The GOP election victory is seen as complicating FCC action on business data services near term and putting the commission's broadband net neutrality policy in serious doubt for next year. The FCC Thursday put a BDS item on the agenda for commissioners' Nov. 17 meeting, and while it could still be withdrawn, several agency and industry officials told us Thursday they thought the commission would adopt the item. It nevertheless could still get gummed up in post-vote procedural steps that leave it vulnerable when President-elect Donald Trump takes power, and a new Republican-run FCC could always change course, they said.

Industry players look forward to working with the incoming administration and lawmakers on policies to encourage broadband investment and communications sector innovation, even after some criticized Donald Trump before he became president-elect (see 1611090038). Associations, lobbyists and others in telecom said Wednesday that they would work with the new administration regardless of political disagreements.

Industry players look forward to working with the incoming administration and lawmakers on policies to encourage broadband investment and communications sector innovation, even after some criticized Donald Trump before he became president-elect (see 1611090038). Associations, lobbyists and others in telecom said Wednesday that they would work with the new administration regardless of political disagreements.

The FCC has overcompensated the largest video relay service (VRS) provider by about $1 billion since 2008, says a former commission investigator who wrote a 2010 internal report that was disputed and shelved. Sorenson Communications collected upward of $500 million more than it would have from 2008 to 2010 if the FCC had adopted staff proposals in 2007 to enforce its own compensation standard establishing allowable costs and profits, according to the report, provided us by Stanley Scheiner, who authored it for the Office of Inspector General. Although the FCC has cut rates closer to costs since then, Sorenson collected another $500 million in estimated excess profit from 2010 to 2016, Scheiner told us.

An FCC proceeding on Entercom's KDND(FM) Sacramento license renewal application likely will take years and is seen as unlikely to result in the station losing its license, despite a 2007 radio contest that led to the death of a listener, attorneys told us. Though hearing designation orders such as that issued against KDND are exceedingly rare, larger companies such as Entercom generally are able to handle the burden of the expensive litigation required and reach some sort of resolution with the commission that allows them to keep the license, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Peter Tannenwald. But Tannenwald, who has defended clients in such proceedings, said the process probably will be difficult, comparing the hearing process to a “death ray.” Such hearing proceedings are rare, Tannenwald said, but when the FCC “gets really mad” at a licensee, it “lets them have it,” he said. The order directs the ALJ to commence the hearing within nine months.

Any CBS/Viacom reunion might not face particularly big regulatory hurdles to clear, experts tell us. For the companies and Wall Street, such a potential deal carries numerous upsides, said Jonathan Taplin, director emeritus, University of Southern California's Annenberg Innovation Lab. "The only potential derailing" is if CBS CEO "Les Moonves says, 'Viacom is so broken, I don't want to take it on,'" Taplin said. But, he added, Moonves "is an ambitious guy; he is smart enough to fix a broken thing."

Any CBS/Viacom reunion might not face particularly big regulatory hurdles to clear, experts tell us. For the companies and Wall Street, such a potential deal carries numerous upsides, said Jonathan Taplin, director emeritus, University of Southern California's Annenberg Innovation Lab. "The only potential derailing" is if CBS CEO "Les Moonves says, 'Viacom is so broken, I don't want to take it on,'" Taplin said. But, he added, Moonves "is an ambitious guy; he is smart enough to fix a broken thing."

Internal voting rules mean it’s likely to be at least several weeks before the FCC approves the set-top draft order unexpectedly pulled from Thursday’s meeting (see 1609290076), said former and current FCC officials in interviews Monday. That’s several weeks that entities won’t be able to lobby the commission on the item because it remains restricted under sunshine rules after being pulled, which a coalition of civil rights leaders called “highly unusual” in a petition filed Sunday and in an accompanying news release. The petition asks Chairman Tom Wheeler to release the text of the draft order and allow the public to comment. Wheeler’s decision to “impose rules that silence our voices, while decisions impacting our community are settled behind closed doors, is unacceptable,” said National Urban League CEO Marc Morial. “The FCC must unlock the plan and allow for meaningful feedback.”

Internal voting rules mean it’s likely to be at least several weeks before the FCC approves the set-top draft order unexpectedly pulled from Thursday’s meeting (see 1609290076), said former and current FCC officials in interviews Monday. That’s several weeks that entities won’t be able to lobby the commission on the item because it remains restricted under sunshine rules after being pulled, which a coalition of civil rights leaders called “highly unusual” in a petition filed Sunday and in an accompanying news release. The petition asks Chairman Tom Wheeler to release the text of the draft order and allow the public to comment. Wheeler’s decision to “impose rules that silence our voices, while decisions impacting our community are settled behind closed doors, is unacceptable,” said National Urban League CEO Marc Morial. “The FCC must unlock the plan and allow for meaningful feedback.”

The FCC took a series of votes at last week’s commissioner meeting on personnel items, actions apparently having nothing to do with "burrowing" -- the practice in which non-career employees are moved to career jobs -- a senior FCC official said Monday. Instead, all of the personnel items approved at the commission’s meeting Thursday involved staff receiving promotions under Chairman Tom Wheeler. The moves were OK'd along party lines (see 1609290071).