The odds have improved that regulators will approve the XM Sirius merger, agree analysts covering the satellite industry. Little has changed since the merger was announced in February, mostly to negative reviews by Wall Street, analysts said. The Department of Justice has been tight-lipped on its review. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has said little indicating support or opposition to the merger. The biggest related development has been a federal judge’s refusal to block Whole Foods’ purchase of Wild Oats -- a merger the FTC opposed.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
Comments by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on two issues - probable creation of a commission panel on early termination fees and opening the TV white spaces to use by portable devices - have prompted a flurry of activity at the agency. Various players are eager to set up meetings to drive home their well-developed positions. Martin dropped a few hints Tuesday during a brief session with reporters in the commission meeting room.
A compromise FCC order giving wireless carriers five years to upgrade systems before their success in locating callers will be measured at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level (CD Sept 11 Special Bulletin) landed with a thud among carriers. The FCC approved the order late Tuesday in an unusual night meeting.
On the eve of an FCC vote on new rules for locating wireless E-911 callers, public safety offered carriers a compromise, which is likely to be adopted in some form by the commission Tuesday. Under the compromise, carriers would have up to five years to meet new standards based on success in locating callers at the level of public safety answering points, but carriers would also have to meet various benchmarks before that deadline.
The NAB, Association for Maximum Service TV and other groups opposing the use of personal-portable devices to access the Internet using broadcast “white spaces” said Monday their side is beating high tech in their all-out fight. NAB and the other groups showed ads they're running in publications and commercials to be shown on TV in the Washington area. Groups also will be hitting the FCC and Capitol Hill for meetings to make their case with policymakers.
Both broadband and wireless should be in the mix for high-cost Universal Service Fund reform, the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service said Thursday in a brief statement. The board adopted the statement in July, but it took the FCC two months to release it, sources said Friday.
Pressure continues to mount on the FCC for major changes in an order that would give carriers a year to meet E-911 location accuracy standards at the public safety answering point (PSAP) level. The order, on circulation with members, is set for a vote Tuesday. The agency should “proceed prudently” and appoint an expert group to look at the future of wireless E-911 before imposing new standards, said a large group representing carriers and equipment makers, filing an ex parte letter on behalf of “hundreds of companies.”
AT&T is asking the FCC for five years to make changes in the way it handles wireless E-911 calls before the commission imposes tough new standards measuring success locating callers. In meetings at the FCC, AT&T said it plans to move from a network-based to a handset-based technology, which it says will be more reliable but will take years to adopt, sources said.
A notice of proposed rulemaking on the future of the 2.1 GHz band is nearly complete, sources said Wednesday. One key part of the order is a commitment on the FCC’s part to complete service rules within nine months. Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein both complained about the length of time it has taken for the agency to address the future of the 2155-2175 MHz spectrum, which had been the target of M2Z and NetfreeUS (CD Aug 5 p1).
XM and Sirius told the Securities and Exchange Commission they have complied with a second request for documents by the Department of Justice. Second requests are typical in mergers as big as XM-Sirius, said sources involved in the merger. But Stifel Nicolaus said the companies should hold off on plans for a victory celebration.