Comments on the FCC rulemaking on classifying some online video distributors as multichannel video programming distributors are due Feb. 17, replies March 2, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Thursday.
Synacor and Verizon partnered to offer a “seamless” start page and search feature to FiOS customers using Verizon's TV Everywhere offering, Synacor said in a news release Wednesday. It said the partnership expands FiOS viewers' search functions and integrates watching Verizon's content on a TV with watching it on a mobile device.
Cox Communications and Gray Television reached a retransmission consent deal, and the broadcaster's programming returned to the operator, the cable company said in a news release Sunday. The blackout lasted six days and affected customers in Florida, Kansas and Nebraska. Cox's agreement with Gray TV expired Jan. 6.
The FCC extended the deadlines for comments on its incentive auction rulemaking to allow commenters to incorporate “lessons learned” from the AWS-3 auction, said a public notice released Wednesday. Comment deadlines are extended to Feb. 13, and replies to March 13, the notice said. The extension was requested by CEA, CTIA and TIA. Commissioner Ajit Pai's Chief of Staff Matthew Berry said the deadline extension is an “example of how the Commission is being run in a partisan manner.” Pai asked for an extension of the comment deadline before the commission vote on the item but was “told 'no' in no uncertain terms,” Berry said. “This is just more evidence that the Chairman's office dismisses good ideas out of hand simply because they are offered by Republicans.” Chairman Tom Wheeler's office declined to comment.
The top 10 national nonbroadcast networks for the 2013 to 2014 ratings year were USA Network, ESPN, Turner Network Television (TNT), TBS Network, History, Disney Channel, Fox News Channel, Nickelodeon, A&E Network and FX.5, the Media Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday.The ranking is based on Nielsen ratings, the PN said. The commission’s video description rules require multichannel video programming distributors with more than 50,000 subscribers to provide 50 hours of video description per quarter during prime time or children's programming on the top five national nonbroadcast networks, the PN said. Though the networks currently subject to that rule are USA, Disney Channel, TNT, Nickelodeon and TBS, that lineup is based on the ratings available in 2011. On July 1, the requirement will update to the top five from the 2013-2014 ratings year. Though that's currently USA, ESPN, TNT, TBS and History, the networks have 30 days to seek an exception to the video description requirement based on whether they air 50 hours of prime time programming that isn't live or near-live, the notice said.
A series of webinars on the details of the incentive auction has been rescheduled, the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and Wireless Bureau said in a public notice Wednesday. The webinar on the forward auction phase will be Jan. 15 at 10:30 a.m., the webinar on the reverse auction phase will be Jan. 20 at 10:30 a.m., and the webinar on the integration of the two phases of the incentive auction will be Jan. 23 at 10:30 a.m. “Additional details about the webinars, including how interested parties can attend, will be released soon,” the PN said.
The FCC Media Bureau granted Comcast a waiver Wednesday of the “neighborhooding” condition of the order approving the Comcast/NBCUniversal deal. The move was requested by both Comcast and Bloomberg in a July petition (see 1407300059). Under the settlement between the two companies, Comcast agreed to place Bloomberg Television alongside Comcast’s business channel CNBC in many of its systems. In systems where CNBC is outside the news neighborhood, the settlement agreement conflicts with the neighborhooding order, Bloomberg said in that petition. “In Bloomberg’s view, proximity to CNBC, its chief competitor, is preferable to placement in a news neighborhood that lacks CNBC,” Bloomberg said. The waiver “will promote the parties’ private resolution of this matter in a manner that is consistent with the purpose of the condition,” the Media Bureau order said.
Rivet News Radio, an Internet radio news application, made its Rivet Auto application program interface (API) available Monday, the company said in a news release. The API offers a way for app platforms and car manufacturers to target and customize radio news to drivers. It also allows drivers to filter content based on their locations and interests.
The FCC’s further rulemaking seeking comment on applying closed captioning quality standards to programmers is likely to attract “a disproportionately large and loud response,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole in a blog post on the law firm's website. It’s not clear how much the FCC can regulate programmers who aren’t affiliated with other entities the FCC regulates, Cole said. “How precisely can the Commission justify extending its regulatory tentacles to such companies?” he said. Laws mandating access for the disabled could give the commission a handle on applying captioning rules to programmers, but any eventual rule will have to go into detail about the source of FCC authority, Cole said. Comments on the second Further NPRM are due Jan. 20, replies Jan. 30 (see 1412310036).
Viewers of three multichannel video programming distributors in more than 15 markets experienced blackouts in the first week of January, said a group of MVPDs and others seeking changes to retransmission consent rules. Broadcasters blacked out subscribers of DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS to extract higher retrans fees, said the American Television Alliance in a news release Monday. ATVA said Cordillera Communications blocked DirecTV viewers in at least 10 markets. Capitol Broadcasting prevented Dish viewers from seeing two stations in the Raleigh area, said the alliance. It said Coastal Television Broadcasting in Alaska blocked the direct broadcast satellite company's subscribers in Anchorage, and Vision Alaska II is blocking viewers in Fairbanks and Juneau. Bristlecone Broadcasting also blocked Verizon FiOS customers from viewing WSYT (Fox) Syracuse, New York, said ATVA. NAB didn't have any immediate comment Monday.