The FTC will explore in a Dec. 6 event how changing consumer demographics, including how advertising and marketing are transforming to reach diverse groups, are influencing the commission's activities, said the agency in a Tuesday news release. The agency, which will convene consumer groups, demographers, law enforcement personnel, marketers and researchers, also will explore how fraud is changing and what regulators can do to fight it. It said studying such issues will help the FTC "continue to strategize, prioritize, and prepare for the years ahead." The 9 a.m. event, which will be webcast, will be held at 400 7th St. SW.

Odds of AT&T's $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner getting regulatory OK are about even, wrote a stock analyst, based on conversations with about 20 experts, including former FCC chairmen, ex-commissioners and congressional telecom staffers. Though the analyst, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett, said the approval faces a 50-50 probability, "many of them felt it is nearly impossible to assign any odds at this stage," he wrote Monday of his contacts. "At the time of this writing, Time Warner shares trade at a yawning 24% discount to AT&T’s offer price of $107.50." Odds would be lower than even for approval if the FCC reviews the deal, higher if the commission doesn't, Moffett emailed us Tuesday of the consensus of his interviews. A reason "this transaction is so hard to forecast is that we don’t even know at this point who will conduct the review," Moffett noted of whether the FCC will review the deal or just DOJ. "On one point, there was clear consensus. This process will take a long time. The consensus was to look for an early 2018 decision, with the full process likely taking eighteen months. The key issue is the relatively cumbersome process of personnel changeovers that are coming at the FCC and DOJ" with the presidential elections. The telco looks "forward to discussing the many benefits of this transaction with regulators and legislators," said a past statement (see 1610260070) from General Counsel David McAtee that a company spokesman pointed us to Tuesday. "In the modern history of the media and the Internet, the U.S. government has always approved vertical mergers like ours, because they benefit consumers, strengthen competition, and, in our case, encourage innovation and investment.” Zero rating and programming access likely will be a key focus of government review of the combination, experts have told us (see 1611020034).

Hogan Lovells sought to break down the details of the telecom plans for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as part of the firm’s 2016 election report. “Although Trump might agree with Clinton that more spectrum should be made available for commercial use, he has generally eschewed the type of government spending proposed by Clinton as wasteful, and has instead argued that a vigorous new round of tax cuts and regulatory relief will better spur growth in the sector,” the firm said. “These views are generally shared by his base.” A Clinton administration “would likely appoint an FCC chair and commissioners who support the major consumer protection initiatives of current FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, including robust net neutrality, cable set-top box, and Internet privacy rules” and “also likely appoint people who support Wheeler’s efforts to reduce the cost of business data services (previously called 'special access') provided by incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and speed-up the local zoning and siting processes for small cell wireless networks.” A Trump agenda would deviate from Wheeler’s, the firm predicted, also pointing to Trump’s objections to AT&T buying Time Warner (see 1611080023). “Trump’s appointees would likely be more focused than Clinton’s appointees on reducing overall government regulation ... of the communications industry,” it said.

The FCC will host a webinar on unwanted robocalls Dec. 14, 1-2 p.m. EST, the agency said Monday. “The webinar, which is free and intended for all consumers, will provide information about consumers’ rights and the steps they can take to prevent robocalls,” said an FCC public notice. “The Info Session will explain the FCC’s role in addressing this issue and the steps consumers can take to protect themselves from and/or decrease the amount of robocalls they receive.” Last week, the FCC held a Twitter town hall meeting on robocalls (see 1611040041).

Bidding on Stage 3 of the reverse auction will be suspended from Wednesday, Nov. 23, through Friday, Nov. 25 if bidding hasn’t yet concluded, the Incentive Auction Task Force said in a message on the auction’s online Public Reporting System Friday. Bidding in the auction would resume Monday, Nov. 28, in that circumstance, the PRS note said.

Network Services Solutions and its CEO may be fined nearly $21.7 million by the FCC for wire fraud and overbilling the USF Rural Health Care (RHC) program. Also, the commission plans to order the company to refund $3.5 million in improper payments received through the program, the agency said in a Friday news release announcing the notice of apparent liability. Network Services and CEO Scott Madison allegedly used forged and false documents to seek funding from the program, violating the federal wire fraud statute and the program’s competitive bidding rules, the FCC said. Never before has the agency issued an enforcement action involving the RHC program or proposed a fine for wire fraud related to a USF program, the commission said. “Forgery, bribery, bid rigging, and fraud are absolutely unacceptable in any federal program,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Travis LeBlanc. “The Commission calls on Network Services Solutions and its CEO to account for any misuse of federal funds in this vital program that assists rural communities with access to critical services for health care.” Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly approved in part and dissented in part. In a statement, Pai agreed that the FCC should recover the unlawfully taken funds, bar the company from getting any further USF subsidies and levy a “hefty fine.” But he questioned the legal reasoning supporting the amount. The NAL “fatally compromises our ability to impose a lawful forfeiture of more than $189,361 upon the carrier,” the Republican commissioner said. Lukas Nace's Russell Lukas, lead attorney for Network Services Solutions, said the company "has cooperated with the FCC in this investigation and looks forward to a full and complete review of the facts underlying the allegations."

Two public interest groups filed a petition for review of the FCC's 2014 quadrennial review order in the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, as expected (see 1608250063). The FCC's order “once again fails to satisfy this Court’s remands in either Prometheus II or III,” said the petition from Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project, referring to Prometheus' prior successful challenges of the FCC's quadrennial reviews. The FCC order reinstated the revenue-based definition of an eligible entity “without obtaining any additional information or improving its data collection,” as it had been instructed to do by the 3rd Circuit, the petitioners said. Prometheus also asked the court to review “the Commission’s decision to modify certain of its broadcast ownership rules so as to permit increased concentration of ownership,” and the FCC's “failure to require that so-called Shared Services Agreements be treated as 'attributable' interest,” the petition said. The quadrennial review required SSAs to be reported, but didn't attribute them. A similar appeal of the quadrennial review is expected from broadcasters, industry officials said. That appeal will likely be filed in the Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit, and a lottery for the venue will likely take place, broadcast and public interest officials said.

Rules requiring emergency alert system participants to report to the FCC about any efforts to provide non-English emergency alerts took effect Thursday, said the agency in that day's Federal Register. That means participants have a deadline of Nov. 3, 2017, to provide such information to State Emergency Communications committees to be included in their state EAS plans, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Harry Cole in a blog post Thursday. “Thus far there does not appear to be any officially-endorsed template for the required 'description', but it’s possible the Commission may flesh that out sometime in the next year.” The rules don't require participants to offer foreign-language alerts, and explicitly say participants can report they took no such steps, Cole said. At their March meeting, commissioners approved the rules 4-1 (see 1603300064).

The FCC alerted consumers about a gift card scam in which callers pretending to be government or law enforcement officials demand immediate payment, usually by buying gift cards and providing the card numbers to the scammers. “These ‘officials’ typically say that payment will protect the consumer -- or the consumer’s family or friends -- from arrest or some other legal action,” the FCC said in a consumer alert Thursday. “Government agencies and legitimate companies never call consumers to seek payment via gift cards.” Also, the commission announced a Twitter town hall about robocalls Friday at 1:30 p.m. The public may participate using the hashtag #RobocallChat. Senior agency staff will answer questions through the Twitter handle of Gigi Sohn (@GigiBSohnFCC), counselor to Chairman Tom Wheeler.

The FCC is seeking broad comment on its telecom regulations as part of the so-called biennial review. “We seek input from the public as to what rules should be modified or repealed as part of the 2016 biennial review,” said a public notice released Thursday in docket 16-149. “Submissions should identify with as much specificity as possible the rule or rules that the commenting party believes should be modified or repealed, and explain why and how the rule or rules should be modified or repealed.” Commissioner Ajit Pai said he’s not impressed with the FCC’s version of a review. “This is a time of widespread dissatisfaction with and distrust of government,” Pai said in an accompanying statement. “Many Americans perceive that government agencies don’t bother following the law or, at best, make a half-hearted attempt to comply.” The agency shares some of the responsibility, he said. The commission treats the law the same way “the Dude” handles bowling taunts in The Big Lebowski, Pai said: “Yeah, well, you know, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.” Section 11 is a “simple and powerful tool for scrubbing outdated regulations from our books and promoting private sector innovation and investment,” Pai said. “In a sense, it ties the Communications Act together. Or at least could be, if the FCC took this task seriously.” Two years ago, the agency “simply ignored this duty entirely," he said. “This time around, it promises a few desultory efforts at paging through the Code of Federal Regulations -- efforts certain to result in many staff hours being wasted and nothing meaningful being done.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said he wants a thorough review. “Every rock should be turned over and every rule should be thoroughly reviewed to generate the best Section 11 NPRM ever imagined,” he said. “With hundreds of applicable pages in the Code of Federal Regulations, there is much material to review and likely a good portion that can be eliminated given the vast changes in the communications marketplace since the 2012 review. We owe the American people, and their duly elected representatives, nothing less.” Comments are due Dec. 5, replies Jan. 3.