FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Friday he will leave the FCC in a matter of weeks. Industry officials told us they expect an announcement from the White House as early as this week on a replacement, with former CTIA and NCTA President Tom Wheeler still considered the likely front runner. In the interim, industry and government officials expect the White House to designate Commissioner Mignon Clyburn as the first woman to chair the commission, until a new permanent chairman is confirmed and in place.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Friday he will leave the FCC in a matter of weeks. Industry officials told us they expect an announcement from the White House as early as this week on a replacement, with former CTIA and NCTA President Tom Wheeler still considered the likely front runner. In the interim, industry and government officials expect the White House to designate Commissioner Mignon Clyburn as the first woman to chair the commission, until a new permanent chairman is confirmed and in place.
Similar to the first comment round, reply comments on rules for an incentive auction of broadcast TV spectrum found deep divisions among almost 100 parties that weighed in. There has been general agreement that the FCC’s proposed band plan needs major revision (CD Jan 29 p1). But there has been little consensus on answers to many of the questions raised by the FCC in a Sept. 28 NPRM.
Among other recent (CD March 12 p16) promotions at Intelsat: Michelle Bryan to executive vice president, general counsel and chief administrative officer, effective March 18, succeeding General Counsel Phillip Spector, who joins the board effective April 1; and Thierry Guillemin to EVP and chief technical officer … Viacom’s Nickelodeon promotes Joel Fisher to vice president-music and talent operations …Public Knowledge hires as campaign manager Sean Meloy, ex-campaign of Democrat Kristin Cabral, unsuccessful challenger to Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. … Cablevision promotes Gregg Seibert to vice chairman, and he remains chief financial officer … Goodman Networks wireless telecom firm hires Scott Willis, ex-Ericsson, as executive vice president-sales and business development … LIN Media hires Craig Ellish, ex-Specific Media/MySpace, as vice president-sales and publisher development, LIN Mobile.
Pressure appears to now be off President Barack Obama to appoint the first woman as chair of the FCC after Chairman Julius Genachowski leaves the agency. Obama on Monday nominated two more women to prominent positions -- Gina McCarthy as administrator of the EPA and Sylvia Mathews Burwell to head the Office of Management and Budget, both cabinet-level appointments. Last week Obama designated Edith Ramirez as chair of the FTC. Numerous industry officials told us in recent days former CTIA President Tom Wheeler has emerged as the consensus front runner for chairman, with Karen Kornbluh, ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the likely choice if Wheeler’s nomination falters. NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling still remains in the mix, officials said. A top communications lawyer said Wheeler does seem to be the likely choice. “I think there’s some legitimate feel [to the rumor] but sort of with the grain of salt it could just be head fakes,” the lawyer said. “I think there’s a lot less pressure now because [Obama] has appointed more women, there’s no question about that,” said another industry lawyer. Wheeler is the former president of NCTA and CTIA and current chairman of the FCC Technological Advisory Council. He became managing director of Core Capital Partners, a venture capital firm, after leaving the FCC advisory group and is widely considered to be close to Genachowski. “Where, as here, the process is very secretive, there is a tendency to overdo the psychoanalysis,” said communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman. “Sure, having made a number of female appointments, there may be less pressure to appoint a woman to the FCC. But there are much more important considerations at play, so that may not mean too much.”
Three judges asked skeptical questions about the FCC making Comcast carry the Tennis Channel as widely as the two other sports networks which the operator owns. At oral argument Monday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, different jurists focused on different issues in the 2012 program carriage order that split the commission 3-2 on party lines (CD July 26 p5). Judges Harry Edwards, Brett Kavanaugh and Stephen Williams spent about twice their allotted 15 minutes for the FCC side asking the agency’s lawyer, Peter Karanjia, about the jurists’ various concerns with the order.
4G Americas marked the one-year anniversary of the 2012 spectrum law Friday with a letter urging the FCC to move forward on an auction of the 1755-1780 MHz band, long viewed by carriers as one of the most valuable bands for wireless broadband. Commissioner Robert McDowell said Friday he shares the group’s concerns.
FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai made several proposals that he said would improve the commission’s internal procedures and let it act more efficiently. At an FCBA event Thursday, Pai proposed (http://bit.ly/YFdwGQ) new procedures for handling applications for review, combinations of adjacent carriers and deadlines that he said are frequently extended unnecessarily.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council no longer seeks an immediate vote on an FCC media ownership order that has deadlocked commissioners (CD Feb 19 p13). MMTC made a new proposal for steps to take before a vote on whether to deregulate newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules. The council last month sought a vote on the draft Media Bureau order before studies were complete on the rules’ effect on minority ownership (CD Jan 28 p7), saying if the research showed deregulation would harm people of color, the order could be reversed. Executive Director David Honig told us the council now wants the proceeding put on hold so a study the group will pay for on cross ownership’s effects on minority-owned stations can be done by a research firm.
Pressure is growing on FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to say something, anything, about his plans for the future, now that the second term of the Obama administration is underway. Last week, Genachowski was peppered with questions in the news conference after the commission meeting, but said nothing about his departure plans (CD Feb 1 p11). Also on the rise is pressure on the administration to appoint the first-ever woman to chair the FCC, one of the most high-profile of the independent federal commissions, following the departure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.