The Justice Department signed off on LightSquared's plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a filing posted Friday in FCC docket 15-126, DOJ said it had no objections to LightSquared's request for the commission to transfer licenses to its post-reorganization entity. DOJ in June requested any FCC approval of reassignment of those licenses be contingent on the standard review of the transaction for any national security, law enforcement and public safety issues. In a statement Friday, LightSquared said the approval "moves the process forward another step, and we’re glad to see the ... review come to a successful conclusion. With no opposition to the application, the Commission now has what it needs to make a decision on change of control. Doing so would result in clear public interest benefits, including enabling significant investment in our nation’s next-generation broadband infrastructure.” According to the DOJ filing, LightSquared agrees to a number of conditions, such as domestic communications will be routed through the satellite company's U.S. point of presence "so that pursuant to lawful U.S. process, electronic surveillance can be conducted." Justice said that the satellite firm agreed that any data the company stores won't be kept in a way subject to foreign laws requiring mandatory destruction and stored inside the U.S. unless for "bona fide commercial reasons."
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.
Network redundancy by itself isn't enough to protect networks from cyberattacks and other problems, David Simpson, chief of the FCC's Public Safety Bureau, said Monday during a meeting of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council at commission headquarters. Simpson spoke up during a presentation of one the CSRIC working groups, on security by design.
Network redundancy by itself isn't enough to protect networks from cyberattacks and other problems, David Simpson, chief of the FCC's Public Safety Bureau, said Monday during a meeting of the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council at commission headquarters. Simpson spoke up during a presentation of one the CSRIC working groups, on security by design.
Consumer groups and others seek 14 more days for replies on issues being addressed in the FCC Lifeline NPRM. So said a filing from the California Emerging Technology Fund, Center for Accessible Technology, Consumer Action, Greenlining Institute, Media Alliance, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center and Public Knowledge posted in docket 11-42 Friday. They previously filed for an extension, of which the FCC granted half (see 1509160069), and now want until Oct. 14 to file replies. Because of the complex nature of the issues being addressed, the organizations said the extension would let the replies be more focused and provide the FCC with better information.
Consumer groups and others seek 14 more days for replies on issues being addressed in the FCC Lifeline NPRM. So said a filing from the California Emerging Technology Fund, Center for Accessible Technology, Consumer Action, Greenlining Institute, Media Alliance, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, National Consumer Law Center and Public Knowledge posted in docket 11-42 Friday. They previously filed for an extension, of which the FCC granted half (see 1509160069), and now want until Oct. 14 to file replies. Because of the complex nature of the issues being addressed, the organizations said the extension would let the replies be more focused and provide the FCC with better information.
The FCC proposed outage reporting rules for operators of undersea cables that connect the U.S. to the rest of the world and carry huge amounts of traffic. Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a notice, launching a rulemaking aimed at collecting timely and systematic information on outages disrupting any of the roughly 60 undersea cables, which they said channel trillions of dollars of economic activity and carry sensitive U.S. government and military communications. “Our responsibility starts with being informed,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at Thursday’s meeting. "Today’s NPRM proposes that we require submarine cable licensees to report significant outages in appropriate detail through NORS [the Network Outage Reporting System]," he said in a written statement.
The FCC proposed outage reporting rules for operators of undersea cables that connect the U.S. to the rest of the world and carry huge amounts of traffic. Commissioners voted 5-0 to adopt a notice, launching a rulemaking aimed at collecting timely and systematic information on outages disrupting any of the roughly 60 undersea cables, which they said channel trillions of dollars of economic activity and carry sensitive U.S. government and military communications. “Our responsibility starts with being informed,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler at Thursday’s meeting. "Today’s NPRM proposes that we require submarine cable licensees to report significant outages in appropriate detail through NORS [the Network Outage Reporting System]," he said in a written statement.
Whether many communities seek carriage of different broadcast signals under new satellite market modification rules the FCC adopted earlier this month remains to be seen, experts told us. The new rules "certainly give [broadcasters] more options and more ways to reach consumers," said Steve Ennin, president of communications analytics firm Centris Marketing Science. But Frank Jazzo of Fletcher Heald, who has represented a number of satellite and broadcast clients, said, "I wasn't aware of a lot of demand [for satellite market modifications]. I'm not sure how many changes we are going to see."
Media General is likely to receive federal antitrust approval for its proposed $2.4 billion purchase of Meredith, attorneys who follow broadcast transactions and former Department of Justice officials told us. Though it’s not known whether DOJ or the FTC would review the deal, several recent media deals have gone to DOJ, including Media General’s buy of LIN Media last year. Media General’s familiarity with the process from the LIN deal and its upfront plan to divest stations in overlapping markets suggest it’s confident the Meredith deal will survive scrutiny, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Dan Kirkpatrick. FCC OK also is expected (see 1509080061).