FCC “strongly admonished” Disney and its outside law firm, Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand, for breaching confidentiality of documents associated with AOL-Time Warner deal but declined to impose any sanctions. In 8-page order adopted Fri., Commission’s Cable Bureau concluded that “principals of Verner Liipfert and Disney were not sufficiently diligent in complying with the protective order” issued by agency on merger documents. Calling breach “significant violation” of its protective order, Commission said actions of Disney and its law firm “have not reflected the standard of conduct the Commission expects of parties in our proceedings.” But, finding “no evidence that the violation was intentional or that it reflects a pattern of noncompliance,” agency said no further action was needed. It said parties already had suffered “substantial penalty” when they were barred from inspecting confidential documents during critical phase of Commission’s merger review in fall. In future, FCC said it would consider banning parties and their counsel from access to confidential documents beginning from time it discovers their violation of protective order until one or 2 business days after they have notified agency and submitting party of violation.
FCC’s closely watched C- and F-block auction closed Fri., raising $16.9 billion, of which more than half will be paid by Verizon Wireless. Verizon and designated entities that have ties to Cingular and AT&T Wireless accounted for 83% of net revenue in auction of 422 licenses that started Dec. 12. Verizon filled in spectrum gaps in critical N.Y.C. market. It bid $8.78 billion for 113 licenses, nearly $4.1 billion of that for two 10 MHz licenses in N.Y. Revenue from auction surpassed lower end analyst expectations of $11 billion and surpassed record of $9.6 billion raised in 1996 C-block auction. Industry observers said Fri. they expected some large carriers’ financial arrangements with designated entities would draw challenges after bidders filed more detailed information with FCC on ownership structures. More broadly, several sources said they expected close of auction to refocus attention on wireless spectrum cap.
Charter’s monthly service fee for its “whole house” inside wire maintenance plan covering all communications lines, including satellite, telephone and cable in customer’s residence, isn’t subject to cable rate regulation, FCC said. Responding to clarification sought by Charter, Cable Bureau said company’s plan would be in direct competition with monthly maintenance plans offered by LECs. Saying Charter would continue to offer consumers who didn’t opt for whole house plan regulated hourly service charge, bureau said it found that whole house plan was comparable with LEC-offered telephone maintenance plans and LEC’s plan would exert competitive market pressure on cable plan.
In comments filed with FCC, CTIA called draft agreement on streamlining wireless antenna colocation review procedures “a step in the wrong direction.” Nationwide program agreement (NPA) was drafted by staffs of FCC, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Point is to try to streamline reviews involving whether proposed transmission facility may affect historic properties. CTIA pointed out that if licensee determines after review that proposed facility doesn’t affect historic property, FCC isn’t required to conduct further processing. But under draft, “any person, whether qualified or not, at any time can allege at the FCC that the proposed colocation has an adverse effect on historic properties,” CTIA said. As result, Sec. 106 process under National Historic Preservation Act could be invoked to delay proposed antenna siting “based on nothing more than a mere allegation of an adverse effect,” CTIA argued. Draft proposal would allow colocations on wireless towers constructed on or before Dec. 31, 2000, without further review unless certain exceptions apply. Draft stipulates that attaching antenna can’t result in major increase in tower size. CTIA is calling on NPA to recognize that “colocations are generally in the public interest and are categorically unlikely” to adversely affect historic properties. Group said that would limit cases subject to review to scenarios where facility increases substantially in size, prior finding of unmitigated impact on historic properties or pending environmental review. Otherwise, CTIA said burden should be on ACHP and state or tribal historic preservation officers to provide evidence of impact on historic property. Late last year, issue of how to craft interim proposal for colocation generated disagreement among some state historic preservation officers, who have been addressing increased loads of applications for proposed colocations. MG
Fueled by postings on the Slashdot Web site, 67 opponents of Internet filtering had filed mostly one-page comments on FCC’s proposed implementation of Child Internet Protection (CHIP) Act by end of last week. Comment deadline isn’t until 15 days after proposal’s publication in the Federal Register. Virtually all of comments opposed mandatory filtering, but offered few counterproposals for how FCC should implement law. Several said Commission had authority to delay implementation in light of expected constitutional challenges. “I had no idea there would be that much interest,” said Liza Kessler of Leslie Harris & Assoc., who started ball rolling with Slashdot posting (which, she hastened to add, was “solely in my personal interest” and not on behalf of firm). “I don’t know of any other grass-roots efforts,” she said. Kessler said idea that FCC could forestall implementation is “interesting argument” but she wasn’t sure whether it held legal water. She will be filing on behalf of educational groups, and she said she expected most heated questions to revolve around whether any existing software met CHIP’s standards.
Changes at CTIA: Bruce Cox, ex-AT&T vp-congressional & regulatory affairs, joins as vp-regulatory policy and law; Robert Roche promoted to vp-policy & research… Howard Levitas joins Industrial Telecommunications Assn. as chief information officer of management information systems… Neil Hoffman, ex-WGN Cable, becomes senior vp-planning, scheduling & acquisitions, Lifetime Entertainment… Mark Taylor, ex-WWAV Rapp Collins Media, named vp, dir. of sales-Europe, Hallmark Entertainment Networks… John Nelson, ex-Apple Computer, appointed vp-human resources, EMMIS Communications… Stephanie Brownlee, ex-United Video, becomes vp- interactive TV sales, SeaChange International…Eric Brewer, co- founder and chief scientist of Inktomi Corp., joins Asta Networks board… Larry Watkins, ex-LCC, appointed CTO, SPEEDCOM… Darius Withers, ex-FCC, named associate, Kelley, Drye & Warren.
Ruling in cable’s favor on DTV must-carry again, FCC rejected effort by Paxson Communications to obtain mandatory cable carriage of its 6 digital multiplexed programming streams in Chicago area. In little-noticed 5-page ruling late Tues., Cable Bureau denied Paxson’s petition to force AT&T Broadband, Charter, Mediacom and 9 other cable operators and overbuilders to carry broadcaster’s 6 channels on its digital signal (Ch. 46) instead of its WCPX (Ch. 38) analog station. Paxson argued that its 6 digital channels were entitled to must-carry because company was seeking to replace its analog signal with its digital signal, not gain dual cable carriage of its analog and digital signals. Paxson also contended that 1992 Cable Act required cable carriage of all TV signals, including digital. Its plan called for cable operators to replace WCPX analog signal with downconverted analog version of WCPX-DT primary digital signal and put 5 other digital channels on their digital programming tiers. But cable operators and overbuilders said FCC hadn’t issued DTV must-carry rules, and carriage of Paxson’s digital signal was unnecessary because they already were carrying its analog signal. Cable interests also asserted that there was no statutory right for mandatory carriage of digital signal downconverted to analog and Cable Act required systems to carry only single video service. FCC Cable Bureau, noting Commission’s earlier order tentatively concluding that broadcasters weren’t entitled to dual carriage of their analog and digital signals (CD Jan 24 p3), said it found Paxson’s requests to be “inconsistent” with that order. While DTV-only stations “may immediately assert their digital cable carriage rights,” agency said, TV stations broadcasting in both analog and digital modes can’t assert such rights until broader DTV must-carry issue is resolved. “In this instance, although Paxson has requested its digital signal to be substituted for its analog signal, it still holds 12 MHz of spectrum and has given no indication that it intends to return its analog spectrum,” Commission said.
FCC ordered GE Americom Thurs. to disclose information to Pegasus Development on its contract with Harris Corp. involving construction of GE Star Ka-band satellite system. Pegasus requested information Oct. 13. GE Americom received license to launch and operate 5 satellites in fixed-satellite service (FSS) in Ka-band. It was required to begin construction of first bird by May 1998, but had asked that contract be exempt from Freedom of Information Act disclosure requirements and withheld from public inspection. Pegasus, which wants to launch its own Ka-band satellites, objected.
FCC Chmn. Powell appointed Marsha MacBride chief of staff, and named his core transition team and his personal staff. MacBride, 10-year veteran of FCC, is returning to Commission after being vp at Disney’s Washington office. During years at FCC, MacBride has been Legal Advisor to then-Comr. Powell for mass media and cable and exec. dir. for FCC’s Y2K conversion effort. MacBride has been in Political Programming Branch of Mass Media Bureau, Cable Bureau, and Office of Engineering and Technology. She was also Legal Advisor to Comr. James Quello in 1997. Transition team includes Jane Mago, Enforcement Bureau, who will oversee the Office of Gen. Counsel, David Fiske, who will oversee Office of Media Relations, Paul Jackson, special asst. to chmn., who will oversee Office of Legislative and Inter-governmental Affairs. Powell’s current personal staff will move to Chairman’s Office -- Peter Tenhula continuing as senior legal advisor, Kyle Dixon and Susan Eid as legal advisors, Toni McGowan as confidential assistant and Dorothy Clingman as senior staff asst. Other staff appointed to Chairman’s Office include: Tommi Greely, Betty Freeman and Kim Anderson-Collins.
AT&T is seeking FCC permission to discuss sale of MSO’s minority stakes in several cable networks, including E! Entertainment, Digital Cable Radio, Sunshine Network, New England Cable News, In Demand, Fox Sports New England, National Cable Communications, Food Network. Spokeswoman for AT&T said move was part of company’s drive to cut its debt load and improve its prospects on Wall St. In Jan. 10 ex parte filing with Commission, AT&T, which inherited those programming interests from MediaOne, said it sought govt. approval to shed stakes because it “could be required to advise, or obtain permission from, its current partners in these services.” In addition, company said, “a potential purchaser could be AT&T’s current partners in these services.” AT&T promised it “would not be involved in discussions directly relating to the video programming activities of these entities,” as FCC stipulated in approving MSO’s purchase of MediaOne last year. AT&T previously gained Commission approval to sell its inherited stakes in Speedvision and Outdoor Life networks.