Three judges asked skeptical questions about the FCC making Comcast carry the Tennis Channel as widely as the two other sports networks which the operator owns. At oral argument Monday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, different jurists focused on different issues in the 2012 program carriage order that split the commission 3-2 on party lines (CD July 26 p5). Judges Harry Edwards, Brett Kavanaugh and Stephen Williams spent about twice their allotted 15 minutes for the FCC side asking the agency’s lawyer, Peter Karanjia, about the jurists’ various concerns with the order.
4G Americas marked the one-year anniversary of the 2012 spectrum law Friday with a letter urging the FCC to move forward on an auction of the 1755-1780 MHz band, long viewed by carriers as one of the most valuable bands for wireless broadband. Commissioner Robert McDowell said Friday he shares the group’s concerns.
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council no longer seeks an immediate vote on an FCC media ownership order that has deadlocked commissioners (CD Feb 19 p13). MMTC made a new proposal for steps to take before a vote on whether to deregulate newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules. The council last month sought a vote on the draft Media Bureau order before studies were complete on the rules’ effect on minority ownership (CD Jan 28 p7), saying if the research showed deregulation would harm people of color, the order could be reversed. Executive Director David Honig told us the council now wants the proceeding put on hold so a study the group will pay for on cross ownership’s effects on minority-owned stations can be done by a research firm.
Pressure is growing on FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to say something, anything, about his plans for the future, now that the second term of the Obama administration is underway. Last week, Genachowski was peppered with questions in the news conference after the commission meeting, but said nothing about his departure plans (CD Feb 1 p11). Also on the rise is pressure on the administration to appoint the first-ever woman to chair the FCC, one of the most high-profile of the independent federal commissions, following the departure of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.
A partisan split among the four regular FCC members on media ownership rules (CD Jan 18 p1), which may be so intractable it can’t be resolved with the unanimity Chairman Julius Genachowski seeks, could be partly addressed by using a Minority Media and Telecommunications Council proposal as the basis for a compromise, commission officials said. They said some at the commission are considering parts of MMTC’s proposal last week as a potential pathway to a compromise on how much to deregulate ownership. A much bigger determinant in the outcome of draft rules first circulated Nov. 14 remains what revisions if any Genachowski makes to the Media Bureau order, agency and industry officials said.
Searching the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) to mine carrier data is too cumbersome and takes too long, Public Knowledge said in a filing. Other industry officials told us Friday they have shared PK’s pain trying to use the ULS.
Differences have emerged between the FCC commissioners that partly follow party lines about whether they'll likely approve deregulation of media ownership in an order that goes further than the Democrats want and falls short of what the Republicans sought, said agency and industry officials Thursday. They said that with Chairman Julius Genachowski in recent days seeking a vote on draft rules he first circulated Nov. 14 (CD Nov 15 p1), without changes to the 2010 quadrennial review draft, one or both other Democratic FCC members may vote no and one or both Republicans could approve with some concerns. Genachowski sought feedback this month on the draft rules, something he didn’t do much before the Media Bureau order circulated, agency officials said.
Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (WID Dec 22/10 p1).
Two years after the FCC approved net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote after a protracted debate, much uncertainty and controversy remains. Next year should prove a key year, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit hears combined appeals by Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS challenging the FCC’s authority to impose the regulations (CD Dec 22/10 p1).
Sprint Nextel’s successful bid to buy full ownership of Clearwire is unlikely to face a tough time winning regulatory approval, industry legal experts told us. Sprint, which already owned 51 percent of Clearwire, said Monday that Clearwire’s other shareholders had unanimously agreed to sell Sprint their 49 percent stake for $2.2 billion. Sprint said it believes the purchase gives it a unique opportunity to maximize the value of Clearwire’s 2.5 GHz spectrum and use it to increase Sprint’s network capacity. “We believe this transaction, particularly when leveraged with our SoftBank relationship, is further validation of our strategy and allows Sprint to control its network destiny,” said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse in a joint statement with Clearwire (http://xrl.us/bn6wrv). Sprint’s successful bid for Clearwire came more than two months after SoftBank bought 70 percent ownership of the carrier for $20.1 billion. As with SoftBank, Sprint’s deal with Clearwire is unlikely to encounter any significant regulatory issues, said Andrew Schwartzman, a public-interest communications lawyer. The FCC’s approval process on the Sprint-Clearwire deal should be “fairly perfunctory,” said Steve Goodman, a partner with the law firm Butzel Long who previously worked at the FCC and as an attorney on antitrust and regulatory issues at Comsat. Sprint’s existing 51 percent ownership of Clearwire is particularly important, because a shift to full control is unlikely to be seen as creating adverse effects on competition, Goodman told us, noting that the two “were already basically working in parallel/partnership.” The Clearwire purchase should also get approval from federal regulators because it strengthens Sprint’s position against No. 1 carrier Verizon Wireless and No. 2 carrier AT&T, allowing more competition in the marketplace, a regulatory analyst told us. Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner who is opposed to further carrier consolidation, disagreed, saying the consolidation implications in the Sprint-Clearwire deal merit FCC scrutiny. “If I was still on the commission, I'd be taking a good hard look at it,” he said.