Viacom promotes Tom Gorke to executive vice president-sales and business development, Viacom Media Networks and BET Networks, new position ... 21st Century Fox promotes Missy Halperin to executive vice president-talent relations, Fox Broadcasting Co. ... McBee Strategic Consulting hires Clare Adams, ex-Intel Security, as director-advocacy group, working on cybersecurity ... Disney hires Kary McHoul, ex-consultant to Fine Bros., as senior vice president-programming & development unscripted, ABC Family, new position ... Kathleen Kirby, Wiley Rein, elected to American Bar Association Forum on Communications Law governing board ... FCC Intergovernmental Advisory Committee adds North Dakota State Rep. Blair Thoreson, a Republican, and Karen Jackson, Virginia secretary of technology.
Industry observers who have watched closely as the FCC moves to revised net neutrality rules and the reclassification of fixed and mobile broadband as a common-carrier service say there are unknowns that remain. The broad parameters have been known for some time, including treating wireless largely the same as wireline. With FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler set to circulate proposed rules to other commissioners Thursday, observers said there are unanswered questions, among them how exactly forbearance will look. Other big questions include how the rules will address the unique need for wireless carriers to manage their networks.
Wiley Rein re-elects: Peter Shields to another three-year term as managing partner and Dorthula Powell-Woodson and Daniel Standish to the executive committee, which now adds as new members Kevin Anderson, Jan Witold Baran, Timothy Brightbill and Kathleen Kirby ... Nexstar extends contract of President-CEO Perry Sook through Jan. 15, 2019, after the last deal was to expire in 2016, and he also is chairman ... AT&T hires Jill Singer, ex-Deep Water Point, as vice president-national security, AT&T Government Solutions ... IDT adds to board Ken Kannappan, Plantronics.
Independent programmers face challenges, former FCC commissioners, an ex-FTC chairman and industry experts said Wednesday. Some said even with fragmentation of the TV market increasing ways for consumers to watch content, indies including beIN SPORTS and NuvoTV, which were represented at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy event, don't always have access to traditional pay-TV distribution. Indies fretted about the impact on their industry of consolidation, but others said the market is good for consumers.
President Barack Obama’s push in November for reclassification of broadband as a common carrier service reshaped the focus of the FCC, which at the time appeared headed to a vote as early as December, stopping short of fundamentally changing how ISPs are regulated (see 1411100033), officials said. More recently, Obama has weighed in hard, urging the FCC to use its authority to remove barriers to municipal broadband deployments (see 1501140048).
Paige Atkins was named associate administrator, Office of Spectrum Management, at NTIA, a key position within that agency on spectrum issues of concern to the wireless industry. She replaces Karl Nebbia, now at Wiley Rein. Atkins had been acting associate administrator since Nebbia left last year. An electrical engineer, Atkins was formerly vice president of Cyber and Information Technology Research at the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corp. and director-strategic planning and information at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Congress should abandon any notion of passing a revised Telecom Act. Copps, now an adviser to Common Cause, said on a Thursday panel at a Multicultural, Media, Telecom and Internet Council's (MMTC) broadband symposium, the real need is for the FCC to enforce the rules already on the books rather than approve new rules.
A partisan rift persisted and clouded prospects for net neutrality legislation Wednesday, which GOP lawmakers in both chambers began circulating in draft form last week. GOP leaders of the Commerce committees held two hearings on legislation they call a bipartisan compromise, spurring plentiful outcry from Democrats. The draft text would codify several net neutrality protections while limiting FCC authority under Communications Act Title II and Telecom Act Section 706. No Democrats have lent any backing, and many observers have guessed a White House veto of a partisan bill is likely.
A growing group of conservatives pressed the FCC to wait for Congress before advancing with its net neutrality proposal. GOP lawmakers released a draft version of net neutrality legislation Friday, prompting pushback from Hill Democrats, Free Press and Public Knowledge (see 1501160048). Republicans said they want Congress to advance the bill, which many frame as a compromise despite current lack of Democratic support and several concerns ahead of Wednesday hearings (see 1501200056), before the FCC votes on net neutrality Feb. 26.
With an FCC vote on classifying mobile and fixed broadband as a Title II common carrier service on tap for Feb. 26, the drum beat against the plan is getting louder. Wireless carriers and associations independently released letters and studies Thursday. FCC officials, meanwhile, are denying the latest rumor that Chairman Tom Wheeler will have the commission vote on interim rather than permanent rules, at least in part, at the meeting. Industry officials on both sides of the issue said the noise level likely will increase leading up to the vote.