Verizon Wireless asked the FCC for additional protections before it submits highly sensitive data asked for by the FCC as it evaluates Verizon’s proposed sale of spectrum licenses to AT&T. The company asked Friday that the information be given heightened or second level protection on the grounds that it’s highly sensitive competitive information. “Verizon Wireless understands that this request is still under consideration” by the Wireless Bureau, said an ex parte letter to the FCC signed by counsel Nancy Victory of Wiley Rein. She said counsel for Verizon Wireless spoke by telephone with Susan Singer of the Wireless Bureau, “indicating that Verizon Wireless would prefer that all pending protective order issues be resolved before it submits any highly confidential materials."
FCC meetings need better production values, a Democratic member in the 1960s and ‘70s told us. “Since they regulate television, surely they” could get some guidance from “Hollywood,” said Professor Nicholas Johnson of the University of Iowa. “What they most need is a producer.” The National Broadband Plan “is very impressive” but doesn’t much address pricing of fast-Web service, only availability, he said. Johnson couldn’t remember a proceeding during his time at the FCC whose scope compared to that of the plan, like the other members we surveyed (CD March 16 p6) who served in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and past decade. The computer inquiry during his time came closest, Johnson said. Richard Wiley, Republican chairman then, agreed. While Gloria Tristani was a commissioner 1997-2001, “we never dealt with producing a plan of this magnitude,” she said. Henry Rivera, who served in the 1980s, said he could recall no report by the regulator to Congress “that equals this report in scope and scale or in the amount of commission resources utilized to give birth to it.”
The significant time devoted by many FCC staffers to work on the National Broadband Plan the past year, and the commission’s attention to the subject, cut into the time and energy available for more routine matters, said broadcast and cable lawyers. That leaves some items languishing, causing some licensees regulatory confusion and leaving complaints unresolved, they said. “While the task Congress assigned to the FCC was enormous, all of the effort and energy the commission put into creating the plan will reap many benefits in the years to come,” said an agency spokesman.
The deadline to apply for Broadband Technology Opportunities Program Comprehensive Community Infrastructure projects was extended to March 26, the NTIA said. Applicants for Broadband Initiatives Program will have until March 29 to file their applications to RUS, that agency said Tuesday. Applications in NTIA’s two other project categories -- Public Computer Centers and Sustainable Broadband Adoption -- remain due on March 15.
Large and small companies and advocacy groups made late ex parte filings even as an FCC rulemaking notice on ex parte procedures was circulating. A review of more than 1,000 filings posted online by the commission Nov. 1 to Feb. 12 on a variety of issues found that this is a continuing practice. The rulemaking is set for a Thursday vote (CD Feb 10 p5).
DirecTV sued Dish Network for false advertising, claiming that a recent ad campaign misrepresents what are comparable packages between the two companies, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. DirecTV is asking the court to force Dish to pay DirecTV all profits related to the advertising, financial damages sustained by DirecTV as a result of the advertising, exemplary damages and attorneys’ fees. The company said Dish’s advertising violates the Lanham Act, New York General Business Law and common law of unfair competition.
The broadband stimulus program may be headed for new problems in its second funding round, industry officials told us. Last summer, technical glitches forced the agencies running the program, the NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service, to put off by a week an electronic filing deadline. Hundreds of would-be applicants couldn’t file their documents electronically (CD Aug 14 p1). This round, the big problem is timing. The government is still choosing first-round winners, but second-round applications are due March 15.
The FCC could get a new member, replacing longtime Commissioner Michael Copps, as soon as summer, industry and commission sources told us. Copps’ term expires in June and he could serve until January 2013 without confirmation to an additional term. But most indications are the Obama administration is eager to put its mark on the commission. Copps took office in May 2001. He declined to be interviewed for this article.
The three appeals judges who heard FCC v. Comcast expressed skepticism that the commission had ancillary authority to find the company had violated net neutrality principles in blocking peer-to-peer file transfers (CD Aug 4/08 p1). Judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pressed FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick Friday to cite a statute that gave the regulator direct authority over an ISP’s network management. Comcast’s lawyer was challenged to show how the company was harmed by the commission’s order against it, since no fine was imposed.
David King elected New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission chairman for 2010, replacing Sandy Jones … New at Wiley Rein: partners William Consovoy and Brandon Pinkard; of counsel Thomas McCarthy; special counsel Joan Stewart … Dean Olmstead and David Rayner resign from TerreStar board … Sinclair Broadcast names John Dittmeier, ex-WWLP-TV Springfield, Mass., general manager of WTWC-TV Tallahassee … World Wrestling Entertainment promotes Andrew Whitaker to head of WWE International … Arbinet names Brian Troesch, ex-Belgacom, senior vice president, product and business development … Jamie Hedlund, leaving CEA Jan. 15 (CD Jan 5 p10), becomes ICANN vice president, government affairs for the Americas on Jan. 25.