The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an unopposed NAB motion to consolidate its challenge of the FCC incentive auction order with a separate challenge against a Sept. 30 FCC declaratory ruling “clarifying” that order, according to court filings. The petition for review of the declaratory ruling was filed by NAB Wednesday. The declaratory ruling, approved at the FCC September meeting, said the commission intended to "preserve the `coverage area' as well as the `population served' of eligible broadcasters." Since the ruling says the FCC won't protect broadcaster coverage areas that are subject to interference, it violates the Spectrum Act, NAB said. The ruling was also not adopted with proper notice and comment periods, violating the Administrative Procedure Act, NAB said. In its motion to consolidate, NAB argued the case should be combined with the petition against the auction order to allow it to use the same expedited schedule.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the way ahead for Internet use should have a significant focus on inclusion of Americans with disabilities. She urged the FCC to continue the work that drove its efforts to implement the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, by continuing the discussion on accessibility in new technologies by design. Instead of playing an endless game of catch-up, “we can have accessibility and innovation walk together hand in hand,” she said Wednesday in remarks at the World Wide Web Consortium in California, posted by the FCC Thursday. Introducing technology, like wearable devices, on a global scale can result in “endless” possibilities for accessibility for people with disabilities worldwide, she said.

The MPAA and National Association of Theatre Owners updated their joint policy on preventing film theft in theaters to "fully integrate" wearables, the groups said in a statement Wednesday. The groups "have a long history of welcoming technological advances and recognize the strong consumer interest in smart phones and wearable ‘intelligent’ devices," their statement said. "As part of our continued efforts to ensure movies are not recorded in theaters, however, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward using any recording device while movies are being shown. As has been our long-standing policy, all phones must be silenced and other recording devices, including wearable devices, must be turned off and put away at show time." Those who don’t comply "may be asked to leave," they said. If theater managers suspect illegal recording activity is taking place, they will call the police "when appropriate," they said. MPAA representatives didn’t comment about the perceived threat of wearables in the campaign to prevent theatrical film theft, as smart watches generally lack the AV recording capabilities found on smartphones or tablets.

Early 2016 may still be too ambitious of a schedule for the TV incentive auction, Credit Suisse said Wednesday in a research report. “Given the forward and reverse structure of the Incentive auction, it is the most complicated of the spectrum auctions so far,” the firm said. “These complications in addition to the broadcasters' challenges are likely to delay the auction further, in our opinion.” The FCC recently delayed the auction's start to early 2016 (see 1410240048). Mid-2016 seems more likely, the firm said. Credit Suisse also said there is a “moderate chance” the FCC will opt for a “full blown” Title II Communications Act reclassification of broadband. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler “could look to apply Title II or some form of Title II to broadband services, but will face much less of a challenge if he can find some middle ground with the broadband providers,” the firm said.

A Communications Act Title II net neutrality approach would “not solve the paid-priority issue, but does create the risk of enormous collateral damage to both infrastructure and edge providers,” wrote Anna-Maria Kovacs, visiting senior policy scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public Policy, in a paper the center plans to release Thursday. Reclassification would “cause repeated shocks in an industry that greatly needs continued investment to keep up with exploding demand for mobile broadband services,” Kovacs wrote. Discouraging investment “would be particularly harmful at this time, given the need for increased capital investments and spectrum purchases,” the paper said. Reclassification would also “choke the Internet ecosystem,” which has been an engine for economic growth in the U.S., Kovacs wrote, and it would encourage other governments to follow suit, “endangering the success of American digital service- and application-providers abroad.”

The FCC should complete its proceeding on updating the competitive bidding rules and policies for designated entities to give them time to get ready for the incentive auction, said the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council in an ex parte filing posted in docket 14-28 Friday. The FCC should finish the proceeding “efficiently," so DEs have time to "finalize their business plans and raise the necessary capital for participation, as mandated by Congress, prior to the incentive auction,” MMTC said.

Regulators shared several concerns at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference last week in Busan, South Korea, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a Friday blog post. Wheeler and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly attended the conference, FCC officials said. “Virtually every regulator emphasized how important it is to get broadband to rural and remote areas of their countries -- to promote economic development, education and effective healthcare,” Wheeler wrote. “They understand that broadband access can unlock the potential for individuals to prosper in their local communities instead of migrating to urban centers in search of a better quality of life.” Another shared concern is “the difficulty of freeing spectrum for more efficient uses,” he said. “African countries, for example, are facing a 2015 deadline for their DTV transition, and we had several lively conversations on the ‘lessons learned’ from our experience just a few years ago.” A third concern is how to change regulation as part of the move away from a circuit-switched world, Wheeler said. “There was a lot of interest in the tech transitions activities underway at the FCC.”

The “complex nature” of Mozilla’s net neutrality proposal to classify broadband as a telecom service for edge providers “could create unexpected difficulties for enforcement" but should not disqualify it from consideration, Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld and Vice President Michael Weinberg told FCC Chief Technology Officer Scott Jordan at a meeting Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1simO8r), said an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 14-28. Any user-controlled prioritization “should truly be the result of user decisions and control, and should not involve payment from edge providers to ISPs for prioritization,” Public Knowledge said. Allowing a regulated service such as voice phone calling to operate within a specific specialized service could be permissible under strong open Internet rules, but would have to continue to operate under existing regulatory protections, they said. The commission doesn't necessarily have to address potential abuses under interconnection agreements, but open Internet rules should recognize the possibility and begin to take steps to address them, they said. The Mozilla petition is “legally riskier” than straightforward Communications Act Title II reclassification because it relies on untested definitions and relationships between ISPs and users, said Sarah Morris, senior policy counsel for the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, at a meeting Monday that included Feld, Weinberg and an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, according to an ex parte filing (http://bit.ly/1sYNRJI) posted in the same docket. It said OTI and Public Knowledge said Title II reclassification with forbearance is the “soundest, clearest path forward.”

The FCC released an order at our deadline Friday that eliminates the Dec. 31, 2016, deadline for public safety licensees using 700 MHz narrowband spectrum to transition their radio systems from 12.5 kHz channel bandwidth technology to 6.25 kHz technology (http://fcc.us/1wmI1py). The order also redesignates the channels in the 700 MHz band that are currently licensed for secondary trucking operations as available for public safety aircraft voice operations. The FCC’s order allows voice operations on Data Interoperability Channels on a secondary basis and reallocates the Reserve Channels on the narrowband into General Use Channels. The order also gives T-Band public safety licensees priority for licensing of the former Reserve Channels in T-Band areas. The FCC encouraged manufacturers of 700 MHz public safety radios to obtain Compliance Assessment Program certification for new equipment to demonstrate the equipment meets P25 interoperability standards. APCO had urged the FCC in August to make a “rapid” decision whether to eliminate the Dec. 31, 2016, deadline (see 1408150028). FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief David Simpson said during an FCBA event prior to the order's release that "we should have a resolution" on the deadline issue.

The incentive auction is “interesting” to broadcasters even if the values for stations involved are half the amounts projected in the FCC’s Greenhill & Co. price estimates (see 1410020029), said Meredith Local Media Group President Paul Karpowicz on Meredith’s earnings call Thursday. Though Karpowicz said he believed the auction would happen “no question,” Meredith CEO Stephen Lacy said he doubted the auction would happen during his working career and he wouldn’t hold his breath waiting for “bags of money” from the auction to come to Meredith. According to Karpowicz, the Greenhill estimates show a Meredith station in Phoenix as worth in the auction a fraction of the value of another Meredith station in Springfield, Massachusetts. Phoenix at No. 12 is a much bigger Nielsen market than the designated market area including Springfield (http://bit.ly/1xenP5R).