A rule pending before the Office of Government Ethics, to limit government employee attendance at trade shows, could be bad news for associations as well as policymakers, government and industry officials told us. The proposed rule would end the practice of government employees being given free admission to commonly attended events, when the offer comes from groups that employ in-house lobbyists, from CTIA’s annual meeting to the Consumer Electronics Association’s International CES.
A rule pending before the Office of Government Ethics, to limit government employee attendance at trade shows, could be bad news for associations as well as policymakers, government and industry officials told us. The proposed rule would end the practice of government employees being given free admission to commonly attended events, when the offer comes from groups that employ in-house lobbyists, from CTIA’s annual meeting to the CEA’s International CES.
A rule pending before the Office of Government Ethics, to limit government employee attendance at trade shows, could be bad news for associations as well as policymakers, government and industry officials told us. The proposed rule would end the practice of government employees being given free admission to major events such as CES when the offer comes from groups that employ in-house lobbyists.
A proposed decision by the FCC to send AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile to an administrative law judge is expected to put more pressure on AT&T to reach a settlement with the government, industry and government officials tell us. AT&T officials have a meeting set up with the Department of Justice Monday to discuss a possible settlement (CD Nov 23 p1). A meeting that had been scheduled for Monday of this week was cancelled at the last minute.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recommended Tuesday that AT&T’s proposed purchase of T-Mobile be set for hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ). Genachowski recommended in a second order that the FCC approve with conditions AT&T’s purchase of 700 MHz spectrum from Qualcomm. He circulated the orders Tuesday morning — three weeks before the Dec. 13 FCC meeting — though they won’t necessarily be subject to a public vote by commissioners at the meeting, an FCC official said.
The FCC may eventually revisit a four-decade-old-rule barring multichannel video programming distributors from carrying games that are blacked out by sports leagues on TV stations in markets where the games haven’t sold out. The commission doesn’t seem poised to act right away on a Friday petition from several nonprofit entities and some groups saying they represent fans. Because the petition is styled as a way to cut outdated mandates out of FCC regulations, the commission may eventually start a proceeding on sports blackout rules. MVPDs and TV stations haven’t backed the petition yet, in part because they're scared of the leverage the leagues have over them in giving them rights to carry the games, said members of a coalition of five groups that filed the petition (http://xrl.us/bmimyk).
With the Thanksgiving deadline fast approaching for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, observers are growing skeptical that the super committee will meet its goal of finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. Democrats and Republicans on the special committee seem to agree spectrum auctions should be included, but they continue to disagree on larger, unrelated issues, Hill and industry officials said. Auctions could still make the cut in a smaller package to mitigate an automatic, across-the-board budget cut in January 2013 known as a sequester, telecom industry lobbyists said.
The legislative campaign against the FCC net neutrality order crumbled Thursday on Capitol Hill, as Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval. The Senate voted 46-52 on a motion to proceed to SJ Res 6, with no Democrats voting for the joint resolution of disapproval. That means a vote won’t be held on SJ Res 6 itself. The FCC order takes effect Nov. 20. “The only thing [Republicans] can do at this point is allow the courts to handle” the issue, a House aide said.
The legislative campaign against the FCC net neutrality order crumbled Thursday on Capitol Hill, as Senate Democrats rejected Republicans’ Congressional Review Act joint resolution of disapproval. The Senate voted 46-52 on a motion to proceed to SJ Res 6, with no Democrats voting for the joint resolution of disapproval. That means a vote won’t be held on SJ Res 6 itself. The FCC order takes effect Nov. 20. “The only thing [Republicans] can do at this point is allow the courts to handle” the issue, a House aide said.
The FCC is looking to revive some media ownership rules approved during Kevin Martin’s chairmanship, while ending a bar on one company holding radio and TV stations in the same market. A rulemaking notice that circulated Friday afternoon for the quadrennial review (CD Nov 7 p19) proposes to reinstate some cross-ownership rules approved 3-2 in 2007.