The FCC is seeking comment by July 6 on the Paperwork Reduction Act implications of public file rules, with the act requiring the agency every three years to get an OK from the Office of Management and Budget on information collections, the commission said in Wednesday's Federal Register. It seeks comment on whether the public file rules are “necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the [collected] information shall have practical utility,” and whether the commission’s burden estimate is accurate. The public file rule might serve some valid purpose, but since the FCC has never done anything to investigate the validity of that proposition, nobody can say for sure, said Harry Cole, a broadcast lawyer for Fletcher Heald, on its blog. "It’s probably safe to assume that the FCC is not enthusiastic about launching such an investigation on its own," he wrote. "As we have previously observed, the Commission has ignored for nearly a decade a petition for rulemaking filed by our friend, communications attorney David Tillotson, challenging the validity of the public file requirement."

The FCC Media Bureau granted EchoStar and Funai their separate waiver requests to market new models of DVRs without analog tuners, it said in an order adopted Friday and released Monday in dockets 15-47 and 15-42. The waiver requests were unopposed, the bureau said. CEA submitted the only comments in either docket and did so to urge the bureau to quickly eliminate the analog tuner requirement for all manufacturers (see 1503130017). Though the bureau stopped well short of granting CEA's request to eliminate all analog tuner rules, it agreed with EchoStar and Funai that a digital-only device has “several advantages over equipment using both analog and digital tuners,” including lower costs that can be “passed down to consumers,” it said. It also agreed that granting the waivers “would have a minimal impact on consumers” because “the vast majority” of their target markets “would be entirely unaffected by the elimination of an analog tuner,” since they buy pay-TV subscriptions or will have the devices hooked up to TVs that already have built-in analog tuners, it said. The bureau will hold EchoStar and Funai to their “voluntary commitments to educate consumers and retailers about the capabilities and limitations” of their devices, it said. Each company commits to “provide retailers with an in-store product information data sheet and consumer education materials describing their respective devices’ functionality,” it said. They also must “clearly disclose in product guides that their devices lack the ability to receive over-the-air analog signals,” it said. EchoStar and Funai must offer free 30-day return or exchange privileges if the customer purchased a device with the “mistaken belief that it receives analog services,” the bureau said. “We believe that these commitments will adequately protect any consumers that this waiver will affect.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler was among those remembering Benton Foundation Chairman Charles Benton, who died Wednesday at 84 (see 1504300048). "Charles Benton dedicated his life to ensuring that our communications networks serve everyone regardless of age, race or economic means," Wheeler said in a Friday written statement. "He was among the first to recognize that access to communications networks is more than an economic or first amendment issue; it is a social justice issue." Gifts can be made in Benton's honor to his foundation, at 1560 Sherman Ave., Suite 440, Evanston, IL 60201, the group said.

GreenPeak Technologies released a white paper on the benefits of the ZigBee RF4CE wireless communications protocol for smart home applications. ZigBee RF4CE was developed by the consumer electronics industry to connect remote controls to TVs and set-top boxes but can also be adopted by leading cable companies and ISPs and remote control makers in the U.S. as a smart home accessory, said GreenPeak CEO Cees Links. More than 100 million new set-top boxes and remote controls use ZigBee, he said. Links cited the protocol’s “outstanding range, reliability and robustness” and said its “ultra-low power requirement means that batteries never have to be replaced.” Links positioned the ZigBee remote as the control mechanism for the smart home as an alternative to the smartphone when users are inside the home. “When you are at home, it is much easier to just press a button on a remote control to change the lighting, lock the doors, and turn on your air conditioning,” he said. Using a TV remote for smart home control frees up the smartphone for talking and texting, he said. Versus competing protocols, Links touted radio frequency's (RF) technology benefits including no need for line-of-sight transmission and the ability to penetrate walls, floors and furniture. RF’s ability for two-way communication enables features such as “find-my-remote” and gives operators the ability to send subscribers notices of upcoming shows, special offers and the ability to receive software updates to add features to the remote, he said. Because RF is mature and has been available in high-volume production, it's a low-cost option for control, he said.

Some NBCUniversal video clips and segments will be available to stream on the AOL On website and mobile app beginning this summer, NBCU said in a news release Wednesday. The content will come from NBCUniversal's broadcast networks, cable channels and digital networks, “including Bravo, CNBC, E!, Esquire, MSNBC, NBC, Oxygen, Syfy, Telemundo and USA,” the programmer said. AOL and NBCU will also “co-develop and co-produce original Web video series for distribution over the NBCUniversal and AOL platforms, and are in discussions on creating weekly live programming together,” it said.

U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment content rose only 0.23 percent in Q1 to $4.6 billion from the year-ago quarter as double-digit increases in electronic sell-through and subscription streaming helped negate a double-digit decline in sell-through of packaged goods, the Digital Entertainment Group said Wednesday. Subscription VOD was Q1's big winner, rising 22.9 percent to $1.14 billion, while electronic sell-through jumped 22.3 percent to $430.9 million, DEG said. “Consumers electronically purchased significantly more catalog and family films, underscoring their preference for enjoying and collecting filmed entertainment digitally,” DEG said. Sell-through of physical media declined 13.3 percent to $1.58 billion, DEG said, though it accentuated the finding that Blu-ray players, including set-tops and game consoles, are installed in more than 90 million U.S. homes. It said HDTV penetration has grown to nearly 105 million U.S. homes. Wednesday's release of DEG’s report on the rapid rise of SVOD consumer spending in Q1 happened to coincide with Hulu's announcement Wednesday that within the first 90 days of 2015, total streams on its service increased 77 percent over the year-ago period. Viewers year to date have streamed more than 700 million hours of premium content on Hulu, it said. On average, each Hulu viewer is watching at least 30 percent more content on the service than a year ago, it said. “Every category of measurement including hours watched and hours streamed is up dramatically year over year,” Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins said in a statement.

The Downloadable Security Technical Advisory Committee plans meetings May 13, July 7 and Aug. 4, said Tuesday's Federal Register. “At the May and July meetings, the committee will discuss Working Group reports and any other topics related to the DSTAC's work that may arise.” In August, the committee will discuss and consider a full draft report. The DSTAC’s final product is due in September, said its Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act-mandated charter.

Disney signed a multiyear patent license deal with Kudelski Group, a Kudelski news release said Tuesday. It said terms are confidential, and the pact gives Disney a license to Kudelski’s patent portfolio, "subject to certain limitations." Kudelski "continues to invest heavily in developing technology and intellectual property that help enable industry leaders like" Disney "to deliver their popular, world-class video and entertainment platforms to the market through streaming video properties, such as ESPN.com and ABC.com,” said Kudelski Senior Vice President-Intellectual Property and Innovation Joe Chernesky.

The FCC Media Bureau’s suspension of the Sept. 1 digital construction deadline for low-power TV and TV translator stations means licensees can choose whether to complete construction now or “wait in limbo and see how the chips fall after the repack,” said Fletcher Heald LPTV attorney Peter Tannenwald in a blog post Friday. Since the suspension doesn’t apply to Class A's, they “must get a move on it and enter the digital world by May 29 to get protection for their digital facilities” and must stop using analog by Sept. 1, Tannenwald said. Stations that go dark because of inability to complete digital construction by their deadline must “notify the FCC within 10 days of going dark, file a request for authority to remain dark after 30 days, and get back on the air no later than one year after they go dark,” he said.

MPAA, NAB and the Radio Television Digital News Association encouraged a laissez-faire approach to privacy concerns about drone use (see 1504240057 and 1504200045), in comments filed with NTIA last week. Though small unmanned aircraft systems can raise privacy issues, MPAA said, the “narrow and controlled use” of drones by its motion picture, home video and TV industry members “doesn’t implicate the ‘sustained, pervasive, and invasive’ data collection" that the NTIA inquires about. MPAA said its members use drones on closed sets and that the devices “neither come into close contact with -- nor engage in the ‘collection, use, retention, and dissemination’ of data regarding -- the general public.” Footage is constrained “both aerial and otherwise,” and everyone on set has notice when drones are in use, MPAA said. “We do not believe any additional privacy practices are needed regarding our industry’s use” of drones, MPAA said. In a joint comment, NAB and RTDNA said the news industry is committed to consumer privacy and that state laws adequately deal with privacy concerns NTIA hopes to address. Drones could be used to invade privacy, the groups said, but journalists already are equipped to recognize and address privacy issues raised by new technologies, they said. Regulating drone use could violate free speech, they said, because news reports, especially breaking news stories, may inadvertently violate strict privacy rules due to their dependence on the “rapid dissemination of captured sights and sounds,” they said. “State legislatures and courts have adopted and interpreted a range of laws flexible enough to respond to issues raised by emerging technologies, including UAS use by commercially motivated individuals who are unlikely to adhere" to any NTIA codes of conduct.