The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.
FCC
Connect2Health Task Force
The FCC’s Connect2Health Task Force announced that the next stops in its “Beyond the Beltway Series” will be Cleveland, Ohio, on October 26, 2015; and Detroit, Michigan, on October 27-28, 2015. The Connect2HealthFCC “Beyond the Beltway Series” relates to the Task Force’s ongoing efforts to promote the transformative power of broadband technologies and next-generation communications services to improve access to health care services regardless of geography, time, distance, or socioeconomic factors. The focus in these Midwest cities will be on leveraging broadband technology to help reduce health disparities and on identifying opportunities to further encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the broadband health technology space.
Consumer Advisory Committee
The FCC announced that the next meeting of the Committee will take place on Monday, October 26, 2015, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Committee will consider a recommendation from its Open Internet Order Consumer Disclosure Task Force regarding a proposed Open Internet enhanced transparency rule disclosure format as required by the Open Internet Order. (In that Order, the FCC adopted new, more specific and detailed disclosure requirements involving commercial terms, network performance characteristics, and network practices. It also directed the Committee to formulate and submit a proposed disclosure format by no later than October 31, 2015. Broadband providers that voluntarily adopt the format will be presumed to be in compliance with the requirement to make transparency disclosures in a format that meets the needs of consumers (but not edge providers). TMI Briefing Service subscribers see Briefing dated 3/20/15. The Committee is also expected to consider a recommendation presented by its Universal Service Working Group regarding modernization of the Lifeline program.
Incentive Auction
As part of the its ongoing outreach effort regarding the broadcast television spectrum incentive auction, the FCC Bureau will host a webinar regarding recent modifications to the Part 1 rules governing designated entities and other auction-related matters, including joint bidding. The webinar will take place on October 28, 2015, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. An agenda will be announced prior to the event.
