Tom Wheeler

The FCC recently announced that it intends to vote this month on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking aimed at creating a competitive retail market for video set-top boxes, a move that gives clear meaning to the biblical proverb “as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.” There are plenty of technologies and services available today through which consumers can get video programming. So what could be driving Chairman Tom Wheeler to stick his burnt finger back into the fire?

Unhappy with what they call an “obscure” proposal from FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler allowing consumers to buy set-top boxes that sounds an awful lot like the “AllVid” scheme they’ve been stridently resisting for months, the pay TV industry united Wednesday in a rhetorical show of strength.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is calling for new technical standards designed to spark a market for set-top boxes that could be sold independently at retail outlets.

Every city will soon see a transfer of airwave spectrum from broadcast TV to wireless Internet providers, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said today at the CES consumer electronics confab — 84 days before a long awaited auction takes place. “You’ll see a spectrum extravaganza,” Wheeler said of the plan. “That is going to be transformational.” He calls the broadcast airwaves “beachfront spectrum” due to its ability to reach big audiences, and penetrate walls. “This is opportunity, opportunity, opportunity.”

Five Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s telecom subcommittee are voicing their displeasure with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s performance at an oversight hearing last month. “While we appreciate your continued willingness to testify before our Committee this year, we are concerned that at our most recent hearing you were unable to give complete responses to nearly half of the questions posed directly to you by Democratic members of the Subcommittee,” the members said in a letter dated Dec. 2 that was obtained by The Hill.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on NBC’s broadcast of The Wiz Live Thursday: “During this time of year, we’re reminded that everyone should have access to the joy of the season. That’s why it’s ‘genius’ that Comcast and NBC Universal will enable Americans with vision loss to enjoy a live broadcast show, The Wiz Live, through visual description technology. Now, Americans with visual impairments across the country will be able to fully experience a lion get his courage, a scarecrow get his brain, and a tinman find his heart through this technology. It’s a historic first for live TV entertainment.”

The chairman tells Senate members who oppose his plan to drop the FCC’s network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules that the rules are unnecessary and may actually hinder “the market from operating in a fair and efficient manner” and could aggravate “the harm to consumers during retransmission consent disputes.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is tackling several priorities while in office, according to a counselor to the chairman, Gigi Sohn. Following is a look at what he’s focused on for the remainder of his term, as outlined by Sohn at the Practicing Law Institute’s webcast on Communications Law in the Digital Age.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s push to eliminate the exclusivity rules is on indefinite hold, according to an agency source. The NAB has been working to derail the effort, concerned in part that elimination of the rules would undermine broadcasters’ ability to negotiate for retrans fees.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested that wireless carriers that are being coy about how much they will participate in next year’s incentive auction of 600 MHz broadcast TV spectrum are simply positioning themselves and trying to throw off their competitors from discerning their true intentions.

The influential Democratic senator from New York Chuck Schumer tells FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that his proposed changes to the network non-duplication and syndication exclusivity rules are a mistake and no changes should be made without a comprehensive and “broad public dialogue with Congress and all the relevant stakeholders.”

Station broker Larry Patrick says FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is “tilting the field dramatically on the side of the cable and satellite people.” Others claim the big threat to local television is local advertisers and ad agencies in confusion” about new media. And another sees opportunity in local TV’s ability to serve the interests of their communities, they just need to do so more intensively than they are now.

The Incentive Auction, by which the FCC is to pay TV stations to surrender their spectrum and then resell that spectrum to wireless carriers, is to begin on March 29, 2016. Even more light was shed on the process Wednesday, in remarks made by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at the CTIA convention. In his remarks, he reiterated the intention of the FCC to begin the auction next March. He also indicated that more specific advice about auction procedures would be coming by a subsequent FCC Applications Procedures public notice in October.

They come to Washington to reinforce the importance of the commission’s network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity rules to the health of local TV broadcasting in the wake of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to scrap them.

Speaking at the the CTIA Show yesterday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said that when the convention reconvenes next year, “we will have concluded a successful incentive auction” and a process will be in place where 600 MHz spectrum will be available for new wireless services. “We’re going to have broadcasters showing up for this.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group shot down claims by the FCC that the agency’s intervention was the reason that Dish and Sinclair finally hammered out a new retransmission consent agreement.

After failing to come to a new retransmission consent agreement, 129 Sinclair Broadcast Group stations in 79 markets went dark on Dish Network Tuesday, affecting 5 million Dish customers. In response to the complaint filed by Dish requesting injunctive relief, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler directed the Media Bureau to convene an emergency meeting to bring back the local stations on Dish. Both parties have until midnight Wednesday to file their views.

Some may downplay FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plans to eliminate the network non-dupe and syndicated exclusivity rules, but that would be a mistake. The move means that cable and satellite operators have likely won the first battle in their campaign to rewrite the retrans rules and undermine broadcasters’ ability to negotiate for higher fees.

FCC Chairman Wheeler released a blog post Wednesday discussing a number of changes and proposed changes to rules impacting TV and radio broadcasters. While his blog contained good news for the radio industry, TV broadcasters are likely to be less pleased.

The FCC chairman proposes to eliminate the network non-dupe and syndicated exclusivity rules and to launch a review of the “good faith” provision of the retrans rules —  moves that could weaken broadcasters’ leverage in retrans negotiations.

The FCC hasn’t started the informal merger review clock on the Charter-Time Warner Cable deal because of a secret proposal Chairman Tom Wheeler is tying to the review process. Wheeler wants to weaken the legal standard used to determine if certain confidential information given to the commission in the course of a merger review can be shared with third parties. The proposal was circulated to the other four commissioners as part of the standard protective order for the Charter deals (which would start the merger clock).

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to reclassify some online video providers as multichannel video programming distributors is going to be another divisive, partisan issue, an all-too familiar pattern at the agency.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler defended the commission’s proposal to repack some television stations into the duplex gap, the space between uplink and downlink frequencies in the mobile wireless spectrum. If the FCC doesn’t have the option, Wheeler said it would “negatively” affect the cash broadcasters would get.

A diverse group of broadcasters and a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to think twice before repacking broadcasters in the so-called duplex gap because it would inhibit live news reporting and deprive consumers of next-generation services.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler decided Wednesday afternoon to pull two of three incentive auction items from the commission’s Thursday meeting agenda, the auction procedures item and the item on mobile spectrum holdings addressing how much spectrum will set aside for bidding by smaller wireless carriers. Even with postponing the two items, Wheeler said the broadcast incentive auction timeline remains “on course for the first quarter of 2016.”

This week’s FCC ruling that municipalities can no longer regulate the rates of local cable systems could have harmful consequences for broadcasters. It seems that under a certain interpretation, systems  would be able to move broadcast channels out of basic cable tiers that have the nice attribute of reaching 100% of subscribers, a potent weapon come retrans negotiating time. And that wasn’t the first piece of broadcasters’ retrans clout that the Wheeler FCC whittled away. What’s next?

Instead of looking at broadcasting as a antiquated service that should be stripped for spectrum, the FCC needs to start seeing it for what it is — an elegantly simple and inexpensive means of keeping every citizen in the national conversation. Instead of imposing burdensome new rules or tightening up restrictive old rules, the FCC should look for ways to lighten the regulatory load and strengthen the medium.

Today, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will circulate a plan to his fellow commissioners suggesting sweeping changes to a $1.7 billion subsidy program charged with ensuring that all Americans have affordable access to advanced telecommunications services, according to senior agency officials.

Charter Communications on Tuesday announced plans to buy Time Warner Cable for about $56 billion and acquire smaller cable provider Bright House Networks for about $10 billion. The Charter transaction gives FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, a former cable lobbyist-turned-regulator, a fresh chance to put his imprimatur on the rapidly evolving industry — and combat the impression that he’s become hostile to all industry consolidation.

When the FCC Incentive Auction task force released data on a simulation of the upcoming broadcast incentive spectrum auction Wednesday, GOP commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly promptly took the results and the process to task. Wheeler then pushed back in a press conference following the FCC’s regular monthly meeting on Thursday.

Many in Congress would no doubt like to stick it to FCC chief Tom Wheeler for some of his bold moves. Now they have a chance. Four senators have introduced a bill that would grandfather existing JSAs. Passage would give a nice boost to broadcasters who do nothing but provide a superior news and entertainment TV service to the American public free of charge. And it would show that Congress still has some say in FCC affairs. Addendum: The NAB is going to ask the FCC to give broadcasters more time to move their channels during the incentive auction repack. The FCC should grant it because it just can’t be done in 39 months.

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FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Wednesday that he is in favor of giving online video distributors some of the same rights as cable and satellite providers. He said the commission has “work to do” to clear obstacles to competition.

Stepping out from behind the podium in a symbolic gesture of breaking down barriers with a tough audience, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler used his NAB Show keynote speech to return to now-familiar themes to convince broadcasters that the auction was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He addressed some of the broadcasters’ questions, but not all of them, leaving the biggest concerns about the auction at home in Washington.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will be back in the witness chair this week, facing two more committees that intend to keep up the heat following the commission’s 3-2 party-line vote to treat Internet service as a utility.

Top White House aides met with the head of the FCC at least nine times while it was working on strong Internet regulations without telling the public, House Republicans revealed today.  Agency head Tom Wheeler defended the lack of disclosure about the meetings during a hearing in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, claiming that the tough new net neutrality rules never came up in those talks.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will appear before five congressional committees over the next two weeks, facing off with Republicans over his net neutrality plan.

The FCC will be sued by companies seeking to overturn net neutrality rules the agency passed last week, Chairman Tom Wheeler said. “The big dogs have promised that they’re going to litigate,” he said at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona today.

Amid heated allegations that he has allowed his agency to be a puppet for the White House, the head of the FCC has agreed to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month. Tom Wheeler, who initially declined to appear before the panel this week, will testify on the morning of March 17, committee spokeswoman M.J. Henshaw said.

Two prominent House committee chairs are “deeply disappointed” in FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for refusing to testify before Congress as “the future of the Internet is at stake.” Wheeler’s refusal to go before the House Oversight Committee today comes on the eve of the FCC’s vote on new Internet regulations pertaining to net neutrality. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton criticized Wheeler and the administration for lacking transparency on the issue.