The American Cable Association and WTA are at odds over the ability of small and mid-sized MVPDs to have affordable accessible user navigation guide interfaces by the Dec. 20, 2018, deadline. ACA commented, posted Tuesday in docket 12-108, that most IPTV providers should be able to provide audibly accessible program guides and menus through apps that work on mobile devices with screen-reading capabilities. WTA said ACA's options for small MVPDs are very expensive or don't let smaller MVPDs completely comply. Monday was the deadline for replies (see 1710310031). ACA doesn't expect to seek a delay of the compliance deadline. It said IPTV middleware platform vendors still are developing the apps, but it has no reason to think they won't be affordably available to IPTV providers by the deadline. WTA said TiVo's Quattro platform -- one ACA option -- could cost at least $100,000 for implementation across a small MVPD's network. WTA said some members operate legacy analog systems and won't be able to comply because of costs. It said action on the compliance deadline should reflect such market realities and "not force small MVPDs to end their video services."

Lack of financial wherewithal continues to be a barrier to broadband access and adoption, speakers said at an FCBA digital divide event Monday night. "Unfortunately, the quality of your broadband ... depends too often on your economic status," said Diane Holland, USTelecom vice president-law and policy, citing affordability and "relevance" as key limiting factors. Lack of money is an impediment for many, said Aaron Smith, Pew Research Center associate director-internet research. He said almost half of survey respondents who lack broadband cited cost as a main factor. "The bottom line is money," said Nicol Turner-Lee, Brookings Institution fellow, saying people in poorer areas generally have less broadband access and choice. She said many low-income minority families rely heavily on smartphones for their broadband service, but students need better access and shouldn't have to rely on Wi-Fi at libraries and other public places. Microsoft's "Airband" initiative using unlicensed TV white spaces aims to help connect 2 million of about 23 million rural residents without adequate broadband (see 1707110015), noted Paul Garnett, director-affordable access initiatives. The FCC is intent on understanding and sharing perspectives of people on the wrong side of the digital divide in its regulatory efforts to close broadband gaps in both rural and urban areas, said Nathan Leamer, policy adviser to Chairman Ajit Pai.

ViaSat and T-Mobile are clashing over whether additional satellite broadband spectrum is needed. T-Mobile arguments to the negative raise the risk that parts of the country such as rural regions will continue to suffer without broadband access, ViaSat said in a docket 14-177 filing posted Monday. It included a paper by Compass Lexecon in which the economic consultancy called it "unlikely" that terrestrial operators would be willing to contract with satellite providers for relevant spectrum that would make direct access to spectrum for satellite operators unnecessary. Compass Lexecon said terrestrial operators would have a bigger financial incentive to block satellite competition than to reach a spectrum access agreement. T-Mobile, in a filing last month that included a study prepared by Stanford University Public Policy Program Director Gregory Rosston and professor Andrzej Skrzypacz, argued there's no market failure requiring that more spectrum be set aside for satellite operations, and dedicating satellite spectrum to unserved areas is likely an inefficient means of meeting those areas' needs. Pointing to satellite operators seeking to use their spectrum terrestrially, the Stanford study said any additional spectrum provided for satellite uses would likely be followed by pressure to provide terrestrial rights, and it would be better to give flexible-use licenses via an auction to let the winning bidder determine the best use for providing service.

Civil rights groups are blasting an FCC Lifeline draft item on the agenda for Thursday's commissioners' meeting. The draft last week came under attack from the wireless industry, civil rights groups and tribes (see 1711090057). "We expressed grave concern with respect to several elements of the Draft Lifeline Order/NPRM that we believe will immediately diminish or destroy the program," said a filing of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council and others posted Monday in docket 11-42 on an earlier meeting with an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The groups asked the FCC not to target Lifeline broadband support to facilities-based providers only -- eliminating resellers -- nor to propose a hard annual cap or any "maximum discount" or "minimum payment" requirements. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human rights urged the FCC "to immediately reverse course." The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and others wrote all five commissioners to say they're "very concerned about the direction of the proposed reforms" in the draft's NPRM, which they said "could make it impossible for many low-income consumers to obtain access to affordable broadband services."

Verizon pressed the FCC to create a "uniform, national" broadband framework that promotes network investment and innovation, and ensures states and localities "do not undermine that framework with a patchwork" of contrary regulation. "Any regulatory framework that applies to broadband Internet access services" should "recognize that these services are inherently interstate," and apply a "light-touch approach," said a Verizon filing posted Monday in docket 17-108 on a meeting its representatives, including Gibson Dunn attorney Helgi Walker, had with Commissioner Brendan Carr. They said "state-specific rules relating to these services simply don’t work when talking about services that freely cross state boundaries." Among others weighing in, the American Legislative Exchange Council voiced concern about "unreasonable" local fees and conditions, and "a potential patchwork of state laws" that "could threaten deployment and affordable access." The Internet Association voiced support for the FCC's existing broadband open internet framework. "The rules and the firm legal basis upon which they rest should not be undone or revisited," said an IA filing on meetings with aides to Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Carr, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, and with a Wireline Bureau official. "Having clear, legally sustainable rules in place finally established rules of the road and provided legal certainty for ISPs, edge providers, and consumers alike."

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly hailed interest in formalizing Team Telecom reviews that was expressed by a DOJ official (see 1711080040). He said in the first of three tweets Monday, "@Comm_Daily reported last week from @FCBALaw event that pertinent Admin staff seek & support codified 'Team Telecom,' process. What good news! Maybe Congress can add to [Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] reauth?" "Codifying a streamlined/time-limited but effective 'Team Telecom' review structure can eliminate opaque & dreadfully slow process while still fully protecting national security needs. @FCC should have done this years ago -- it’s time to act now!" " he added. "'Team Telecom' codification of defined and reformed process is a win-win: non problematic transactions can avoid delays & problematic ones can be dealt with easier. Let’s make it happen!" The FCC also has an open rulemaking on revising Team Telecom reviews (see 1608190048 and 1609060068). Spokespersons for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who's spearheading CFIUS reauthorization efforts, and the FCC didn't comment.

Satellite operators are continuing to push the FCC eighth floor for changes to the spectrum frontiers draft order (see 1711070047). ViaSat, in a docket 14-177 filing posted Thursday, recapped a meeting with staffers from the International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology at which it said it generally supports the draft, suggesting a tweak to facilitate deployment of gateway-type Earth stations designed to share spectrum. It rejected claims spectrum sharing the 37.5-40 GHz band would hamper terrestrial mobile service growth. ViaSat told an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly it wants more flexibility for deployment of some protected earth stations. SES/O3b in meetings with aides to O'Rielly, Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn sought changes to the numerical limits on earth stations per county or partial economic area. The company said grandfathered earth stations shouldn't be included in the population limits. SpaceX asked the FCC to clarify that company, whose deployments don't encumber upper microwave flexible use services (UMFUS) as defined by power flux density limits championed by wireless companies, be given flexibility to locate earth stations. It asked the agency to clarify that 28 GHz satellite Earth station operators be allowed to obtain waivers on gateway earth station constraints on showing the gateway doesn't cover any population in the relevant UMFUS license area. The company said the FCC should further clarify that, pursuant to such a waiver, a Ka-band satellite earth station wouldn't count toward broader Ka-band Earth station siting limits.

Tom Wheeler noted the FCC vote to cut back field offices "was bipartisan," responding to criticism by his successor, Chairman Ajit Pai, that the cuts left the commission's San Juan office understaffed when Hurricane Maria devastated the island (see 1711080032). In an email to us Thursday, Wheeler recalled then-Commissioner Pai "voting for it after it was negotiated" with the House Commerce Committee. "A chairman’s job is to deal with the realities that confront him, especially when all the headlines are warning of an impending storm," Wheeler said. "The ghosts of chairmen past have little to do with personal initiative." Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly voted to concur with the cutback order (see 1507160036). As commissioner, Pai had said if it were up to him, the "plan would look substantially different," a spokesman said. "Unfortunately, the Commission’s prior majority was determined to plow ahead with its plan to substantially cut the FCC’s field presence, and that ... had its consequences." Pai concurred "because he was able to obtain some concessions that did improve the plan and reduce its negative impact," said the representative.

DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim and President Donald Trump deny White House involvement in the agency's review of AT&T's planned buy of Time Warner. Delrahim in a statement Wednesday said he has "never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division." An White House in an accompanying statement said, "The President did not speak with the Attorney General about this matter, and no White House official was authorized to speak with the Department of Justice on this matter.” Justice was reportedly pushing for a divestiture of Turner Networks or of DirecTV as a condition of approving AT&T/TW (see 1711080047). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Wednesday that if the DOJ is using antitrust law to force a sale of Turner's CNN because of opinions of its coverage, "You can dislike consolidation but still find this extremely disturbing if true." Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said the deal shouldn't go forward because of media consolidation worries, but signs the Trump administration is trying to attack media organizations it doesn't like would be "profoundly disturbing." Other Senate Democrats also raised new questions about the DOJ's independence from Trump given the AT&T/TW review demands, including House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “Any suggestion that the deal be conditioned on selling off a news channel because of its coverage is offensive to both the First Amendment and the rule of law,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a statement. Dish Network's CEO voiced concerns Thursday about AT&T/TW (see 1711090004). DOJ, meanwhile, said “there is no legal obligation” for Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim to recuse himself from involvement in the department's review of AT&T/TW based on earlier comments he made that the proposed merge doesn't pose a “major antitrust problem,” said Assistant Attorney General-Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren sought Delrahim's recusal over the comments, which she said could “undermine public confidence in the Division's ability to reach an unbiased final decision” on AT&T/TW. The full version of Delrahim's comments show he “indicated the proposed merger should and would get a full and complete review” by Antitrust, “that the review would be based on the law and the facts,'” Boyd said. “We can assure you that [Antitrust's] merger enforcement will be based on application of the law to the particular facts and circumstances presented by any proposed merger.”

The FCC partially granted an AT&T complaint that Iowa Network Services (Aureon) violated Communications Act provisions by charging AT&T for "centralized equal access" service on traffic heading to CLECs engaged in "access stimulation" schemes. "We conclude that Aureon is subject to the Commission’s rate cap and rate parity rules and that it violated those rules by filing tariffs containing rates exceeding those prescribed by the Commission," said the unanimous commission order in proceeding 17-56 Wednesday. "We will determine in the damages phase of this proceeding what Aureon’s rates should have been and whether refunds to AT&T are warranted. We further order Aureon to revise its tariff to file rates that comply with the Commission’s rules. We otherwise disagree with AT&T’s assertions that Aureon acted unlawfully." A draft order circulated in October (see 1710200054).