Cellular carriers have little to offer toward a compromise on wireless net neutrality rules, CTIA President Steve Largent told reporters Tuesday. He and other CTIA officials said wireless carriers couldn’t strike a bargain if they wanted to, since only rules requiring increased transparency and disclosure make any sense for their business.
Notable CROSS rulings
Broadcasters and newspaper publishers again attacked FCC media ownership limits in reply briefs this week at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The agency’s brief to the court (CD July 22 p6) was “remarkably non-responsive” to the questions raised by media companies, Fox said. “The FCC essentially concedes that it ignored relevant evidence concerning the sole rationale for the newspaper ownership rule -- viewpoint diversity,” Fox said. Similarly, the regulator failed to respond to showings against the multiple station ownership limits, Sinclair said. “The FCC did not refute or even address many of Sinclair’s arguments” and should be inferred that it concedes the points made by that broadcaster, the company said.
Limiting a company’s ownership of radio or TV stations and daily newspapers in a market is unconstitutional, Media General said in an FCC filing posted Friday to docket 09-182. It reported on a meeting in which representatives of the company, long a foe of cross-ownership rules, explained its position to Stuart Benjamin, the commission’s scholar-in-residence.
The FCC approved 5-0 Thursday a notice of proposed rulemaking and notice of inquiry aimed at spurring investments in wireless backhaul, a recommendation of the National Broadband Plan. Neither was particularly controversial. The FCC also unanimously approved an order aimed at increasing the number of wireless handsets available to the deaf and hard of hearing. The monthly meeting was over in less than an hour, and most of the questions in a press conference afterwards by Chairman Julius Genachowski focused on negotiations over net neutrality and broadband reclassification (see related story this issue).
The FCC stood by media ownership deregulation, excusing in five instances licensees from restrictions on owning a daily newspaper and radio or TV station in the same market and allowing such cross-ownership in large cities approved on a party-line vote in December 2007 during Chairman Kevin Martin’s tenure. That was spelled out in a filing Wednesday afternoon to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which is considering industry challenges seeking further deregulation and media consolidation opponents’ requests for stricter rules. Commissioner Michael Copps, who along with then-Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein voted against the congressionally mandated quadrennial review report, slammed the filing, which Chairman Julius Genachowski said he supports because the FCC acted within its discretion.
Arguments by Tribune and some investors were unavailing that the company’s planned transfer of waivers of FCC rules on cross-ownership of daily newspapers and radio or TV stations in the same city should be approved (CD July 2 p3), opponents said in replies last week in docket 10-104. “Nothing in any of these filings, separately or collectively, provides a basis for the Commission to approve Tribune’s Applications” to assign broadcast licenses as part of exiting bankruptcy, said Wilmington Trust. It holds $1.2 billion in Tribune debt due in 2029. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said arguments by Tribune and unsecured creditors opposing the union’s request that the commission not approve the deal lack merit. The company “misconstrues the purpose” of cross-ownership rules, said the Public Interest Petitioners, which include Free Press, National Hispanic Media Coalition and United Church of Christ. “Tribune’s opposition fails to reverse or rebut the presumption that its cross-ownerships are not in the public interest."
Loosening rules barring common ownership of a radio or TV broadcaster and a daily newspaper in any city outside the top 20, easing limits on owning two TV stations in a market and lifting caps on radio station ownership in a community were sought at the FCC by 29 companies. In comments on the 2010 review of media ownership rules posted Tuesday in FCC docket 09-182, the main lobbyists for the broadcasting and newspaper industries also sought to get some restrictions lifted. Opponents of consolidation again said the commission should study how the sharing of services between TV stations within a market circumvents current limits (CD July 9 p6). So did cable operators including Time Warner Cable and the American Cable Association seeking changes in the way the FCC handles carriage disputes.
Tribune’s planned transfer of waivers from FCC cross-ownership rules on common ownership of radio or TV stations and daily newspapers in the same market as the bankrupt company restructures was supported by a bank that will own more than 5 percent of the new company’s stock and by some unsecured creditors. The company, the official committee of its unsecured creditors and debtholder J.P. Morgan, the administrative agent under a 2007 credit deal that will own a large chunk of stock, opposed petitions to deny the transfers. Wilmington Trust Co., which holds about $1.2 billion in subordinated debt in the owner of TV and radio stations and papers, opposed the deal, along with two unions and four non-profit groups while another union sought a delay (CD June 16 p13).
Bills on spectrum reallocation are coming soon from Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., they said after President Barack Obama committed to freeing up 500 MHz of spectrum over 10 years for wireless broadband. In a presidential memo Monday, Obama outlined a process to identify federal and commercial spectrum for reallocation, and use auction proceeds to support public safety. The effort will comprise administrative and legislative actions, and the White House plans to work with members of Congress, a senior administration official who refused to be named in stories told reporters on a conference call.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, who was recently in New York to meet with analysts and investors, said the message emanating from Wall Street was clear: Chairman Julius Genachowski’s “third way” broadband reclassification proposal is already having a chilling effect on investment. A divided commission is to take up the Genachowski proposal Thursday. McDowell also said in an interview Wednesday that the FCC should complete action on the stalled white spaces proceeding quickly, so devices can be on store shelves in time for the 2011 holiday buying season.