Set-top boxes are responsible for “just 1.3 percent of a typical household’s energy use,” NCTA said in blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/UifNf4), responding to a recent Los Angeles Times article’s comparison of set-top energy use to a washing machine. A recent industry voluntary agreement on set-top energy use (CD Dec 24 p1) means the devices are improving faster in energy use than a Department of Energy proposed standard would have, NCTA said. Users can check set-top energy use for themselves (http://bit.ly/1iLOobc) by taking advantage of transparency requirements in the voluntary agreement, NCTA said. The L.A. Times article is “incredibly misleading” said NCTA. The L.A. Times stands by the story, its author, Ralph Vartabedian, told us in an email. With multiple set-top boxes to serve multiple TVs, the boxes can be the largest use of power apart from air conditioning, he said. He also disputed NCTA criticisms that the story equates set-top box energy use with a washing machine’s. “We never said the box consumes that much power. In fact, the very next sentence in the story says these [boxes] consume 35 watts continuously,” Vartabedian said. “We checked with other private and government energy organizations and they concurred with our research and say our story is accurate.”

It’s time for the FCC to “take a look under the hood and learn whether Internet traffic exchange issues are putting up a barrier to continued innovation and investment on the Internet,” said a blog post Wednesday by Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Engineer Julie Knapp and Walter Johnston, chief of OET’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Division (http://fcc.us/1uH08km). The post cited recent disputes between Netflix, Cogent and ISPs like Comcast and Verizon as an example of the problems facing consumers. The FCC Measuring Broadband America report (CD June 19 p7) provided evidence that “there are problems here worth examining,” the post said, citing “notable anomalies” as it collected speed data, with “significant drops in broadband performance” during a period when Cogent reported disputes with various ISPs. “We need to understand better what is going on,” the post said. The agency has released the “full raw data set” to the public so others can analyze the findings, and is “taking a deeper look into causes of congestion” including “analyzing network impact on video service providers such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix,” the post said. By winter, the agency hopes to have instituted more testing methodologies that will provide more information on network congestion and peering, it said

Correction: All platforms do not have the technology to generate enhanced 911 location information, an FCC advisory group was told by Laurie Flaherty, coordinator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National 911 program (CD June 19 p2).

AT&T’s deal to purchase DirecTV is “pretty clean,” with “not a lot of complications” for the FCC to approve, AT&T Senior Executive Vice President for External and Legislative Affairs Jim Cicconi told Wells Fargo analysts, according to an email from the bank to investors Wednesday. AT&T will participate in the broadcast incentive auction and the AWS-3 auction, and will add at least 20 MHz between the two, the email said. Verizon sees the AWS-3 auction as a “top priority,” Wells Fargo said. Valuation in that auction could “top $1.50 per MHz/Pop,” the email said, though the analysts don’t know how much AT&T or Verizon will spend in the auction. Broadcaster participation in the incentive auction is the FCC’s “primary concern” about the proceeding, Wells Fargo said. The commission is less concerned about the auction starting on a specific date than it is about it being successful, the analysts said. There is debate in the industry about whether it will be possible to give broadcaster clarity on pricing in advance of the auction, Wells Fargo said. “If AWS3 proceeds fully cover the cost of FirstNet, the FCC could be more aggressive in compensating broadcasters’ participation.” The commission is also preparing to begin its broadcaster outreach efforts, the email said.

A computational study submitted to the FCC by AT&T explores questions about how many broadcasters must participate in a given market for the agency to hit various targets for clearing spectrum for resale to carriers and also identifies pressure points. The news is mostly good, AT&T said. The study found that some 200 broadcasters must voluntarily give up spectrum to hit a target of 84 MHz of spectrum being made available for auction without “domain constraints” identified by the FCC, with 250 exits needed if these constraints are taken into account. A domain constraint means that one broadcaster cannot be assigned to a given channel, mostly because of treaties with Canada and Mexico, which forbid U.S. stations from being assigned to channels where they would interfere with stations across the border, the report explained (http://bit.ly/1ng4WJq). It’s by Michael Kearns and Lili Dworkin of the University of Pennsylvania. “As important and interesting as these questions are, to date scant analysis on these questions has been offered,” said AT&T Vice President-Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh in a Wednesday blog post (http://bit.ly/1iaiRoz). There are few “black and white” answers, Marsh wrote. “For any clearing target, there are almost unlimited variations on possible broadcaster participation and a very large number of possible repacking solutions. But from the research, an outline of the scope of the possible begins to emerge.” The report also found that some surprising markets will likely be among the most challenging to clear. It said Milwaukee is on the list because of its closeness to the congested Chicago market, and North Carolina and South Carolina because they are tied into the “challenging East Coast daisy chain.” Challenges presented by the auction “are without a doubt significant,” but the analysis demonstrates that “as long as the financial incentives are attractive, a successful outcome is well within reach,” Marsh wrote. AT&T officials including Marsh explained the findings in a meeting last week with Gary Epstein, chairman of the Incentive Auction Task Force; Julius Knapp, chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology; and other FCC officials, said a Tuesday filing in docket 12-268 (http://bit.ly/1nPJQom). AT&T should be commended for taking on such a complex topic, and the results “reaffirm” past filings by broadcasters, NAB Executive Vice President Rick Kaplan told us. “It also sheds light into some of technical fundamentals and rudimentary questions that are necessary to help craft a first-rate auction and repacking process. NAB continues to work with all interested and affected industries to enhance the proposed FCC auction and repacking modeling.” The domain constraints include some issues like those concerning borders “that maybe can be negotiated away,” said Preston Padden, executive director of the Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition. “But it also includes constraints that cannot be made to go away like the five UHF public safety channels in New York City.”

The FCC has “ample authority” to oversee ISPs under current law, said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak in a research paper being released Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1pe75tG). Three recent cases out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit -- Comcast v. FCC, Cellco Partnership v. FCC and Verizon v. FCC -- show that broadband ISPs are still subject to direct jurisdiction under Communications Act titles II, III and VI, the paper said. “The FCC’s decision to classify broadband Internet access as a Title I information service does not a fortiori mean that the Commission has abdicated its authority over Broadband Service Providers altogether.” The cases hold that the commission’s ancillary jurisdiction over broadband ISPs “remains alive and well,” as long as the agency “ties the use of that jurisdiction” to specific delegation of authority under Title II, III or VI, the paper said. With Verizon v. FCC, the commission has “an additional hook for ancillary authority under Section 706,” the paper said. “The real question -- as always -- is whether the agency will exercise its authority wisely.”

Correction: The bill number of Maryland’s Communications Tax Reform Act is HB-1492 (http://1.usa.gov/1r0WFwZ) (CD June 16 p).

Top officials from the Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and other similar groups met with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to discuss the “transformative role” the Internet has played in “reordering” cultures, said a filing posted by the commission Monday. “While each of the foundations present has a unique mission and a diverse array of grantees working on myriad challenges around the world, each one understands the importance of a truly open Internet that provides a level playing field,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1y9ZKiU). The FCC is considering new net neutrality rules replacing those largely thrown out by a federal court inJanuary (CD May 16 p1). The meeting took place June 10, said the filing in docket 14-28.

The FCC can avoid many pitfalls by relying on Telecom Act Section 706 to protect an open Internet on a case-by-case basis, rather than imposing new net neutrality rules, said a paper by John Mayo, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. Mayo said the debate has divided observers into two ideological camps, but there is a middle road. “An output-centric 706 approach allows the nation to move forward without ex ante Title II regulatory rules imported from an era of public-utility regulation of telephone service,” he wrote in a report released Monday (http://bit.ly/1i5pUPi). Use of Section 706 allows the FCC to use “regulatory methods” to “encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans,” he said.

Friday’s FCC workshop on GPS protection and receiver performance opens with remarks by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and features keynote remarks by Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Wheeler, deputy chief information officer at the Department of Defense, said the schedule released Friday (http://bit.ly/STQKhw). Panels will take on the importance of GPS to critical infrastructure and public safety and GPS/Global Navigation Satellite System receiver performance, among other topics. The session is to start at 9 a.m. at FCC headquarters and end with remarks by FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Chief Julius Knapp at 5 p.m.