FTC and DOJ leadership are approaching their antitrust merger guideline review (see 2309180059) with an “open mind,” FTC Economics Bureau Director Aviv Nevo said Tuesday, acknowledging some are “unhappy” with the process. Consumer advocates and industry representatives offered stark opinions about the draft document.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission is taking too long to help farmers needing precision agriculture capabilities, Commissioners Kevin Stocker and Christian Mirch said Tuesday. The Republicans said no in a 3-2 vote for an order seeking more feedback in a grantmaking case in which there has been confusion over funding. Later Tuesday, the PSC considered guidelines for leasing dark fiber owned by the state and political subdivisions.
Judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the FCC on how the commission structures its Universal Service Fund and oversees the role the Universal Service Administrative Co. plays in determining quarterly contribution factors during an en banc hearing Tuesday. Some pressed Consumers' Research on how the private nondelegation doctrine applied to its challenge of the Q1 2022 USF contribution factor (see 2309010060).
DOJ sided with Dish Network, against T-Mobile, over whether Dish should get more time to buy 800 MHz spectrum, filing Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which is handling T-Mobile’s buy of Sprint (see 2308170065). The government supports giving Dish until April 1 to buy the spectrum, or pay a $72 million fee for walking away from the deal (see 1907260071). Dish asked for an extension through June 30.
Telecom-focused congressional leaders are voicing interest in including a temporary restoration of the FCC’s auction authority in a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations past the end of FY 2023 Sept. 30. Lobbyists and observers told us they remain doubtful about Capitol Hill’s appetite for such a move due to the factors that hindered talks on a broader spectrum legislative package (see 2308070001). Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee members sounded alarms about the remit’s lapse during a Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY 2024 funding request. House Communications Subcommittee member Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, also raised concerns during a Punchbowl News event the same day.
Nexstar and DirecTV signed a deal on retransmission rights for 176 Nexstar stations, ending a 76-day blackout for those stations but leaving behind an open FCC complaint, an ongoing antirust court battle and a continuing blackout for 27 other stations owned by Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar through shared service agreements. DirecTV and Nexstar announced “a comprehensive new multi-year distribution agreement” in a joint release Monday, a day after announcing the return of Nexstar’s programming to DirecTV, DirecTV Stream and U-Verse. Terms of the agreements weren't disclosed.
Dish Network’s first decision in launching a software-centric 5G stand-alone network was to build the network using the public cloud, said Marc Rouanne, Dish Wireless chief network officer, Monday at the Silverlinings Telco Core Strategies Summit. Other speakers warned the move to the cloud isn’t a panacea and poses its own problems.
The FTC and DOJ need to update their merger guidelines to avoid future anticompetitive effects like those from T-Mobile/Sprint (see 2002110026) and to prevent further consolidation in already concentrated markets, antitrust advocates told the agencies in comments closed Monday (see 2309050088). Biden administration opponents accused the agencies of trying to rewrite antitrust law through an ideologically driven guideline revision.
An expected FCC order on the 2020 Further NPRM on the 6 GHz band likely won’t go as far as Wi-Fi advocates hoped (see 2308070060). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is now expected to seek changes only permitting very-low-power (VLP) devices to operate anywhere without location awareness or automated frequency control, industry experts said. The order is expected to delay a decision on a second part of the FNPRM, on increasing the power at which low-power indoor (LPI) access points may operate.
The FCC has approved a draft order on updating broadcast television rules to reflect the digital transition and post-incentive auction repacking 4-0, according to FCC officials. The item had been set for the September open meeting, but was approved early. FCC Commissioner-designate Anna Gomez didn't vote on the item, FCC officials told us. The agency didn't comment on whether Gomez has been sworn in or taken office. The final order is said to be largely unchanged from the draft version announced earlier this month, and docket 22-227 shows that the item hasn’t drawn any lobbying activity since it was unveiled. The rule changes in the order “are mostly non-substantive and do not materially change the regulatory obligations of full power and Class A stations,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford in a blog post.