The special master overseeing discovery on the various court challenges to AT&T/T-Mobile ordered Sprint Nextel to give AT&T various internal documents it has requested by Nov. 21. AT&T filed a subpoena for the Sprint documents Sept. 26. Last month, Special Master Richard Levie noted in the order, AT&T narrowed its document request to those necessary to refresh the record in the case. In a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington last week, AT&T listed 47 continuing areas of interest, including whether Sprint has plans for a “business combination” with T-Mobile if the AT&T/T-Mobile deal is blocked in federal court.
An unusual appeal of an FCC Media Bureau order gets a rare hearing Wednesday at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Cablevision and cable programmer Madison Square Garden Holdings appealed last month a pair of bureau orders against the companies and in favor of the two biggest telcos, rather than waiting for the full commission to act. Even rarer, said media lawyers not part of the case, is the New York court’s agreement to hear oral argument on the request for the 2nd Circuit to stay the bureau’s rulings (CD Sept 23 p5). The rulings gave AT&T and Verizon access to HD feeds of two regional sports channels owned by MSG, which used to be part of Cablevision.
Judge Ellen Huvelle will allow Sprint Nextel and C Spire to pursue part of their claims against AT&T/T-Mobile, rejecting most claims but allowing two to proceed, in a complicated, 44-page decision handed down Wednesday night. AT&T, Sprint and C Spire all portrayed the decision as a win, as the Department of Justice’s case against the deal moves forward.
Judge Ellen Huvelle will allow Sprint Nextel and C Spire to pursue part of their claims against AT&T/T-Mobile, rejecting most claims but allowing two to proceed, in a complicated, 44-page decision handed down Wednesday night. AT&T, Sprint and C Spire all portrayed the decision as a win, as the Department of Justice’s case against the deal moves forward.
Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe stunt” at the 2004 Super Bowl still isn’t indecent, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia again ruled on CBS v. FCC. It was a 2-1 ruling touching on matters other than the First Amendment. Free speech still is expected to be front and center during oral argument at the Supreme Court later this year or early next on indecency cases involving two other broadcast networks, and Wednesday’s ruling isn’t expected to change that or affect the U.S.’s case against Disney’s ABC and News Corp’s Fox, industry lawyers said. The high court had sent back to the 3rd Circuit its earlier reversal of the $550,000 fine to CBS for showing for 9/16 of a second Jackson’s bare right breast (CD July 22/08 p1) because of the justices’ ruling on administrative law grounds on the Fox case.
FCC Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan asked AT&T for more documents on whether AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile would mean a net gain of jobs in the U.S. Kaplan said in a letter dated Thursday, that the bureau asked the question in a May 27 information request. “AT&T to date has produced almost nothing in response,” Kaplan wrote (http://xrl.us/bmf3ot).
Public Knowledge filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday for permission to intervene in Verizon’s challenge there of the FCC’s net neutrality rules. Meanwhile, officials said the Judicial Conference of the United States is expected to hold a lottery in the next few days to decide which judicial circuit will handle various petitions for review of the December 2010 order.
Public Knowledge filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday for permission to intervene in Verizon’s challenge there of the FCC’s net neutrality rules. Meanwhile, officials said the Judicial Conference of the United States is expected to hold a lottery in the next few days to decide which judicial circuit will handle various petitions for review of the December 2010 order.
Public Knowledge asked the FCC to clarify how it and other organizations can challenge whether redacted information in the AT&T/T-Mobile and other proceedings should be made part of the public record. Too much of the time, AT&T and T-Mobile have stamped as confidential information they want to keep out of the public view, which is not the kind of “competitively-sensitive information” the FCC ought to protect in protective orders, Public Knowledge said in a letter signed by Legal Director Harold Feld (http://xrl.us/bmfba3).
Three public interest groups that are strong proponents of building out broadband in the U.S. came to the defense of local governments in a filing at the FCC responding to the commission’s April acceleration of a broadband deployment notice of inquiry (http://xrl.us/bmeu7w). The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative, the Media Access Project and Public Knowledge said the FCC should not impose “sweeping, standardized federal regulations on states and municipalities” in the interest of providing broadband providers easier access to public rights of way. Access Humboldt also signed the filing.