T-Mobile/Sprint opponents in New York support strong state conditions on the $26 billion deal, their representatives told us Friday, the due date for the second round of comments in case 18-C-0396 at the New York Public Service Commission. While not ready to support the deal, the Public Utility Law Project has moved from a position “tending toward telling the commission to deny,” said PULP Executive Director Richard Berkley. In the California Public Utilities Commission review, intervenor testimony is due Monday, with hearings planned this month and next.
Don't expect any AT&T/Time Warner-scale mergers and acquisitions in entertainment and media this year, experts told us. The federal government partial shutdown isn't having a chilling effect on deals, but that could change the longer it lasts, they said. "Two weeks may not be the end of the world for a lot of transactions; two months could be," said wireline and wireless lawyer Laura Phillips of Drinker Biddle.
State attorneys general have an obligation to protect consumers against deception from online platforms like Facebook, Mississippi AG Jim Hood (D) told us Wednesday. Hood, who battled Google on various legal fronts, discussed a growing trend of tech-related enforcement from state entities. Washington, D.C., AG Karl Racine (D) recently sued Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach (see 1812190039).
House Commerce Committee Democratic and GOP leaders told us they're working through the process of naming subcommittee heads and committee members in the opening days of the 116th Congress. House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he's evaluating applications for ranking member slots, including for the House Communications and Digital Commerce subcommittees. Walden switched places with new House Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., when the new Congress formally convened Thursday.
With 2019 dubbed the year of 5G and companies vying to compete in the new citizens broadband radio service and other bands, the federal shutdown comes at a bad time, industry officials said last week. Every cellphone, TV, computer or other device sold in the U.S. emits a unique RF signature and must be cleared by the FCC. With the agency mostly shuttered as of Thursday, those clearances can no longer take place.
Apple shares closed down 10 percent Thursday at $142.19 and tech suppliers fell after its rare warning about quarterly results drew tech tariff concerns. CEO Tim Cook cut sales guidance after U.S. markets closed Wednesday to $84 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 29 vs. the $89 billion-$93 billion from November's earnings call (see 1811020043). That's a drop from the year-ago period.
Republican leadership added two tech-minded lawmakers to the Senate Judiciary Committee in Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., according to a GOP roster circulating around the Hill. Republicans also doubled down on adding female representation with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa (see 1812140044).
The FCC plans to vote on an order to drive down Connect America Fund Phase I support in price-cap telco areas where CAF Phase II auction winners will receive support and in the areas that weren't eligible for the auction, said the tentative agenda for the Jan. 30 commissioners' meeting. Commissioners will consider a caller-ID spoofing NPRM, an IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) order and Further NPRM, an NPRM proposing changes to the rules on applications for noncommercial education stations and low-power FM stations, and a media modernization order to eliminate requirements for broadcaster midterm equal employment opportunity reports.
Amid a federal shutdown, the Senate established some stability at the FCC Wednesday night, confirming Brendan Carr to another term as commissioner and Geoffrey Starks to the open slot vacated by Mignon Clyburn (see 1901020056). Absent Senate confirmation, both nominations would have expired, and President Donald Trump would have had to renominate both.
A $495,000 settlement with NBC/Telemundo-owned stations over years-old, repeated violations of the FCC children’s TV rules doesn’t make clear the exact extent of the transgressions and may be a prelude to expected action to relax kidvid rules, said broadcast and children’s advocacy attorneys in interviews Wednesday. The consent decree and license renewal order were released early afternoon on New Year’s Eve -- the same day it was adopted, said a spokesperson. The item was also in Wednesday's Daily Digest.