AT&T and Time Warner are extending the termination date of their merger agreement "for a short period" while they continue to seek DOJ regulatory approval, AT&T said in an SEC filing Monday. AT&T said it still expects to close on the deal by year's end and the merger agreement included the right to extend if government reviews of the deal went beyond Sunday, which was the termination date. The deal got Brazilian antitrust OK last week (see 1710180038), leaving only DOJ approval outstanding. Meanwhile, the fourth independent compliance officer report on AT&T/DirecTV conditions, posted Monday in docket 14-90, said the company "demonstrated its commitment to satisfying" the conditions. It said AT&T has offered 1 Gbps fiber to the premises service to E-rate eligible schools or libraries in its fiber to the premises FTTP and contiguous footprint. AT&T was required to deploy FTTP service to 12.5 customer locations within four years, but its FTTP deployment numbers were redacted in the report.

Cisco agreed to pay $1.9 billion cash to acquire BroadSoft, a cloud-based unified communications provider for small and medium-sized businesses, Cisco said in a Monday news release. The deal is expected to close in Q1, subject to closing conditions and regulatory review. Cisco has made about 200 acquisitions, said Vice President-Corporate Development Rob Salvagno.

FCC review and updating of media ownership rules is “long overdue” and not precipitated by Sinclair buying Tribune, blogged Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Friday, referring to perception deregulation efforts are connected to the takeover. The deal is “in no way the catalyst for FCC action on these issues,” O’Rielly said. Such reviews are statutorily required and requested in petitions for reconsideration, and relaxing the “shoddy” rules is a cause he has long supported, he said. “It’s not a new position or reaction to a pending application. Instead, for the first time, we finally have a Chairman receptive to these ideas.” In considering ownership rules, the FCC should “reasonably define markets” to account for competition from internet-based entities such as over-the-top services and social media platforms, O’Rielly said. The agency should also go after cross-ownership bans and rules that prevent duopolies, he said. “To my friends who think we need regulations to ensure a diversity of viewpoints, here’s a newsflash: you are regulating the wrong market. Today, with thousands of new options, how can the FCC justify maintaining this rule in its current form?” O’Rielly said. The agency also should do away with additional restrictions as it did the UHF discount, O’Rielly said. Without mentioning the national ownership cap closely associated with the UHF discount, he said that “the Commission must resist calls that are counter to our goals of modernization and/or often outside the scope of our authority.” O’Rielly repeatedly has said he doesn’t believe the FCC has the authority to tackle the national cap. The agency should go beyond the petitions for reconsideration in relaxing media ownership, he said. “It’s possible that procedurally we may be unable to address all of our media ownership rules now, but we must tee them up for future consideration.” Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel spoke against relaxing media ownership rules on Oct. 13 (see 1710120057).

Sinclair/Tribune opponent Coalition to Save Local Media began a national advertising campaign to “highlight how the Sinclair Broadcasting-Tribune Media merger will stifle local and independent media voices and put greed ahead of local viewers,” said a news release Thursday. The video ad describes Sinclair as emphasizing its own content over local news operations. “Contact Congress to tell them to deny” Sinclair buying Tribune, the ad said. The FCC paused the deal’s 180-day shot clock Wednesday to allow for additional comments (see 1710180071). “Sinclair and Tribune have failed to provide adequate justification that this merger is in the public interest and have not answered questions raised by the FCC and other parties,” the opposition group said of the paused clock. “In this comment period, the FCC, as well as the Department of Justice and other parties, should pay close attention to the serious concerns that continue to be raised.” Sinclair didn't comment.

The FCC Media Bureau paused the nonbinding 180-day shot clock for Sinclair buying Tribune at Day 104 to give parties more time to comment by Nov 2, when the bureau will restart the clock, said a public notice Wednesday. The pause and additional comment round are intended to allow interested parties to react to Sinclair’s Oct. 5 responses (see 1710060055) to an FCC information request. “The Commission has a strong interest in ensuring a full and complete record upon which to base its decision,” the PN said. “Pausing the clock will ensure that commenters have additional time to review and comment on this new information.”

An agreement between Australia’s Lendlease and Japan’s SoftBank to develop and own telecom infrastructure assets in the U.S. was a surprise, Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said in a Wednesday note to investors. Both companies plan to contribute $200 million to the new joint venture, said a Tuesday news release. “The joint venture, to be known as 'Lendlease Towers', will focus on partnering with major US carriers to roll out further phases of their infrastructure expansion plans to meet growing demand for data,” the companies said. “The aim is to create a geographically diverse portfolio of rooftop and tower assets through both a development and an acquisition-based strategy.” The initial agreement “is more around Sprint's rooftop sites but macros seem to be part of the eventual plan,” Fritzsche wrote. “We may have a new tower [company] on the come. … Yes it will take a long time and a lot of money (but Softbank has MUCH capital behind it).” The announcement also could speak to SoftBank’s long-term strategy if its key U.S. asset Sprint eventually merges with T-Mobile, she said.

Brazilian antitrust authority Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica approved AT&T's buy of Time Warner without any asset sale or divestiture required, AT&T said Wednesday. The company said it still expects the deal to close by year's end, with only DOJ review pending.

FCC staff cleared transfer of Bandwidth Inc. and Bandwidth CLEC to David Morken, co-founder and CEO of Bandwidth, said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 17-230 in Tuesday's Daily Digest. The transaction is part of a stock restructuring in anticipation of an initial public offering, with Morken holding a majority of Bandwidth's outstanding voting stock and controlling Section 214 licenses under the Communications Act, the application said.

Concurrent agreed to sell its Content Delivery & Storage business to network technology manufacturer Vecima Networks "for a base purchase price of $29 million, subject to adjustment for normalized net working capital," the VOD and streaming gear maker said Monday. "Rapid growth in IPTV delivery across both MVPD private" content delivery networks and over-the-top "providers will continue to accelerate," said Vecima CEO Sumit Kumar.

Akamai will acquire privately held Nominum, which develops and offers domain name server-based services, in an all-cash deal expected to close this quarter, the buyer announced Wednesday. Akamai said the acquisition will enable it to provide better cybersecurity offerings for carriers and other companies.