Conditions proposed by AT&T and BellSouth in a bid for FCC merger approval got a mixed review Mon., now that parties have had time to study the late-filed FCC public notice (CD Oct 16 p1). The agency late Fri. decided not to vote on the merger so public comment could be solicited on the proposed conditions. The FCC called for comments by Oct. 24 on an AT&T list of proposed conditions that was submitted as an ex parte filing.
TV stations shouldn’t be liable if a political ad lacks disclosure required by the Communications Act, the NAB told the FEC. That agency should clarify that it lacks authority to enforce the Act, said an NAB response to a request to the FEC for an advisory opinion: “It is important for the Commission to state clearly and decisively that a broadcast station will not be held liable for making an unlawful corporate contribution if it offers a federal candidate an advertising rate authorized by the Communications Act.”
Mobile Satellite Services officials were still making sense of an Oct. 11 FCC 2nd Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Aviation Radio Service, at our deadline Fri. The aviation rulemaking had been under the radar of most MSS regulatory officials, they said. Primarily involving wireless matters under Part 87 of the Commission’s rules, the order also calls for public comment on Aeronautical Mobile Satellite (Route) Service (AMSRS) standards for 1.6 GHz, 2 GHz and 5 GHz. AMSRS, a subset of MSS, links aircraft by satellite to land or other aircraft for flight communication.
An FCC vote on the BellSouth-AT&T merger at today’s (Thurs.) meeting appeared in doubt at our deadline. Detailed talks between Chmn. Martin and the Democratic commissioners are just beginning, sources said and seem less advanced than at the same point before a July vote on the Adelphia/Time Warner/Comcast license transfer. Complicating things is that Martin leaves Sat. morning for Asia, making it tough to move the meeting date. Wed.’s DoJ approval came amid questions about Tunney Act oversight and possible department maneuvering to avoid it.
Part of the Aug. FCC BPL decision violates the International Radio Regulations and the Communications Act, said American Radio Relay League CEO David Sumner. The offending element sets limits on how much a Part 15 device must protect a licensed mobile station. The ARRL plans to take the FCC to court over parts of the BPL rule (CD Oct 3 p3). “The FCC has, in effect, tried to redefine harmful interference. It can’t do that,” Sumner said: “The Commission doesn’t have the authority to do that, and we are going to demonstrate that to the court.” The ruling is “exactly the kind of administrative decision the courts of appeal love to overturn,” he added. The League isn’t suing BPL providers for causing interference or the FCC for failing to enforce its rules against harmful interference, he said: “We are not satisfied with the level of attention the Commission is paying to existing cases of BPL interference, but this is not the time to pursue that in federal court,” Sumner said. The ARRL will show in court the FCC’s administrative process as “flawed” and resulting in rules that exceed its mandate by reducing the rights of licensed operators and providing a “free pass to spectrum polluters,” he said. The ARRL executive committee will meet over the weekend to ratify plans for an appeal, he said.
The 11th U.S. Appeals Court, Atlanta, modified its truth in billing decision to make clear it didn’t intend to throw out the entire March 2005 FCC order. The FCC and the CTIA had asked the court to change the “ordering clause” of the ruling to clarify that the court was dealing specifically with issues NASUCA raised (CD Aug 2 p1). The court voided an FCC finding that state rules requiring or barring line items on mobile carrier bills are rate regulation preempted by federal law. The decision is seen as a loss for wireless carriers and the FCC. The court agreed to a new ordering clause: “Because the Communications Act allows the states to regulate line item billing for wireless services, we grant the petitions for review filed by the State Consumer Advocates and the State Utility Regulators, vacate the preemption ruling set forth in the Declaratory Ruling in the Second Report and Order, and remand the case to the Commission.” CTIA, but not the FCC, has asked the 11th Circuit to rehear the decision en banc, but that’s considered unlikely, sources say. More likely: A Supreme Court appeal.
The FCC Tues. opened its Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau, with veteran FCC official Ken Moran as acting bureau chief. Ordered in March, the bureau has a staff of 90, most already reassigned from elsewhere at the FCC -- making it the agency’s smallest bureau, comparable in size to the FCC Office of Engineering & Technology.
Lockheed Martin, the Satellite Industry Assn., Hispasat and a slew of federal agencies are urging the FCC to alter its rules on operation of federal earth stations with commercial satellites. The pleas for “parity” in FCC satellite rules back NTIA’s recent call for a rulemaking on the matter. U.S. users including the White House, FEMA, DoD and DoJ said they rely on commercial satellites, but under FCC rules must do so on a secondary, noninterference/nonprotected basis. After a decade-plus of discussions with the Commission, NTIA formally petitioned the FCC for rules changes in Aug. (RM 11341). Supporters commented last week.
FCC Chmn. Martin recommends approving the AT&T-BellSouth merger without conditions, sources said Fri. Martin late Thurs. began circulating a proposed order among other commissioners to gain their input on his plan. A source said the chairman wants to schedule the final vote at the FCC’s Oct. 12 open meeting. Martin said last week at an analyst’s conference he would like to see the FCC act on the merger by mid-Oct.
Early campaign exuberance bolstered by plenty of moral support has faded for Utah Democrat Pete Ashdown, he told us in a interview. The founder of Utah’s first ISP, Xmission, who said 18 months ago he would challenge Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah), made pitches for support around Washington recently. Many in the tech world have failed to come through even though they would love to bump off a heavyweight supporter of strong intellectual property rights, he lamented. A PAC supporting Ashdown, however, said that even the most popular Democratic candidate would have trouble knocking off Hatch.