Broadband and Cable Industry Law 2010

Overview

Recently admitted NY attorneys: This program is accredited for transitional CLE credit

Why You Should Attend

What will the new administration's focus on broadband and technology initiatives mean to your client or company? Attend this renowned and substantially revamped program and hear cutting edge analysis of federal initiatives and FCC regulations; plus, examine current case law, the latest technology forecasts, and market trends. Join the country's leading outside and in-house counsel representing cable operators, cable programmers, municipalities, and online service providers - and the regulators themselves - to gain an understanding of what has transpired in broadband and cable law over the past year and of where we might be heading.

What You Will Learn

• The National Broadband Plan: where does cable fit?
• What are the policy implications of online video distribution?
• Should there be a 5th net neutrality principle?
• Should IP-to-IP interconnection be subject to the rights and obligations applicable to traditional interconnection or left to private negotiations?
• Indecency, product placement, children’s television regulation - how has the law developed over the last year?
• How should DOJ and the FCC approach media industry mergers?
• What privacy issues are raised by behavioral and targeted advertising (video and Internet)?
• How will persons with disabilities access new technologies and services over the Internet, video, and phone?  Will new regulation be required?

Special Features

Live Webcast - Simultaneous live webcast of the San Francisco session is available for individual viewing. Webcast participants will receive streaming audio and/or video of the program, view and print the Course Handbook, and have the ability to submit questions electronically.

For more information click on the Live Webcast link in the Related Items box.

Special Bonus to all Registrants

All attendees receive a complimentary copy of PLI's comprehensive Course Handbook. This softcover, bound volume was written to augment this program and to stand alone as a permanent reference. PLI's Course Handbooks represent the definitive thinking of the nation's finest legal minds, and are often the standard reference in the field.

Please Note: Webcast attendees will receive a downloadable version of the Handbook one business day prior to the program.

PLI Group Discounts

Groups of 4-14 from the same organization, all registering at the same time, for a PLI program scheduled for presentation at the same site, are entitled to receive a group discount. For further discount information, please contact membership@pli.edu or call (800) 260-4PLI.

PLI Can Arrange Group Viewing to Your Firm

Contact the Groupcasts Department via email at groupcasts@pli.edu for more details.

Cancellations

All cancellations received 3 business days prior to the program will be refunded 100%. If you do not cancel within the allotted time period, payment is due in full. You may substitute another individual to attend the program at any time.

Schedule

Please plan to arrive with enough time to register before the conference begins. A networking breakfast will be available upon your arrival.

Day One: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Morning Session: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00  Program Overview

Benjamin J. Griffin

9:15  Overview: Changes for Cable in 2010

• What do we see from the new FCC and new Congress? 
• How do their priorities and approach differ from those of their predecessors?
• What will be the “hot topics” of 2010 for cable?
• The National Broadband Plan: where does cable fit?
  - Implications for broadband policy?
  - Implications for video?
  - How will broadband stimulus funding affect your business?

Daniel L. Brenner, W. Kenneth Ferree, Gigi B. Sohn

10:15  TV Everywhere and Other Cross-Platform Proposals and IP Video

• What are the latest developments in content distribution?
• What are the communications/copyright law issues raised by the delivery of IP video to PC and ultimately directly to televisions?
• Implications of programmers’ deals with cable operators to allow cable subscribers exclusive access to the nets online?

Daniel L. Brenner, Parul P. Desai, Michael E. Olsen

11:15  Networking Break

11:30  Access to Cable Plant and Programming

• Net neutrality issues:
  - What constitutes reasonable network management?
  - Should there be additional net neutrality principles?
• Program access issues:  
  - Will the FCC eliminate the terrestrial exception to the program access rules?  
  - Do competitors have a right to access HD programming if they already have the SD stream?

Lynn R. Charytan, Lesla J. Lehtonen, Aparna Sridhar

12:30  Lunch

Afternoon Session: 1:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

1:45  Franchising 2010

• Is there a continued role for municipalities in cable regulation as everything moves to the Internet?
• How have the new statewide franchise laws around the country affected cable operators and municipalities?
• What is the role of franchising authorities in cable operator decisions to move PEG and other analog channels to digital-only?

Kenneth S. Fellman, Barry Fraser, Michael Morris

2:45  Networking Break

3:00  Voice Competition: IP Interconnection 

• Should VoIP providers be able to obtain interconnection directly rather than through a competitive local exchange carrier?
• Should competitors be able to demand IP-to-IP interconnection
• What are implications of incumbent telco migration to VoIP for 1996 Act interconnection regime?
• Should IP-to-IP interconnection be subject to the rights and obligations applicable to traditional interconnection or left to private negotiations?

Joe Gillan, Brian A. Rankin

4:00  Cable Content Regulation: Indecency, Children’s Programming, Product Placement

• Indecency, product placement, children’s television regulation - how has the law developed over the last year?
• Is there a need for more content regulation?  Does the distinction between broadcast and cable remain valid?
• Will programmers end up more directly regulated by FCC?

Diane Burstein, Robert Corn-Revere, Tim Winter

5:00  Adjourn

Day Two: 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

9:00  Antitrust Issues in Communications Policy

• Do ILECs and broadband providers control “essential facilities”?
• Should programming be offered on an “a la carte” basis to distributors? to retail consumers?
• How should DOJ and the FCC approach media industry mergers?

Robert A. Sacks, Harvey I. Saferstein

10:15  Networking Break

10:30  Latest in Privacy Issues

• What privacy issues are raised by behavioral and targeted advertising (video and internet)?
• What type of customer consent should be required for participation?
• How do new technologies raise new privacy concerns?

Paul Glist, David Sohn

11:30  Developments in Cable Technology

• What does the recent DVR decision mean for the industry?
• How will persons with disabilities access new technologies and services over the Internet, video, and phone?  Will new regulation be required?
• What’s next?

Jud Cary, Rosaline Hayes Crawford, Paul Glist

12:30  Adjourn

Faculty

Chairperson(s)

Benjamin J. Griffin, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

Speaker(s)

Daniel L. Brenner, Hogan & Hartson LLP
Diane Burstein, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, National Cable Television Association
Jud Cary, Vice President of Video Technology Policy and Deputy General Counsel, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
Lynn R. Charytan, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
Robert Corn-Revere, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Rosaline Hayes Crawford, Director, Law and Advocacy Center, National Association of the Deaf
Parul P. Desai, Media Access Project
Kenneth S. Fellman, Kissinger & Fellman, P.C.
W. Kenneth Ferree, President, Progress and Freedom Foundation
Barry Fraser, Telecommunications Policy Analyst, City and County of San Francisco, Department of Technology
Joe Gillan, Gillan Associates
Paul Glist, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Lesla J. Lehtonen, Vice President, Legal & Regulatory Affairs, CA Cable & Telecommunications Assn
Michael Morris, Video Franchising & Broadband Deployment Group, California Public Utilities Commission - Video Franchising & Broadband Deployment Grp Commctns Div
Michael E. Olsen, Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Cablevision Systems Corporation
Brian A. Rankin, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief Telephony Counsel, Comcast Cable Communications, LLC
Robert A. Sacks, Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP
Harvey I. Saferstein, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, P.C.
Gigi B. Sohn, President and Co-Founder, Public Knowledge
David Sohn, Senior Policy Counsel, Center for Democracy and Technology
Aparna Sridhar, Policy Counsel, Free Press
Tim Winter, President, Parents Television Council

Program Attorney(s)

Grace O'Hanlon, Practising Law Institute

CLE Credit

Travel Information

Due to high demand we recommend reserving hotel rooms as early as possible.