Customs Duty

Section 706 alone can go part of the way toward keeping the Internet open, but Title II reclassification is necessary for the strongest impact, public interest groups said in comments responding to an FCC public notice on potential new net neutrality rules. But CTIA, the Consumer Electronics Association and others argued the level of competition that exists for Internet access means there’s no need for restrictive Internet rules.

FCC staff approved AT&T’s $1.2 billion buy of Leap, in an order released Thursday, as expected (CD March 4 p2). The FCC said the deal could lead to “certain public interest harms,” and as a result the order imposes various conditions, which had been voluntarily offered by AT&T. The commission finished work just under the wire. Thursday was day 179 on the FCC’s unofficial 180-day timeline for reviewing the transaction.

For the second time in four years, the FCC failed to convince the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it had authority to impose net neutrality rules on broadband ISPs. The anti-discrimination and anti-blocking rules in the agency’s December 2010 net neutrality order were indistinguishable from prohibited common carrier restrictions, said the decision (http://1.usa.gov/1m0UQPi). Chairman Tom Wheeler’s FCC has already faced renewed calls to reclassify broadband Internet as a Title II service.

Not all former FCC chairmen want Congress to overhaul the Communications Act, according to written testimony for a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. The subcommittee has announced intentions to update the act, with hearings and white papers in 2014 and legislation in 2015. The former chairmen testifying before Congress are Michael Powell, Dick Wiley, Michael Copps and Reed Hundt; the latter two pushed back against the efforts and mentioned ongoing questions of net neutrality authority that should be clarified.

AT&T’s proposed elimination of long-term contracts for special access services (CD Nov 26 p3) would harm competition and hurt consumers, several CLECs said in filings Monday. The competitive providers asked the FCC to reject the proposal, which they claim is effectively an attempt to raise prices. Some said they're heartened by Chairman Tom Wheeler’s remarks Monday (CD Dec 3 p1) on the importance of regulating during market failures. The special access market, they say, is a prime example of a failed market. An AT&T spokesman told us IP is a “superior” technology and will offer a “cost advantage” over current technologies. He directed us to a blog post last week by Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory Bob Quinn (http://bit.ly/IdRQPS), which cites the benefits of moving from TDM to IP-based services.

International Datacasting Corp. promotes Steven Archambault to chief financial officer, as outgoing CFO Rick Clements continues at company until Jan. 31, available to IDC on consulting basis afterwards, as Steeve Huin, ex-Irdeto, hired as vice president-products … CBS Radio hires Alan Blum, formerly at Re:Vision, as vice president-branded content solutions, new position, and promotes Jennifer Morelli to vice president-integrated marketing … Shaw Communications President Peter Bissonnette postpones retirement to December 2015, adds responsibility for regulatory and government affairs, as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jay Mehr gets newly created role for operating and customer-facing elements and keeps responsibility for information technology and other areas, and Executive Vice President-Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer Steve Wilson expands duties to include responsibility for financial, legal, corporate development and ventures and strategic planning.

The IP transition may herald changes and an end to certain aspects of common carriage regulation, panelists said Wednesday at an event in Washington hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute. Platform competition now emerging may cause certain common carrier obligations to “melt away,” said Navigant Economics Managing Director Hal Singer. “Imposing these obligations when they're not necessary isn’t innocuous -- it’s very, very harmful.” A certain amount of competition must presage such melting away of obligations, he said, an area where the FCC could be of more help in producing data. Singer’s clients have included AT&T.

DENVER -- Judges seemed generally receptive Tuesday to FCC arguments that the agency acted reasonably when it implemented its landmark 2011 Connect America Fund order. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel spent several hours hearing challenges to the order, which rewrote the $4.5 billion USF and set intercarrier compensation on a path toward bill and keep. As judges told challengers that ambiguous terms in the Telecom Act should be resolved in favor of reasonable FCC interpretation, challengers responded either that the terms weren’t ambiguous or the interpretation wasn’t reasonable.

The Senate Finance Committee should resolve the questions on antidumping and countervailing duty enforcement and work to get customs reauthorization legislation to the Senate floor this year, wrote a group of media and other companies and associations to committee leaders. Thursday’s letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, emphasized the importance of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2013. The S-662 bill has stalled over disagreement on how to handle and update some duty enforcement. The letter writers would like the committee to mark up “and move this bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor this year,” wrote Comcast’s NBCUniversal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Viacom, Walmart and others (http://uscham.com/17o2zmx). The legislation would make important updates to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abilities to deal with imports that violate intellectual property laws, they said. Industries that rely on IP protections make up a significant amount of U.S. jobs and exports, but “American creativity, innovation, and respected brands are under attack by those who seek to profit by illegally copying and distributing goods into the U.S. marketplace or into other markets around the world,” the letter said. “To combat this massive threat, this bill would provide appropriate legal authority and resources to CBP and ICE. This bill would also promote collaboration by these agencies with rights holders and provide authorization for the National IPR [Intellectual Property Rights] Coordination Center.” The customs bill would also set an important “benchmark” as negotiations continue on various trade agreements, said the letter. With the World Trade Organization working on “completing a global Trade Facilitation Agreement and both the Transpacific Partnership” and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations “focused on raising the global standards for supply chains, customs, and trade facilitation, the timing of this legislation is critical,” it said.

The 16-day government shutdown had little impact on satellite-related operations, satellite companies and manufacturers said. Companies like Inmarsat and Intelsat continued providing services to the government and military during the shutdown, their executives said.