Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee Republicans questioned the wisdom of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s broadband privacy rulemaking and lauded the FTC’s past role overseeing the matter. Wheeler insisted during a Wednesday hearing with top FCC and FTC officials that the FCC has no plans to regulate edge providers and the rules are necessary. He also rejected any attempt to extend the comment deadlines in the proceeding.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a case filed by James Chelmowski against the FCC. In October, the Enforcement Bureau turned down a petition for reconsideration by Chelmowski, who accused AT&T Mobility of failing to port his phone number to a new provider in 2011, in violation of agency rules (see 1510160045). “The challenged orders of the Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau are not final, reviewable orders,” the court ruled in dismissing the case. The court also dismissed Chelmowski’s pursuit of documents from the agency under the Freedom of Information Act, saying the U.S. District Court has jurisdiction over FOIA complaints.
The FCC staff's final OK of Altice's buy of Cablevision is notably absent of conditions, in contrast to those in a draft order OK'ing Charter Communications' buys of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, said cable insiders and observers Wednesday. That could reflect the smaller size of the Cablevision deal or just that the FCC has been particularly preoccupied with Charter/TWC/BHN, they said in interviews. "I have to believe in many ways Altice benefited from Charter coming in," one independent cable programming executive said. "Charter sucked all the wind out of the room."
North American Portability Management pressed the FCC to approve "within days" the group's master service agreement (MSA) with Telcordia (iconectiv) as the next local number portability administrator. NAPM said the proposed MSA for Telcordia, an Ericsson subsidiary, would produce cost savings and make other improvements to the current contract with LNPA incumbent Neustar. Smaller carriers and Neustar are seeking more time to review partially confidential documents (see 1605020039).
Rather than requiring a common standard for real-time text (RTT) as an alternative to text technology (TTY), the FCC is proposing a “middle ground” approach, said the NPRM approved at last week’s commissioner meeting and released late Friday. The NPRM proposes that the FCC recognize RTT as a replacement for TTY starting in December 2017 for larger carriers. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly questioned whether the proposed rules are too prescriptive (see 1604280055). Comment deadlines will come when the NPRM is posted in the Federal Register.
Arguments that only money, not in-kind requirements, can be counted as franchise fees by local franchise authorities (LFAs) were settled by 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its 2008 Alliance for Community Media v. FCC decision (see 0806300119) and shouldn't be rehashed, said the FCC and intervenor allies in briefs in a newer 6th Circuit case. They (see here and here in Pacer) were filed Friday with the 6th Circuit in a consolidated challenge to 2007 and 2015 FCC orders on video franchising rules. A lawyer for one of the parties said there likely will be oral argument this fall, after a reply brief by the petitioners.
Telcordia is developing new software code for a system it would use as local number portability administrator (LNPA), after the FCC learned foreign nationals may have worked on preliminary coding, the commission said Friday. Telcordia confirmed the new coding project and that foreign nationals had worked on an initial version, but it again said an ex-employee's lawsuit making certain allegations was without merit (see 1604260049).
The FCC Thursday approved an NPRM that examines effectively ending text technology (TTY) in favor of real-time text (RTT), as expected (see 1604070067). While the transition has the support of all five commissioners, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly partially dissented, complaining that the FCC is proposing to pick winners and losers in the NPRM. The notice proposes that the FCC recognize RTT as a replacement for TTY starting in December 2017 for larger carriers, the FCC said in a news release. The NPRM also asks questions on a similar transition for IP-based wireline networks.
Tom Wheeler hasn't reached the point in his FCC chairmanship where he will be unable to launch new major rulemakings, but if he wants to wrap them up before the Nov. 8 election he will need to start them soon, officials said. Last week, Wheeler started what's expected to be his final nine months as chairman. The FCC didn't comment.
Wednesday’s Senate Commerce Committee markup may portend well for the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644) and less well for the FCC Process Reform Act (S-421), Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us. Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said last week he’s trying to keep FCC reauthorization narrowly focused (see 1604210057) and emphasized that goal again Tuesday when telling us of his goals for a hotline. The markup is 10:15 a.m. Wednesday in 253 Russell. Senate staffers contended with at least 39 amendments filed for the FCC Reauthorization Act and at least eight filed for the FCC Process Reform Act.