AT&T apparent ousting of Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn after controversy over the company's hiring of Donald Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen (see 1805090080) isn't going to change how lobbying is practiced in Washington or by AT&T, experts said. Unless other related issues come up, there's no long-term damage to AT&T and "people move on," said professor David Rehr, who teaches legislative advocacy at George Mason University's Scalia Law School and used to be NAB head. He said government relations offices or corporate personnel might be more careful in vetting who interacts with the administration. "Everyone is going to go 'better double-check that person,'" Rehr said.
DOJ rather than the FCC is seen as the more likely to attempt to block the combination of T-Mobile and Sprint, proposed Sunday (see 1804290001). Review could drag on for up to a year, but in early days, observers said odds it will face regulatory hurdles are difficult to gauge, with some setting odds of approval at 50/50 or lower. Like AT&T/Time Warner, how DOJ reacts is likely to be widely watched as a key test of Trump administration takeover policy, the officials said. Former government officials said the Donald Trump administration contains both populist and more traditionally Republican elements and it's difficult to figure out who is in charge. Also Monday, closing arguments were held Monday in DOJ’s antitrust case against AT&T/Time Warner: 1804300020; and T-Mobile/Sprint was getting attention on Capitol Hill: 1804300057.
DOJ rather than the FCC is seen as the more likely to attempt to block the combination of T-Mobile and Sprint, proposed Sunday (see 1804290001). Review could drag on for up to a year, but in early days, observers said odds it will face regulatory hurdles are difficult to gauge, with some setting odds of approval at 50/50 or lower. Like AT&T/Time Warner, how DOJ reacts is likely to be widely watched as a key test of Trump administration takeover policy, the officials said. Former government officials said the Donald Trump administration contains both populist and more traditionally Republican elements and it's difficult to figure out who is in charge. Also Monday, closing arguments were held Monday in DOJ’s antitrust case against AT&T/Time Warner: 1804300020; and T-Mobile/Sprint was getting attention on Capitol Hill: 1804300057.
Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to combine in a deal that would see the resulting wireless carrier take the T-Mobile name and be under some of that company's leadership. Foes of consolidation are likely to oppose the deal at the FCC and perhaps at DOJ, too, they told us Sunday immediately after the transaction was disclosed. The companies said in a statement that joining would help them roll out 5G: "Neither company standing alone can create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth required to fuel the next wave of mobile Internet innovation in the U.S. and answer competitive challenges from abroad."
Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to combine in a deal that would see the resulting wireless carrier take the T-Mobile name and be under some of that company's leadership. Foes of consolidation are likely to oppose the deal at the FCC and perhaps at DOJ, too, they told us Sunday immediately after the transaction was disclosed. The companies said in a statement that joining would help them roll out 5G: "Neither company standing alone can create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth required to fuel the next wave of mobile Internet innovation in the U.S. and answer competitive challenges from abroad."
Sprint and T-Mobile agreed to combine in a deal that would see the resulting wireless carrier take the T-Mobile name and be under some of that company's leadership. Foes of consolidation are likely to oppose the deal at the FCC and perhaps at DOJ, too, they told us Sunday immediately after the transaction was disclosed. The companies said in a statement that joining would help them roll out 5G: "Neither company standing alone can create a nationwide 5G network with the breadth and depth required to fuel the next wave of mobile Internet innovation in the U.S. and answer competitive challenges from abroad."
Despite some progress in a decade-old fight over the FCC's embattled 2008 leased access rules, there's no clear picture as to what -- if anything -- the agency will do next, with implementation facing big hurdles and some seeing the possibility of the agency instead seeking to roll them back. “I don’t think anybody cares,” said Georgetown Institute for Public Representation lawyer Andy Schwartzman, since the tougher rules former Republican Chairman Kevin Martin tried to put in place never went into effect.
The FCC had a more difficult time in court Friday than some expected (see 1804190056) in defending its change of the UHF discount so that stations in that part of the TV band could have twice the concentrated ownership as those lower down the dial. Every member of a three-judge panel took issue with the FCC’s lack of justification for restoring the UHF discount.
The United Church of Christ yanked an almost 10-year-old request that the FCC change its calculation for leasing a full channel from a cable operator after the Office of Management and Budget back then disapproved information collection requirements associated with that year's leased access order. "Due to the passage of time, UCC has agreed to withdraw its request," said an order of dismissal Thursday signed by Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey. "We are dismissing the request without prejudice." It was a minor matter that was part of a larger issue that since has been resolved, emailed Georgetown Institute for Public Representation lawyer Andrew Schwartzman. His now-defunct Media Access Project made the request on Aug. 26, 2008, for UCC.
The FCC is expected to have an edge in Friday’s oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit against Free Press and other groups on the agency’s restoration of the UHF discount, but not as big of one as usual, attorneys and industry officials said in interviews. Courts tend to defer to agency decisions, but that dynamic is complicated by this decision being a direct reversal of a 2016 FCC decision to strike down the discount, said Fletcher Heald appellate attorney Harry Cole, who isn't connected to the case. “The FCC has broad discretion,” Cole said, but such a 180-degree turn allows opponents to paint it as a decision motivated by politics rather than the measured work of an expert agency. If the D.C. Circuit isn’t sure what argument is better, it will defer to the commission, said an experienced telecom litigator.