With targets such as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Verizon, plus speculation about his own political ambitions, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's monologue at the FCBA Chairman’s Dinner Thursday was a wide-ranging roast. Noting the Washington Capitals' Stanley Cup win, Pai said it's "interesting the Capitals won only after they dropped Verizon from the building. Correlation? Causation? I don't know." He joked that Amazon didn't buy a table at the dinner "because the FCBA refused to fork over $600 million in subsidies." Facebook has faced controversy about privacy violation allegations and antitrust uncertainty, he said, but its "recent search innovation will ensure nobody in China will know about any of it." He singled out those at the American Cable Association table as "the only folks ... to be mentioned positively in a tweet by the president" (see 1811130039). Likening T-Mobile's planned buy of Sprint to the sitcom The Office, Pai said it's "up to the FCC to decide, are they more like Jim and Pam or Dwight and Angela? Because I never thought Dwight and Angela's relationship was necessarily in the public interest. A bunch of investment analysts now have to binge watch The Office." Pai said if the communications universe received a false emergency alert about an inbound ballistic missile due in 30 minutes, like the one received by Hawaiians in January (see 1801160054), Fight for the Future "would immediately start organizing a net neutrality 25 minutes of action" while "NAB would ask the FCC to extend the 39-month incentive auction repacking ... before Washington is destroyed." Sizable portions of the monologue involved sports. Pai, gushing about Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, said, "If the Big Lebowski and a Reese's mug had a baby, it would be Pat Mahomes." The event also featured a "car karaoke" video of Pai and a variety of people -- from Richard Wiley of Wiley Rein to former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn -- singing along with Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" while he drove. Digs at Communications Daily were included. Pai asked attendees if they had read Comm Daily's brief report on wireless pet collars (see 1812030015), saying they can be worn not just by dogs, and his administration is all for "pet neutrality." Pai said he downloaded issues of publications including Comm Daily into an artificial intelligence program that wrote part of this monologue for him. In a serious moment, Pai honored deceased President George H.W. Bush and a number of FCC employees.
Wiley Rein taps Duane Pozza, ex-FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Financial Practices Division, as partner, Telecom, Media & Technology Practice, areas including blockchain, privacy, security, IoT, artificial intelligence and mobile payments ... Telecommunications Law Professionals promotes Jessica DeSimone Gyllstrom, who works on takeovers and submarine and fiber deployments, to member ... Neal Gerber adds Ian Block, ex-Kirkland & Ellis, as partner, intellectual property practice.
The Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee’s FTC oversight hearing Tuesday (see 1811200051) is an opportunity for lawmakers to show bipartisan interest in federal privacy legislation, industry lobbyists told us. With all five commissioners set to testify, it’s also a chance to find out where there's consensus and disagreement within the FTC (see 1811210031), they said.
Wiley Rein promotions to partner include Edgar Class and Ari Meltzer, both for telecom, media and technology ... Internet Association promotes Michael Bloom to vice president-federal government affairs ... Harvey Nash Chief Digital Technology Officer Anna Frazzetto becomes also president-technology solutions, North America and Asia Pacific.
Most stakeholders support the proposed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in allowing individual countries to set privacy laws while promoting Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation privacy rules, Wiley Rein international trade attorney Stephen Claeys blogged Thursday. USMCA goes “farther than those in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in requiring data protection and promoting compatibility.”
White House tariffs on steel are beginning to increase prices for companies involved in the post-incentive auction repacking, but the tariffs aren’t pushing up costs as much as competition for crews and resources is, said antenna and tower industry officials in interviews. “The main thing increasing the costs are the crew prices,” said Electronics Research Inc. Vice President-Marketing Bill Harland. “It’s an impact,” said FDH Infrastructure Business Development Manager Don Doty of the tariffs. “But the repack itself -- the demand -- is raising prices higher.”
FCC Office of Engineering and Technology Associate Chief Bruce Romano joins Wiley Rein as consulting counsel ... Disney and Pixar Animation Studios President Ed Catmull retires, effective year-end, when Pixar President Jim Morris and Disney Animation Studios President Andrew Millstein report to Disney Studios President Alan Bergman; Catmull won't be replaced ... New York Public Radio names Depelsha McGruder, ex-Viacom, chief operating officer.
NCTA hires Brooke Ericson, outgoing (see 1809120046) chief of staff-legal adviser on media to FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, as vice president-government affairs ... Peter Hyun, ex-office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., becomes Wiley Rein partner-white collar defense and government investigations, has privacy and cybersecurity expertise ... Former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg joins Facebook as head-global affairs.
21st Century Fox promotes, effective with close of Disney transaction, Eric Shanks to CEO-Fox Sports; Mike Biard to president-operations and distribution, Paul Cheesbrough to chief technology officer and head-direct to consumer platforms, Marianne Gambelli to president-ad sales and Steve Tomsic to chief financial officer ... Richard Sofield, ex-DOJ, joins Wiley Rein’s National Security Practice as partner ... IHeartMedia hires Chuck Deskins, ex- C3 Media Advertising, senior vice president-inside sales.
The FCC should eliminate the national ownership cap and “remove an unnecessary barrier to the ability of local television stations to compete in the evolving media marketplace,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in a meeting with Chairman Ajit Pai Thursday, according to an ex parte filing Monday in docket 17-318. Sook was accompanied by former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley, now chairman emeritus at Wiley Rein. The national ownership cap doesn't "support diversity, localism, or competition," said a presentation attached to the filing.