Verizon won a major turnaround Fri. in its suit against the RIAA as the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., agreed the ISP needn’t comply with subpoenas to identify suspected peer-to- peer file sharers. Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote the 3- 0 opinion. It overturned the U.S. Dist. Court, D.C., which had ruled Sec. 512(h) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) required ISPs to comply with subpoenas from copyright owners, even if the ISPs weren’t storing infringing content on their servers. Ginsberg granted Verizon’s request to stay the Dist. Court ruling. The other judges were John Roberts and Ann Williams.
Communications lawyers and public interest advocates said broadcasters could face increased scrutiny when applying for license renewals over the next couple of years. After years of relatively lax enforcement, there are several signs that broadcasters could face stricter enforcement, they said, including: (1) Creation of a Localism Task Force that grew largely from the FCC’s embattled media ownership rule. (2) Calls from members of Congress and Democratic commissioners to examine whether stations are violating public service requirements. (3) Recent record indecency fines against a radio broadcaster. (4) Dozens of fines for public file violations.
FCC Wireless Bureau promoted Blaise Scinto to special counsel for spectrum policy in the Office of the Bureau Chief… Consumer Electronics Assn. named Dawn Rhine, ex- Newspaper Assn. of America, dir. of the International CES show, replacing Donna Deutsch, who left in Aug… Law student Jason Williams named special asst. to FCC Comr. Martin; Lori Alexiou, ex-Wiley, Rein & Fielding, becomes confidential asst… Marsha Berkbigler promoted to vp-govt. affairs & franchise relations, Charter… Deborah Buhles, ex-Capital One, joins Comcast as dir.-corporate travel.
The Commerce Dept.’s Inspector Gen. (IG) concluded that then NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory, by accepting a party that lobbyists threw in her honor Oct. 2001, had violated federal govt. ethical guidelines. But the IG report said it didn’t turn up evidence to support a charge that her position on wireless spectrum caps was shaped by the party. The IG report was finalized June 25 but not released until Mon. by House Govt. Reform Committee ranking Democrat Waxman (Cal.).
The telecom industry was disappointed at the collapse of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun that ended Sun., as “no progress” was made on the services side, including telecom, industry officials said. However, Patricia Paoletta, attorney at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, said the results weren’t surprising as “nobody expected any breakthrough” on the telecom side, with progress on agriculture issues being a “precondition for telecom services [issues] to move” forward.
GM, Hughes and News Corp. asked the FCC Thurs. to “quickly dismiss” concerns raised by certain groups about the News Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Hughes. In a letter to the Commission, they said: (1) NAB’s argument that News Corp. would bypass its Fox affiliate broadcasters by distributing a national feed were “far from a model of clarity.” Because Fox’s contracts with sports leagues cover over-the-air broadcast rights, efforts to distribute programming via national feed would exclude the more popular sports programming, they said: “If a bypass strategy were profitable, the parties already would be pursuing it via contract.” While the NAB has said a contract would be too complicated, it hasn’t explained why, the letter said. (2) The Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) recently asked the Commission to analyze the contents of newspaper and magazine articles to learn about News Corp.’s intentions, but such “conclusory assertions, of course, fall woefully short of CDD’s obligation to set forth specific allegations ’supported by affidavit of a person or persons with personal knowledge thereof.'” (3) Wyser-Pratte Management Co. said the deal would result in the “inequitable treatment of holders of GM Class H common stock,” but a license transfer was not appropriate for that claim. (4) The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) said a decision on the proposed transaction should be delayed until the broadcast ownership rules had been released. The request is “unrelated,” “groundless” and “moot given that the Broadcast Ownership Report and Order was issued July 2, 2003. (5) Maranatha’s concern that DirecTV might choose to increase its local program offerings using a 2-dish system should be addressed in existing Commission rules, which say that 2-dish systems can be deployed only in a legal (nondiscriminatory) way. (6) Sun Microsystems asked the FCC to require DirecTV to migrate to a set-top box standard if the transaction were approved, but imposing “such a condition would conflict with the Commission’s well- established policy against picking winners and losers among competing technologies and its preference to let the markets decide such issues.” Migration to a standard might “serve Sun’s individual interest” but “falls well outside the scope of this proceeding.” Separately, the CDD criticized the requests and urged the “Commission to engage in an objective and in-depth inquiry.” It said the FCC couldn’t ignore its questions to fulfill its “public interest mandate” to review the proposed transaction: “We are astonished -- but not surprised -- that News Corp., et al., would implore the FCC not to conduct a serious analysis. As one of the signers of their Aug. 28 letter is a former chair of the agency, they especially should know better [than] to urge the Commission to ignore the public interest requirements of the Communications Act.” The CDD said it questioned “whether the parties are truly afraid of serious analysis and public disclosure.” Communications attorney Richard Wiley was among the signers.
FCC Chmn. Powell Wed. named Bryan Tramont as his new chief of staff, a position that Marsha MacBride said earlier this week she was departing after 2-1/2 years. Tramont is Powell’s senior legal adviser, handling wireless, technology, international and other issues. He had a similar portfolio before that as senior adviser to Comr. Abernathy. He’s been an aide to Powell since Sept. 2002. Before joining Abernathy’s office, he was legal adviser to then Comr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth. Prior to the Commission, Tramont was an attorney with Wiley, Rein & Fielding. He’s a graduate of Yale Law School and an adjunct law professor at Catholic U. The Mo. native also worked as a law clerk for Judge Duane Benton of the Mo. Supreme Court.
Incoming CTIA Pres. Steve Largent told us in an interview Tues. the 2 “lifelines” he saw for the wireless industry were spectrum allocation and cash. “I think the regulatory regime and policy that affects the wireless industry at the state and federal level are critical components to both of those lifelines,” he told us. Largent compared taking current CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler’s place to following in the footsteps of the “Vince Lombardi of the trade groups.”
Former Rep. Steve Largent (R-Okla.) confirmed to us Wed. that he was in the running for the top CTIA slot, which Pres. Tom Wheeler plans to vacate at the end of the year. “I am flattered and hope that it becomes a reality,” he said. An announcement on the closely watched search process has been expected as early as this week. However, Largent declined to say where the process stood, saying simply that he was cautiously optimistic about the outcome. Largent is a senior public policy consultant in the govt. affairs practice group at Wiley, Rein & Fielding. A NFL Hall of Fame former wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks was in Congress 1994-2002, including 7 years on the House Commerce Committee. Largent said his interest in telecom issues was particularly sparked when he worked under then Committee Chmn. Bliley (R-Va.) in the development of the Telecom Act. “I'd guess you'd have to say my personality and inclinations moved towards high-tech - - I love all the new gadgets and toys that have been coming online for the last 10 or 15 years,” he said. Largent said he had worked on some telecom issues since joining Wiley Rein in the last few months. “I was just getting my feet wet when the CTIA position became available,” he said. Largent left Congress last year to run for governor of Okla., ultimately losing that race to State Sen. Brad Henry (D) after having led most of the way. Last month, Rep. Pickering (R-Miss.) withdrew his name from consideration for CTIA’s top post, saying his decision came after a serious discussion with his family and the impact the job would have on his 5 sons. Largent’s confirmation Wed. that he had talked with CTIA about the job came after months of speculation about other reported candidates, including current CTIA senior vp-govt. affairs Steve Berry and ex-Defense Dept. spokeswoman Victoria Clarke. While in Congress, Largent had a relatively low public profile on wireless issues but had spoken out on parts of the Tauzin-Dingell bill, saying at one point that the benefits that Bell companies would receive would hamstring competition in the local loop even more.
NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory plans to step down from the agency next month after nearly 2 years in the post, she confirmed Thurs. Hers is the agency’s 2nd major departure since May, when Deputy Dir. Michael Gallagher left to become deputy chief of staff for policy to Commerce Secy. Donald Evans. Gallagher hasn’t been replaced, and plans for an interim successor to Victory or as deputy weren’t clear. In an unrelated development, a House subcommittee omitted any funds in the Commerce Dept.’s Technology Administration (TA) FY 2004 budget approved Wed.