Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Not surprisingly, most ex-FCC commissioners end up at law firms after their tenure ends, often doing communications law. However, former chairmen have tended recently to end up as executives of corporations in the telecom, media or Internet industries. But neither trend is universal. Some of them have faded into obscurity and others have moved into new businesses entirely. For example, former Comr. Rachelle Chong (1994-1997) now heads a retail jewelry business in San Francisco.

FCC ex-commissioners generally pass up the fame of high- profile govt. work to return to the private sector after they leave the Commission, according to our informal survey. Despite their prominence while they're at the FCC, in some cases it’s even hard to find them now, apparently indicating FCC seats aren’t necessarily good stepping stones. In general, ex-chairmen since 1980 seem to have more post-FCC success than commissioners, and there appears to be a growing trend toward both groups’ moving into the corporate world, rather than into law firms or other govt. jobs.

A week after the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., rejected a challenge to an FCC decision to retain wireless local number portability (LNP), both sides argued the technical details of implementation in comments to the FCC. AT&T Wireless said if the Commission couldn’t resolve issues “immediately” on porting obligations and roles, the FCC should again extend a Nov. 24 deadline to ensure operators could make changes in both wireless-to-wireless and wireline-to-wireless porting. Echoing concerns of other wireline carriers, Verizon opposed the CTIA petition, saying it marked an effort to blame LECS for the “supposed difficulties” faced by wireless operators on LNP. Some state regulators charged CTIA was undertaking a last-min. effort to delay LNP.

The FTC used reauthorization hearings in the House and Senate Wed. to push a sweeping proposal that, among other things, would end the 70-year exemption of telecom common carriers from FTC deceptive practices and unfair competition rules. The proposal prompted wariness from some House lawmakers, who worried about potential clashes between that agency and the FCC. Others questioned whether recommendations aimed at stepping up the FTC’s ability to fight cross-border fraud and spam via more extensive information-gathering and sharing powers raised privacy concerns.

The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) should have the limited role of only setting up general logistical aspects of the Media Security & Reliability Council’s (MSRC) plans to improve emergency warning systems, council members were told at the group’s 3rd biannual meeting May 28 (CD May 29 p3). Media executives said in interviews after the meeting that federal govt. involvement of some sort was necessary, and many even suggested the Council would agree to work with any conditions DHS proposed.

The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., Fri. turned down a wireless industry challenge to the FCC’s decision to retain the number portability requirement on wireless providers. CTIA and Verizon Wireless had challenged the Commission’s order last year that denied permanent forbearance from enforcement of the 1996 wireless portability rules.

President Bush signed an executive memorandum Thurs. that created a task force to recommend how to stimulate more efficient spectrum use by govt. users. NTIA Dir. Nancy Victory said the initiative would complement govt. efforts such as the FCC’s Spectrum Policy Task Force with a single interagency group directed to examine how ideas such as receiver standards and secondary markets could apply to govt. users.

On the day after the FCC established new broadcast ownership regulations, companies, Wall St. analysts, consumer groups and others were picking apart the decision, and while some said they saw opportunities for deal-making, others said legal challenges to the decision might threaten those deals. All predicted increased consolidation, but there was some debate over whether the deal-making would begin immediately or would happen over time. Meanwhile, all 5 FCC commissioners were preparing to answer questions before the Senate Commerce Committee today (Wed.), where ranking Democrat Sen. Hollings (S.C.) was expected to be especially tough on the FCC’s 3-Republican majority.

The 3-2 vote by the FCC Mon. to ease some of its media ownership rules lay bare a deep ideological split at the Commission, evoking strong emotions and lofty rhetoric on both sides of the debate. Although Chmn. Powell described the Commission’s action as resulting from the most exhaustive and comprehensive review of broadcast ownership rules ever undertaken, he said the end product was a modest, though “very significant” change. On the other side, Comr. Adelstein called the decision “the most sweeping and destructive rollback of consumer protection rules in the history of American broadcasting.” As expected (CD June 2 p1) Republicans Powell, Abernathy and Martin voted for the changes in the Report and Order, and Democrats Copps and Adelstein voted against them.

Holding out little hope that the Republican majority of the FCC will have a sudden conversion on June 2, activists in favor of retaining limits on media ownership are formulating new strategies on how to challenge the FCC’s expected vote. Meanwhile, Commission sources said those activists probably were accurate in their assumptions that the Commission would adopt the proposals sent to the 8th floor in their original form. “All the cuts that [FCC Chmn.] Powell wanted are sticking,” one source said. Our sources say the Commission is likely to push the national ownership cap to 45% from 35%, that duopoly rules will be loosened considerably, that the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban will be eliminated in most markets and that the TV/radio cross-ownership rule will be similarly loosened.