A partisan split among the four regular FCC members on media ownership rules (CD Jan 18 p1), which may be so intractable it can’t be resolved with the unanimity Chairman Julius Genachowski seeks, could be partly addressed by using a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council proposal as the basis for a compromise, commission officials said. They said some at the commission are considering parts of MMTC’s proposal last week as a potential pathway to a compromise on how much to deregulate ownership. A much bigger determinant in the outcome of draft rules first circulated Nov. 14 remains what revisions if any Genachowski makes to the Media Bureau order, agency and industry officials said.
Searching the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) to mine carrier data is too cumbersome and takes too long, Public Knowledge said in a filing. Other industry officials told us Friday they have shared PK’s pain trying to use the ULS.
Differences have emerged between the FCC commissioners that partly follow party lines about whether they'll likely approve deregulation of media ownership in an order that goes further than the Democrats want and falls short of what the Republicans sought, said agency and industry officials Thursday. They said that with Chairman Julius Genachowski in recent days seeking a vote on draft rules he first circulated Nov. 14 (CD Nov 15 p1), without changes to the 2010 quadrennial review draft, one or both other Democratic FCC members may vote no and one or both Republicans could approve with some concerns. Genachowski sought feedback this month on the draft rules, something he didn’t do much before the Media Bureau order circulated, agency officials said.
Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (WID Dec 22/10 p1).
Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (CD Dec 22/10 p1).
Sprint Nextel’s successful bid to buy full ownership of Clearwire is unlikely to face a tough time winning regulatory approval, industry legal experts told us. Sprint, which already owned 51 percent of Clearwire, said Monday that Clearwire’s other shareholders had unanimously agreed to sell Sprint their 49 percent stake for $2.2 billion. Sprint said it believes the purchase gives it a unique opportunity to maximize the value of Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum and use it to increase Sprint’s network capacity. “We believe this transaction, particularly when leveraged with our SoftBank relationship, is further validation of our strategy and allows Sprint to control its network destiny,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse in a joint statement with Clearwire (http://xrl.us/bn6wrv). Sprint’s successful bid for Clearwire came more than two months after SoftBank bought 70 percent ownership of the carrier for $20.1 billion. As with SoftBank, Sprint’s deal with Clearwire is unlikely to encounter any significant regulatory issues, said Andrew Schwartzman, a public-interest communications lawyer. The FCC’s approval process on the Sprint-Clearwire deal should be “fairly perfunctory,” said Steve Goodman, a partner with the law firm Butzel Long who previously worked at the FCC and as an attorney on antitrust and regulatory issues at Comsat. Sprint’s existing 51 percent ownership of Clearwire is particularly important, because a shift to full control is unlikely to be seen as creating adverse effects on competition, Goodman told us, noting that the two “were already basically working in parallel/partnership.” The Clearwire purchase should also get approval from federal regulators because it strengthens Sprint’s position against No. 1 carrier Verizon Wireless and No. 2 carrier AT&T, allowing more competition in the marketplace, a regulatory analyst told us. Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner who is opposed to further carrier consolidation, disagreed, saying the consolidation implications in the Sprint-Clearwire deal merit FCC scrutiny. “If I was still on the commission, I'd be taking a good hard look at it,” he said.
Sprint Nextel’s successful bid to buy full ownership of Clearwire is unlikely to face a tough time winning regulatory approval, industry legal experts told us. Sprint, which already owned 51 percent of Clearwire, said Monday that Clearwire’s other shareholders had unanimously agreed to sell Sprint their 49 percent stake for $2.2 billion. That deal represented an improvement from the $2.1 billion Sprint offered last week (CD Dec 14 p15).
FCC staff working toward a redrafted quadrennial media ownership order to end the current review early next year are considering adding provisions that target some deregulation to aid diversity beyond the current draft, agency, industry and nonprofit officials said. They said career staffers appear to be giving attention to including provisions that industry and nonprofit backers say would help diversity without targeting only minorities. Targeting women and minorities can’t be done until research on barriers to entry is completed (CD Nov 19 p1). If staff finds provisions that are non-controversial inside and outside the agency, those adds could go in the new order to end the review due in 2010 under the Telecom Act, said officials observing the redrafting.
A new FCC task force will provide recommendations on ways to modernize and coordinate the commission’s policies on Internet Protocol interconnection, the resiliency of modern communications networks, business broadband competition and consumer protection on voice services, officials said. Recommendations for the proper focus of the Technology Transitions Policy Task Force were divided. Large telcos and anti-regulation think tanks encouraged deregulation; CLECs, special access purchasers and smaller providers encouraged adoption of IP interconnection policies. All told us their recommended policies would maximize consumer welfare, competition and innovation.
Nonprofits lobbied the FCC more against media ownership deregulation, while NAB asked that the forthcoming quadrennial review order address last year’s remand of 2007 rules, say ex parte filings in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bn4y3c). The 30-day comment period that ends Jan. 4 on Media Bureau figures (CD Dec 5 p1) showing who owns what radio and TV stations by race and gender isn’t enough time, a coalition of civil-rights groups said. “This extremely brief period leaves the Commission open to challenge before the courts because it is self-evidently insufficient,” the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights wrote FCC members. The bureau’s public notice this week “seeks comment on raw data that provides no analysis explaining why the proposed rule changes in the 2010 Quadrennial Review docket will improve ownership rates by women and people of color,” the group continued. NAB wants the agency to “address the specific issues” in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ remand “in a direct and clear manner,” NAB General Counsel Jane Mago reported telling FCC General Counsel Sean Lev (http://xrl.us/bn4y3r). There’s “no justification for voting out an order that fails to comply with the Third Circuit’s mandate” by not considering rule changes’ effect on the ability for women and people of color to buy broadcast assets, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood reported telling an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. “Increased media consolidation is exactly the wrong remedy for this longstanding problem” of low ownership rates among people in those demographic groups, Wood said (http://xrl.us/bn4y4d). It’s “entirely possible that large media conglomerates with broadcast licenses in markets such as Los Angeles and Chicago could -- and likely would -- pursue daily newspaper properties in the same” area if the commission allows common ownership of a TV station not rated top four and a daily in the region, he said. A blog post Wednesday on Free Press’s website (http://xrl.us/bn4y4j) titled “FCC Spin vs. Fact” was on what deregulation could allow, as the group opposed to consolidation and FCC officials working for Chairman Julius Genachowski debate whether the draft order that’s circulating would allow further concentration. The final order “should impose reporting requirements and collect data about” shared services agreements between separately owned TV stations within a market, public-interest communications lawyer Andrew Schwartzman reported telling an aide to Rosenworcel. Only seeking information “would be insufficient,” Schwartzman wrote, representing only himself (http://xrl.us/bn4zm7). To NAB, “sharing arrangements facilitate the production of local news” and “economic efficiencies” by TV stations, Mago and other association lawyers told bureau officials. NAB said (http://xrl.us/bn4y46) it backs several proposals from the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council that are “technical in nature and are not specific to ownership,” including technical rule deregulation, that would “reduce entry barriers and promote efficiencies for existing broadcast stations owned by minorities, women and small entities."