NeuStar names Lisa Hook, ex-AOL Time Warner, president and chief operating officer, replacing Larry Bouman, who remains an advisor… New partners at Wiley Rein: Kevin Anderson, intellectual property; Amy Worlton, privacy, communications and international trade; New of counsel: John Kuzin, communications; Robert Scheffel, intellectual property… Will Funk promoted to Turner Sports senior vice president, sports sponsorships and sales… Comcast Network Advertising Sales promotes Holly Miller to vice president, central region ad sales… Hearst-Argyle TV promotes James Carter to president and general manager, WESH-TV and WKCF-TV, Orlando-Daytona-Melbourne.
Wireless carriers shouldn’t be able to decide on their own whether to send emergency alerts to areas smaller than counties, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday. “In the end it’s not just up to the carrier,” Martin told reporters. Before his speech, industry officials offered regulators recommendations and predictions in a Practising Law Institute conference panel.
Reed Hundt, chairman in 1997 when the FCC approved an order authorizing the satellite radio service, voiced general support for the XM-Sirius merger in comments filed at the agency. Hundt said the 1997 digital audio radio service (DARS) order’s bars on an operator’s owning both licensees weren’t necessarily meant to be permanent. The FCC sought comment during the summer on whether DARS is a “binding” rule, meaning that the commission would have to grant a waiver to approve the XM-Sirius merger (CD June 28 p5).
Thomas Navin, ex-FCC Wireline Bureau chief, joins Wiley Rein as partner… Thomas Lenard, ex-Progress and Freedom Foundation, becomes president of iGrowthGlobal, replacing founder Garland McCoy, who moves to chief development officer… United Mobile names Charles Fraenkl, ex-AOL, CEO… Rick Timmins, ex-Cisco, joins Liquid Computing board… Gemstar-TV Guide names Tucker Snedeker, ex- Bluestreak Technology, to new position of executive director, mobile entertainment group… Time Warner promotes Jeffrey Bewkes to become CEO Jan. 1, replacing Richard Parsons, who will remain chairman.
Also at the SPJ convention, Society officials were critical of the Radio-TV News Directors Association for sending lawyer James Bayes of Wiley Rein instead of a TV station news director to discuss the use by TV stations of video news releases. RTNDA has called FCC letters of inquiry to TV stations and cable networks into the use of VNRs an “unprecedented regulatory intrusion into newsroom operations” and, in response to that inquiry, told the FCC that the Communications Act doesn’t require sponsorship identification of VNRs provided by outsiders “unless they involve political or controversial issues.” John Stauberg of the Center for Media and Democracy -- which filed a complaint against TV stations’ use of VNRs without proper identification at FCC -- said: “We're not against their use. We're against their use disguised as news.” Bayes complained about what he called the government’s attempt to move into “the newsroom to supervise editorial decisions.” Jerry Dunklee of the SPJ Ethics Committee, said that without proper identification of the source of VNRs, “we are in effect lying to the public.”
Top officials from Sirius, including CEO Mel Karmazin, Scott Greenstein, president of entertainment and sports, CFO David Frear and General Counsel Patrick Donnelly, met with FCC staffers from the Media and International bureaus and office of General Counsel to discuss the pending merger with XM, according to a filing at the FCC. They were accompanied by former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley, longtime counsel to Sirius.
The FCC has “done little” to narrow the digital divide, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said at a forum sponsored by nonprofit One Economy. “Lack of access in an increasing reality in dividing the rich from the poor,” Durbin said, criticizing the Commission for not dedicating a bureau to promoting creation of broadband networks. Durbin, now using online contributions to draft a broadband bill, said his measure will call for a new source of federal financing to boost broadband access and reform the Agriculture Department Rural Utilities Services program to make sure that broadband money goes to “truly rural” places. Durbin said he went online five nights to talk with bloggers about ideas for the bill, a process he’s calling Legislation 2.0. The interactive experience was “exciting and productive,” Durbin said. Former FCC Chairmen William Kennard and Dick Wiley and telecom analyst Blair Levin spoke on a panel at the Thursday event, hashing over issues facing the Commission and FCC. As the 2008 election nears, there will be little telecom-related legislation, Kennard said, and it also will be difficult to get anything done at the FCC involving “contentious” matters. “Paralysis sets in during the spring of an election year,” he said. With primaries “front loaded,” the campaign is starting even earlier than usual, Kennard said, calling the digital transition the commission’s biggest hurdle. “It is a train wreck waiting to happen” if mishandled, Kennard said, noting that a new FCC chairman probably will oversee the transition in 2009. Levin agreed that “we're not going to see a lot of action in Congress” but he said broadband access still will be discussed. “The number one thing that the new FCC chairman will face in 2009 is the digital transition,” Levin said. Candidates will talk about the DTV transition, Wiley said, because it’s an issue that people outside the Beltway can understand.
The NAB criticized Microsoft’s call for more testing of a device designed to operate in broadcast white spaces without causing interference, after the FCC Office of Engineering and technology gave the device a failing grade. “Microsoft doesn’t seem to get that the FCC process is not a game and they cannot have a do-over,” NAB Executive Vice President Douglas Wiley said in a letter to Jack Krumholtz, managing director of federal government affairs at Microsoft. It’s “outrageous” that Microsoft claims the device works “after the fact,” Wiley said. “With the immense importance of the testing to innumerable stakeholders, one would think that your industry would certainly ensure the good working order of the prototype devices, at the very least.” Meanwhile, the Community Broadcasters Association expressed strong concerns about the OET data. “CBA is obviously alarmed at the OET findings that prototype White Space devices do not reliably detect the presence of usable broadcast signals,” the group said in a filing at the FCC. “If these professional devices failed to exclude channels that might be occupied by weak television broadcast signals, CBA fears that the performance of consumer-grade devices will be disastrous.”
Sirius will not offer channels a la carte to subscribers if its $11 billion proposed merger with XM Satellite Radio is not approved, Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin said Monday at the National Press Club. “If the merger was not going to happen, we would have no plans to offer a la carte,” he said. Sirius and XM said Monday that the merged companies would offer a la carte options to subscribers buying new radios. Existing gear will not work with a la carte.
National Association of Broadcasters moves: Doug Wiley promoted to new position of executive vice president of administration and agencies; Laurie Knight promoted to replace Wiley as executive vice president of government relations; Meredith Long promoted to director of congressional and membership outreach; Robin Oxford hired as director of state association and membership outreach… Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association’s new board: