The FCC posted a rulemaking notice on its proposed $356.7 million in regulatory fees for FY 2017. Comments are due June 22, replies July 7, said the NPRM in docket 17-134 released Tuesday.

The FCC reviewed and processed 916,117 applications and complaints last fiscal year, meeting its speed of disposal (SOD) goals 98 percent of the time, said its FY 2016 performance report Tuesday. That was the same percentage for FY 2015, and the FCC said it met its SOD goal of 96 percent in six of the past seven years. Both the Media and International bureaus saw improvements in SOD, with the former going from 85 percent in FY 2015 to 91 percent in FY 2016, while the latter went from 76 percent to 82 percent, the FCC said. The offices of Consumer and Governmental Affairs and of Engineering Technology and the Wireline and Public Safety and Homeland Security bureaus all were in the 99th percentile, while the Wireless Bureau was in the 98th.

Fight for the Future is calling a cease-and-desist letter it received for FFTF's Comcastroturf.com "exactly why we need Title II net neutrality protections that ban blocking, throttling, and censorship." The letter, which says it is from LookingGlass Cyber Security Center on behalf of Comcast, says the Comcastroturf.com domain is too close to "Comcast," violating the company's trademark, and the site should be reassigned to the cable operator. The site allows people to search if their names were attached to comments filed with the FCC in favor of a Communications Act Title II regulation of broadband rollback and to sign a petition demanding an investigation. FFTF said in a news release Tuesday if such a rollback happens, "there would be nothing preventing Comcast from simply blocking sites like Comcastroturf.com that are critical of their corporate policies. It also makes you wonder what Comcast is so afraid of? Are their lobbying dollars funding the astroturfing effort flooding the FCC with fake comments that we are encouraging Internet users to investigate?” FFTF, Demand Progress and Free Press are behind the Battle for the Net website that sends a form letter to the FCC opposing the Title II rollback. Comcast said it "supports strong, legally enforceable net neutrality rules and does not and will not block websites or content. Title II does not equal net neutrality." It also said, "Like most major brand owners, Comcast protects our company and brand names from being used improperly on the Internet by third parties. We use an established outside vendor to monitor for websites that use our name and brands without authorization, and the vendor routinely sends out notices to those sites. That is what happened here. This particular site also raised other legal issues supporting further investigation (for example, the site appears to collect personal information and has no posted privacy policy). After reviewing the site further, we do not plan additional action at this time.”

Kris Monteith will stay on as FCC Wireline Bureau chief, Chairman Ajit Pai announced Tuesday in an agency release. Monteith was acting bureau chief. Pai noted the bureau's role in FCC efforts to encourage "broadband investment across America and in helping spur deployment where it lags behind." Monteith has been with the FCC for 20 years, including as chief of the Enforcement Bureau, acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and deputy chief of the Wireline and Media bureaus. She's "a smart, dedicated public servant and a leader in effort to close #DigitalDivide," Pai tweeted to us.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday in TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands in favor of placing limits on eligible court venues for patent infringement lawsuits. Heartland Food Products Group asked the top court to review 28 U.S. Code Section 1400(b), which requires a plaintiff to bring a patent infringement suit only in a U.S. District court where the defendant resides or has an “established place of business.” The tech sector took a substantial interest because of the case's potential to restrict movement of patent cases to Texas' Marshall and Tyler-based district court and others perceived as friendly to plaintiffs (see 1701170066 and 1703270053). The Supreme Court said patent lawsuits can be brought only in the district court in which the defendant is incorporated. The 8-0 ruling, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, reverses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s 1990 precedent in VE Holding Corp v. Johnson Gas Appliance that a patent infringement suit could be brought in any jurisdiction where a party conducted business. “While we are disappointed in the Supreme Court's ruling on this procedural matter, we respect the Court's opinion and do not believe it has any impact on the ultimate outcome of our case,” Kraft said in a statement. Heartland didn’t immediately comment. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., hailed the ruling as a decision “to restore reasonable limits on where patent lawsuits can be brought.” He said in February he would re-evaluate what language to include in future patent law revamp legislation based on the Supreme Court’s then-forthcoming Heartland decision (see 1702010069). Goodlatte said now he will continue exploring “other aspects of abusive patent litigation and how we keep our patent laws up to date to ensure a well-functioning patent system.” Congress still “needs to step in with comprehensive patent reform,” Computer & Communications Industry Association President Ed Black said. “While today’s ruling removes one tool used to manipulate the system, there are still others enabling the abuse of the patent system. It’s an area ripe for bipartisan cooperation as Congress looks for low cost and no cost ways to grow jobs and the economy.”

Acquiring Wave Broadband will let RCN Telecom Services expand its broadband-related services to the West Coast, RCN parent TPG Capital said Monday, announcing the $2.37 billion deal. In a news release, TPG said it expects to close on the takeover in the second half of 2017, pending regulatory approval. It said Wave and RCN combined will be the sixth largest cable ISP, operating in seven of the nation's 10 largest cities. It said Wave will continue to operate as a branded entity out of its Washington state headquarters, with founder and CEO Steve Weed becoming an RCN director. TPG bought RCN and Grande Communications last year (see 1611160023), with those transactions creating a regional operator in the East Coast, Chicago and Texas.

About 40,000 AT&T union workers returned to their jobs Monday -- as planned -- and the Communications Workers of America returned to the bargaining table, after a three-day strike over the weekend (see 1705190046). CWA said several elected officials supported the strike, including Democrats Gov. Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Reps. Tim Ryan of Ohio and Pennsylvania's Bob Brady and Dwight Evans. Hawaii AT&T workers joined the strike and other unions showed support, including Teamsters and Writers Guild of America, West. “Our employees are returning to work, and we remain committed to reaching fair agreements in these contracts,” an AT&T spokesman said. CWA looks forward “to returning to the bargaining table with the expectation we see genuine proposals that protect good jobs and quality service from AT&T,” AT&T Mobility Customer Service Representative Sarrah Nasser said in a statement.

The Phoenix Center disputed a Free Press report that aggregate capital expenditures at publicly traded ISPs were 5 percent higher in the two years after the FCC's 2015 Title II broadband reclassification order than in the previous two years (see 1705150061). "Correcting only for inflation, Free Press’ data shows capital expenditures" were "down significantly in 2016," almost "$4 billion below expectations," said a Phoenix release Monday. That reduction "is similar to the $3.7 to $5.1 billion investment decline" cited by FCC Chairman Alit Pai in announcing his proposals to return broadband to a Title I classification, said Phoenix Chief Economist George Ford. “While Free Press wishes to peddle the fairy tale of positive investment effects, in fact their Report demonstrates that reclassification has been a nightmare,” he said. Free Press Research Director Derek Turner responded in a statement: "Phoenix Center starts with the strange assumption that the industry’s aggregate capex should have risen 10 percent, then says since it didn’t, it must be Title II’s fault. There's no proof whatsoever for that strange assertion. And as our report specifically notes, looking at aggregate capital expenditures is a foolish way to measure the impact of Title II in the first place. Even if there was a real decline in the aggregate value between 2014 and 2016, that doesn’t mean Title II had an impact. It could simply reflect the fact that a few larger ISPs had reached the completion of an upgrade cycle, and/or entered a phase of more cost-effective deployment, which is exactly what happened at AT&T. No matter what Phoenix wishes the data says, they can’t rebut the facts that most ISPs are investing more..."

Former FCC and Justice Department antitrust heads rejected a possible Sprint/T-Mobile, as a T-Mobile executive talked up potential synergies. Such a deal would hurt competition and raise prices for consumers, ex-FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and former DOJ Antitrust Division Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer wrote in a Friday commentary for CNBC. After the FCC and DOJ said no to AT&T's buying T-Mobile in 2011, T-Mobile revamped its pricing and products, spurring rivals to match them to consumers' benefit, the former officials said. Later, Baer and Wheeler told Sprint owner SoftBank that they wouldn’t support an acquisition of T-Mobile. SoftBank may believe it will find “more sympathetic ears in the new administration,” Baer and Wheeler said. “But the merger made no sense before, and it makes no sense today.” Free Press also opposed the possible wireless deal (see 1705120050). Democratic FTC Commissioner Terrell McSweeny tweeted that the remarks had "excellent points re value of competition to consumers in the wireless market." Monday at a J.P. Morgan investor conference, T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said possible $30 billion synergy estimates for a Sprint/T-Mobile may be conservative, said Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche in a research note. “These synergies would include traditional hard cost synergies from combining networks, with the ability for capex avoidance down the road as they leverage their combined spectrum,” the analyst wrote. Carter said integration costs could be at least $10 billion, Fritzsche said. A recording of Carter’s remarks wasn’t available.

The FCC will vote June 22 on a proposal to create a special “Blue Alert” emergency alert system code for notifications about threats to law enforcement, Chairman Ajit Pai announced Friday at a news conference at the Department of Justice. Operating similar to an Amber Alert, the new code “would be used by authorities in states across the country to notify the public through television and radio of threats to law enforcement and to help apprehend dangerous suspects,” said an FCC news release. “My proposal would give state and local authorities that option to use a dedicated alert code to send the warnings to the public, broadcast, cable, satellite, and wireline video networks,” Pai said. The draft NPRM was circulated to the eighth floor Thursday, Pai said. Twenty-seven states already have blue alert plans, but the FCC proposal would create a “nationwide framework” that states could adopt, the release said. The FCC’s Blue Alert proposal stems from federal legislation, the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act of 2015, the release said. The act, “directs cooperation with the FCC,” and is being implemented by DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, the release said. “The COPS Office has expressed the need for a dedicated EAS code for Blue Alerts,” the release said. The Blue Alerts may provide extra warning for police and enable them to defend themselves or catch dangerous criminals, said acting Director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Chief Tom Homan at the news conference, saying Friday was “a good day for law enforcement, a better day for American communities.”