Helgi Walker, ex-White House aide and ex-aide to FCC Comr. Harold Furchtgott-Roth, joins Wiley Rein & Fielding as of counsel… Rick Feldman, ex-USA Bcstg., appointed to replace Bruce Johansen as NATPE pres., effective April 28… Dale Smith named program dir., Urban TV Network… Jules DeVigne, ex-Accord Networks, and Mack Traynor of HEI elected to ACT Teleconferencing board.
A wireless industry challenge to the FCC’s retention of local number portability (LNP) faced tough questions Tues. from the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C. Attorneys for both sides sparred over the meaning of “necessary” as viewed by the agency in its rejection of forbearance on wireless LNP, which takes effect Nov. 24.
LAS VEGAS -- Speaking from audience in NAB DTV session here Sun., CEA Pres. Gary Shapiro accused industry of not aggressively pushing the conversion to digital, charging “broadcasters themselves” hadn’t promoted TV to consumers. Two broadcasters on panel rejected the claim. Samuel Matheny of WRAL-TV Raleigh -- on of the first stations to go digital -- said his company might be an exception, but it was promoting the transition heavily. Michael DeClue of Clear Channel said his company was committed to digital transmissions “100% of the time” and it would be “utterly foolish [for broadcasters] to not promote what is going to be our future lifeblood.” Responded Shapiro: “Would you tell that to the NAB?”
With a new year comes new lobbying contracts, and several telecom and mass media companies already have signed groups to lobby on their behalf on Capitol Hill and at regulatory agencies. Adelphia, AT&T, EarthLink, Motorola, Nextel and SBC all have added representation since Jan., according to disclosure records held by the Secy. of the Senate, with broadband and spectrum issues looming large.
Americans’ privacy rights won’t be affected by Bush Administration’s proposed Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC), officials of FBI, CIA and Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) told Senate lawmakers Wed. Comments -- by Winston Wiley, CIA assoc. dir. of central intelligence for homeland security; Pasquale D'Amuro, FBI exec. asst. dir.- counterterrorism; and Gordon England, DHS deputy secy. -- came at 2nd hearing of Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on TTIC. Committee Chmn. Collins (R-Me.) called hearing to try to nail down specifics of Administration’s implementation plans.
When FTC Chmn. Timothy Muris gives keynote address to Cabletelevision Ad Bureau conference in N.Y. Feb. 11, he’s expected to put some not-so-subtle pressure on industry to take more responsibility for ads that run on cable networks. What has him so concerned are what he and others in federal govt. see as rise in number of false and misleading ads, particularly for weight loss products, on TV and radio.
FCC Chmn. Powell’s legal adviser on media issues, Susan Eid, told Precursor Group conference Tues. that reality was that there were unprecedented levels of competition, diversity and choice in broadcast TV market. Prime-time viewing of broadcast has declined more than 30% in last decade because of competition from cable, she said. Cable captures 20% of ad revenue now, she said, and she believes clustering of cable systems will cause that industry to “compete much more aggressively and, frankly, effectively” with local broadcasters in terms of local content and advertising.
On list of issues that FCC Chmn. Powell raised at Senate Commerce Committee hearing earlier this month, “there didn’t seem to be a lot of support for it at the committee,” Democratic committee staffer Kevin Kayes said Wed. He responded to question from moderator Richard Wiley at Comnet town meeting on whether regulatory “parity” was needed in how services such as wireless, cable and others were regulated. “The wireline issues were a problem,” Kayes said. “Chairman McCain thought that cable prices were going through the roof and said we needed to begin to focus on that. The media consolidation wasn’t met very favorably.” Kayes, staffer to Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.), stressed need to focus on broadband demand, area now beset with high prices and need for content. Referring to issues that came up at hearing, he said recent FCC ruling on EchoStar’s failed effort to take over DirecTV stemmed from conclusion 2 competitors in most markets wouldn’t be sufficient. Potential outcome of pending broadband proceedings at FCC could be conclusion that “as long as you have a cable provider” in particular residential market along with DSL provider “that’s enough competition,” Kayes said. “What we would like to see is a much more robust competition, both within the platform and across the platforms.” Bryan Tramont, senior legal adviser to Powell, said that in long term, FCC had interest in ensuring against discrimination based on particular platform. Ultimate “goal is to regulate down,” he said, so that rather than reflecting wireline regulatory regime, interest was in emulating regulatory success in long distance and wireless arenas, he said. At start of town meeting, Wiley was recognized for his lengthy involvement in Comnet conference, which he co- founded. This year marks both 25th anniversary of Washington conference and its regulatory town meeting.
Kevin Kayes, Democratic staffer for Senate Commerce Committee, said he agreed with recent comment by FCC Chmn. Powell that bemoaned frequency of biennial review as destabilizing. Powell said last week in C-SPAN interview that congressional mandate that agency review its rules every 2 years was taxing to it and destabilizing on market (CD Jan 27 p1). Speaking Wed. at Comnet regulatory town meeting in Washington, Kayes, staffer to Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) cited Powell’s interest in changes in frequency of biennial review: “That was a positive statement and that’s great as far as it goes. But I think we also have to have a federal regulatory scheme that doesn’t anticipate these huge changes in the way we deal with industry.” Broadband proceeding at FCC that will redefine what information technology is “has put everything into flux,” Kayes said. “Just by virtue of proposing such a dramatic change in the regulatory scheme it has turned the [Telecom] Act on top of its head… Let Congress make those macro decisions and I would hope the FCC would work in that framework to help interpret and advance those principles.” As part of discussion on effectiveness of Telecom Act, Bryan Tramont, aide to Powell, responded that uncertainty “hasn’t been created by the regulatory regime.” Twice FCC has tried -- and failed -- to adopt “a judicially sustainable view” of UNEs, Tramont said: “Having rules out there that aren’t sustained in courts creates more uncertainty. This Commission is dedicated to passing rules in these proceedings that will be sustained.” On definition of information service, there’s need to resolve that question, he said. “To the extent that the Hill weighs in and resolves that question for us, certainly we would welcome that,” Tramont said. In FCC’s UNE Triennial Review proceeding, NARUC Gen. Counsel Brad Ramsay said question of state involvement involved what role states would play. “Earlier in the debate the question was, will the states be playing a role,” he said. “Now the debate has shifted to what role will we take when the [UNE] platform leaves a particular market.” Kayes cited recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing at which Powell said complete preemption of states wasn’t issue in Triennial Review, saying there would be role for both state and federal regulators (CD Jan 15 p1). “What our committee said in a real strong way… was we're at a point where the states ought to be making these decisions.” Hope is that much of decisions on UNE-related policy will be left to state level, Kayes said. Washington attorney Richard Wiley, who moderated panel, asked NTIA Deputy Dir. Michael Gallagher: “Given how important this is, why hasn’t the Administration taken a position on the whole broadband issue to date?” Gallagher disagreed with characterization, saying President Bush twice had spoken publicly on issue. “He’s been very clear that it’s a positive social development, a positive social technology,” Gallagher said. “We see the broadband question as being much broader than one rulemaking.” Among examples of Administration’s attention to issue was infrastructure investment, which was covered in last year’s stimulus package in which several different depreciation tables were reconciled, he said.
Payment originally made by SBC lobbyist for her part in Oct. 2001 party for NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory came from company’s coffers, SBC spokesman said Thurs. Officials originally said $480 spent by SBC Senior Vp-Regulatory Compliance Priscilla Hill-Ardoin came from personal funds. “She didn’t remember accurately. She had thought up until recently that she had covered it because it is such a small amount,” SBC spokesman said: “We continued to go through records. It turns out the company originally paid her share.” Hill-Ardoin “immediately” reimbursed company, he said. Federal govt. ethics guidelines stipulate gifts from company that has business before govt. official aren’t acceptable, govt. officials have said (CD Jan 22 p1). However, gifts can come from long-time personal friend, even if that person is lobbyist, as long as it came from personal, not corporate funds, officials said. While corporate funds can’t be accepted as gifts, several sources suggested that ethics guideline lapse that such scenario raised for govt. official could be corrected as long as gift-giver reimbursed company with personal funds. Victory earlier this week decided to report as gift contributions that industry lobbyists made to party for her at her Great Falls, Va., home (CD Jan 23 p6). Decision to amend her financial disclosure form to reflect those contributions came after Office of Govt. Ethics offered new advice on how calculation should be made as to which part of gift was reportable. Hosts of party listed on invitation were lobbyists for Cingular, CTIA, Motorola, SBC and partner at Wiley, Rein & Fielding. Meanwhile, buzz continued about party, including Washington Post editorial that took aim at Victory’s event and House Majority Leader DeLay’s annual charity golf tournaments. Such events “underscore the endemic sense of entitlement among those in power to have someone else foot the bill -- and their obliviousness (or perhaps indifference) to why that might be wrong,” editorial said.