Judges in the case about Janet Jackson’s split-second Super Bowl breast-baring asked the parties in CBS v. FCC to file supplemental briefs by Dec. 22. “Assuming we reach the issue of scienter” -- intent or knowledge of wrongdoing -- “and assuming recklessness is the minimum standard of culpability for imposition of a civil forfeiture penalty, is the standard for recklessness the one commonly used in the civil context or the one commonly used in the criminal context?” asked the order Tuesday from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The court has asked for supplemental briefs before in the case. Tuesday’s request “points towards a very narrow decision examining the legal standards the FCC should employ in indecency cases,” said Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, an attorney in the case whose clients sided with CBS. “It implies that the panel is ready to rule that the FCC must find that CBS knew or should have known that Janet Jackson was going to do what she did. The letter asks for legal arguments on whether a civil or criminal test should be used for this determination. That outcome would likely require a remand to the FCC."
Seven groups and companies seeking net neutrality rules met Monday at the FCC with Chief of Staff Eddie Lazarus, a member of one of the groups told us. Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, a member of the Open Internet Coalition, said the coalition was represented by its executive director, Markham Erickson. Erickson didn’t reply to a message seeking comment. Also there, Schwartzman said, were Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, Jeff Blum of Sling, Joel Kelsey of Free Press, Parul Desai of Consumers Union, Leslie Harris of the Center for Democracy & Technology and Chris Libertelli of Skype. The groups said the FCC should reclassify broadband as a Title II service. NCTA confirmed that it, AT&T and Verizon were represented at a meeting with Lazarus earlier Monday (WID Nov 23 p2). They discussed issues including nondiscrimination and reasonable network management and their application to wireless, a filing posted Tuesday to docket 09-191 said. AT&T Senior Executive Vice President Jim Cicconi, also at the meeting involving the service providers, separately asked Lazarus to use the model for agreement on net neutrality from outgoing House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to resolve to issue at the FCC, another filing said. Regulators should “explore alternative methods by which the Commission can ensure Internet openness while it pursues the goals of the National Broadband Plan,” AT&T said. MPAA said chief Bob Pisano on Monday discussed separately with Lazarus “the need for flexible content delivery arrangements between content owners and ISPs, and the ability to employ tools and techniques designed to combat theft of copyrighted materials."
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to push back the Dec. 15 meeting to the 21st or 22nd, agency officials said Friday. That gives him an extra week to decide whether to schedule a vote on net neutrality rules, likely including provisions in legislation introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., plus wireless. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans took off their gloves and signaled they're ready for a fight should Genachowski push forward with net neutrality rules.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is trying to push back the Dec. 15 meeting to the 21st or 22nd, agency officials said Friday. That gives him an extra week to decide whether to schedule a vote on net neutrality rules, likely including provisions in legislation introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., plus wireless. Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans took off their gloves and signaled they're ready for a fight should Genachowski push forward with net neutrality rules.
Oral argument will be heard on a lawsuit against FCC media ownership rules, the clerk of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an order Thursday. Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC will be heard Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. at 601 Market St. in Philadelphia, Marcia Waldron wrote. The case is on challenges to the commission’s last media ownership order, which was approved 3-2 in 2007, said Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project. It’s representing Prometheus in the case.
Federal review of the Comcast-NBC Universal deal is intensifying and could lead to government approval with many conditions as soon as December, lobbyists and government officials said. They said the Department of Justice remains further along than the FCC in reviewing Comcast’s multibillion dollar agreement to buy control of NBC Universal. The DOJ may finish its work on the deal in December, while it’s less certain when FCC commissioners will get an order to vote on, said FCC, industry and nonprofit officials. Comcast executives have said they hope to get regulatory approval for the deal this year.
The FCC media ownership review due to Congress in 2010 has been further delayed (CD May 18 p4), and a final order is unlikely until the second half of next year, agency officials said. They said the reasons include a lag in getting from Congress money that the commission needed to pay for outsiders such as professors to study media ownership (CD Aug 9 p6). The FCC’s focus on broadband, the difficulty of completing the quadrennial review on time -- which has never been done before -- and career Media Bureau staffers focusing on reviewing Comcast’s multibillion dollar purchase of control in NBC Universal are other explanations, agency and industry officials said.
Those lobbying the FCC would get more time to report most conversations in ex parte filings, which would need to have more details than some do now, under a draft order awaiting commissioner approval, agency officials said. They said the order sticks mainly sticks to what was proposed in a rulemaking notice on ex partes approved by commissioners in February. A twist is that the draft contains a rulemaking notice to seek further comment on the disclosure of financial ties to companies, groups and others lobbying the FCC, said agency officials. That subject isn’t now part of the draft order’s provisions, they said.
Cablevision will give subscribers a $10 credit to pay for the cost of viewing World Series games live on MLB.com, since customers lack cable access to the games on the Fox network. Cable subscribers who buy the website’s “Postseason.TV” packages will get the credit, applied within two billing cycles to their monthly bill, Cablevision said late Wednesday. Late the next day, the cable operator asked government entities and non profits to consider retransmitting the World Series online for free. That’s allowed under the Copyright Act of 1976, Cablevision said.
Three dozen nonprofits asked the FCC to resume collecting the numbers of minorities and women employed at each broadcaster, after a lapse of most of the past decade. They said late Thursday it’s far past time for the commission to require radio and TV stations to fill out Form 395-B yearly and for the FCC to disclose publicly each broadcaster’s information. Those requesting the commission action include the Communications Workers of America, Common Cause, Free Press, the New America Foundation and Public Knowledge. Broadcasters have asked that the data be kept private and submitted to a third party, not the FCC, a position that some still support, said nonprofit and industry officials.