The FCC Wireless Bureau Friday restarted it’s informal 180-day “shot clock” on its review of AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile. As a result, Friday was officially day 83 of the review. AT&T welcomed the development, but merger critics said the quick restart of the clock could also be bad news for AT&T. Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the development.
For the second time in three years, the FCC could be on the cusp of making major changes to the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regimes. In late 2008, those efforts fell flat when then-Chairman Kevin Martin appeared to have support lined up for a reform order, but pulled an item prior to a vote. All signs this time around are that Chairman Julius Genachowski would like to succeed where the former commission fell short.
More judges on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should hear challenges to the FCC’s ownership rules remanded in its Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC decision, said a group of broadcasters and newspaper owners in a petition for an en banc rehearing filed with the court late Monday. In a 2-1 decision in July, a three-judge panel sent back to the FCC several rules that would have relaxed restrictions on the cross-ownership of local broadcast and daily newspaper assets in the same market (CD July 8 p3). The group includes Fox, Tribune, CBS, NAB, Newspaper Association of America, Belo, Morris Communications and Clear Channel. It said the panel’s decision goes against the court’s Administrative Procedure Act precedents and also undermines the 1996 Telecom Act by stymieing Congress’ intent to have the FCC regularly update its ownership rules. Critics of media consolidation said the petition will probably fail.
LightSquared presents a key early test of the Obama administration’s proposal to reallocate 500 MHz of spectrum to wireless broadband in 10 years. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski stressed in a recent briefing for reporters that any decision will be based on engineering analysis and won’t be political (CD Aug 10 p2). LightSquared demonstrates the kinds of difficulties presented by many of the bands regulators hope to convert to broadband use, said industry officials in interviews last week.
A second cable operator may get an FCC waiver to encrypt all channels. RCN now wants (CD Aug 16 p13) to follow Cablevision’s lead and be able to turn on and off service remotely, cutting down on signal theft and the expense and pollution of sending out technicians. Commission approval of RCN’s new request seems likely, and there will probably be less opposition to the move expressed than Cablevision faced in 2009, industry lawyers and an analyst said in interviews Tuesday. They said the regulator seems unlikely to start a rulemaking to examine whether it’s worth keeping a ban on operators encrypting channels in the basic tier. RCN wants out of that ban in Chicago and New York, where it’s gone all-digital.
A second cable operator may soon land an FCC waiver to encrypt all channels. RCN now wants to follow Cablevision’s lead and be able to turn on and off service remotely (CED Aug 16 p1), cutting down on signal theft and sparing the expense and carbon emissions of sending out technicians on truck rolls.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a vigorous opponent of the FCC’s net neutrality order -- approved over his dissent Dec. 21 -- said last week he hopes the Office of Management and Budget will examine the costs of the order for businesses large and small. McDowell noted questions raised by some Congressional Republicans, including Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida about the cost of the rules.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, a vigorous opponent of the FCC’s net neutrality order -- approved over his dissent Dec. 21 -- said last week he hopes the Office of Management and Budget will examine the costs of the order for businesses large and small. McDowell noted questions raised by some Congressional Republicans, including Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida (CD July 8 p5), about the cost of the rules.
Comcast stepped up lobbying against a draft program carriage rule to make cable operators keep distributing independent channels while indies’ complaints are pending at the FCC. Lobbying last week at the offices of Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell came as the Republican is the only FCC member not to have voted on a draft Media Bureau order and further rulemaking notice. He’s concerned that the agency may violate the Administrative Procedure Act by issuing standstill rules before seeking specific comment on them (CD July 25 p8). The agency’s approach to the standstill requirement “is out of step with its general interest in engaging in predictable and orderly rulemaking,” Comcast Senior Vice President Kathy Zachem reported telling FCC Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus.
Congressional Budget Office estimates of how much the government will raise through a proposed voluntary incentive auction of broadcast spectrum are no better than an educated guess, industry officials said last week. The CBO’s $24.5 billion estimate for revenue from proposed FCC auctions, after the cost of reimbursing broadcasters for their spectrum, has emerged as a key figure in the debate over spectrum legislation and even deficit reduction. But industry officials who closely track auctions say auction results are difficult to predict, especially at a time when the industry is changing.