Any steps the FCC takes to help AM radio without allowing an AM-only translator license application window would be “relatively small change,” said former Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell and former Democratic FCC Commissioner Michael Copps in a joint blog on The Hill's website Wednesday. “On this point, all Democrats and Republicans” can agree, the editorial said. Copps left the FCC in December 2011 and is now a special advisor to Common Cause. McDowell left the commission in May 2013 and is now a partner at Wiley Rein. Being able to use a translator to broadcast on the FM band is key because the AM band suffers from increasing interference caused by the widespread adoption of fluorescent lighting, among other things, the blog post said. The application filing window was promised by the FCC two years ago, and that promise should be fulfilled, said the two men. The window “is especially important for women and minority owners of AM stations, who are more likely to run small standalone stations on shoe-string budgets,” they said. Despite their many differences while commissioners, the need for the FCC to help AM radio is an issue on which they are “fully united,” they said.
Jeb Bush promised to roll back the FCC net neutrality order if elected president. Bush, a Republican and former Florida governor who is a known opponent to net neutrality, released a series of proposals on his campaign website this week and included net neutrality in his section titled “regulatory reform.” Bush argued that regulations are “choking” the U.S. economy. “Last we will repeal or reform the most onerous Obama rules and regulations,” starting with net neutrality among other issues, the campaign website said. “Together, we will role [sic] back the surging tide of regulations that have overtaken us the last 6 and a half years.” Bush elaborates on net neutrality in another section on his desired regulatory overhaul: “The [FCC]’s Net Neutrality rule classifies all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as ‘public utilities,’ subjecting them to antiquated ‘common carrier’ regulation,” the Bush campaign said. “Rather than enhancing consumer welfare, these rules prohibit one group of companies (ISPs) from charging another group of companies (content companies) the full cost for using their services. Small broadband operators -- like KWISP (475 customers in rural Illinois) and Wisper ISP (8,000 customers near St. Louis, Mo) -- have declared under penalty of perjury that the Net Neutrality rule has caused them to cut back on investments to upgrade and expand their networks.” “Unfortunately, Governor Bush is siding with the phone and cable lobby against the public,” Free Press President Craig Aaron said in a statement. “His opposition to Net Neutrality is misguided, and he gets the facts wrong. In reality, the rules are working. Broadband providers and Internet content companies alike are investing, and consumers can rest easy knowing that their rights to connect and communicate are protected.” Bush has received donations from significant industry players in the telecom space so far this year, including NAB CEO Gordon Smith, then-DirecTV CEO Michael White and Richard Wiley, the former FCC chairman heading Wiley Rein’s communications practice (see 1507210050).
Univision Communications hires Derek Bond, ex-Imagina US, as senior vice president-production strategy ... American Library Association hires Nancy Gravatt, communications expert, as press officer, Washington office, succeeding Jazzy Wright, departing for University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health ... Electronic Frontier Foundation hires Rob Manhatton, ex-Excelsior Paint & Design, as Web developer, maintaining open-source democracy tools ... Demand Media names LEAFtv founders Geri Hirsch and Erin Falconer executive editor and general manager, LEAFtv, respectively ... Symantec hires Dan Rogers, ex-Salesforce, as chief marketing officer ... MicroTech, cloud computing services provider, hires David Hinson, former director of Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency, as chief financial officer and chief of mergers and acquisitions ... Arctic Economic Council names Robert McDowell, Wiley Rein, chairman, (newly formed) AEC telecom working group ... Rovi board adds Eddy Hartenstein, ex-DirecTV and member of Tribune Publishing board ... Lobbyist registrations: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, registering on behalf of itself, effective Aug. 3 ... Nex-Tech, telecom company, FaegreBD Consulting, effective Aug. 1 ... Univision Communications, Covington & Burling, effective July 6.
The FCC should streamline the process for deploying broadband infrastructure on federal land, FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said during a “Fireside Chat” at the Montana High Tech Jobs Summit Monday with Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont. Streamlining deployment approval on federal lands could speed up the process of spreading broadband throughout the country’s rural areas, Pai said. “Ubiquitous broadband” is a key to helping rural areas compete in the global economy, Pai said. The commissioners also discussed disruptive innovation, net neutrality and the TV incentive auction. The event also featured a panel on spectrum and the wireless economy that included policy officials from Charter Communications and NAB.
Wiley Rein adds Kelly Cole, who recently began and continues to run Kelly Cole Strategies after leaving NAB (see 1507160027), as an affiliate with the law firm’s Telecom, Media & Technology Practice ... Partner Communications hires Yuval Keinan, leaving Bezeq, as deputy CEO, effective beginning of 2016 ... Future Technologies, wireless communications design firm, promotes David Rumore to chief revenue officer, new position, and adds him to board ... Pure Flix Digital, “faith-based” content streaming service, hires Greg Gudorf, ex-Technicolor and Sony Electronics, as CEO, and Brian Pancarik, also ex-Sony Electronics, as vice president-operations and support ... National Institute of Standards and Technology adds Tod Sizer, Bell Labs, to NIST Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology ... Personal BlackBox adds to board Marc Mathieu, Samsung.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans to take a stab at video and spectrum policy in hearings in the coming weeks. Commerce is tentatively eyeing Sept. 30 for a full committee hearing on the future of video and Oct. 7 for a full committee hearing on spectrum policy, both starting at 10 a.m. The dates circulated among industry lobbyists. Congress returned from its monthlong August recess Tuesday, and neither hearing has been announced.
Congress has an opportunity this year to pass bipartisan legislation forcing additional spectrum auctions, after next year’s TV incentive auction, former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said Wednesday on a call with reporters. McDowell said he's told by his Capitol Hill contacts that new legislation will premier later this month when Congress returns to Washington. CTIA and some of its major members are making a big push for legislation this year, industry officials told us. That's expected to be one of the hot topics next week at CTIA’s annual show in Law Vegas.
The FCC and NTIA, though its Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee, are taking a deep dive into bidirectional sharing in which commercial licensees would be asked to share their underutilized spectrum with the federal government (see 1508260066). The Department of Defense has sought more focus on two-way sharing. It's expected to face at least some resistance from licensees, concerned about protecting the spectrum they control, industry observers told us.
T-Mobile is clamping down on a small group of its customers who it alleges are “going out of their way with all kinds of workarounds” to use much more than their share of tethered data, CEO John Legere said in an open letter to subscribers posted Sunday, saying the carrier would contact the customers Monday. Industry observers said the latest development potentially raises some interesting questions about the FCC’s February net neutrality rules and how the agency will interpret them. The order includes a “bright line” rule against throttling (see 1502260043).
The FCC IP technology transition order is unlikely to be shot down if challenged in court, said attorney Douglas Bonner of Womble Carlyle, who represents telecom, cable and VoIP companies in commission proceedings and related litigation. "I don't see obvious grounds for the FCC to be overturned," said Bonner, speaking Tuesday on a Law Seminars International telebriefing on the FCC's IP technology transition order. He said the commission "tried hard to at least balance the interests" of CLEC and ILEC stakeholders, and had substantial discretion under the court's Chevron standard, which defers to reasonable agency decisions when interpreting ambiguous statutory provisions. Section 214 of the Communications Act, which governs telecom service discontinuances and was a basis for much of the order, "delegates a great deal of authority to the FCC to act," he said. Bennett Ross, a Wiley Rein attorney who represents telecom carriers, manufacturers and others, said, "Unfortunately, the D.C. Circuit doesn't always hold the FCC to a rigorous standard in justifying its reasoning." He suggested the court often gives FCC explanations too much deference under Chevron. Both Bonner and Ross said they didn't know if there would be a legal challenge. Ross voiced concern that the FCC's order would slow the IP transition by introducing new layers of inter-related and sometimes imprecise notification and discontinuance regulation as ILECs look to retire "antiquated" copper networks and withdraw or modify related services or their rates, terms and conditions. The FCC order aims to ensure, among other things, that competitors continue to have affordable access to wholesale broadband and voice services as incumbents migrate to IP-based services over fiber networks (see 1508060044). "I think the competitors, CLECs, got much of what they wanted," Bonner said.