The FCC Tuesday effectively suspended for 21 days the 180-day clock on its review of Verizon Wireless’s buy of AWS licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox. Opponents of the deals had asked the FCC to stop the clock because of problems they have had gaining access to documents and working their way through the massive record. Wireless Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan said in a letter posted on the FCC website he had little choice. The clock is non-binding, but still closely watched. Tuesday was officially day 103 of the commission’s 180-day review.
With 555 question marks, the 182-page further notice of proposed rulemaking on contribution reform, released late Monday, contains as many questions as there are feet in the Washington Monument. Throughout the further notice, after posing several dozen questions, the commission pauses to ask whether certain proposals are consistent with its fundamental goal of being efficient, fair, and sustainable.
Local governments want to work with wireless carriers and tower companies to make collocation easier, Anthony Perez, NATOA president-elect, said at an FCC workshop Tuesday. Industry speakers said collocation will only get more important as siting towers becomes more difficult. One provision of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed in February by President Barack Obama, streamlines collocation on and modification of an existing structure that doesn’t substantially change the physical dimensions of the structure.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District defended its decision to cut off service at one of its transit stations last August to fend off a possible riot. BART subsequently approved a policy for shutoffs (CD Dec 2 p11) and the FCC started to ask questions. On March 1, the FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureaus asked for comments on “concerns and issues” raised by the intentional interruption of CMRS service by government authorities for the purposes of protecting public safety (CD March 2 p14).
SILICON VALLEY -- FCC-subsidized rural telehealth projects face obstacles from excessive commission paperwork to hooking up servers located in shower stalls, the head of California’s program said Tuesday. “Those forms … they're pretty onerous,” said CEO Eric Brown of the California Telehealth Network. Asked about the complaint, the Wireline Bureau’s spokesman said by email that “the FCC launched an NPRM in 2010, which, among other things, is looking at the lessons learned in the Pilot as part of broader reform of the universal service Rural Health Care program.”
Sirius XM’s CEO expects the FCC to conclude that Liberty Media can’t assume de facto control over the company. The Sirius board reviewed a petition from Liberty and concluded that the board, not Liberty, has de facto control, Mel Karmazin said during a conference call on the company’s Q1 earnings. The company reported its strongest Q1 since it merged with XM in 2008, and subscribership grew since hiking a rate it charges by 12 percent in January, he said Tuesday. Revenue rose 11 percent to $805 million from a year earlier, he said.
An uptick this year is expected in broadcast mergers and acquisitions. Banks are beginning to lend again and some companies have the financial resources to take on debt, while others can use their stock to buy stations, agreed industry officials we interviewed. They don’t expect a blockbuster year for M&A. But they said TV station owners likely will keep adding to holdings, and radio deals may be fewer than for TV because those companies are still repairing their balance sheets after taking on too much debt in past years. Radio and TV executives and a lawyer who arranges broadcast deals said the outlook for M&A has improved a little since the summer, when borrowing had become harder (CD July 17 p9).
Verizon Wireless, the SpectrumCo partners and Cox should have some idea about whether the Justice Department has major objections to the proposed sale of AWS licenses to Verizon in the late May or early June timeframe, industry and government officials said. Justice typically offers some guidance to companies involved in such transactions within about 30 days of when they provide all of the data requested by the department. Verizon and the cable companies have either completed or are about to wrap up data submissions on the spectrum parts of the transactions, officials said. The major parties are still submitting information on the other part of the transactions: marketing agreements between Verizon and the three cable operators.
Verizon’s recent class action settlement regarding unwanted third-party charges could provide a roadmap for FCC members as they consider adopting further “cramming” regulations very much like the ones Verizon agreed to in February, a rulemaking notice suggests. In a further notice of proposed rulemaking adopted Friday, the commission contemplated far greater restrictions than the disclosure requirements adopted in the order. An “opt-in” requirement would block all third-party charges unless customers give affirmative approval that they will accept such charges (http://xrl.us/bm5st6).
HD Radio licensor iBiquity Digital is “definitely working” toward the goal of seeing HD Radio built into smartphones and other mobile devices for sale to the public before the end of this year, Chief Operating Officer Jeff Jury said in an interview. IBiquity first disclosed its HD Radio smartphone plans at the recent NAB Show in Las Vegas (CD April 17 p10).