Davis Wright Tremaine's Broadband Law Advisor Blog Is Now Live

Following the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) release of the National Broadband Plan in March, the Commission announced that for the next several years, it anticipates holding more than 60 proceedings, workshops, roundtables and other activities related to the Plan, including nearly 30 events this year alone. In fact, at yesterday's FCC open meeting, the Commissioners adopted several broadband-related proceedings focusing on E-Rate reform, wireless broadband and pole attachments.

These proceedings follow the Commission's earlier adoption of a mobile broadband roaming order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), a cybersecurity Notice of Inquiry (NOI), a CableCARD NPRM and gateway devices NOI, a Universal Service Fund High-Cost Reform NOI/NPRM, and a broadband network survivability NOI. The FCC is currently accepting public comments on all of these adoptions. The Commission also recently announced that it planned to discuss Chairman Julius Genachowski's recent Title II reclassification proposal in June.

To help keep track of the myriad broadband-related proceedings and other events slated for the next few years, we created the Broadband Law Advisor blog. By subscribing to the Advisor, you will receive timely notices of the FCC's adoption of broadband-related orders, rulemakings and inquiries, including comment and reply comment deadlines.

The Advisor will also give you access to the pertinent documents related to these events, including FCC meeting agendas, copies of released orders, rulemakings and inquiries, Commissioner statements and links to relevant case law and FCC regulations.

You will also be notified of relevant DWT advisories, such as our discussion of the CableCARD/gateway devices proceedings, the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Comcast network management case, and of course our in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the Plan when it was first released to the public.

To subscribe to the Broadband Law Advisor, please visit the site at http://www.broadbandlawadvisor.com and sign up for e-mail alerts or RSS feeds, or simply send an e-mail to Brian Hurh and ask to be added to the Broadband Law Advisor!

Recent Updates

Posted on May 20, 2010

FCC Adopts Proceedings on E-Rate Reform, Pole Attachments and Wireless Broadband

At its May 20 open meeting today, the Commission continued its efforts to implement the recommendations of the Broadband Plan by unanimously adopting three more broadband-related proceedings to accompany the handful of proceedings adopted in April.

Posted on May 14, 2010

FCC Releases Commission Meeting Agenda for May 20 Open Meeting

The FCC has released the final agenda for its May 20 open meeting, which will begin at 10:30 am in Room TW-C305.

As indicated in its tentative agenda released late last month, the Commission will consider five new agenda items, including three broadband-related items concerning mobile broadband use in the WCS band, reforms to the E-Rate program to make broadband more accessible to schools and libraries, and implementation of Broadband Plan recommendations regarding pole attachments (which we had commented on earlier).

Posted on May 14, 2010

Comment Dates Set for Smart Video Set-Top Devices NOI and CableCARD FNPRM

Comment dates for the last of the FCC's National Broadband Plan agenda items from its April 21 open meeting have been set. The "Smart Video Device" NOI, which seeks comment on the potential retail market for "smart set-top video devices" that would be compatible with all MVPD (including cable, satellite and telco) video services, was published in the Federal Register today. Initial comments are due by July 13, 2010, and reply comments are due by August 12, 2010.

Also published in today's Federal Register was the FNPRM that seeks to establish new "interim" CableCARD rules until the FCC's gateway regime emerges. Comments for this FNPRM are due by June 14, 2010, and reply comments are due by June 28, 2010.

For further insight into the issues raised in these two proceedings, please read our DWT advisory on the matter, or contact Brian Hurh for more information.

Posted on May 13, 2010

Comment Dates Set for USF Reform NOI and NPRM

As part of the FCC's implementation of the National Broadband Plan, the FCC adopted at its April 21 open meeting an NOI/NPRM to launch its renewed effort to reform the universal service high cost fund. This proceeding has now been published in the Federal Register, thus starting the comment period for both the NOI and the NPRM. Initial comments are due by July 12, 2010, with replies due August 11, 2010.

For additional information about the USF reform proceeding, please contact Danielle Frappier.

(This leaves the Cable Gateway NOI/CableCARD FNPRM proceeding as the last item from the April 21 open meeting that has yet to be published in the Federal Register. We will post the comment dates for this proceeding as soon as they are available.)