In a 2016 presidential election season that’s wide open, Hubbard Broadcasting CEO Stanley Hubbard decided to cover his bases when writing checks Sept. 30 -- he donated to at least five GOP presidential campaigns. Hubbard gave thousands of dollars to GOP nomination candidates Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio, no donation less than $2,500.
Campaigning will distract more than a third of the Senate Commerce Committee in the months ahead. Eight Senate seats belonging to Commerce Committee members are up for grabs in the 2016 elections, six held by Republicans and two by Democrats. Two GOP Commerce members also are scrambling for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, which means its own intense string of town halls, debates and travel.
President Barack Obama appoints Raymond Dolan, Sonus Networks, to President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee ... Communications Engineering Inc. (CEI) promotes Michael Jones to vice president-sales and marketing ... North American Numbering Council appointees: Chair Betty Ann Kane, D.C. Public Service Commission; Marilyn Jones, FCC Wireline Bureau, designated federal officer; and members ATL Communications' Aelea Christofferson, AT&T's Henry Hultquist, Bandwidth.com's Greg Rogers, CenturyLink's Mary Retka, Comcast's Valerie Caldwell, the Competitive Carriers Association's Rebecca Murphy Thompson, Comptel's Alan Hill, Cox Communications' Jose Jimenez, CTIA's Matthew Gerst, 800 Response Information Services' David Greenhaus, Level 3 Communications' Scott Seab, with NARUC's Paul Kjellander (Idaho), Lynn Slaby (Ohio), Crystal Rhoades (Nebraska), Karen Charles (Massachusetts), Scott Rupp (Missouri), National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates' Helen Mickiewicz, NCTA's Jerome Candelaria, NTCA's Stephen Pastorkovich, SIP Forum's Richard Shockey, SMS/800's Gina Perini, Sprint Nextel's Rosemary Emmer, T-Mobile USA's Michele Thomas, USTelecom's Thomas Soroka, Verizon's Ann Berkowitz, Vonage's Brendan Kasper and XO Communications' Tiki Gaugler
CTIA’s request that the FCC revisit its Lifeline privacy authority drew opposition from consumer and media watchdog groups, and support from the American Cable Association. The consumer and media groups said Thursday the commission could rely on the two Communications Act provisions targeted by a CTIA petition for reconsideration, which they called substantively and procedurally flawed. The ACA supported the Lifeline USF program and the need for customer privacy, but it backed CTIA’s petition and argued the commission was exceeding its congressional mandate.
An FCC order giving 911 providers more certification leeway will take effect Nov. 6 after the Federal Register published the commission's final rule Wednesday. The FCC issued the order July 30 giving 911 service providers flexibility to comply with certification rules intended to ensure emergency communications reliability, provided they explain how they are still reducing the risk of network failure (see 1507310010). The order responded to a request from Intrado that the commission clarify or partially reconsider a 2013 decision requiring 911 communications providers to certify annually they're taking reasonable measures to provide reliable service through "911 circuit diversity, central office backup power, and diverse network monitoring."
Industry parties and others continued to support FCC proposals to Lifeline USF subsidies to broadband service and revamp administrative oversight, but divisions remain over specifics. In reply comments filed in docket 11-42 responding to initial comments on the FCC’s NPRM (see 1509010073 and 1509040045), parties generally backed giving low-income consumers expanded choice and shifting responsibility for verifying Lifeline subscriber eligibility from telecom carriers to a third party. But there was disagreement over whether the FCC should establish minimum Lifeline standards for broadband/voice service. Numerous tribal groups also filed reply comments urging the FCC to retain and even increase enhanced Lifeline tribal support.
The municipal broadband pre-emption challenge by North Carolina and Tennessee against the FCC (see 1509230075) isn't about broadband deployment, competition or local autonomy, said petitioners in support of the states in docket 15-3291 in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The case is about the FCC’s claim of “sweeping” power and its “unchecked discretion” to govern the Internet without congressional authorization, filers said. If the court rules in favor of the FCC, municipalities either will have to let muni broadband networks go unchecked or completely ban the networks, decreasing access to the Internet, state filers said. Petitioner’s briefs are due Oct. 5.
Comments are due Oct. 26, replies Nov. 24, in the FCC's latest IP transition rulemaking, the Wireline Bureau said in a public notice posted Friday in docket 13-5. The Federal Register published a summary of the agency's Further NPRM Friday, triggering 30-day and 60-day comment and reply deadlines. The commission adopted the further notice and an accompanying IP/fiber transition order Aug. 6, and it released the 179-page text of the item Aug. 7 in which it proposed to codify general telecom service discontinuance standards under Section 214 of the Communications Act (see 1508060044 and 1508100019). The FCC specifically sought comment on its tentative conclusions that the criteria should include, among other things: “(1) network capacity and reliability; (2) service quality; (3) device and service interoperability, including interoperability with vital third-party services (through existing or new devices); (4) service for individuals with disabilities, including compatibility with assistive technologies; (5) PSAP and 9-1-1 service; (6) cybersecurity; (7) service functionality; and (8) coverage.”
NAB intends to press for an overhaul of broadcast ownership rules and insist that the video market is more competitive than ever, during a Friday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on media ownership. Groups opposed to media consolidation will press for more diversity in the industry. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
A proposal to loosen FCC foreign ownership rules and change the way transactions with foreign buyers are handled by other federal agencies is likely to find favor with industry and could get traction at the commission, said attorneys familiar with the FCC's foreign ownership process. Outlined by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly in a blog post last week, the proposal would increase the transparency of the review process for deals involving foreign-owned companies. Since part of that process involves review by the numerous federal agencies outside the FCC that make up "Team Telecom" (a working group of representatives from the departments of Justice, State, Defense and Homeland Security, among others), the commission and the parties to a transaction don't always know the status of deals involving foreign companies, O'Rielly said. Easing the process for foreign companies to do business here would lead to similar overtures for U.S. companies doing international business, he said.