FCC

The FCC today released their annual “Measuring Broadband America” report which tests consumer broadband performance in the U.S.  The report’s findings underscore that the U.S. enjoys a healthy, growing, and competitive broadband marketplace.

The FCC held a summit yesterday on broadband adoption, lessons learned over the past few years and best practices that can continue helping to close the digital divide among communities that remain unconnected.

NCTA has been a strong supporter of the major universal service reforms adopted by the FCC in November 2011.  Reforming the universal service regime was an incredibly complex and difficult challenge and the Commission deserves great credit for establishing a long-term path to a modern program that supports broadband only where necessary and that relies on market-based mechanisms to the greatest extent possible.

Professor Steven Wildman, Michigan State University Professor of Information Studies, has been named as the FCC’s newest Chief Economist. In December Wildman spoke at NCTA Connects, a new event series at NCTA which hosts national thought leaders discussing issues that are impacting the media and communications industries.

There is much talk today about a new law called the CALM Act – or the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act. There are a few media stories about it, including the Los Angeles Times, NPR and CNN, and a press rerelease from Rep.

This morning, NCTA President & CEO Michael Powell was on CNBC’s Squawk Box to talk about the fiscal cliff, investments by the communications industry and the regulatory environment after the election.

In previous posts, we’ve highlighted why the FCC should change its rules and enable cable operators to encrypt the basic service tier (BST) — the tier that includes local broadcast stations and a few other channels.

With last week’s release of the 14th Video Competition Report by the FCC, there is no better time for Congress to be conducting hearings about the vibrant video marketplace and to examine whether rules that were established in 1992 still make sense today.

“[C]able [broadband] technology has a daily 24-hour average speed of slightly over 100 percent of advertised rates . . . .” While the above statement may sound like an ad for cable broadband services, it actually comes from the FCC’s most recent report analyzing performance of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISP) in America.  Based on rigorous third-party testing, the Commission has again confirmed that consumers across the U.S.

In the past few weeks, this blog has addressed the issue of encryption of cable’s basic programming tier. We’ve pointed out that such encryption would reduce the need for technicians to visit customers’ homes for installations and disconnections.

You are undoubtedly aware of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), the national public warning system used to address the American public during emergencies. You may have seen the system in action, used by state or local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information targeted to your area.

Steve Morris, Vice President & Associate General Counsel of NCTA, gave BroadbandBreakfast.com his first impressions on this week’s USF Reform Proposal. His commentary is also available here.

The cable industry is the largest provider of broadband in America with our high-speed networks available to 93% of U.S. homes. And even though 77 million U.S.

Last week, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a speech at LivingSocial’s Washington, D.C., headquarters about the economic impact of broadband. LivingSocial is a great example of a start-up company that has been empowered by broadband, becoming one of the leaders in the social-buying category and transforming the way consumers discover and buy goods and services.

In a recent debate on CNBC, my friend Gary Shapiro – head of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) – said the Obama Administration was “the most anti-business” of his lifetime.  He went on to condemn the large number of proposed regulations and said of regulators, “They don’t care about business or the consequences of the rules they are proposing.” I applaud Gary for speaking his mind, but feel a need to call his bluff.  Because while he is vehemently condemning some 200-plus new regulations that would cost industry hundreds of millions of dollars if implemented, Gary and CEA are leading an effort to push the FCC to adopt new regulations that would impose substantial costs on cable and other video providers, and that would have the very government bureaucrats that he so disdains set technical standards on a marketplace that is exploding with innovation.