The Free State Foundation urged the FCC to move forward on rules implementing Section 7 of the Communications Act, requiring prompt review of proposals for “innovative” new technologies and services. The FCC sought comment in February, over objections by Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1802220045). Initial comments were due Monday in docket 18-22. The IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee was more circumspect. “We agree with the goal of avoiding unnecessary delay in consideration of new technologies,” it commented. “In some cases an assessment of the impact of a new technology on existing technologies, including licensed incumbents, may be difficult to complete within one year. We urge the Commission to reiterate that the quality of such assessments will not be compromised.” The committee produces standards for wireless networking devices. FSF said the FCC should adopt “a rebuttable presumption that applications and permits determined by the Commission to offer a ‘new technology or service’ within the scope of Section 7 are in the public interest absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.” It urged a “deemed granted” trigger if the FCC fails to act on the merits within one year.

The local number portability administrator shift to iconectiv was "successfully completed" Sunday in the Western, Southwest and West Coast regions, said North American Portability Management, which the FCC charged with overseeing the LNPA transition. Iconectiv said Monday it was the third and final round of "successful" regional cutovers from incumbent Neustar (see 1804090028 and 1805070033), and noted NAPM is scheduled to formally "accept" iconectiv's systems and services Friday. “This final regional transition brings us near the end of a more than decade-long journey to bring the nation a modern and cost effective number portability system,” said iconectiv CEO Richard Jacowleff. NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay and others told us they weren't aware of any significant problems with the cutovers in the three regions, which include every state west of the Mississippi River except Louisiana. "Everything went well! No issues to speak of!" emailed Carolee Hall, Idaho Public Utilities Commission telecom analyst. Mark Iannuzzi, president of TelNet WorldWide and a board member of the Cloud Communications Alliance, hadn't heard of any "major" issues: "It’s my understanding that there are some unresolved issues (I’m looking to find out more on this), but the industry has agreed to allow Iconectiv to resolve [them] after the cutovers."

The CBS board voted to dilute National Amusements Inc.’s ownership stake Thursday, and now the Delaware Court of Chancery will decide, CBS said in a release that evening. The vote “was pure pretext,” NAI said (see 1805170038). “CBS management and the special committee cannot wish away the reality that CBS has a controlling shareholder.” The CBS board dividend was approved by all CBS board members unaffiliated with NAI, and if issued, would dilute the voting interest from about 79 percent to about 20 percent, CBS said. NAI Wednesday changed the CBS board’s bylaws to require a supermajority vote for matters such as the dividend. That was “plainly necessary,” given the vote Thursday, NAI said. “The written consents delivered by NAI purporting to amend the Company’s bylaws are neither valid nor effective,” CBS said. The vote is conditioned on a final determination by the Delaware court, including on whether the dividend is permissible, CBS said. The same court Thursday rejected a CBS motion for a temporary restraining order against NAI. CBS said the vote to dilute NAI’s stock was needed to keep NAI and its head, Shari Redstone, from compelling CBS to combine with the NAI-controlled Viacom. “As National Amusements has repeatedly stated, it has no intention of forcing a merger that is not supported by both CBS and Viacom,” NAI said. CBS also voted Thursday to delay its 2018 annual meeting of stockholders, which had been set for Friday. “The Board will determine shortly a new record date for the meeting,” CBS said. “The postponement will provide all constituents with additional time to consider all pertinent matters before the annual meeting.” S&P Global Ratings placed CBS on “CreditWatch with negative implications,” it said in an email Thursday evening. “Considerable uncertainty surrounds the control and management of CBS."

The Delaware Court of Chancery denied a request from CBS and a special committee of its board for a temporary restraining order, said an order issued Thursday, the day the board voted later on a proposal to dilute the voting interest of controlling stockholder National Amusements Inc. “We are pleased by the court’s decision to deny CBS and its special committee’s unprecedented motion to try to deprive a shareholder of its fundamental voting rights,” said NAI. The Shari Redstone-controlled National Amusements also owns Viacom, and the dispute with the CBS board stems from that body’s rejection of a Redstone-backed combination with Viacom. Wednesday, NAI amended CBS bylaws (see 1805160037) so dividends such as the proposed dilution have to be approved by 90 percent of the 14 member board, three of which are NAI designees. In a release Thursday, CBS said directors will still consider a dividend redistributing the stock to “more closely align economic and voting interests of CBS stockholders without diluting the economic interests of any stockholder.” CBS remains confident it will “prevail” in the lawsuit against NAI that accompanied the motion for a temporary restraining order. The court said Thursday that CBS’ allegations about Redstone and National Amusements “are sufficient to state a colorable claim for breach of fiduciary duty” but rejected the restraining order. “No precedent has been identified, however, in which the court has ever entertained, much less sanctioned, the type of request for relief that plaintiffs make here,” said the order. “A truly extraordinary set of circumstances would be necessary.” Those circumstances aren’t present because board decisions aren’t irreversible and CBS has recourse in court, it said. Judicial review “can afford full relief” to “vindicate the interests of CBS and its stockholders,” the court said. “The ruling clearly recognizes that we may bring further legal action to challenge any actions by NAI that we consider to be unlawful, and we will,” CBS said. “As we intend to demonstrate as the case proceeds, the actions of CBS and its special committee amount to a grievous breach of fiduciary duties and show no regard for the significant risk posed to CBS and its investors,” said NAI.

AT&T and Sprint backed Shaken/Stir call authentication standards intended to combat spoofed robocalling, but Sprint said there are deployment hurdles and industry limitations. AT&T plans to implement Secure Handling of Asserted Information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited protocols and procedures for authenticating calls "in parallel" with a one-year industry timeline for setting up a related governance structure, said a filing Wednesday on a discussion with Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger and other staffers, in docket 17-59. "AT&T plans to conduct further testing in 2018 and begin a general rollout in 2019." While supporting Shaken/Stir, Sprint "cautioned that there are logistical obstacles to immediate deployment and that even when it is deployed, it will not be an immediate silver bullet that will eliminate illegal robocalls." Carriers adopting Shaken/Stir "need support from network suppliers and testing tools," said a filing on a meeting with Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith, Burger and others. "Merely signing calls will not combat robocalls unless intermediate carriers, terminating carriers, and equipment manufacturers are all supporting the protocols and providing information to analytics companies for ultimate use by the recipient of the call." Sprint cited "advances that analytics companies have made in identifying robocalls and displaying that information to customers so they can make informed decisions about whether to answer a call, block it, or send to voicemail." FCC Chairman Ajit Pai May 14 accepted the VoIP-oriented call authentication recommendations of the industry-dominated North American Numbering Council for creating a Shaken/Stir framework within a year, with carriers encouraged but not required to implement the standards in the same time (see 1805140028 and 1805030014).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's appearance and talk at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (see 1802230037) didn't violate the Hatch Act, the Office of Special Counsel said in a letter Thursday. It said sponsor American Conservative Union, as a 501(c)(4), isn't a partisan political group under the act and though parts of CPAC are political in nature, Pai's participation involved the FCC work and agenda and wasn't political. OSC previously said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's comments at CPAC were a violation (see 1805010083) and House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., urged a further OSC investigation (see 1805070020). In a statement Thursday, Pai's office said it was "pleased [OSC] quickly rejected the baseless and politically motivated accusation" Pai's appearance was inconsistent with the act.

NTIA is focused on increasing spectrum efficiency and sharing as it seeks a "balanced" approach to making government frequencies commercially available, said Administrator David Redl Thursday. The agency historically has moved incumbent government users to other bands to free up spectrum for industry, but that's expensive and time consuming, and is becoming more difficult as demand grows and obvious relocation candidates dry up, he said in a speech to the Media Institute Thursday, largely echoing his comments at an FCBA retreat (see 1805070001 and 1805060001). NTIA is relying on technological advances to improve efficiency and share spectrum, and it's making progress in overcoming the complex challenges, he said. The 3.5 GHz band (3550-3700 MHz) for the citizens broadband radio service could be a model for sharing, he said, with NTIA engineers working to certify systems necessary for military radar and commercial users to coexist. Asked about cybersecurity and Chinese threats, Redl said NTIA is working to bring other agencies together on possible executive branch comment or reply in the FCC national security rulemaking due June 1 and July 2 (see 1804180053). He hopes an NTIA botnet report will be released soon, which will emphasize the need for multifacted government and industry actions to address problems that can't be solved by any individual party -- themes he noted were in a January draft (see 1801110006 and 1802160042). Asked about the EU general data protection regulation taking effect May 25, he said NTIA is seeking to ensure access isn't restricted to the Whois database of online domain name ownership, which he said is vital to U.S. stakeholders. Redl said in his speech the U.S. must continue to fight for transparent multistakeholder policymaking and standards development, and against efforts to move the ITU into internet-related and cybersecurity issues. Redl expanded on his internet and cybersecurity views in a speech Thursday at a National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee meeting.

FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Lisa Fowlkes warned the public to prepare as hurricane season approaches. "Most consumers rely on wireless phones at home, so now is the time to assess whether you need an extra battery or car charger for your wireless phone, a portable radio or television, or other equipment to stay connected and informed when the power is out," she blogged Tuesday. "We are meeting with communications providers from all sectors to learn about their preparations and how we may be of assistance, and we are conducting exercises with our government partners."

Free Press and other petitioners challenging FCC restoration of the UHF discount in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit haven't shown they have standing, said an FCC court filing Wednesday. The three-judge panel challenged petitioners’ standing in oral argument last month, but allowed the anti-consolidation groups to file supplementary information last week (see 1805090075). Those supplemental filings weren’t sufficient, the FCC said Wednesday, showing the anti-consolidation groups never believed their initial filings were enough. “Petitioners’ belated submission of hundreds of pages of declarations, following a court order, demonstrates it was unreasonable for petitioners to have previously believed their standing was obvious,” the agency said. Most of the petitioners’ supplemental filings “are founded on speculation about the effects of proposed broadcast acquisitions” that the FCC has yet to rule on, and the rest “don’t establish standing at the time petitioners brought suit,” the commission said. Broadcast intervenors including Ion, Nexstar, Sinclair and Univision responded (in Pacer) to the petitioners Wednesday, along with a motion (in Pacer) asking the court to allow their filing. No supplemental filings “allege a certain and concrete injury” traceable to restoration of the UHF discount, the intervenors said. The groups’ instead focus on injuries caused by Sinclair’s purchase of Bonten Media or planned buy of Tribune, the intervenors said. The petitioners’ “purported injuries resulting from Sinclair’s proposed acquisition of multiple stations in the same market” aren’t caused by the reinstated discount, since even without the discount, companies can own multiple stations in a market, the intervenors said.

A common theme at Monday’s Yelp policy conference was the call for DOJ and the FTC to “undo prior acquisitions like WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube,” Cowen's Paul Gallant wrote Tuesday. Antitrust critics of Google, Amazon and Facebook appeared at Yelp’s Conference on Antitrust Law and Technology (see 1805140035). They pitched a Microsoft-like lawsuit against tech giants and called for tougher regulators, not tougher antitrust laws, Gallant wrote. He also noted Capitol Hill support for antitrust action hasn't been visible the way it was when Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and supported DOJ efforts to bring a case against Microsoft in the late 1990s. Hatch at the event defended the case (see 1805140035). Gallant was “most struck” by calls for internet platforms to divest recent acquisitions, as DOJ Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim “has stressed that divestitures, not behavioral remedies, are the right way to fix competitive problems.” Divestitures would be an aggressive remedy, but the analyst isn't ruling it out, given Delrahim’s comments.