A rule pending before the Office of Government Ethics, to limit government employee attendance at trade shows, could be bad news for associations as well as policymakers, government and industry officials told us. The proposed rule would end the practice of government employees being given free admission to major events such as CES when the offer comes from groups that employ in-house lobbyists.
A proposed decision by the FCC to send AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile to an administrative law judge is expected to put more pressure on AT&T to reach a settlement with the government, industry and government officials tell us. AT&T officials have a meeting set up with the Department of Justice Monday to discuss a possible settlement (CD Nov 23 p1). A meeting that had been scheduled for Monday of this week was cancelled at the last minute.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recommended Tuesday that AT&T’s proposed purchase of T-Mobile be set for hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Genachowski recommended in a second order that the FCC approve with conditions AT&T’s purchase of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm. He circulated the orders Tuesday morning — three weeks before the Dec. 13 FCC meeting — though they won’t necessarily be subject to a public vote by commissioners at the meeting, an FCC official said.
The FCC may eventually revisit a four-decade-old-rule barring multichannel video programming distributors from carrying games that are blacked out by sports leagues on TV stations in markets where the games haven’t sold out. The commission doesn’t seem poised to act right away on a Friday petition from several nonprofit entities and some groups saying they represent fans. Because the petition is styled as a way to cut outdated mandates out of FCC regulations, the commission may eventually start a proceeding on sports blackout rules. MVPDs and TV stations haven’t backed the petition yet, in part because they're scared of the leverage the leagues have over them in giving them rights to carry the games, said members of a coalition of five groups that filed the petition (http://xrl.us/bmimyk).
With the Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, observers are growing skeptical that the super committee will meet its goal of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Democrats and Republicans on the special committee seem to agree spectrum auctions should be included, but they continue to disagree on larger, unrelated issues, Hill and industry officials said. Auctions could still make the cut in a smaller package to mitigate an automatic, across-the-board budget cut in January 2013 known as a sequester, telecom industry lobbyists said.
The legislative campaign against the FCC net neutrality order crumbled Thursday on Capitol Hill, as Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval. The Senate voted 46-52 on a motion to proceed to SJ Res 6, with no Democrats voting for the joint resolution of disapproval. That means a vote won’t be held on SJ Res 6 itself. The FCC order takes effect Nov. 20. “The only thing [Republicans] can do at this point is allow the courts to handle” the issue, a House aide said.
The legislative campaign against the FCC net neutrality order crumbled Thursday on Capitol Hill, as Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval. The Senate voted 46-52 on a motion to proceed to SJ Res 6, with no Democrats voting for the joint resolution of disapproval. That means a vote won’t be held on SJ Res 6 itself. The FCC order takes effect Nov. 20. “The only thing [Republicans] can do at this point is allow the courts to handle” the issue, a House aide said.
The FCC is looking to revive some media ownership rules approved during Kevin Martin’s chairmanship, while ending a bar on one company holding radio and TV stations in the same market. A rulemaking notice that circulated Friday afternoon for the quadrennial review (CD Nov 7 p19) proposes to reinstate some cross-ownership rules approved 3-2 in 2007.
The special master overseeing discovery on the various court challenges to AT&T/T-Mobile ordered Sprint Nextel to give AT&T various internal documents it has requested by Nov. 21. AT&T filed a subpoena for the Sprint documents Sept. 26. Last month, Special Master Richard Levie noted in the order, AT&T narrowed its document request to those necessary to refresh the record in the case. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington last week, AT&T listed 47 continuing areas of interest, including whether Sprint has plans for a “business combination” with T-Mobile if the AT&T/T-Mobile deal is blocked in federal court.
An unusual appeal of an FCC Media Bureau order gets a rare hearing Wednesday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Cablevision and cable programmer Madison Square Garden Holdings appealed last month a pair of bureau orders against the companies and in favor of the two biggest telcos, rather than waiting for the full commission to act. Even rarer, said media lawyers not part of the case, is the New York court’s agreement to hear oral argument on the request for the 2nd Circuit to stay the bureau’s rulings (CD Sept 23 p5). The rulings gave AT&T and Verizon access to HD feeds of two regional sports channels owned by MSG, which used to be part of Cablevision.