Regulators shouldn’t approve Google’s buy of Fitbit (see 1911010054) until various antitrust investigations are complete, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told us this week. Other concerned senators in interviews urged antitrust regulators to respond to a platform facing mounting scrutiny.
ABC, CBS and Fox agreed in recent days to a proposal by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to ensure satellite subscribers don’t lose access to distant signals if Congress allows the compulsory license language in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act to expire at year-end. Graham called earlier this month for the broadcasters to provide a one-year license to satellite companies to transmit stations' signals after the distant-signal rules expire and to agree to negotiate carriage agreements for a further one-year beginning in 2021 (see 1911010059). The networks wrote Graham in letters we obtained Friday.
Concerns mounted Friday about a draft order to bar companies that may pose a national security threat to U.S. interests from having USF money paying for their equipment when used in American telecom networks. Wireless and wireline interests sought changes. Huawei, which could be subject to the ban, retorted. And a professor whose report was cited in the draft expressed some surprise at that inclusion, while defending his report from the company's criticism.
The FCC Media Bureau's finding that a group of broadcasters violated per se good-faith negotiating standards in talks with AT&T could be a seminal moment that puts teeth into what some consider toothless rules, lawyers with retransmission consent negotiation experience told us. Others said the rules aren't ambiguous, so Friday's decision (docket 19-168) in response to AT&T's complaint (see 1906190027) provides little new clarity. Everyone agreed such rulings in favor of complainants are rare, and some attorneys told us they believe this is the first time broadcasters have been found in violation of the good faith rules.
As the State Department plans guidance for exports of surveillance technology, companies and associations are concerned about consequences of separate Commerce Department efforts to restrict sales of emerging technologies. The stakeholders said in interviews in recent weeks they're growing impatient with a Commerce delay of several months. State will publish its surveillance export guidelines by early January and will make changes based on industry comments, an Information Systems Technical Advisory Committee meeting was told Wednesday.
Whether Dish Network can keep going its Q3 video subscriber-loss rebound remains to be seen. CEO Erik Carlson called the 66,000 decline in direct broadcast satellite subscribers "notable progress." Wall Street was less bullish but saw Dish as increasingly confident in its wireless strategy.
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told us Thursday he now expects a planned second hearing on his concerns about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to happen Nov. 20. Kennedy grilled FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in October on whether he favors a private auction similar to what the C-Band Alliance proposes (see 1910170038). Pai's expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052). The C-Band Alliance countered what it believes are other stakeholders' “misstatements” about its private auction proposal, writing House Communications Subcommittee leaders.
With T-Mobile buying Sprint and divestitures to Dish Network in court, T-Mobile offered additional inducements Thursday to make the deal seem sweeter to the states in the lawsuit and other opponents. Industry officials told us the FCC order approving the transaction may not do much to help T-Mobile win the case. T-Mobile promised to launch 5G Dec. 6, with 200 million POPS covered at launch and two devices immediately available. Critics told us they're not swayed.
The FCC and NAB petitioned Thursday for a full panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a three-judge panel’s 2-1 decision against the FCC in the Prometheus IV ownership case, as expected (see 1910250006). For 15 years, “the same divided panel of this Court has frustrated the Commission’s repeated attempts to modernize its media ownership rules,” the FCC said. Prometheus is “irreconcilable” with “the proper role of courts in reviewing agency action,” NAB wrote.
Senate Judiciary Committee members weren’t swayed by intelligence officials Wednesday to reauthorize a controversial Patriot Act-related phone records program (see 1908160057). “I’m torn,” Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us after a hearing on USA Patriot Act Section 215 and other surveillance authorities set to expire in December. Graham generally agrees with ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that tools should be “taken off the table,” unless there’s good reason to reauthorize.