Democrats lost control of the Senate and several seats in the House turned over to Republicans, while partisan issues such as net neutrality heat up and debate takes hold over overhauling the Communications Act. Democrats had enjoyed a Senate majority of 55-45, and Republicans gained more than the six seats necessary to seize the chamber, winning at least seven.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is said to be considering a hybrid approach to net neutrality (see 1410240029), but one of the key proponents of a middle-ground path, Mozilla Senior Policy Engineer Chris Riley, told officials in the General Counsel’s office last week that given the choice, he’d prefer straight Title II Communications Act reclassification over even his own approach. Strict reclassification would be “cleaner and simpler” than hybrid approaches, including Mozilla’s proposal, Riley said he told General Counsel Jonathan Sallet and Associate General Counsel Stephanie Weiner at a meeting. He supports either approach, Riley said.

The FCC Media Bureau rejected most objections by content companies against lawyers looking at their confidential documents and will start the shot clock for AT&T's planned buy of DirecTV and Comcast/Time Warner Cable in five days, the Media Bureau said in several orders (here, here, here and here). The shot clock will turn back on Wednesday Nov. 12, a bureau spokeswoman told us. The bureau will also issue a public notice announcing new pleading cycles for the deals, the orders said. The orders rejected objections against 245 people being allowed to view confidential contract documents that had been filed by a group of content companies that include Disney, Viacom and 21st Century Fox (see 1410170055).

Eighteen seats on 10 states’ public utilities commissions (PUCs) were up for election Tuesday. Industry observers said in recent interviews that the results of elections to the Montana Public Service Commission and Nebraska Public Service Commission are the ones that could have the most impact on telecom regulation. Two Montana PSC seats were up for a vote, and one Nebraska PSC seat was on the ballot.

Dish Network is well-poised for growth in a mature pay-TV marketplace through over-the-top offerings and satellite broadband, said Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen. This opportunity also is driven by the changing video marketplace, which affects the direct broadcast satellite company’s strategy toward programming negotiations, he said Tuesday on an earnings call.

Wireless associations and consumer advocates requested exemptions to allow for the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) beyond mobile devices under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, in filings for the Copyright Office’s triennial rulemaking process Monday. The debate over DMCA Section 1201 has pitted some tech industry officials, who argue that TPMs help thwart piracy, against those who believe that Section 1201 inhibits consumer innovation (see 1409180021). The former group includes the Association for Competitive Technology and Entertainment Software Association; the latter, Public Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The filings, which weren't available on the Copyright Office's website, were advanced to us.

The draft rulemaking notice FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday he’s circulating (see 1410310047) raises an issue competitive carriers have been pushing, that a key part of ensuring competition during the IP transition is to allow them to continue having last-mile access to customers when incumbents retire TDM services. But the NPRM, and its tentative conclusion that incumbents should be required to offer an equivalent service, set up a debate, with Verizon and AT&T telling us the competitive market” is working as is.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., no longer stands alone in his Senate fight against the repeal of the set-top box integration ban. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., also put a hold on any unanimous consent consideration of the Senate proposal to reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act. It expires Dec. 31 and is considered one of the few crucial must-pass items that Congress must tackle in the lame-duck session.

While dozens of FCC staffers are working on various parts of pending net neutrality rules, a few insiders, most with long ties to Chairman Tom Wheeler, are considered to be the key go-to officials as the agency moves forward. Two names that came up the most in interviews about key insiders at the FCC are Jon Sallet, FCC general counsel, and Philip Verveer, senior adviser to the chairman. One longtime wireline lawyer described the two as “first among equals” as rules are taking shape.

Financial contributions of PACs for tech companies and entertainment groups are leaning Republican in this year's election cycle, according to OpenSecrets. But such PAC spending among House Judiciary IP Subcommittee members was split somewhat evenly between Democrats and Republicans. Many of the same companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Yahoo, increased their federal lobbying spending in Q3 compared to the same period last year (see 1410220049).