The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
FCC
The FCC announced the tentative agenda for its next open meeting scheduled for September 30, 2014. It includes: (1) a Report and Order that would eliminate the FCC’s sports blackout rules, which can prevent consumers from watching their teams’ games on local television; (2) a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to streamline and update Part 25 of the FCC’s rules, which governs licensing and operation of space stations and earth stations for the provision of satellite communication services; (3) a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise rules for unlicensed operations in the TV bands and new 600 MHz Band, including fixed and personal/portable white space devices and unlicensed microphones; and (4) a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to address the needs of wireless microphone users.
The FCC also announced the panelists and other information about the first two events in its Open Internet/Net Neutrality roundtable series which will both take place on September 16, 2014. The roundtables will be free and open to the public and will be streamed live at http://www.fcc.gov/live. Suggested questions may be submitted in advance and during the roundtables by email to roundtables@fcc.gov or on Twitter using the hashtag #FCCRoundtables.
Starting at 8:30 a.m., the first event on “Policy Approaches to Ensure an Open Internet” will consist of three roundtables:
- “Tailoring Policy to Harms” will discuss the harms to Internet openness in the absence of open Internet regulations, and what are the right policies to address those harms;
- “Scope of Open Internet Rules” will consider the proper scope of new open Internet rules, with a focus on the definition of reasonable network management, treatment of specialized services, and whether new rules should extend to the point of interconnection between last-mile Internet service providers (ISPs) and other networks and services (i.e., Internet traffic exchange); and
- “Enhancing Transparency” will consider proposed enhancements to the existing transparency rule, which currently requires providers of broadband Internet access services to disclose accurate information about their service offerings and make this information accessible to the public.
Starting at 2:45 p.m., the second event, “Mobile Broadband and the Open Internet” will consist of one roundtable that will consider the application of Open Internet rules to mobile broadband, with a focus on consumers’ use of mobile broadband and on reasonable network management practices in the mobile context.
California
The PUC is investigating applicability of the Right-of-Way rules to commercial mobile radio service carriers. The Assigned Commissioner has determined that the scope of the proceeding is to consider whether and how the rules for nondiscriminatory access to public utility poles, ducts, and conduit located in rights-of-way should be amended to encompass CMRS carriers. Because the proceeding may result in CMRS facilities being attached to thousands of utility poles across California, a central focus of the proceeding will be to ensure that CMRS pole attachments are designed, constructed, and maintained to protect the safety of workers and the public. Parties will be required to submit informational reports no later than October 21, 2014, and participate in workshops o be held on November 4 and 5, 2014.
