Will Wheeler Get the Votes for STB Changes?

Here&#8217;s the latest layout:First, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler dumped the sort-of endorsement late on a Friday for first-read by fellow commissioners and the rest of us.Second, he&#8217;s sure to get at least two negative votes &#8230; this time with more reason than simple reflex.Third, copyright got noticed all right, but with significant moves into a brand new copyright licensing protocol (!).Fourth, the apps -- for any and all devices -- are to be provided to subscribers at no charge by the MVPD (not, interestingly, by the programmers).&#160; If this seems a convoluted way to pretend to honor the extant copyright deals &#8230; well, yep.Fifth, objections from programmers have not abated &#8230; they&#8217;re ramping up even more (every acronym group from industry is opposed; every &#8220;public interest&#8221; acronym is for it bashing away at Comcast with glee).And sixth, the proposal mandates a search engine (think, I suppose, Google) provided by the MVPD that allows a subscriber to search every (!!!) program packager/provider (well, using iOS or Android with five million deployments or more) for programs and access (presumably times, too).Complicated enough?&#160; Just think.&#160; New, mandated universal licensing for the new boxes and &#8220;un-boxes.&#8221;&#160; A new, mandated copyright tribunal to make everything copacetic.&#160; And just two years to get it done &#8230; but not everybody has to comply in that time frame &#8230; so, no universality of applications.&#160; Oh, and some sort of new attempt at a rural access regime &#8230; not right away of course.The proposed deal also involves what in effect is a new federally mandated technology regime.&#160; As you can imagine, some are complaining, some are whining and some are wondering where on earth Wheeler found the right to do what he proposes under the FCC&#8217;s purview.As Multichannel News&#8217; John Eggerton first reported, software and app developers are already questioning the FCC&#8217;s right to create regulations for developments in the navigation device market.More court cases coming?My question is, what do all of these new mandates actually accomplish?&#160; That is, besides new expenses, new rules and inherent confusion?&#160; Hasn&#8217;t Wheeler noticed that a lot of what he says he wants is already happening -- without new rules and regulations and tribunals?The September 29 question of the next couple weeks is Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and her hard-to-discern intentions.&#160; She is keeping her own counsel for now.It&#8217;s almost as interesting and entertaining as the ongoing Presidential brouhaha.&#160;Random NotesMeanwhile, one-time Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz is on a tear to stop the movement of international Internet regulation from going truly international.&#160; He&#8217;s going to be inserting language to one or another must-pass bill (to keep the country, er, government, open) to stop the so-called ICANN transition to an international consortium.&#160; Oddly, he might be right about this.&#160; Doesn&#8217;t look like the transition has been fully thought through.Thanks to Samsung and exploding batteries, all the progress we&#8217;ve made allowing the use of devices on airplanes might be coming into question.&#160; Darn &#8230; no more constant contact at 30k feet!The wireless industry is proving that competition can lower prices, develop innovative packages and broaden data deals as four carriers vie for subscribers.&#160; Ever since John Legere declared T-Mobile the &#8220;uncarrier,&#8221; the top four carriers have created a different future.&#160; While Verizon, according to Business Insider, still dominates, T-Mobile has driven itself past AT&amp;T into second place while Sprint, still in fourth, is growing faster than before.&#160; Don&#8217;t hold your breath, though, for four competing FTTH providers.&#160; And don&#8217;t discount a merger in wireless and an eventual three-pronged oligarchy.Which is why a column in The Week by Ryan Cooper proposes the Federal government either nationalize the Internet or build a competitor &#8230; at first in rural areas where it costs more because of lack of scale (duh).&#160; Surprisingly, he doesn&#8217;t ask if there isn&#8217;t a Theodore Vail somewhere in the US again.And the Canadian a la carte experiment is a confusing mess.The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillage.com/MyersBizNet management or associated bloggers.&#160;

Will Wheeler Get the Votes for STB Changes?

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Paul S. Maxwell

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