The Rural Utilities Service is accepting applications for its $25 million Community Connect grants to offer broadband access in unserved rural communities, RUS Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said during a conference call Friday. Emphasis will be placed on bandwidth when the applications are scored for the “community-oriented connectivity benefits derived from the proposed services,” said the Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA), published in the Federal Register.
ConnectedNation names John Hamm, ex-Tatum LLC, chief financial officer … Douglas Wiley, ex-Politico and NAB, joins Wiley Rein as senior public policy consultant in government relations practice.
Feb. 26-March 1 National Religious Broadcasters convention, with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nashville -- www.nrbconvention.org
Paul Otellini, Intel CEO, named to President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness … Fox Broadcasting promotions: Suzanna Makkos and Marcus Wiley to senior vice presidents-comedy development; Terence Carter to senior vice president-drama development.
Moving AM and FM stations from rural to urban areas would become harder under a draft FCC order that also deals with tribal radio issues, agency and industry lawyers said. Among the many items tentatively set for a vote at the March 3 meeting (CD Feb 14 p6), the Media Bureau order circulated by Chairman Julius Genachowski sets up a rebuttable presumption against what are called move-ins, an agency official said. AM and FM stations seeking to change their community of license to reach a service contour that was half or more urbanized would need to make a case why they should be able to make such a move, FCC officials said.
Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen’s purchase of bankrupt TerreStar and DBSD and their spectrum could make the DBS company more attractive to AT&T as an acquisition target, Credit Suisse analysts said in a note to investors. Most attention had been on DirecTV, but recent developments make Dish as likely a target, they said. The strategic merits of combining Dish’s DBS business and AT&T’s phone service “are relatively thin,” but the benefits of acquiring the spectrum “are compelling,” the analysts said. Several hurdles stand in the way of a deal, including to Ergen’s takeover of DBSD and TerreStar, Credit Suisse said. Shareholders in DBSD and TerreStar oppose the purchases, and the plans require a bankruptcy judge’s approval. But the regulatory environment has improved for an AT&T takeover, the analysts said. Conditions on an AT&T purchase of a DBS company could resemble those on the Comcast-NBC Universal deal, Wiley Rein lawyer Todd Stansbury said on a conference call about the regulatory considerations. Possible conditions could be obligations to extend broadband deployment, carry public interest programming, and expand local-into-local service, he said. Another plausible condition would be to require AT&T to obey net neutrality rules for a set time, regardless of the result of legal challenges to the FCC’s net neutrality rules, Stansbury said. FCC plans for mobile satellite service spectrum are less clear, and the commission has several choices, said Jennifer Hindin, another Wiley Rein lawyer. Commission rules that keep terrestrial service use of the spectrum ancillary to satellite use could limit use of the frequencies, Credit Suisse said. The FCC is expected to move forward soon on an order for a terrestrial allocation in the S-band, where DBSD and TerreStar’s spectrum is, and add secondary leasing rules throughout the MSS spectrum, Hindin said. How the FCC will handle a notice of inquiry that has raised the idea of incentive auctions is far less clear, she said. Many preliminaries, including congressional approval, must be worked out before incentive auctions can be held, Stansbury said.
Feb. 7 FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski speaks on universal service overhaul, 10:30 a.m., ITIF, 1101 K St. NW, Washington -- www.itif.org
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday said in an e-mail to staff he supports the anti-regulation moves by the broader Obama administration. President Barack Obama took a jab at over-regulation in his State of the Union address Jan. 25 and the administration issued an order that would measure the effectiveness of regulations.
The Senate Select Committee on Ethics hired a lawyer for a “preliminary inquiry” regarding ethics allegations against Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member John Ensign, R-Nev., the ethics committee said Tuesday. It hired Carol Bruce, a congressional investigation attorney with K&L Gates. The panel didn’t describe the allegations against Ensign, but the senator previously was accused of covering up an affair with an aide. “The purpose of a preliminary inquiry is to determine whether there is substantial credible evidence that a violation within the Committee’s jurisdiction has occurred,” the ethics committee said. After that, it said the panel could dismiss the allegations, send a letter of admonition, “or, for more serious violations, [conduct] an adjudicatory review.” The panel “has assured Senator Ensign that their inquiry remains in the preliminary stage and that the appointment of a special counsel does not change the course of its inquiry,” said lawyer Robert Walker of Wiley Rein, representing Ensign in the matter. “Senator Ensign is confident that he complied with all ethics rules and laws, and he is hopeful that this appointment will lead to a more speedy resolution of this matter.” Ensign “will continue to cooperate with the committee’s inquiry,” added Walker.
Jan. 24-25 PLI seminar on broadband and cable industry law, PLI New York Center, 810 7th Ave. -- 800-260-4754