FCC Imposes New Cable Television Customer Notice Requirement: April 2008: DTV transition education notice mandatory
[Mar. 2008]

By James F. Ireland and Fred W. Giroux

Beginning in late April 2008, all cable television operators will be required to provide specific customer notices in monthly bills to educate customers about the digital television (DTV) transition. All cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) should take immediate steps to comply with the notification requirements outlined in this advisory.

FCC Releases Text of Leased Access Order
[Feb. 2008]

By Maria T. Browne and Steven J. Horvitz

The FCC has now released the text of the Commercial Leased Access (“CLA”) Report and Order it adopted in late November. The Order drastically reduces the rates cable operators may charge for the lease of channel capacity. It establishes a 10 cent per subscriber per month cap on CLA rates, but also creates a complicated formula likely to produce actual CLA rates well below that amount.

New FCC Telephone Privacy Rules Effective Dec. 8, 2007 [Dec. 2007]

By James M. Smith

On Dec. 6, 2007, the FCC announced that approval of its new CPNI (customer proprietary network information) regulations affecting every telephone service provider has been granted by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The new rules will take effect at midnight on Dec. 7, 2007.

FCC Now Accepting Applications for Non-Exclusive 3.6 GHz Wireless Licenses [Dec. 2007]

Interference-protection equipment required, WiMAX use limited; spectrum most applicable to smaller markets

By Theresa Cavanaugh and Chris Fedeli

In mid-November, the FCC began accepting applications for non-exclusive, nationwide licenses in the 3650-3700 MHz band. First adopted in 2005, this licensing scheme is being implemented as a hybrid of the traditional exclusive licensing regime—in which only one party is authorized to use wireless frequencies in any given area—and the unlicensed model (currently applicable to the 2.4 GHz band), in which certain spectrum bands may be used by any party, without FCC notice or approval. A significant difference for new licensees of the 3.6 GHz spectrum is the required use of interference-avoiding equipment.

FCC Proposes Vast Changes to the Federal Regulatory Scheme Governing Cable, Broadband and Telecommunications Pole Attachment Rates, Terms and Conditions
[Nov. 2007]

By Maria T. Browne, Jill M. Valenstein, James W. Tomlinson, and Chris Fedeli

On Nov. 20 the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) addressing pole attachment rental rates, certain terms and conditions of pole access, and whether Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) are entitled to the protections of Section 224 of the Communications Act ("Pole Act"). The NPRM puts in play long-standing FCC rules and regulations, including the well-established "cable rate" formula, and proposes to reconsider and possibly revise significant aspects of the long-settled cost-based approach to setting pole rates. Although the FCC reached different conclusions in earlier rulemakings, the momentous changes and rate increases proposed in the NPRM are purportedly based on the FCC's obligation to promote competition and the deployment of broadband infrastructure.

Warning: Immediate Action Required by All Providers of Telephone or VoIP Services to Comply with New FCC CPNI Rules [Nov. 2007]

By James M. Smith and Paul B. Hudson

As we have advised previously, on or about December 8, 2007, every company that provides telephone-type services—including interconnected VoIP service providers, as well as cable television operators that offer a telephony product and traditional telecommunications carriers (wireline CLECs, IXCs, and ILECs, and wireless carriers)—will become subject to new, expanded FCC regulations designed to protect the privacy of customer telephone records (customer proprietary network information or CPNI). This is to remind our clients that the compliance deadline is fast approaching.