Tag Archives: PublicKnowledge

The Internet Association asks FCC to delay its net neutrality vote

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The Internet Association, whose members include Amazon, Netflix and Uber, sent a letter to the FCC today requesting that the commission either delay its upcoming vote on the proposal to remove net neutrality protections or vote against it, Reuters re...

FCC will vote on viewer-tracking broadcast standard this week

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On Thursday, the FCC will vote on a new broadcast standard that stands to have a big impact on both consumers and broadcasters. Next Gen TV, also known as ATSC 3.0, will bring with it sharper images and video as well as the ability for TV broadcaster...

Advocacy groups notify AT&T of net neutrality complaint with the FCC over FaceTime restrictions

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FaceTime over cellular

Public advocacy groups aren't all that impressed with AT&T's justifications for limiting FaceTime access over 3G and 4G to those who spring for its costlier Mobile Share plans. Free Press, Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute have served formal notice to AT&T that they plan to file a net neutrality complaint with the FCC within 10 days. It's not hard to understand why, given the groups' existing pro-neutrality stances: the Free Press' policy lead Matt Wood argues that the carrier is unfairly pushing iOS users into plans they don't need, a particularly sore point for iPad-only customers that have no AT&T phones to share. We've reached out to AT&T for comment, although we're not expecting a change from its position that allowing app use over WiFi makes its restrictions okay. As for the FCC? It's mum on the current situation. A literal reading of its net neutrality rules, however, doesn't include a WiFi exemption and might not favor AT&T when Skype video is allowed and Verizon has no problems with unrestricted access.

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Advocacy groups notify AT&T of net neutrality complaint with the FCC over FaceTime restrictions originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 19:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Congress to hold a hearing tomorrow on the Future of Video

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If you're reading this, then you're probably always looking ahead at what technology might bring next. Tomorrow at 10AM ET, US Congress members of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will be doing that too. The specific segment of the market being discussed is video and on the docket to testify is a who's who of the video business. The old guard, NCTA and the MPAA, is being represented by Michael Power -- yes, the previous Chairman of the FCC -- and Michael O'Leary, respectively. On the other side are representatives from Dish Network, Sky Angel, Netflix, Roku and Public Knowledge. So yeah, this could get interesting. The NCTA has already starting posturing on its blog, Cable Tech Talk, with a post highlighting all the wonderful changes in the video distribution industry in the past 20 years -- however, curiously, the upwardly creeping price of the average bill wasn't mentioned. Of course a subcommittee hearing is just the first of a very long process towards real change, and while we'd be shocked if any of our ideas are implemented anytime soon, it's good to see some movement in Washington on a topic we care about.

Congress to hold a hearing tomorrow on the Future of Video originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alliance for Broadband Competition forms to sway opinion against Verizon’s AWS acquisition

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Alliance for Broadband Competition forms to sway opinion against Verizon's AWS acquisition

The effort to prevent Verizon Wireless from its purchase of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox just became a bit more intense, as several opponents to the deal have now banded together to form the Alliance for Broadband Competition. The coalition includes T-Mobile and Sprint, along with advocacy groups such as Public Knowledge, the American Antitrust Institute, the Rural Cellular Association and the Rural Telecommunications Group. Today, the newly formed alliance held a press conference in which it called on the FCC and Department of Justice to block the transfer, which it said would lead to an "excessive concentration of spectrum" held by Verizon Wireless. While it's not much of an olive branch, the group similarly suggested that it would support the deal if Verizon were to divest some of its spectrum holdings, establish roaming agreements and agree to a backhaul pricing structure. As you may recall, Verizon Wireless estimates that it'll exhaust its network capacity by 2014. Regardless of how this $3.9 billion proposal shakes out, it's rather clear that something's gotta give.

Alliance for Broadband Competition forms to sway opinion against Verizon's AWS acquisition originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 21:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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