ACA Summit: Broadband, Retrans & USF

The ACA's 19th Annual Summit in Washington, D.C. is well underway. Here's some of the major takeaways so far.

• FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski spoke on a handful of key policy topics including the recently-reformed Universal Service Fund, implementation of the CALM Act and continued efforts within the agency to understand independent operators' plight when it comes to the current retransmission consent regime and how it affects negotiations with broadcasters.

Genachowski said the FCC's authority "is very limited" in terms of revising the retrans system, but he added that the agency was "pleased" that few retrans disputes had reached the point of signal blackouts. He said he remains hopeful that the marketplace will work out fairly for all parties, but that reviewing TV stations' ability to leverage their position unfairly - especially in groups - was not out of the question.

Genachowski also urged ACA members to participate in the upcoming reverse auctions to receive USF funds for broadband systems buildout in hard-to-reach areas. “I’d be really excited to come to a town that’s served by an ACA company that, as a result of a partnership between what we’re doing and what the company does, gets broadband to small businesses and schools and individual consumers in an area that doesn’t now have it,” he said.

On the CALM Act, Genachowski said the FCC was able to find balance in the law ensuring that the goals of the legislation - curbing volume spikes in TV ads - were met without imposing costly compliance burdens on independent cable operators. He said the ACA played a key role in developing the statute, and that enforcement would essentially be complaint-driven in lieu of an audit system.

• U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) also spoke this week and reiterated his desire to see the government invest in rural broadband deployment. He said investing in communications infrastructure in small-town America should be a bi-partisan issue that serves the long-term interests of the country. Pryor said the need to devote government resources to rural broadband projects was the modern version of the country's efforts to build navigable waterways and deliver electric power beyond urban centers. •

Strategic Energy 'Key' To Cable Growth

Strategic energy systems management will be crucial in supporting the cable industry's anticipated growth in broadband deployment and new services. This the latest from cable's engineers who say comprehensive energy management will ensure the industry's growing broadband networks will have the necessary power to support  growing consumer demand.

Speaking at the SCTE's Smart Energy Management Initiative (SEMI) in Philadelphia this week, Comcast SVP of strategic planning Mark Coblitz said increased demand for advanced internet services and higher broadband speeds are forcing cable operators to address power systems needs. The high-tech exec urged operators to adopt a "long-view" approach to energy that encompasses the entire cable ecosystem as the industry moves toward network-based processing.

"Given the current course and speed, we are concerned that someday... we will be faced with the reality that our ability to grow will be constrained by the quantity and timing of obtaining electrical power," Coblitz said. While he admitted this scenario could still be a few years away, Coblitz reiterated that cable "cannot let that dependency occur."

Full text and video of his remarks can be found here. •

Etc.: ESPN Ropes Big 12 - VZ/SpectrumCo. Witnesses - Cablevision's TVE

Sports: The Big 12 Conference is teetering on a mega-deal with ESPN that will compare with some of the nation's top-tier collegiate conferences. According to the Sports Business Journal, the two sides are finalizing an extension that will earn the Big 12 upwards of $2.5B over the next 13 years. Details here. --- Taking a cue from CBS's strategy with the NCAA men's hoops tournament, the NHL said it will make every 2012 playoff game available on national TV channels including NBC, NBC Sports Network, CNBC and NHL Network. --- Time Warner Cable reached a multiyear broadcast partnership with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

Rules & Regs: Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) unveiled the list of witnesses who will testify at next week's hearing on Verizon's $3.6B mega-deal with SpectrumCo. Included are: Randal Milch, Verizon general counsel; David Cohen, Comcast VP; Steven Berry, CEO of the Rural Cellular Association; Joel Kelsey, policy advisor, Free Press; and Timothy Wu, Columbia University law professor.
 
Deals: Verizon signed a licensing deal with Veveo to use the latter's search technology for FiOS TV across TVs, tablets and mobile devices. Financial terms were undisclosed. --- Mark Burnett's One Three Television has taken an undisclosed ownership stake in interactive TV software company Youtoo.

TVE: Cablevision launched its new "TV to Go" service with access to HBO Go and Max GO. The service also features content from CNN, TBS, TNT, truTV, Cartoon Network (and Adult Swim) and others. Reports say with the Cablevision news, HBO Go now reaches 98% of all pay-TV customers.

Research: eMarketer says 1.43B people will use social networks this year, up 19.2% from 2011. --- IDC says with tablet shipments growing so strongly in Q411 for both the iPad and Kindle Fire, the firm has increased its 2012 sales estimates with 18M more unit sales than previous projections. Globally, Q4 shipments soared more than 50% from the previous period. IDC says Apple still holds a 55% share of the market, compared with 16.8% for Amazon.

Tech: Don't look now, but we're pretty sure CNNMoney just said Samsung's new TV remote control has 'sex appeal.' --- Video ad exchange adRise launched a free tool enabling content creators to develop revenue-generating video applications for connected TV content. The adRise Connect app works with technology from Google TV, Boxee, Roku, iOS and Android, and it supports Apple, Sony, Vizio and other manufacturers.

Service: DISH has officially started the roll-out of its new multi-room DVR called 'Hopper.' --- Comcast will introduce its Xfinity Home security and monitoring service in New Mexico in June.

Over, Up & Under: The Telegraph is reporting that London Underground (public transit system, aka the Tube) reached an agreement with Virgin Media which will put a WiFi service in 80 of the network's 217 stations by summertime.

People: The FCC said senior counsel Amy Levine is leaving the agency. --- Young Broadcasting announced that Tony Cassara has resigned as CEO and a member of its board.

Uh-Oh: It started with Ofcom asking (aloud) if Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB was 'fit and proper' to hold official broadcasting licenses. Now it seems those questions have jumped the pond, as a certain section of the Communications Act includes "character" as part of the FCC's requirements to hold a license. Read more.

Letter to the Editor: WOW! The ACA article is the scariest thing I've read in some time. The first thing that comes to mind is a scene from the movie "The Shawshank Redemption": 'Red' (Morgan Freeman) has chastisized 'Andy' (Tim Robbins) about promoting hope, saying it can be a dangerous thing to people who have nothing else to lose. As much as I would like to believe the changes mentioned in your report could be possible, I can't help feeling the dread of knowing someone in the network's camps have seen this also and are busy stoking their lobbyists to kill any and all chances of changing the status-quo. We are talking about the opinion$ of Amurcan politichan$ and their bidne$$ constitient$ after all (all pun intended). -Brad Giles

--- Catch today's media market news in The Evening BRIDGE. •