WASHINGTON—After nearly 15 years at the helm of the NCTA, Michael K. Powell has announced he will retire later this year from the cable industry-backed group, capping a long career of leadership in the cable and broadband industries that also included serving as the chair of the Federal Communications Commission.

“Michael has been an unwavering champion for our industry,” said Mark Greatrex, chairman of the NCTA Board of Directors and president of Cox Communications. “He has been our most gifted storyteller, representing us with passion and expertise. His strategic insight and commitment have shaped the cable industry’s most significant achievements, and his leadership will be greatly missed.”

“Serving this incredible industry has been deeply rewarding. NCTA is unique—working at the intersection of broadband innovation and creative video content has been an extraordinary experience. But above all, I have been fortunate to work alongside talented, committed, and caring colleagues,” said Powell.

During his tenure, Powell strengthened NCTA’s role in shaping public policy and guiding the broadband and entertainment industries through rapid transformation. Under his leadership, NCTA successfully championed policies that expanded broadband access, encouraged technological innovation, and advanced a competitive digital marketplace.

Prior to his tenure at NCTA, Powell served as chairman of the FCC between 2001 and 2005 during the George W. Bush administration, playing a critical role in shaping modern telecommunications policy. His expertise in technology, regulation, and industry evolution has made him one of Washington’s most respected figures, the NCTA said.

“His deep understanding of the regulatory landscape, coupled with his forward-thinking approach, has enabled our industry to thrive in an increasingly competitive and technologically complex environment,” Greatrex added.

The NCTA said that its board will begin a national search for Powell’s successor to ensure a smooth leadership transition and continued advocacy for the future of the internet and television industries.

In a statement, Chris Winfrey, president and CEO Charter Communications said: “Michael has been an exceptional champion of our great industry for the past 15 years - through both the substance of his leadership and talented communication skills. He has led the NCTA and our industry through a period of incredible growth and change, and adeptly navigated the many regulatory and legislative matters, allowing our businesses to best serve our customers’ connectivity needs. We wish him well and look forward to continuing our partnership with the NCTA.”

FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel's proposal to revive net neutrality rules produced mixed, mostly predictable, reactions from consumer and industry groups with the NCTA and the senior Republican appointee on the agency Brendan Carr opposing the idea while some Democratic party lawmakers and consumer groups applauded the move. 

The NAB declined to comment on the proposal. 

Rosenworcel made the proposal shortly after Anna Gomez was sworn in as an FCC commissioner, ending a lengthy deadlock. 

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said that the new Democratic majority would allow the FCC to take action on key consumer priorities, including restoring net neutrality protections gutted under the Trump Administration.

“With the swearing in of Anna Gomez, the FCC finally has the power to take action on the priorities important to the American people, from delivering on net neutrality and expanding affordable broadband access to strengthening local news,” Sen. Cantwell said. “I’m looking forward to working with the Commission to accomplish an agenda that puts consumers first.”

Cantwell also noted that a recent poll by the University of Maryland found that 72 percent of Americans support reinstating net neutrality and that she has been a leading advocate to protect and restore net neutrality rules. Last year, Sen. Cantwell co-sponsored the Net Neutrality and Broadband Justice Act to accurately classify broadband internet access as a telecommunications service under Title II of the Communications Act, giving the FCC the appropriate authority to reinstate net neutrality protections.

In contrast, Commissioner Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the FCC issued a statement citing a study by former President Obama’s lawyers on internet regulation that found the effort to impose Title II regulation “would be struck down” by the courts and was a “serious mistake.” 

“The two respected lawyers—who represented the federal government before the Supreme Court during the Obama Administration—expressly lauded the goals of net neutrality,” Carr said in a statement. “Nonetheless, they concluded that Title II regulation of the Internet `would be struck down’ and `would be a serious mistake.’ I agree with President Obama’s lawyers.”

“First, the two senior Obama Administration alums are correct that, in their words, an FCC decision classifying broadband internet access service as Title II telecommunications service would ‘bring about an enormous and transformative expansion in [the agency’s] regulatory authority . . . over the national economy.’  Continuing, they rightly state that regulating the Internet as a Title II utility service `would vastly expand the Commission’s authority and would transform the way a federal agency regulates a vitally important element of our economy and the personal and social lives of hundreds of millions of Americans.’”

“Second, President Obama’s lawyers are correct in stating that any decision by the FCC to apply Title II, utility-style regulations to the Internet `would be struck down by the Supreme Court’ under the major questions doctrine, as West Virginia v. EPA makes clear. Indeed, as the two appellate lawyers succinctly put it last week, the legal question `is an easy one.’”

“As a former General Counsel of the FCC myself, I would encourage my Commission colleagues to heed the judicious guidance offered by these top lawyers from the Obama Administration and focus the FCC’s work on the numerous, important subjects that Congress has authorized the Commission to address—from rural broadband and public safety to spectrum and national security—rather than pursuing the Biden Administration’s unnecessary and unlawful plan for exerting government control over the Internet,”  he concluded. “Heading down the path to Title II would not only push vital FCC matters onto the back burner, it would knock many of them off the stove altogether.”

In a statement Republican-appointed Commissioner Nathan Simington noted that "it has now been nearly six years since we repealed the net neutrality rules, and as far as I know, no one has died yet, nor have any other of the solemnly predicted catastrophes come to pass."

Simington also joined Commissioner Brendan Carr in expressing some doubts about the use of Title II to rein in potential abuses by ISPs but focused much of his attention on big tech companies who would profit from the revival of net neutrality rules.

These big tech companies have funded “an obsession” with net neutrality that obscured the real issue, which is an attempt by big tech “to monopolize…the internet economy” and make sure “they and only they are allowed to reap the massive profits of the internet ecosystem," Simington said in a statement.

The misleading net neutrality debate around “free speech was just the public front for what was really a campaign of industrial lawfare,” by big tech and large streaming companies, he argued.

Michael Powell, president and of the CEO, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association that is backed by cable operators also slammed the plan. 

“The FCC has made clear its desire to launch new net neutrality rules, surfacing new ever-shifting rationales,” Powell said. “The original justification for accessing sweeping Title II authority has become obviously thin. ISPs continue to invest heavily, build ever-faster networks, and have kept those networks open. For two decades, there has been only one two-year period in which the FCC applied Title II to the internet, yet the internet has been open throughout because it makes business sense to offer it that way.”

“The proposed rules may complicate, if not deeply upset, our collective efforts to bring internet to rural and unserved communities,” he concluded. “These rules set out very heavy regulations that complicate the calculus of deploying networks in expensive, risky, and hard-to-serve markets. The FCC’s actions only add to that burden, and we fear net neutrality will lead to net fatality.”

Powell also predicted that “this will be a drawn out, messy proceeding with lots of wasted expense to get rules that might not survive the next election and are unlikely to pass constitutional muster when they reach the Supreme Court, which they inevitably will.”

Support for the idea came from consumer groups like Common Cause that have long backed the idea. 

Michael Copps, former FCC Commissioner and Common Cause special adviser backed the proposal by arguing that “to allow a handful of monopoly-aspiring gate-keepers to control access to the internet is a direct threat to our democracy. Anyone hoping to be a full participant in our society must have access to an open internet that serves the people’s needs. So much of our lives now takes place online that without an internet serving the public interest, we are short-changing ourselves and our country. Congratulations to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel for her courageous leadership to bring net neutrality back.”

Ishan Mehta, Common Cause Media and Democracy Program director also supported the move. “The Internet has fundamentally changed how people are civically engaged and is critical to participating in society today,” Mehta said. “It is the primary communications platform, a virtual public square and has been a powerful organizing tool, allowing social justice movements to gain momentum and widespread support. We look forward to the reinstatement net neutrality protections, and the control of the Internet returning to the American people instead of Internet providers.”

"The repeal of Net Neutrality during the Trump Administration left access to broadband unregulated and consumers unprotected,” Meta added. “As a result we saw broadband providers throttle popular video streaming services, degrade video quality forcing customers to pay higher prices for improved quality, offer service plans that favor their own services over competitors, and make hollow, voluntary, and unenforceable promises not to disconnect their customers during the pandemic.”

WISPA, which has approximately 1000 members who provide fixed broadband connectivity, and include equipment suppliers, support services, and other industry partners and stakeholders criticized the idea.

“Though details remain to be seen, such a move to reimpose twentieth-century utility-style rules are not needed at this time,” said Louis Peraertz, vice president of policy for WISPA – Broadband Without Boundaries. “The marketplace has thrived in the very absence of such regulation. Low prices, capex output, and technological and service innovation abound. Further, more customers than ever receive broadband, with this number growing each day. Smaller ISPs in particular should not be saddled with burdensome regulations. WISPA has long stood against common carrier regulation of its members’ services. Though Title II would allow access to poles, conduits and rights-of-way for broadband providers – something not automatically granted to ISPs today – its cost, and what it augurs for the future of regulation, outweigh that benefit.  And if the FCC is concerned about the patchwork of state laws, that can be resolved through federal preemption that relaxes regulatory burdens, not increases them.”          

“Quite simply, Title II is for a bygone time, not for a time when companies are actively competing for broadband customers and the government is prepared to provide billions in funding for broadband deployment,” he continued. “That noted, we look forward to learning more and working with the Commission and other stakeholders on this important matter, which, ultimately, we believe demands legislation from Congress.”

NEW YORK--The Next TV Summit will be presented on Thursday, Nov. 1, at the Westin New York as the closing event for Future’s NYC Television Week. Multichannel News asked Joe Schramm, president of Schramm Marketing Group, and the producer of the Next TV Summit, what attendees can expect at this year’s event.

MCN: What’s the focus of this year’s Next TV Summit?

Joe Schramm: The Next TV Summit is about planning for what the business of TV and video will become by 2021. The industry is disrupted, and is more competitive and requires strategic decisions for what’s ahead. So, our theme is, “mapping for the future of TV & video.” We take a holistic view of the fresh growth opportunities throughout the industry where individuals and companies can successfully compete for customers, viewers and advertisers. There’s been more change in the industry in the last three years than the 30 years I’ve been here — I’ve never seen as much change as there is currently. It’s hard to keep up. In one single day, an attendee at the Next TV Summit can get a good understanding of how these changes affect their professional success in the next three years.

MCN: What topics are you addressing at the summit?

JS: We mix giants of traditional TV with leaders in nontraditional and digital media, data and technology. We address revenues and financial requirements needed for successful launches of new services, as well as identify how to select content in an environment of multiplying platforms like over-the-top, mobile, smart TVs, TV-connected devices, VR, and AR. There’s a panel on the shifting landscape of content distribution, and there will be two super sessions, one on technology and OTT and the other focused on marketing and advertising. In addition, there will be keynote discussions with leading executives from Google, Nielsen and NCTA–The Internet and Television Association, as well as a duo of interviews with former cable TV CEOs who are now reinventing and adapting their careers by innovating new businesses ready for tomorrow’s TV and video environment.

MCN: What are some highlights that attendees can expect at the Next TV Summit?

JS: The whole agenda is exciting, but some of the highlights include NCTA president and CEO Michael Powell, who will share where cable is leveraging new opportunities. Jen Koester of Google will focus on distribution models and Andrew McCollum of Philo discusses the “affordable” option for consumer access to video. There’s a unique set of back-to-back fireside chats about innovation, adapting and reinventing one’s self, featuring John Hendricks, the founder of Discovery Channel, and Jon Klein, former CNN president. The closing features a presentation of recent viewership findings from Peter Katsingris of Nielsen.

MCN: Who should attend this summit?

JS: Anyone who intends to still be working in the TV and video industry in three years, including managers and senior executives as well as newcomers from traditional media, new digital media platforms, technology, advertising, audience research and measurement.I would especially encourage women and people of color who want to be part of this business in 2021.

The Next TV Summit will be held Nov. 1 at the Westin New York Hotel, 270 W. 43rd St at Eighth Avenue. Doors open at 8:30.

To register, click here.

ATLANTA—At the SCTE-ISBE CableTecExpo 2018 Expo, cable TV leaders will outline how the cable industry is harnessing their organizations’ strengths to advance near- and long-term technology deployments that could help the industry maintain its leadership role amidst rapid marketplace changes.

Michael Powell, president/CEO of NCTA, Phil McKinney, president/CEO of CableLabs and Mark Dzuban, president/CEO of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and its global arm the International Society of Broadband Experts, will participate in the Opening General Session panel, "An Integrated Circuit: Closing the Links Between Innovation, Deployment and ROI.” The panel will take place Tuesday, Oct. 23, and will be moderated by Tony Werner, president, technology and product, Comcast Cable. Cox Communications President Pat Esser will keynote the Opening General Session. The 2018 Cable-Tec Expo runs Oct. 22-25. 

“The cable industry’s leadership in deploying new technologies has been a cornerstone of our mission to provide consumers with services that make their lives better,” said Powell, who served as Chairman of the FCC from 2001 to 2005 and an FCC Commissioner for eight years. “As technology continues to transform connectivity and entertainment, our organizations will lay the foundation for rapid implementation of next-generation products that will … meet consumer demand.”

According to McKinney, who joined CableLabs in 2012 after retiring from HewlettPackard, "When we look at the next 10 years, we see tremendous opportunities, not only for cable, but for cable’s impact on healthcare, education, automotive, and any industry that requires access to highspeed broadband.”

SCTE and ISBE claim their combined efforts have spurred development of training, certification and standards that have accelerated the time-to-market and ROI for products that are maintaining cable’s competitive edge.

Early bird registration for SCTE-ISBE CableTec Expo 2018 is now available.

WASHINGTON—The leadership at the Internet & Television Association (NCTA) will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future, as current President and CEO Michael Powell has been given a three-year contract extension.

Powell joined NCTA in 2011 and serves as an advocate, spokeperson and representative for the cable industry with Congress, the president’s administration, the FCC and other federal agencies.

Powell is a former chairman of the FCC under Bill Clinton and continued under George W. Bush until 2005.

WASHINGTON—In a sit down last week with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and Nirali Patel, acting legal advisor to the commissioner, Michael Powell, president and CEO of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, made the case for ATSC 1.0 simulcasting to be a requirement as part of any planned rollout of the ATSC 3.0 next gen TV standard.

Powell made the case for what was described as “robust simulcasting requirements” from the FCC during any transition period in a voluntary ATSC 3.0 roll-out. Particularly, Powell brought up a requirement that the broadcaster’s ATSC 1.0 signal continue to be transmitted in the same format prior to the transmission of a companion ATSC 3.0 signal. This would allow consumers to receive HD signals without requiring the purchase of a new TV set that could handle ATSC 3.0.

NCTA also called for simulcasting requirements to be maintained until the FCC determines that they should be lifted. There was also a discussion that the FCC should make clear that it will scrutinize efforts by broadcasters to obtain premature carriage of ATSC 3.0 by “unreasonably withholding access to ATSC 1.0 signals.”

A vote on the voluntary roll-out of ATSC 3.0 is scheduled to take place on Nov. 16. The draft text of the order that will be voted on was released by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and does not require broadcasters to continue to deliver HD. That draft is eligible to be changed prior to the vote.

NCTA Senior Vice President, Law & Regulatory Policy, Rick Chessen also took part in the meeting and filed an ex parte on it.

For a comprehensive list of TV Technology’s ATSC 3.0 coverage, see our ATSC3 silo.