FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler poked fun at his fellow commissioners and the White House’s decision to weigh in hard on net neutrality, in comments at the FCBA Chairman’s Dinner Thursday. Wheeler noted that staff at the Washington Hilton wanted to clear the room by 10 p.m. and told him he should keep his remarks short. “I told them I lead an independent agency and nobody tells us what to do,” he said. Referring again to net neutrality, Wheeler joked that his initial remarks had been drafted by Mozilla, with edits from President Barack Obama. Wheeler recalled his first dinner last year came briefly after he started as chairman. “I was being pilloried by all sides in Congress for my cellphones on planes policy,” he said: “I think of that controversy as the good old days.” Republicans in Congress profess a belief in limited government, he joked: “I hope they’re going to exercise that when it comes to oversight hearings.” Comcast, Verizon and, especially, broadcasters all came in for Wheeler barbs. Three different times, Wheeler made fun of localism, showing TV reporters delivering virtually the same lines in different markets. He took a shot at NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan, former chief of the Wireless Bureau. “There’s a former FCC staffer, who you all know, who helped design the incentive auction while he was at the FCC, and now it’s the worst idea he’s ever heard,” Wheeler said. Kaplan fired back on Twitter. Wheeler’s “localism bit would have been funny (1x) if he didn't actually believe the caricature,” Kaplan tweeted.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit granted an FCC request (see 1411260051) for an expedited briefing schedule in the court’s consideration of programmers’ petition for review of the commission’s confidentiality policies in the AT&T/DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable transactions, said an order issued Monday. Final briefs in the case are due Jan. 13, as was requested by the FCC and consented to by the programmers. Oral argument would be some weeks later. The FCC has pushed for the case to be resolved quickly to allow the reviews of the Comcast/TWC and AT&T/DirecTV to be completed quickly.

Correction: AT&T and Mobile Future, not Google, disputed petitions for reconsideration from CCA, CCIA and T-Mobile (see 1411250047).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau granted several media entities temporary waivers from installing operational equipment that can receive and process emergency alert system alerts formatted in the Common Alerting Protocol. Citizens Telephone Co., CMA Communications, JB Cable TV and other entities were granted waivers, while the bureau dismissed waiver petitions filed by Allegiance Communications and James Cable, it said in an order. Granting waivers to some of the petitioners “is justified in light of their underlying circumstances,” it said. The small cable systems covered by the Allegiance and James Cable petitions were bought by Vyve, “which has filed its own waiver requests covering these systems,” the bureau said. The bureau also granted similar waivers to Charter Communications, Comcast, Kenai Broadcasting and other petitioners, it said in another order. The petitioners continued to operate legacy EAS equipment at all times, “thus, the public was not deprived of EAS alerts,” it said.

Bingham McCutchen and Morgan Lewis are combining, the law firms said Monday. The deal includes 226 partners and 525 other lawyers and staff from Bingham, said Morgan Lewis in a news release. It said "Morgan Lewis gains new or expanded capabilities by welcoming top-tier lawyers who counsel clients in areas including telecommunications," intellectual property and antitrust. All of Bingham's Telecom, Media & Technology (TMT) group will continue at Morgan Lewis, said an email from Bingham TMT lawyers Andy Lipman and Catherine Wang.

Clarification: NAB Executive Vice President-Strategic Planning Rick Kaplan didn't take a position on the outcome of the AWS-3 spectrum auction (see 1411200041).

"The big dogs are going to sue” in opposition to any net neutrality regulations, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, and the agency “needs to make sure we have sustainable rules” that could survive a court challenge. Responding to several questions from reporters about net neutrality after Friday’s commission meeting, Wheeler gave no timeline. He said he wanted to create net neutrality rules “with dispatch, but I also want Open Internet rules that are going to be sustained.” To do that, he said the agency has “to address a multitude of issues that are likely to be raised.” Wheeler said he hasn't been in touch with President Barack Obama since the president released a statement backing a Title II approach to Internet regulation (see 1411100035), and said Obama “has every right” to express his perspective. Asked about the potential for legislation from the Republican Congress reining in the agency’s authority, Wheeler said he has “a good relationship” with both sides of the aisle.

The FCBA and its foundation unveiled new websites (see here and here), "after many months in development," the association said in emails to members Tuesday. "A few of our goals were to make the websites more functional, user-friendly, and easier to navigate." The association's new site has photos on the home page that rotate every several seconds, and a listing of events. The FCBA has been looking to focus more on technology, its members have told us.

Corrections: Public Knowledge is no longer a member of the American Television Alliance, after leaving it earlier this fall (see 1411180049). PK Senior Staff Attorney John Bergmayer told us the organization still shares the coalition's enthusiasm for retransmission consent overhaul but doesn't support an ATVA-backed Senate Commerce Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bill due to inclusion in the bill of the set-top box integration ban repeal ... AT&T's statement on next-generation 911 referred to a 911 location accuracy consensus plan filed Tuesday by the company, other carriers and public safety groups at the FCC (see 1411180051).

President Barack Obama touted his ConnectED initiative and praised the recent FCC E-rate proposal (see 1411170042) during a White House event with educators Wednesday. “Just this week, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler unveiled his plan to help us finish the job,” Obama said, referring to the five-year ConnectED goal of connecting 99 percent of students to high-speed broadband. He lamented what he sees as shortcomings to that end, but also cited earlier FCC commitments from earlier in the year: “The FCC decided to double its investment for broadband in schools.” He announced the release of the infrastructure guide and learning tool kit the Department of Education will release, pegged to this initiative. It’s time to “yank our schools into the 21st century when it comes to technology,” Obama said, describing other countries' efforts on this front. Schools “literally don’t have the bandwidth,” he said. “There aren’t enough computers to go around.” He highlighted the role of industry and commitments from 10 companies amounting to more than $2 billion to help. “According to the FCC, 68 percent of school districts report that not a single school in their district can meet high-speed connectivity goals,” a White House fact sheet about the event said. It said Wheeler "announced plans to dramatically expand investments in the E-rate program, increasing the program by $1.5 billion annually. This proposal -- scheduled for consideration by the FCC in December -- constitutes an essential step to provide the resources needed to meet the goals the President outlined last June.”