CARLSBAD, Cal. -- NAB and MSTV decided there’s “insufficient evidence” to continue DTV transmission tests of 8-VSB and COFDM and said industry should stay with 8-VSB as standard. Action was taken here Mon. at joint meeting of NAB TV board, MSTV board and digital steering committees of both groups and following digital “summit” of TV broadcasters in Washington last week (CD Jan 12 p9). Straw vote of participants at Cal. meeting was 29-3 in favor of 8-VSB with dissents from Pax TV, Sinclair Bcstg., Pappas Telecasting. Only Dean Goodman of Pax TV dissented in following formal vote by NAB TV board.
NAB, which hasn’t presented its “Spirit Of Broadcasting Award” since 1995, will present 2 at April convention in Las Vegas. One will go to Margita White, retiring pres. of Maximum Service TV and former FCC commissioner, 2nd to American Women in Radio & TV. Previous winners include ex-President Ronald Reagan and former FCC Comr. James Quello.
PanAmSat asked FCC to defer deadline for filing comments on supplemental information provided by Intelsat in application to construct, launch and operate C-band and Ku-band satellites. PanAmSat wants comment period delayed until Commission has: (1) Acted upon Intelsat request, which PanAmSat opposes, for confidential treatment of documents filed along with supplemental information. (2) Determined whether Intelsat should be required to furnish additional relevant and material information.
With FCC Chmn. Kennard scheduled to leave Fri., there’s still no word from Bush Administration on replacement, sources close to process said Tues. Comr. Powell remained likely choice, at least in interim, but rumor that he already had talked to one bureau chief about staffing proved unsubstantiated.
FCC’s compromise approval of AOL takeover of Time Warner (CD Jan 16 p1) received generally good early reviews among Hill staffers. While instant messaging (IM) conditions won’t have immediate impact, said one, at least “FCC has put its imprimatur on IM interconnection.” Less pleased was economist Rick Warren-Boulton of Microeconomic Consulting Research & Assoc. (MiCRA), which submitted report to FCC detailing dangers of allowing AOL not to interconnect to IM competitors. Warren-Boulton told us FCC’s conditioning its IM interconnection requirements on AOL-Time Warner’s (TW) offering new broadband IM services wasn’t “the kind of thing that an economist would construct.” He said there were 2 possible outcomes, and FCC’s order wasn’t ideal either way: (1) AOL-TW offers new services quickly, in which case FCC “would be better off saying just do it.” (2) AOL-TW delays new offerings to avoid requirements, creating “problem for technical change in general.”
FCC Chmn. Kennard made it official Fri.: He’s leaving Commission Jan. 19 “with great pride in the accomplishments of the Commission” and “deep gratitude” for opportunity to serve, he said in resignation letter sent to President Clinton Fri. Kennard said that for “next few months” he will be senior fellow of Aspen Institute’s Communications and Society Program in Washington. He also will be first chairman of program’s new advisory board. However, his immediate plans are to “get some rest and spend some time with my 10-month-old,” he told reporters after news conference on AOL-Time Warner vote. He said he hadn’t decided what he would do after Aspen Institute. Asked if he wanted to stay in telecom policy, he responded: “Sure, I love it.” Asked to name his top 3 accomplishments, he listed (1) implementation of Telecom Act, (2) e-rate, (3) expanding telecom service to disabled community, native Americans, small and minority businesses. Ex- FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt said Kennard “has done more to include minorities and disadvantaged groups in the communications revolution than all previous FCC chairs combined.” NARUC Gen. Counsel Brad Ramsay said he “will hate to see him go” because Kennard made effort to include state regulators in development of issues. “He always made time to come to NARUC and discuss things one-on-one,” he said. Announcement of new chairman isn’t expected until after President-elect George Bush is sworn in Jan. 20.
FCC seemed to please no one with its compromise instant messaging (IM) conditions on its approval of AOL takeover of Time Warner (TW) last week (see separate story). Despite pleas of Democratic Comr. Tristani, agency chose not to require AOL-TW to provide immediate interoperability for competing IM providers, even when IM services were provided over TW’s cable platform. Instead, it mandated interoperability on hypothetical future IM services such as streaming video, which it labeled “advanced, IM- based high-speed services (AIHS).” AOL-TW also must file progress report with FCC every 180 days on steps it has taken toward IM interoperability. Competing IM providers immediately criticized conditions as ineffective, while many said FCC should have imposed no conditions at all.
Cingular Wireless petitioned U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., to review past FCC orders that kept in place commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) spectrum cap of 45 MHz in all but rural areas, where cap is 55 MHz. FCC in Nov. turned down 1999 petitions for reconsideration filed by CTIA and BellSouth, which since has finalized Cingular joint venture with SBC (CD Nov 9 p6). FCC at that time reiterated its plan to revisit spectrum cap issue as part of 2000 Biennial Review by late 2000, item that Commission appeared to be close to releasing late last week. Cingular said in petition that it was “aggrieved” by FCC decision not to eliminate or significantly scale back CMRS spectrum cap. “Relief is sought on the grounds that this finding is arbitrary and capricious, unsupported by substantial evidence and otherwise contrary to law,” Cingular said. It asked court to set aside FCC finding that spectrum cap should be retained or to vacate rule.
NARUC recommended FCC not streamline its service quality reports. In comments filed Fri., NARUC said Commission’s current reports had shown “long-term negative trend in service quality.” Cutting back on information collection now would reduce ability of state and federal regulators to monitor such problems, group said. “In the absence of some compelling ILEC evidentiary showing that the reports are somehow unnecessary, it appears the proposal to reduce reporting requirements is premature,” NARUC said. FCC proposed reducing data collected from large ILECs as part of its biennial review process (CC Doc. 00-229).
Justice Dept.’s Telecom Task Force asked for input on how to improve its merger review process. Task force chief Donald Russell sent letter to 50 communications attorneys inviting them to March 1 private meeting to participate in “informal, off-the- record discussion.” Discussion topics listed in Jan. 10 letter: (1) Do initial task force investigations lead to “success in efficiently distinguishing between transactions which raise substantial competitive concerns and those which do not?” (2) How can task force best improve its “understanding of commercial or technological considerations relevant to our competitive analysis.” (3) How would attorneys compare task force merger review and processes with FTC, FCC, other sections of DoJ’s Antitrust Div., foreign antitrust agencies. (4) How could “second-request process be modified to promote the efficient and focused production of relevant information and documents.” Russell’s letter said those were just suggestions, and other issues can be raised at meeting. Russell said 2 moderators would help direct discussion: Verizon attorney John Thorne and Kevin Sullivan of King & Spaulding. Russell also encouraged attorneys to communicate with him directly, if they choose, by phone or e- mail. Letter went to Who’s Who of communications lawyers such as Richard Devlin of Sprint, James Rill of Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, Mark Rosenblum of AT&T, Charles Rule of Covington & Burling, Michael Salsbury of WorldCom, Philip Verveer of Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher. Letter said all of them had worked for at least one client on important transaction reviewed by task force.