Judicial review of the net neutrality litigation is coming into clearer focus as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently set a briefing schedule, and telco and cable petitioners outlined their many lines of attack on the FCC's order. The court essentially accepted the parties’ proposed expedited briefing timetable running through mid-October, but it shortened and consolidated the briefs proposed by the main telco and cable broadband groups challenging the order while raising the word limit for intervenors defending the commission's net neutrality rules and broadband reclassification. One key aspect of the court's review still isn't known: the identity of the three judges who will review the merits of the industry challenges, which argue the FCC order violated the Communications Act, administrative procedures and even the First Amendment.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit set a net neutrality case briefing schedule that runs through Oct. 13. Opening briefs of telco/cable petitioners challenging the FCC order are due July 30, and supporting intervenors challenging the agency order Aug. 6, said the court order from Judges David Tatel and Janice Rogers Brown. The responding brief of the FCC and Department of Justice is due Sept. 14, and the brief of their supporting intervenors defending the order Sept. 21; reply briefs of petitioners and their supporting intervenors are due Oct. 5; and final briefs are due Oct. 13. The court directed its clerk to schedule oral argument on the first appropriate date following the completion of briefing. NCTA outside counsel Miguel Estrada said June 3 that he thought briefing could be completed by fall so oral argument could be in December or January, paving the way for a ruling about three months later (see 1506030034). The briefing schedule tracks the briefing schedule that was jointly proposed by telco/cable petitioners after consulting with the FCC/DOJ and others. But the court shortened the number of words that the petitioners would be allowed collectively in their opening briefs to 33,000 (from 48,000), as it did the number of words that the FCC/DOJ would be allowed in its response brief. The court also urged parties to be careful about their use of acronyms. Petitioners challenging FCC broadband reclassification and other decisions as overly regulatory include: Alamo Broadband and Daniel Berninger, American Cable Association, AT&T, CenturyLink, CTIA, NCTA, USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association. Petitioners challenging the FCC order as providing broadband providers too much "forbearance" relief include Full Service Network, True Connect Mobile, Sage Telecom and Telescape Communications. The litigation focuses on the merits of the legal challenges after the D.C. Circuit denied a telco/cable stay request (see 1506110048).

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai proposed adapting rate-of-return USF support to broadband while allowing rural carriers to voluntarily opt into model-based support, but not at the expense of a near-term fix he sees as more urgent. Pai issued a statement Monday that proposed focusing on "targeted" rule changes to solve "the standalone broadband problem," in which generally smaller rate-of-return rural LECs can lose USF support if customers drop voice service. Groups representing RLECs welcomed Pai's proposal, which came after FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler Friday appeared to issue a warning to RLECs about the absence of more telco consensus (see 1506260024).

The FCC didn't schedule an IP technology transition item for a vote next month, shows the tentative agenda for the July 16 meeting released Thursday. A draft IP tech transition order was under consideration early in the week for inclusion on the agenda (see 1506220041), but industry sources said Wednesday that the prospects had dimmed for July action (see 1506240066). The item could still be considered at the FCC's next monthly meeting Aug. 6. Parties continue to lobby the FCC in the proceeding in dockets 13-5 and 14-174. USTelecom called for "reasonable guidelines and/or interim procedures" when ILECs retire traditional TDM (time-division multiplexed) systems while the FCC works through rules for higher-capacity special-access circuits. Proposals from competitors using ILEC wholesale inputs seem "designed primarily to preserve their own particular approach to serving customers ... rather than to ensure that end user customers have an adequate replacement service option," a USTelecom ex parte filing said. Public Knowledge and 28 other groups sent a letter urging the FCC to adopt rules to protect 85 million Americans and millions of small businesses still using traditional wireline phone service from losing access to vital services, and to preserve the stability of the phone network and reliability of 911 service for all Americans. The American Cable Association and ITTA both expressed concern about possible FCC backup power mandates. ACA said it didn't oppose a mandate on cable to offer new voice service customers a reasonable backup power capability but said it should require an offer to be made only once at the point of sale. ACA also said small operators, with less than 100,000 voice customers, should have an extra 180 days to comply with a new rule. ITTA said backup power proposals in a November NPRM "are unwarranted and would result in increased costs and burdens for providers and consumers while impeding the Commission’s broadband deployment goals."

The regional Bells and USTelecom criticized a Granite Telecom petition asking the FCC to give competitive LECs access to Bell combinations of unbundled network elements (UNE) and wholesale services under Section 271 of the Communications Act. The ILEC parties said Granite was seeking to re-create a discarded wholesale platform when the commission should be focused on giving incumbents more relief from outdated wholesale duties. Competitors supported Granite's petition, with Comptel calling Section 271 a "critical regulatory backstop" for CLECs negotiating wholesale access to Bell networks, in comments this week in response to a public notice in docket 15-114 (see 1505180032).

Entravision promotes Jose Villafane to president, Entravision National Sales, new position ... NFL hires Jordan Levin, ex-Microsoft, as senior vice president-chief content officer, new position ... Haier hires Kevin Dexter, ex-Samsung Electronics America, as chief operating officer ... RF Code hires Dave Duncavage, ex-Metal Oxide Technologies, as vice president-operations ... Roku hires Steve Louden, formerly with Expedia, as chief financial officer ... Lobbyist registrations: Comcast and Disney, Bridge Street Group, effective May 1 ... Inmar, digital platform firm, Waldo Law Offices and Washington Health Strategies Group, effective Jan. 1 ... Kentucky Broadcasters Association and NAB, Newberry Advisors, effective June 1 ... Viacom, Bridge Street Group, effective May 2.

USTelecom voiced concerns about proposed increases in the Telecom Relay Service fund and industry contribution factor, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 10-51, after initial comments were submitted the week before (see 1506090027). The proposals of TRS administrator Rolka Loube Saltzer Associates "would undo much of the good work the Commission has undertaken in recent years to effectively manage the TRS program, promote efficiency, and control costs," USTelecom said. Rolka Loube proposed an "alarming increase of nearly 40% in the TRS contribution factor" for telecom carriers paying into the fund, USTelecom said, saying proposed funding was projected to rise from $793 million to $1.05 billion, a 32 percent increase. "The Commission must be cognizant of the fact that adopting the proposed projection will impose significant and potentially unnecessary costs on consumers," the group said. USTelecom agreed with Comptel's initial comments that the timing of the proposed contribution factor raised problems because both the FCC order announcing the rate increases and its effective date would likely occur on or around July 1, when the new TRS funding year starts. "In addition to providing limited time for a complete assessment and analysis of the significant increase in the contribution factor, carriers will essentially be forced to either substantially increase their customers’ fees, or 'eat the cost of the increase where their contracts or other billing arrangements preclude raising interstate service rates,'" USTelecom said, citing Comptel. USTelecom urged the FCC to move up the adoption of the TRS contribution factor "well in advance" of annual access tariff filings due in mid-June. Ultratec filed replies that supported keeping the multistate average rate structure methodology for IP captioned telephone service. Neither USTelecom nor Ultratec filed initial comments, while other parties that did, such as video relay service providers seeking to head off further rate cuts in their compensation, submitted replies that were consistent with their initial comments, with some elaborating on their arguments.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urged the White House to support reauthorization of the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, in comments posted Friday on the Broadband Opportunity Council’s (BBOC) request for comment on broadband availability and deployment issues. A group of House Democrats led by House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a separate filing to “modernize” regulations for the Rural Utility Service’s Telecom Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program to “better facilitate high-speed rural broadband deployment.” BBOC, which the White House created March 23 to spur broadband investment and adoption (see 1503230064), sought comment on ways the federal government can modernize “outdated regulations,” identify regulatory barriers to broadband deployment and promote broadband adoption.

The FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification order took effect Friday and is now the law -- at least for the time being -- after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Thursday refused to grant telco and cable petitioners a stay of two parts of the order, but agreed to expedite review of the underlying legal challenges to the order (see 1506110048). The ruling wasn't a surprise, even to most stay proponents seeking to block an Internet conduct standard and the reclassification of broadband access as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau cares more about penalties and publicity than its core mission of enforcing the rules, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said Thursday in a keynote at the FCBA annual meeting that was pointedly critical of the FCC's approach to enforcement. "It's entered territory that can only could be called misguided," O'Rielly said. "The Commission seems more intent on obtaining newspaper headlines trumpeting accusations and eye-popping fines. Self-aggrandizing fanfare is a major objective. Sizzle over substance." The remarks were later posted online.