FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate picks Chris Moore>, ex- FCC Office of Legislative Affairs, as legal adviser … Embarq named Ellen Martin> vice president of state external affairs; Claudia Toussaint> to head the regulatory law group and Linda Gardner is vice president, regulatory affairs… Diane Cornell, Inmarsat, becomes president of the Federal Communications Bar Association; Robert Pettit, Wiley Rein, becomes treasurer; Mark Schneider, Sidley Austin, president- elect; Richard Whitt, Google, secretary; Laura Phillips, Drinker Biddle & Reath, assistant secretary; Bryan Tramont, Wilkinson Barker Knauer, assistant treasurer… Fortune Industries names Steve Hise chief financial officer… Siemens AG CEO Peter Loscher joins board of Nokia Siemens Networks, replacing ex-CEO Klaus Kleinfeld… Tribune director Christopher Reyes to quit July 18… Bud Tibshrany retired Friday from Time Warner Cable as vice president of public affairs for S.C. unit… Charlie Rahilly promoted by Clear Channel to Premiere Radio president… Discovery Communications promotes Kristen Welch, Ben Teicher and Doug Baker to CFOs for various networks. Jason Kilar, ex Amazon.com, named CEO of online video joint venture of NBC Universal and News Corp… James DeLong leaves Progress & Freedom Foundation to start Convergence Law Institute, a technology law practice of Kamlet Shepherd & Reichert… Katherine Styponias, ex-Prudential Equity, joins Microsoft as general manager of the Media & Entertainment Group.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) will ask the FCC to expand customer proprietary network information (CPNI) rules to cover handset manufacturers and not just carriers, Staff Counsel Melissa Ngo said Thursday during a Federal Communications Bar Association lunch. Meanwhile, Bennett Ross, chairman of the telephony practice at Wiley Rein, said parts of the CPNI rules approved by the FCC in March (CD March 15 p2) are causing major confusion for carriers.
XM and Sirius compete not only with one other but with “terrestrial radio, pre-recorded music devices, mobile phones, and fixed and mobile internet services,” economist and former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth said. His new report addresses an issue on which the merger’s fate likely hinges: In terms of assessing market power, is satellite radio a unique market or part of a much larger world?
Discovery Communications names David Kline, ex- Rainbow Media, chief information officer… Pam Kaufman promoted by Nickelodeon/MTVN to chief marketing officer… Douglas G. Wiley, ex-Xspedius, joins Suddenlink in new post of human resources senior vice president… Changes at Salem Communications July 1: Edward Atsinger resigns as president but remains CEO, Eric Halvorson named president and COO, Joe Davis switches from COO to radio division president, David A.R. Evans moves from CFO to president of new business development, interactive and publishing, Evan Masyr named CFO.
The problem with last year’s net neutrality debate was neutrality proponents’ demand that networks be dumb, defying the way communications technology is developing, said AT&T executive Robert Quinn on a panel Tues. sponsored by Wiley Rein. “Dumb networks is a dumb idea,” said Quinn, senior vice president of the company, a net neutrality foe. “It’s all about whether you can put intelligence in the network,” said Jeff Campbell, Cisco director of technology and communications policy. “Some advocates have huge incentives [to assure] there’s no intelligence in the network,” he said. AT&T’s vehemence against having net neutrality conditions placed on its IPTV network played a big role when the FCC was weighing whether to approve the AT&T-BellSouth merger, Quinn said. “We said, ‘That’s a line that can’t be crossed; you can’t apply net neutrality to IPTV'” because it would hinder the company’s ability to draw investors, he told listeners: “If we had to include net neutrality, it would prohibit us from doing IPTV.”
Media ownership and TV violence were among policy issues on which NAB joint TV-Radio board members were briefed this week at the group’s summer board meeting, NAB said. Marsha MacBride, legal & regulatory affairs exec. vp, brought members up to speed on those topics. Exec. Vp. Doug Wiley updated the board on bills to curtail direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads. The board got an update on NAB’s role in the streaming radio royalties debate from CFO Mike Williams.
The post-Telecom Act generation of communications attorneys is populous and prosperous, drawn to the industry by a new legislative environment and subsequent telecom and tech booms, according to lawyers we spoke with. For this collective analysis, Communications Daily decided to profile young attorneys who were mentioned as especially promising by multiple sources -- often off the record -- and the system in which they operate. Many belong to the FCBA Young Lawyers Committee (YLC), open to communications lawyers under 35 or with fewer than 7 years in practice; those were roughly the criteria -- with minor exceptions -- for this article.
Public broadcasters view FCC proposals to Congress to regulate TV violence as aimed mainly at their commercial counterparts, but fear the impact will spill onto public TV programs, as occurred with indecency rulings. “If the FCC is empowered to regulate ‘violence’ there will be a chilling effect on public media producers, who will fear being fined by a powerful government agency second-guessing their artistic and editorial choice,” said Louis Wiley, exec. editor of Frontline, a documentary series WGBH Boston produces for PBS.
Wiley Rein led American Lawyer’s list of U.S. law firms ranked by 2006 profit per partner, aided by its $245 million cut of a settlement between NTP and Research In Motion over the BlackBerry. The firm’s profit per equity partner was $4.4 million last year, the highest in the survey’s 22 years. The Wachtell firm, list leader since 1998, fell to 2nd at just under $4 million a partner. Skadden Arps had the highest revenue, $1.9 billion, the magazine said.
FCC Chmn. Martin used Tues.’s FCBA Chairman’s Dinner to poke fun at the stern reaction he received to some of last year’s jokes. Martin was taken to task by Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) at a March hearing for joking during the Dec. 2005 Chairman’s Dinner about the “KGB-like atmosphere” at the FCC on his watch. Boxer said she didn’t find his comments funny.