The FCC’s proposed rule to require all TV stations to post online most of their public inspection files, including details on political ads, isn’t “burdensome to broadcasters,” said the author of a commission report last year on the future of the media industry. “In the long run it would likely save broadcasters time and money,” Steve Waldman said of TV public files being hosted on the FCC’s website instead of only being kept at stations in paper form. But “it made great sense to consider alternative approaches that might be even more effective,” Waldman said after his Feb. 9 meeting with a group of broadcasters, held at their request, to discuss the political file and sponsorship identification, which the agency also proposed should go online. A group of TV broadcasters proposed an alternative to putting all political files online. Instead of the FCC’s proposal, stations would post online the name of the ad buyer, the candidate for which the spot or program material was purchased and the aggregate amount paid for the spots or program material since the last online posting, according the proposal, made in a letter Wednesday to Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake. In general, the online political file would be updated weekly, and it would also be updated the day before an election. Outside the lowest-unit charge period just before elections, the file would be updated monthly, the proposal said. Under the proposal, the existing requirements for stations’ local political file would remain the same. “The reason why this proposal would better serve the Commission’s objective than requiring stations’ paper political files to be placed online as the Commission has proposed is that the latter would not readily provide the public with statistics that show how much money was being spent by each candidate on his or her candidacy,” the letter said. It was signed by Wiley Rein attorney Mary Jo Manning for Barrington Broadcasting, Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, Dispatch Broadcast Group, Gannett, Hearst TV, Meredith, Washington Post Co.’s Post-Newsweek Stations, Raycom Media and Schurz Communications. Waldman reported on conversations this week with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who was his boss when he wrote the report on media’s future that recommended public files go online, and with Lake. Wednesday’s ex parte filing is in docket 00-168 (http://xrl.us/bmr72b). The FCC may make Genachowski’s self-imposed deadline of finishing the online public file proceeding by this spring, but industry concerns have slowed down the bureau’s work toward a draft order (CD Feb 13 p5).
A small daily newspaper publisher warned the FCC against easing cross-ownership rules against one company owning a daily and a radio or TV station in the same market. Journal Publishing, which has said Tribune abuses its cross-ownership waiver in Connecticut (CD Oct 4 p19), pointed to that company in asking the agency not to expand the waiver for others to use. “This situation that has developed in Connecticut may provide a good example of what will happen nationally if the rule against cross-ownership is repealed -- less competition, less employment, less journalism, and more concentration of power,” the owner of the Journal Inquirer said in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bmrxuw). “Banning cross-ownership in markets outside the top 20 ranking would be better than no ban at all, but after 12 years of waivers of the cross-ownership rule for one particular company in Connecticut, we ask the commission to prohibit further extension of waivers in this situation.” A Media Bureau rulemaking notice asks about allowing cross ownership in the top-20 U.S. markets when certain showings are made by a waiver seeker. Lawyers representing a creditor of Tribune, owner of the Hartford Courant and WTIC Hartford, separately met with bureau officials about the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy and transfer some FCC licenses. JPMorgan Chase proposes to use a subsidiary to hold “the bulk” of the bank’s stake in the reorganized company, so its executives will be “wholly unrelated to Tribune,” said a filing last week in docket 10-104 (http://xrl.us/bmrxu8). “This change in the manner in which JPMorgan intends to hold its interests in Tribune post-emergence will be described in the amendment to the pending FCC applications in this proceeding that the parties intend to file in the near future,” said the ex parte document reporting on a meeting where JPMorgan was represented by former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley and other lawyers with Wiley Rein. “Although JPMorgan had previously reported to the Commission that it held a non-attributable ownership interest of more than 5 percent of the voting stock of Gannett,” the filing said that stake is now below that threshold, at which investments can become attributable under FCC rules.
Consolidated Communications agreed to buy SureWest for $341 million in cash and stock, the companies said. The deal gives Consolidated SureWest’s 130,000 residential subscribers and 15,700 commercial businesses in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City areas. The combined companies will have about 1,775 employees. The move came less than two weeks after an analyst said Google could buy SureWest to boost its fiber initiatives. Consolidated will pay $23 per SureWest share, or an equal amount of Consolidated common stock. The per-share price represented a 47 percent premium to SureWest’s Friday closing stock price. The deal is expected to save $25 million in operating cost and $5 million to $10 million in capital expenditure, the companies said. Consolidated expects to incur merger and integration costs, excluding closing costs, of around $20 million to $25 million over the first two years after closing.
Tribune may make changes to media ownership waiver requests the bankrupt broadcaster and newspaper owner has sought from the FCC to exit Chapter 11, the company said. Changes would reflect developments in the proceeding in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, representatives of Tribune and some major creditors told Media Bureau staff. The court plans a confirmation hearing May 16-17 on a revised reorganization plan, an ex parte filing from a Tribune lawyer said. “Certain pro forma applications would be filed by Tribune as part of the emergence from bankruptcy to accomplish intra-company reorganizations,” and those requests will “be coordinated with the Exit Applications” for the commission, Thursday’s filing said (http://xrl.us/bmpy3o). Posted in docket 10-104, it reported on a meeting that also included former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley, representing JPMorgan Chase, and an attorney for Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Oaktree Tribune. The bureau’s review of Tribune’s reorganization has been slowed by changes to the deal, and the commission’s merger review clock (http://xrl.us/bmf3e6) is paused (CD Oct 14 p).
TV stations’ help was sought by a broadcast news association, so it can give the FCC examples of how industry would be affected by any requirement for the outlets to report to the agency on their local programming (CD Jan 10 p12). The Radio Television Digital News Association, seeking “vital member input” on the FCC’s notice of inquiry, asked members to fill out an online survey. “Your news staffs already are doing more with less,” Executive Director Mike Cavender and Kathy Kirby, a Wiley Rein lawyer representing the association, wrote on the RTDNA’s blog Friday (http://xrl.us/bmom8f). “If this reporting requirement change is implemented as it stands, even more work unrelated to news-gathering and reporting will be required."
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, doesn’t think he should have to ask congressional Commerce Committee chairmen to act as intermediaries in his ongoing standoff (CD Jan 6 p1) with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski over access to documents related to the LightSquared proceeding, a Grassley spokeswoman said. Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is blocking a vote on the pending nominations of Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai to seats on the FCC because Genachowski has refused to provide the documents. Genachowski has argued that the FCC historically has honored document requests only from the chairman of committees with jurisdiction over the commission, and he has cited supporting guidance in the Congressional Research Service’s non-binding Congressional Oversight Manual.
President Barack Obama’s announcement Wednesday he was installing Richard Cordray as head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through a “recess appointment” could have big implications for the FCC. Industry and government officials said the resulting blow up over the Cordray appointment could provoke Senate Republicans to hold up votes on other nominees, and FCC nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai could get caught in the crossfire.
Wiley Rein promotions, effective Jan. 1: Thomas McCarthy to partner in appellate and telecommunications practices; Mark Sweet to partner in white collar defense practice; Robert DeFrancesco to of counsel in international trade practice; Rebecca Saitta to of counsel in financial restructuring practice; Maureen Thorson to of counsel in international trade practice; Elbert Lin rejoined firm in November as partner in appellate and telecommunications practice after completing a clerkship with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas … Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissioner Larry Landis reappointed.
Richard Wiley becomes chairman of Wiley Rein, effective Jan. 1, with Peter Shields succeeding him as managing partner … Sean Lev, ex-Department of Energy, hired by FCC as deputy general counsel and special advisor to Chairman Julius Genachowski on the transition to Internet Protocol networks … Named chairs in Wiley Rein’s Telecommunications Group: Helgi Walker, Communications Appellate Group; Andrew McBride, Communications Litigation Group; David Gross, International Telecommunications Group; Jennifer Hindin, Satellite Group; Bennett Ross, Telephony Group; Nancy Victory, Wireless Group … David Wolkis promoted to vice president of production for TNT and TBS Originals.
*Dec. 12 Google Chair Eric Schmidt speaks at Economic Club of Washington, Ritz-Carlton Hotel -- 202-481-3260