Pending personnel changes at the FCC will come at what is likely to be a critical time for FCC consideration of Verizon Wireless’s proposed buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. General Counsel Austin Schlick is scheduled to leave in mid-June and Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan’s departure will follow soon after. Approval of the deals, though likely with substantial conditions, is expected this summer. Current and former FCC officials said it remains unclear whether the departures will slow a final decision, and if so, for how long.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit established a briefing schedule for the net neutrality appeal, which should mean oral arguments early next year on challenges to the FCC’s December 2010 order. Lawyer Andrew Schwartzman said he expects arguments in January or February based on the schedule. The initial briefs by net neutrality opponents Verizon and MetroPCS are due July 2. Net neutrality supporter Free Press, which wants to see the rules strengthened, is to file the same day. The government’s initial brief is due Sept. 10. Final briefs are due Nov. 21. The panel of judges who will hear the case has yet to be selected.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit established a briefing schedule for the net neutrality appeal, which should mean oral arguments early next year on challenges to the FCC’s December 2010 order. Lawyer Andrew Schwartzman said he expects arguments in January or February based on the schedule. The initial briefs by net neutrality opponents Verizon and MetroPCS are due July 2. Net neutrality supporter Free Press, which wants to see the rules strengthened, is to file the same day. The government’s initial brief is due Sept. 10. Final briefs are due Nov. 21. The panel of judges who will hear the case has yet to be selected.
The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) threw its considerable weight behind spectrum sharing, approving a spectrum report Friday that stresses the importance of sharing. The report recommends that President Barack Obama issue a memorandum saying it’s U.S. government policy to share underutilized government spectrum and ordering agencies to identify 1,000 MHz of spectrum that could be shared with the private sector. PCAST didn’t release the report, but the details were presented at a meeting in Washington.
FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan wants to know if Verizon Wireless would abandon its plans to sell its lower 700 MHz licenses if the commission doesn’t approve the acquisition of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo, Cox and Leap. The carrier has less than a week to answer that and several other questions about the proposed sale of its 700 MHz A- and B-block licenses, said a letter sent Tuesday to Verizon Wireless Vice President John Scott (http://xrl.us/bm74mz). Kaplan also asked what the acquirer has done to build out its lower 700 MHz spectrum, and how the sale relates to the proposed acquisition of the AWS licenses.
Comcast won a stay of an FCC administrative judge’s decision (CD Dec 28 p2) that it move the Tennis Channel to the same programming package as the cable operator’s own sports networks. The Office of General Counsel’s stay may be short-lived, because commissioners have a draft order before them on the case. The Media Bureau Wednesday separately backed a complaint Comcast isn’t living up to the conditions of last year’s order letting it buy control of NBCUniversal, because Bloomberg TV isn’t near the channel positions of other news networks. (See separate report in this issue.)
Verizon Wireless, the SpectrumCo partners and Cox should have some idea about whether the Justice Department has major objections to the proposed sale of AWS licenses to Verizon in the late May or early June timeframe, industry and government officials said. Justice typically offers some guidance to companies involved in such transactions within about 30 days of when they provide all of the data requested by the department. Verizon and the cable companies have either completed or are about to wrap up data submissions on the spectrum parts of the transactions, officials said. The major parties are still submitting information on the other part of the transactions: marketing agreements between Verizon and the three cable operators.
Verizon’s recent class action settlement regarding unwanted third-party charges could provide a roadmap for FCC members as they consider adopting further “cramming” regulations very much like the ones Verizon agreed to in February, a rulemaking notice suggests. In a further notice of proposed rulemaking adopted Friday, the commission contemplated far greater restrictions than the disclosure requirements adopted in the order. An “opt-in” requirement would block all third-party charges unless customers give affirmative approval that they will accept such charges (http://xrl.us/bm5st6).
Truth-in-billing rules didn’t solve “cramming,” and neither did millions of dollars in forfeitures, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell said. On Friday the FCC revealed its latest attempt to alleviate what it called “a problem that has plagued telecommunications consumers for more than a decade,” with new rules requiring several disclosures by wireline phone companies. Public interest groups and some legislators say the FCC didn’t go far enough, as it declined to apply the rules to wireless or VoIP providers.
Smaller public interest groups face new challenges in legal representation before the FCC and in court on communications issues because of the closing of the largest law practice devoted to representing nonprofits (CD April 4 p2). Industry lawyers and nonprofit officials said the immediate future of Washington representation for public interest groups without in-house lawyers isn’t bright on issues that will arise where counsel isn’t in place. Our review of the work done by other lawyers for public interest groups found nothing is making up for all of the loss of legal advice provided by the Media Access Project, closing its office May 1.