NBCUniversal needs “reasonable access to peer deals” to...

NBCUniversal needs “reasonable access to peer deals” to “avoid forcing parties into costly and burdensome arbitration,” said the unit of Comcast about the benchmark condition in the 2011 FCC order letting the companies combine. It noted in an ex parte filing that the commission is reviewing a clarification order. The companies have said they can’t share content with online video distributors without access to OVDs’ deals with industry peers to NBCUniversal (CD Sept 3 p11). The filing posted Thursday to docket 10-56 (http://bit.ly/1cs6tGZ) said participants at the lobbying meeting with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly included NBCUniversal Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Meredith Baker -- an FCC member when the deal was approved -- Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen and Senior Vice President-Regulatory and State Legislative Affairs Kathy Zachem. As “the success of Wi-Fi has placed great stress on existing unlicensed spectrum resources,” Comcast -- in a separate FCC meeting on the same day as the O'Rielly conversation -- asked top aides to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler for the agency to focus on “enabling additional Wi-Fi access.” That can occur in the 5 GHz band through designating more spectrum for unlicensed use, Cohen and Zachem told Wheeler aides, recounted another ex parte filing that was posted Friday in docket 13-184 (http://bit.ly/19mFBuR). Many connections to high-speed broadband in classrooms likely will be through Wi-Fi devices, the filing said FCC Chief of Staff Ruth Milkman, Senior Counselor Phil Verveer and Special Counsel Diane Cornell were told.