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########## ########## ########## | VIDEO DIALTONE|
########## ########## ########## | The FCC and Video-by-Wire|
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######## ######## ######## | Newsfeeds via Disk?|
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THE EFF PIONEER AWARDS: NOMINATIONS CLOSE MIDNIGHT |
PACIFIC TIME FEBRUARY 19 |
|
=====================================================================|
EFFector Online February 18,1992 Volume 2, Number 5|
=====================================================================|
THE PIONEER AWARDS:Nominations Deadline
To date well over 150 nominations for the EFF/PIONEER Awards have been
received and the list alone would make for a fascinating series of
interviews and profiles. Indeed, we're making it a point to put that
project in the list for things to get done in 1992.
There is still time for everyone out there who hasn't nominated the
person or organization they feel deserves recognition throughout known
cyberspace as a pioneering element the birth and growth of this new
medium to have their say.
Remember, the nominations are open and that anyone may nominate anyone
else -- even themselves. Everyone is eligible except EFF staff members.
There's an entry form at the end of this issue of EFFector Online. If
you know anyone whose a genuine cyberspace pioneer worthy of recognition
please use it and use it quickly.
Nominations close at midnight, February 19, 1992 -- Pacific Time.
Thank you,
The EFF
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
FCC Proposes to Allow Telcos to Deliver Video;
by Andrew Blau
blau@eff.org
(EFF Washington Office)
Should the regional telephone companies be able to enter the cable
televion business? Should the cable companies of the country be
protected from this potential competition? There are arguments for both
sides. And the Federal Communications Commission has come up with a
proposal that just may be able to make the answer fair to both sides and
of benefit to the consumer at the same time.
On October 24, 1991, the Federal Communications Commission announced its
latest proposal for modifying the telphone company-cable television
cross ownership rules. These rules keep telephone companies (telcos) out
of the cable television business. The FCC enacted these rules in 1970
in an effort to protect the then fledgling cable industry from a range
of anticompetitive practices by telcos seeking to maintain control over
wireline communications.
Rather than directly address whether telcos can get into the cable
business, the Commission is proposing that telcos can offer a "video
dialtone": an open line into a telco-operated distribution network,
available on a common carrier basis, that others can fill with video
signals, much like telcos now provide an open line to the telephone
network that a subscriber purchases in order to fill with audio signals
or data. This proposal also reflects the Commission's attempts to
develop a policy framework that can accommodate video and other
enhanced electronic services offered over a single wire.
The Commission's Proposal
The Commission's video dialtone proposal was outlined in a three-part
release that described the Commission's scheme and reasoning and
requested public comment on it.
The first part holds the core of the Commission's proposal. This
section describes video dialtone as "an enriched version of video common
carriage under which local exchange carriers (LECs) will offer various
non-programming services in addition to the underlying video transport."
The report suggests that video dialtone will facilitate "the provision
of additional non- programming services and of enhanced video gateways
including detailed menus, information search capabilities, and subcriber
driven data processing." As such, it is a "'platform' through which
subscribers can access video and other information services."
The Commission has two models for how video dialtone might be
implemented and regulated. The first approach (which it clearly favors)
has two levels.
Level one is a platform that gives users access to video and non-video
services on a non-discriminatory, common carrier basis, regulated like
other basic telephone services. The platform would allow service
providers and subscribers to reach each other and would likely include
basic directory and routing functions.
On the second level, the LEC could provide its own advanced gateway and
related services on an unregulated basis, subject to competition from
other gateways and video services using the platform.
In the second approach, there is a single Advanced Gateway, through
which consumers could gain access to non-programming video services
(e.g., picturephone, videoconferencing) provided by either the LEC or
other service providers. In this single-level model, the LEC would
provide certain enhanced features, such as navigational aids and search
capabilities, menus and other information to make the gateway easy to
use.
The second part of the report was based on comments received in earlier
rounds of this proceeding. It reflects the Commission's interpretation
of current law.
First, the Commission has concluded that the cross-ownership ban does
not apply to interexchange carriers such as AT&T or MCI, but only to
LECs. As a result, interexchange carriers may enter the cable business
today, under the same conditions that apply to cable operators.
Second, the Commission has concluded that under a video dialtone model,
neither the telco, the programmer, nor the program packager is a cable
operator, and thus no party is obligated to obtain a cable franchise in
order to provide video service. (For all practical purposes, this
undercuts the process by which cable operators are allowed to wire
communities and removes the local community from decisions about the
local communications infrastructure.) By invoking its interpretive
authority, the Commission has chosen a strategy to promote telco
involvement in video that relieves it of having to ask Congress to
repeal the cross-ownership ban that was written into Federal law.
The third part of the report addresses two additional issues in a more
open-ended format. First, the Commission returns to the question of
whether LECs should be allowed to become video programmers themselves
and how the video dialtone model affects the issue. Second, the
Commission raises questions about whether the policy objectives it seeks
to promote are consistent with the incentives it provides. In
particular, the Commission asks whether Commission policies discourage
investment in advanced technology.
The EFF's Position
In presentations before the FCC the EFF argued that the Commission's
underlying principles are strong, but that the proposal needs additional
'debugging' before it becomes policy.
EFF's position is that the Commission's model of integrating video and
non-video services in a common-carriage based framework is an excellent
start.
EFF also fully supported the goals the Commission set for itself in this
proceeding: 1) to promote an advanced public infrastructure available at
reasonable charges ; 2) to foster competitive markets to meet advanced
communications needs ; and 3) to advance the bedrock First Amendment
value of diversity of information sources. Finally, the EFF agreed with
t