Putting up-to-date records of political ad sales in a broadcaster’s online public file could get very expensive, the NAB and broadcasters said in comments to the FCC last week. The comments came in response to a further rulemaking about updating stations’ disclosure obligations that would set up a centralized FCC database of public files. Broadcasters offered several suggestions for studying and testing the system before implementing it. Public interest groups praised the FCC for taking the step and told the agency it should require stations to include most of the major components that currently make up their public files when submitting information to the FCC’s proposed new system. Meanwhile, the American Cable Association told the commission it should require stations to disclose their shared services and local marketing agreements with other nearby broadcasters “that facilitate coordinated retransmission consent negotiations."
The FCC can expect to be flooded with petitions to reconsider its Universal Service Fund reforms (CD Oct 28 p1), telecom officials said and the public record showed. Petitions were expected from nearly every sector of the telecom industry, from state regulators to rate-of-return carriers, several telecom officials said. The commission is drafting a sua sponte -- of its own accord -- reconsideration in an effort to head off one of the thorniest issues in the docket -- whether local rates on local traffic exchanged between wireless and wireline companies should be subject to bill-and-keep immediately, FCC and telecom officials told us.
CompTel and its allies have cleared another procedural hurdle in their battle to get the FCC moving on special access reform (CD Dec 8 p6), after the D.C. federal appeals court set a briefing schedule in the case. In an order dated and released late Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit set deadlines for briefs in CompTel’s petition: CompTel and its co-petitioners will have until Jan. 13 to file their brief; the FCC’s response must be filed by Jan. 27, intervenors in the case have until Feb. 3, and the petitioners have until Feb. 10 to file a reply.
AT&T pulled the plug on its proposed buy of T-Mobile on Monday. AT&T said in a statement that, after “a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom … to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile.” The announcement brings to an end the fight over AT&T’s dramatic announcement in March that it would buy one of the remaining three national carriers. The topic has dominated industry discussions since. AT&T did not comment on the size of the break up fee it ultimately will have to pay DT.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear challenges to the FCC’s Universal Service Fund order, it was announced late Wednesday. At least 13 challenges have been filed in various circuits; the 10th in Denver was picked in the judicial lottery to take the case. But even as the case was winding its way through the system, FCC officials on Thursday warned lawyers and lobbyists for wireless companies that the commission was hoping to launch a further rulemaking on reverse auctions as early as next month, with a goal of having the first auctions by the end of Q3 2012.
The FCC’s Universal Service Reform order (CD Oct 28 p1) has been subject to 13 different federal appeals, the commission told jurists as the federal court system prepares for a lottery to decide which circuit will hear the consolidated appeals. Challenges were previously filed by Core, AT&T, NASUCA, NTCA and regulators in Pennsylvania and Vermont. But there have also been appeals from C Spire in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Ohio regulators in the 6th Circuit, Choctaw Telephone in the 8th Circuit, Direct Communications Cedar Valley in the 10th Circuit, and Halo Wireless and Transcom Enhanced Services in the D.C. Circuit, the FCC reported (http://xrl.us/bmkzzp).
The FCC said it will look into allegations of anticompetitive conduct against Intelsat in a coming proceeding about the structure and operation of the fixed satellite service (FSS) sector. In a satellite-market report for Congress covering calendar years 2008-2010 filed late Tuesday, the commission withheld conclusions about whether any of the industries’ sectors -- FSS, mobile satellite service (MSS) or satellite radio -- are competitive. In the two previous reports, the FCC found the industry competitive. The report was pulled from the agenda of this week’s commission meeting because the commissioners voted ahead of time to approve it. Satellite TV is covered by a Media Bureau report.
AT&T’s buy of T-Mobile is officially on hold, after U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle agreed to stay the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the deal until Jan. 18. AT&T and DOJ jointly sought the delay in a motion filed Monday. Huvelle acted quickly, issuing an order putting off other deadlines in the case and scheduling the next status conference in her courtroom on that date. DOJ and AT&T were due back in court Thursday.
NTCA held a flurry of last-minute meetings with FCC staff just days before the group filed an appeal of the commission’s Universal Service Fund order (CD Dec 12 p7), records on docket 10-90 showed. NTCA Vice President Michael Romano joined executives from Vantage Point Solutions and TDS in two meetings with Wireline Bureau staff on Wednesday, one meeting addressing the costs of meeting increased speed standards and the second meeting addressing traffic exchanges, according to an ex parte dated Friday and released Monday (http://xrl.us/bmks85). A day later, Romano joined executives from the National Exchange Carrier Association, OPASTCO and TDS Telecom to discuss caps on operating and capital expenses, a separate ex parte notice showed (http://xrl.us/bmktat).
Draft FCC orders would make it a bit easier for radio stations to move to urban areas from suburban and rural communities and also ease the process for U.S. tribes to seek new allotments, agency officials said. Those draft Media Bureau orders follow up on one approved at March’s commission meeting that made such station move-ins to urban areas harder and that allowed tribes without government-recognized lands to get stations more easily (CD March 4 p10). The two current drafts are moving on two different tracks, agency officials said. The move-in order is likely to change, possibly significantly, and won’t be voted on right away. The tribal order will be approved in coming weeks, likely without significant changes.