Wiley Rein hires Robert McDowell, ex-FCC and more recently Hudson Institute, as partner, Communications Practice, where he will advise on digital media, media, technology and telecom … FCC promotes Nese Guendelsberger to International Bureau deputy chief … Blair Levin, Gig.U, leaves Aspen Institute, where he was a fellow … Bravo Media promotes Shari Levine to executive vice president-current production, Bravo … Smart home technology supplier Webee hires Timothy Sheehy as CEO, replacing company founder Lucas Funes, who shifts to chief innovation officer, new post … Radio Television Digital News Association elections for 2014-15 include: Kathy Walker, KOA(AM) Denver, as chairwoman-elect; Amy Tardif, WGCU(FM) Fort Myers, chairwoman; Chris Carl, WDEL(AM) Wilmington, Delaware, as chairman, Radio Television Digital News Foundation, and past chairman, RTDNA; and Dan Shelley, Interactive One Local & Interactive One Studios, foundation treasurer.
FCC proceedings on petitions to pre-empt North Carolina and Tennessee laws on municipal broadband are likely to become a showdown about the extent of the commission’s authority under Communications Act Section 706 and the applicability of the Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League, industry observers told us. The FCC is reviewing pre-emption petitions from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, North Carolina. Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai, said in a speech Wednesday that the FCC’s authority to pre-empt state laws municipal broadband laws under Section 706 was weak and that the precedent the Supreme Court set in Nixon would likely doom pre-emption in court (CD Aug. 21 p10).
Kerbey Harrington hires Brendon Pinkard, ex-Wiley Rein and specialist in broadband, cable-TV, video and telecom issues, as partner; Now called Kerbey Harrington Pinkard, it opens a Washington office where he will work and which includes government affairs consulting affiliate Government Insight Group, which he will advise … Silicon Flatirons adds Kristelia Garcia, ex-George Washington University Law School, as director of its content initiative and she joined the University of Colorado’s law school as associate professor, teaching trademark, property and copyright-related courses.
Uber hires David Plouffe, ex-assistant to President Barack Obama, as senior vice president-policy and strategy, starting late next month … Sinclair promotes Mike Kralec to vice president-data systems and information technology services, new post … Sprint hires Jeff Silva, ex-Medley Global Advisors, as manager-public affairs, succeeding John Taylor, who had left for SpaceX (CD May 9 p23) … Riverbed Technology hires Paul Mountford, ex-Sentillian, as senior vice president and chief sales officer … Imperva, data center security provider, names Anthony Bettencourt, ex-Coverity, as president and CEO and he joins board; ex-CEO Shlomo Kramer remains chairman and also is chief strategy officer.
Obama administration officials dismissed perceived misnomers about NTIA’s transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and argued at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conference on Internet governance Tuesday that the transition has made impossible calls for intergovernmental control of those functions. The event was webcast from the think tank’s Washington conference center. Academics and domain experts warned of an increasing climate in favor of government control for Internet governance that could threaten to derail the progress of the multistakeholder model. It’s “possible” that the State Department could become involved in a legal proceeding on the requested aquisition of the country code top-level domains for Iran, North Korea and Syria in lieu of unpaid damages to the victims of terror attacks involving those nations, said Daniel Sepulveda, deputy assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs. Sepulveda said he’s looking into the case.
The Federal Aviation Administration has indicated in recent weeks it expects by September to publish its long-awaiting NPRM on commercial operation of small drones, and that it will be “a multiyear process from beginning to end,” Mike Senkowski, who heads the new unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) practice at the Wiley Rein law firm in Washington, told a Law Seminars International tele-briefing Monday. However, Senkowski personally is “skeptical” that the FAA’s September time frame is “realistic,” he told us in a Tuesday email.
FCC Wireless Bureau promotes Chris Helzer to chief engineer … At FCBA, Executive Director Stan Zenor retiring, effective July 31, and then will be a consultant to it on special events and projects. Elections include: Christopher Wright, Harris Wiltshire, president-elect; Lee Petro, Drinker Biddle, secretary; Julie Kearney, CEA, assistant secretary; Erin Dozier, NAB, assistant secretary; on executive committee: Brendan Carr, FCC; Christine Crowe, Wilkinson Barker; and Angela Kronenberg, Comptel; on nominations committee: Anna Gomez, Wiley Rein; Grace Koh, House Commerce Committee; and Richard Whitt, Motorola Mobility; and foundation trustees: Mia Guizzetti Hayes, Willkie Farr; Russell Hanser, Wilkinson Barker; Jennifer Holtz, NTIA; and Howard Weiss, Fletcher Heald … UTStarcom elevates director Himanshu Shah to chairman, replacing Xiaoping Li, who remains on the board.
Ericsson promotes Rima Qureshi to chief strategy officer, responsible for company’s mergers and acquisition activities … Lionsgate hires Peter Levin, ex-Nerdist Industries, as president, Interactive Ventures and Games … Qumu, enterprise video platform firm, hires David Yockelson, ex-IBM, as vice president-product marketing … U.S. Council for International Business names Eric Loeb, AT&T, chairman of Information, Communications and Technology Committee, succeeding on July 1 David Gross, Wiley Rein, stepping down from committee to become president of the FCBA … Lobbyist registrations: Neustar, Covington & Burling, effective March 18 … SoftBank, Raben Group, effective March 5.
Relaxing open meeting rules to allow FCC commissioners to meet in larger groups would lead to less contention and quicker decision-making for the agency, said a panel of former FCC commissioners at a Quello Center Communication Policy Forum event Thursday. Former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley moderated the panel of former Commissioners Rachelle Chong, Michael Copps, Susan Ness, Henry Rivera and Deborah Tate, who discussed issues ranging from net neutrality to media ownership. All agreed that increasing dialogue between commissioners could facilitate commission business.
After three-plus years, featuring shuffled leadership, numerous defections and a significant change in tactics, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)-backed Do Not Track (DNT) working group moved its first document -- a tracking preference expression (TPE) -- to last call (http://bit.ly/1pu1At4). But the document, now open to a public comment period until June 18, has detractors. Two third-party advertising representatives objected to moving the TPE document to last call, arguing it lacked a way to validate a DNT signal, favored large companies and did little to enhance privacy. The group’s co-chairs determined the objections had either been previously addressed or were process-related and not part of the move to last call.