Commissioner Ajit Pa highlighting a joint sales agreement’s (JSA) beneficial effect on a noncommercial TV station owned by an historically black college is a message to the commission’s Democratic members, said several broadcast attorneys in interviews Wednesday. Their clients don’t want the FCC to make attributable for ownership quotas JSAs. Chairman Tom Wheeler is said to be likely to seek such attribution in an order that might circulate Monday in time for the March 31 commissioner meeting (CD Feb 25 p1).
Expect plenty of digging in on a Communications Act overhaul this year, House Commerce Committee Majority Chief Counsel David Redl said Thursday at a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council event on the topic hosted by Wiley Rein. House Republicans have said they want to hold hearings and issue white papers in 2014 and embark on legislation in 2015.
Douglas Wiley is now senior public policy adviser at Wiley Rein, where he lobbies on issues including those affecting broadcasting and advertising … Cognitive Networks, automatic content recognition for smart-TV firm, adds to board Jason Fairchild, OpenX … Regional News Network online and broadcast news producer hires Jeffrey Thompson, ex-Shout Factory, as senior vice president-business development … AMC Networks promotes Katie Lanegran to vice president-public relations, SundanceTV … Spanish Broadcasting System promotes Max Ramirez to vice president-digital media sales, SBS Interactive … At cable operator WOW on April 1, Colleen Abdoulah steps down as CEO and remains chairwoman, succeeded by Steven Cochran, promoted, while Cathy Kuo was promoted to COO … CSG adds to board David Barnes, MWH Global … Lobbyist registrations: Wikimedia Foundation, Thompson Coburn, effective Feb. 3 … Yelp, Bloom Strategic Counsel, effective Feb. 3.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has a big decision ahead in coming months -- whether to seek en banc and, ultimately, Supreme Court review of Tuesday’s decision rejecting the agency’s 2010 net neutrality rules. Longtime FCC watchers disagree on the likelihood of an appeal. Some say an appeal carries a risk since the panel’s majority offered an expansive reading of FCC authority under Section 706 of the Communications Act. The decision is not the FCC’s alone to make because the solicitor general, not the commission, would have to file the appeal before the high court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s net neutrality decision loomed large as the House Communications Subcommittee held its first hearing on updating the Communications Act 24 hours after the decision’s delivery. The Wednesday hearing focused on former FCC chairmen: Dick Wiley, Reed Hundt, Michael Powell and Michael Copps. It quickly turned into scrutiny of the Tuesday Verizon v. FCC court decision, which vacated the agency’s 2010 rules (CD Jan 15 p1), and what the FCC’s role over broadband should be.
Not all former FCC chairmen want Congress to overhaul the Communications Act, according to written testimony for a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The subcommittee has announced intentions to update the act, with hearings and white papers in 2014 and legislation in 2015. The former chairmen testifying before Congress are Michael Powell, Dick Wiley, Michael Copps and Reed Hundt; the latter two pushed back against the efforts and mentioned ongoing questions of net neutrality authority that should be clarified.
Former FCC Chairman Michael Copps joins the list of former FCC chairmen set to testify before Congress this week, a Common Cause spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Copps is special adviser for Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative. A committee aide to the House Communications Subcommittee also confirmed Copps will testify Wednesday at the 10 a.m. hearing in 2123 Rayburn on updating the Communications Act. The three witnesses revealed last week are former FCC chairmen Dick Wiley, Michael Powell and Reed Hundt. Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld had initially worried when hearing the witness list might consist only of Wiley, Hundt and Powell as well as, according to industry officials, Julius Genachowski. Feld suggested to us that other chairmen such as Copps would be important for balance (CD Jan 10 p10). The GOP memo for the hearing focused on the biographies of the witnesses. They “will provide unique insight into the workings of the expert agency and the challenges of implementing the Act as amended at very different times in the agency’s past,” the memo said (http://1.usa.gov/1djPbQy). “The perspectives of chairmen who served during a range of time periods and technological developments can inform potential legislation and address pitfalls that have been encountered in the past. It is vital that any changes to the law account for the impact on consumers and industry alike, and one starting point will be a conversation with those who were directly responsible for implementing the provisions of the law as written.”
Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld sees as wanting the list of former FCC chairmen set to testify before Congress next week. The House Communications Subcommittee scheduled its previously announced Jan. 15 hearing on Communications Act overhaul for 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, it said in a hearing notice Wednesday night (http://1.usa.gov/1ild2QW). The subcommittee has not announced witnesses but said those testifying will be former FCC chairmen. Industry officials have told us these will be Julius Genachowski, Michael Powell, Reed Hundt and Dick Wiley (CD Jan 9 p6). A committee aide confirmed to us on Thursday that Powell, Hundt and Wiley will be testifying. “Of this list, the only one who doesn’t represent carriers or possibly seek to acquire them is Reed Hundt,” Feld told us by email of the initial four rumored names. “They couldn’t ask Kevin Martin or Michael Copps? Hell, if there was ever an FCC Chair that made cable market power and retrans (as well as TV white spaces) on the agenda, it’s Kevin Martin. And Copps would provide a truly unique and powerful voice for media diversity and network neutrality.” Feld worried about the balance of such a witness list and said none of these former chairmen would be able to speak to media diversity. Martin’s “campaign against cable” would have provided a key balance to Powell heading NCTA, Feld added. Feld also pointed to Copps and Martin as the only two former chairmen who back indecency rules. While Feld personally favors a repeal of the broadcast indecency rule, he said “we should have a real debate with ardent defenders as well as those favoring repeal.” House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., wrote a joint guest blog Thursday for Broadcasting & Cable describing their desire to update the act and pegging that to the innovation on display at CES. “Our work will be exhaustive, inviting industries and innovators, consumers and citizens to join us in an open dialogue,” Upton and Walden said (http://bit.ly/K8l6bm). “The committee’s examination of the satellite television law, for instance, has reminded us that more nuanced laws governing different forms of communication are woefully out of sync with each other.”
The House Commerce Committee hit the ground running in its plan to update the Communications Act. Last month, House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., laid out plans to update the telecom law -- hearings and white papers in 2014, legislation in 2015. This week, the two Republicans announced their first hearing on the topic and introduced their first white paper, with questions for stakeholders.
Chris Nelson, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, becomes chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners Telecommunications Committee, succeeding John Burke, Vermont Public Service Board … at Wiley Rein: Robert Benton named partner in Corporate, Election Law & Government Ethics and Satellite practices; Maureen Thorson becomes partner in International Trade Practice; Colleen King becomes of counsel in Communications Practice; Brendan Morrissey becomes of counsel in Litigation, Appellate, Communications and Food & Drug Law practices; Kimberly Sikora Panza becomes of counsel in Franchise, Intellectual Property and Privacy practices … Wilkinson Barker attorney Neil Chilson joins staff of Federal Trade Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen as attorney-adviser … Richard Chernock, Triveni Digital, becomes chairman of ATSC’s Technology Group 3, the standards development group working on the ATSC 3.0 next-generation broadcast standard, succeeding Jim Kutzner, who announced his Feb. 1 retirement from PBS … euNetworks Group names Neil Hobbs of Terrepact to its board … Huawei names Bill Gerski, ex-Dish Network and National Rural Telecom Coop, vice president-sales for Huawei Technologies USA … ZTE organizational changes: ZTE Mobile Devices to be headed by Zeng Xuezhong, executive vice president of ZTE; He Shiyou, former head of terminals, to remain as an executive director of ZTE; Pang Shengqing named head of ZTE’s enterprise business; Zhao Xianming promoted to chief technology officer of ZTE.