industry would focus unnecessarily on a la carte cable pricing, which she said would eventually happen due to market forces. “That change will be driven by consumers, not by legislation or regulation,” said Rosenworcel.

A lack of higher Internet speeds in schools could slow implementation of digital textbooks and online assessments designed to replace standardized tests, said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at NCTA’s Cable Show Wednesday. Urging the cable industry to support President Barack Obama’s recently announced initiative to improve school bandwidth, Duncan said to take advantage of the latest wave of education resources, “most schools will require bandwidth they don’t have right now.” FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said she expects her agency’s efforts to make Obama’s ConnectED initiative happen to be “well under way” by the start of the school year in the fall, though she said it would “take a lot of work.” Rosenworcel said the effort represents a chance to update policies and infrastructure that haven’t been updated since 1998, the era of the “Information Superhighway.” Duncan said the cable industry needed to assist with ConnectED “as fast as you can,” saying providing schools with faster Internet could be accomplished for a small fee added on to monthly cable bills, which he compared to the price of a postage stamp. Duncan said digital textbooks could represent a significant change for students, since typically textbooks are purchased in seven-year cycles. “We know information is changing by the minute,” said Duncan. “In education, we change far too slowly.” Discovery Education Senior Vice President Scott Kinney said that with digital textbooks, educators can “take that content and literally update it overnight.” Duncan told the NCTA audience that he hoped children would look back and “know the cable industry did the right thing.” Technology has changed how teachers and parents deal with education, Douglas Levin, State Educational Technology Directors Association (STEDA) executive director, also said at the show Wednesday. Technology is different because kids have access to smartphones and tablets and the content is rich, said Levin. For educators to make full use of this technology, they must understand how to use it, said executives from Common Sense Media, Discovery Education, STEDA, Cable in the Classroom and Partnership for 21st Century Skills. While 96 percent of teachers think technology programs are important to prepare young people for their future, only 18 percent understand how to bring technology into the classroom, according to the Leading Education by Advancing Digital Commission, a group that advises the FCC and Department of Education. This technology enhances teaching and learning because it speeds up the delivery of content and teachers can get updated information overnight. “We deliver our services over a browser on a cloud platform. When the Higgs Boson particle was discovered, we had the capability with this cloud database to include an article or video that is published overnight so teachers who go back that service, they have access to that content,” Kinney told us. Common Sense Media President Amy Guggenheim Shenkan identified three key initiatives for the organization. It wants to empower parents to make good decisions about what their kids should watch, create learning ratings to assess potential in digital content and deal with education to help kids and educators develop learning inside and outside the classroom, she said. “We want to create a learning system for consumers and make it easy for educators to find great content,” said Shenkan. Creating digital citizenship education was key to Cable in the Classroom and Common Sense Media. “We want to have Internet safety and security and for kids to have a positive media footprint,” said Frank Gallagher, Cable in the Classroom executive director. Close to half of the K-12 schools across the country use Common Sense digital literacy media, said Shenkan. Shifts in technology allow schools to meet long-standing goals that were previously unachievable, said Levin. As school districts continue to slash budgets, schools are “trying to meet their needs with technology” while they are “starting to compete with schools at a global level,” said STEDA’s Levin. “Learning is 24/7 and opportunities need to be available inside and outside the classroom,” he said. Systems need to focus on student needs, said Steve Paine, Partnership for 21st Century Skills president. “Good systems are student-focused and student-centered. Technology in the hands of an unskilled teacher is irresponsible,” said Paine.

Clyburn said increasing access to high-speed Internet is especially important in poorer areas, because quick Internet can compensate for a lack of other resources. “Broadband is a great equalizer for a whole host of people,” said Clyburn. She provided an example of a school in a low-income area using the Internet to connect students with a foreign language teacher for instruction the school could otherwise not afford. “At the click of mouse you can transport yourself to another country,” said Clyburn.