The election is almost certain to mean a change in leadership at the FCC, with Julius Genachowski widely expected to leave in early 2013 even if President Barack Obama is reelected. As is typical for this point in an election cycle, rumors are swirling in the communications industry about who will take over.

Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., reaffirmed during a speech Thursday at a Media Institute event his support to stem the tide of online piracy of intellectual property. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman told us that unfavorable results for his party in the presidential and congressional elections could imperil his efforts to update laws like the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Leahy’s speech touted the Internet as a medium that has both enhanced and transformed the First Amendment right to free speech, but said the Web must be balanced with another constitutional right, the protection of intellectual property.

Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., reaffirmed during a speech Thursday at a Media Institute event his support to stem the tide of online piracy of intellectual property. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman told us that unfavorable results for his party in the presidential and congressional elections could imperil his efforts to update laws like the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and a reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Leahy’s speech touted the Internet as a medium that has both enhanced and transformed the First Amendment right to free speech, but said the Web must be balanced with another constitutional right, the protection of intellectual property.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must “invalidate this FCC regulatory ‘gun to the head'” that is the FCC’s November 2011 USF order, a coalition of regulators, telcos and consumer advocates said. NARUC led the charge on In re: FCC 11-161 two briefs representing multiple parties, which attacked the FCC on several fronts Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bnvuhd). The ongoing court case challenges the year-old order. The attack was one among many in the 10th Circuit this week. Industry forces weighed in with briefs assailing the FCC for its stances on VoIP and other elements of the order that let the fund pay for broadband and not only phone-service deployment.

Although there’s no need for Internet gambling regulation just yet, public discussion has highlighted an “almost unanimous call for policy action at EU level,” the European Commission said Tuesday in a statement (http://xrl.us/bnvn2g) to the European Parliament and EU Council of Ministers on a comprehensive European framework for online gambling. It proposed an action plan to deal with five key challenges to the current system: compliance of national rules with EU law; enhancing administrative cooperation and enforcement; protecting consumers, citizens, minors and vulnerable groups; preventing fraud and money-laundering; and safeguarding the integrity of sports. If the plan isn’t working after two years, the EC will come up with more “ambitious efforts,” including legislation, Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said at a press briefing. Gambling associations cheered the EC’s promise to go after national administrations that flout EU law.

T-Mobile and MetroPCS need to merge to have the scale to challenge Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the two combining companies said in an FCC filing Friday. It said the new company formed will be called Newco, to be renamed T-Mobile, and will have enough spectrum to support 20 x 20 MHz LTE deployments in many parts of the U.S. The two also said combined they don’t hold spectrum above the levels in the most recent screen in any U.S. market. Parts of the carriers’ arguments were redacted from the public version of the filing. The deal, in which T-Mobile USA parent Deutsche Telekom is buying MetroPCS to merge it with its U.S. subsidiary, was announced Oct. 3 (CD Oct 4 p1). That deal and Softbank agreeing last week to buy control of Sprint Nextel may mean smaller carriers will be bought by the Big Four, analysts predicted. (See separate report below.)

AT&T is raising questions about one part of Softbank’s proposed buy of a majority stake in Sprint Nextel that so far has gotten little attention, namely, provisions in the Communications Act limiting the ability of companies with more than 25 percent foreign ownership to invest in U.S. spectrum licenses. The restriction in Section 310(b)(4) provides for wiggle room, since the FCC needs to impose the restriction only if it finds doing so is in the public interest. Industry sources said Friday they do not expect the foreign ownership provisions to present an impediment to approval of the Softbank/Sprint deal.

The FCC will probably take a wait-and-see approach to some of the questions it raised in a further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM) on program access rules, agency officials and communications lawyers predicted. Along with letting its ban on exclusive contracts between cable operators and the networks they own expire Oct. 5, the agency solicited comments on several other proposals to expand some program access protections to multichannel video programming distributors seeking to license national cable channels (CD Oct 9 p1). Should the commission see competitive problems developing as a result of letting the exclusivity ban expire, the further notice could give the commission a way to reopen the issue, an FCC official said.

The FCC’s net neutrality rules are a good example of why too much regulation poses real risks for the economy, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said during a lunch sponsored by the Free State Foundation Thursday. McDowell spent more than an hour talking about the benefits and perils of regulation with Randolph May, president of the free-market-oriented group.

The FCC’s net neutrality rules are a good example of why too much regulation poses real risks for the economy, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said during a lunch sponsored by the Free State Foundation Thursday. McDowell spent more than an hour talking about the benefits and perils of regulation with Randolph May, president of the free-market-oriented group.