Industry Spent Big on Capitol Hill Lobbying in Q3

AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint continued their spending spree as they lobbied on spectrum and the proposed acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. T-Mobile spent nearly $1.1 million in Q3 2011, a 75 percent increase year-over-year and 7 percent more than it spent in Q2 this year. Sprint reported spending more than $1 million in Q3 2011, a 60 percent increase from the same quarter last year. The amount marked a 25 percent decline from Q2. AT&T spent $4.3 million, up 24 percent year-over-year. Verizon, which has largely kept out of the matter, spent $3.2 million on lobbying, 16 percent less than Q3 2010.

Sprint listed lobbying against the AT&T/T-Mobile deal as a top focus, in the company’s disclosure report. The acquisition accounts for Sprint’s year-over-year increase in spending, a wireless industry official said. The company spent less than in Q2 because lobbying shifted away from Capitol Hill and to the FCC after the Justice Department in late August announced it would challenge the deal in court, the official said. T-Mobile’s increased lobbying is a result of the AT&T deal and spectrum legislation, another wireless industry official said.

With spectrum legislation a top focus for many groups, CTIA spent $3.3 million in Q3 2011, up 37 percent year-over-year. CEA spent $760,000, up 90 percent. The Telecom Industry Association spent $170,000, up nearly 143 percent from Q2. The Rural Cellular Association spent $80,000, up 60 percent from Q3 2010. CEA Senior Vice President Michael Petricone listed “freeing up more spectrum for wireless broadband” as one of the association’s top priorities in Q3. TIA spent more time in Q3 covering spectrum on the Hill, especially because voluntary incentive auctions were a focus of July debt ceiling talks, said Dileep Srihari, director of legislative & government affairs. Spectrum remains a focus for TIA in Q4, with the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction considering including it in their debt package, Srihari said.

Public safety ramped up its lobbying in Q3 as the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approached. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, which is seeking reallocation of the 700 MHz D-block, reported spending $101,968, after posting about $80,500 in each of the previous two quarters. In the first three quarters of this year, public safety has nearly matched its spending on lobbying in all of 2010. APCO has spent about $263,000 so far this year. It reported spending between $268,000 and $273,000 in 2010. An APCO spokesman attributed the uptick to increased activity leading up to the 9/11 anniversary and “the increasing urgency for Congress to act now before it’s too late."

LightSquared spent $670,000 on lobbying in Q3, up from $185,000 in the year-ago quarter. The company continued to boost its lobbying to deal with the fight with the GPS industry over interference concerns, filings show. Dickstein Shapiro was the largest recipient of LightSquared’s lobbying spending, taking in $120,000 in Q3, the law firm’s filing said. Trimble Navigation, helping to lead the GPS fight against LightSquared, paid out $390,000. Akin Gump took home $270,000, down from $280,000 in Q2, filings show. The law firm didn’t work for Trimble a year ago. Garmin paid $80,000 on lobbying in Q3, $20,000 of which went to Dow Lohnes to work on the interference issue, according to disclosure filings.

Google spent $2.38 million on lobbying in Q3, nearly double what it reported in the same quarter last year and 20 percent more than Q2 this year. Google recently has hired several new lobbying firms. “We want to help policymakers understand our business and the work we do to keep the Internet open, to encourage innovation, and to create economic opportunity,” a spokeswoman said. Yahoo spent $620,000 on lobbying in Q3 2011.

Facebook and Netflix also ramped up their Washington presence in the Q3. Facebook tripled its spending year-over-year to $360,000. “This increase represents a continuation of our efforts to explain how our service works as well as the important actions we take to protect people who use our service and promote the value of innovation to our economy,” a spokesman said. Netflix spent $135,000, 23 percent more than in Q2 2011. Netflix didn’t file disclosure reports until Q4 2010.

Comcast spent nearly $4 million in Q3. That’s more than double what it spent in the same quarter last year. Time Warner Cable spent $2 million last quarter, up 36 percent from the year-ago quarter, and Cox Enterprises spent $790,000, up 25 percent. Unlike a year ago, Comcast now includes NBCUniversal lobbying in its disclosure reports. “There was also another anomaly in the 3rd quarter of last year, which was unusually low,” a Comcast spokesman said. “There were expenses normally paid in the 3rd quarter that weren’t paid until the 4th quarter, so last year’s Q3 was an anomaly and makes the year over year comparison higher.”

Dish Network spent $270,000 in Q3, up $30,000 for the previous quarter and $80,000 from Q3 in 2010, filings show. The company’s main focus was spectrum provisions within the American Jobs Act, the Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act (HR-2482) and the Spectrum Act (S-911), the Dish filing said. Dish is in the process of acquiring about 40 MHz of S-band spectrum through buying DBSD and TerreStar. Retransmission consent and orphan counties were also issues Dish lobbied on, the form said. Dish, a major opponent of the AT&T/T-Mobile deal, also lobbied on that issue, the filing said. Dish, which bought Hughes this year, also lobbied on USF reform. Dish spent $90,000 on outside lobbying, the same as the previous quarter, with $60,000 going to Emmer Consulting and $30,000 spent on Dunkel Government Relations, the disclosure forms show.

DirecTV continued to heavily outspend Dish. DirecTV spent $1.26 million on lobbying in Q3, up about $300,000 from the same quarter a year ago and up $90,000 from Q2, said DirecTV’s filing. DirecTV also lobbied on spectrum legislation and retrans. It also lobbied on the Commercial Felony Streaming Act and legislation related to set-top box energy efficiency, the filing said. DirecTV spent $315,000 on outside lobbying, with the largest chunk, $75,000, going to the Fritts Group, which worked on the AllVid proceeding, orphan counties and the State Video Tax Fairness Act, said the lobbying firm’s filing.

Less volatile spending was seen among other communications sector companies and associations. NAB reported spending $3.2 million in Q3 2011, slightly less than it spent in the same quarter last year. NCTA spent $4.1 million, slightly more than in Q3 2010. USTelecom spent $1.49 million, 11 percent less than Q3 2010 but the same as Q2 this year. Spending in the quarter by small rural telco associations OPASTCO ($40,000) and the NTCA ($120,000) were slightly less than the same quarter last year. And the American Cable Association spent $130,000, the same amount it reported in the previous quarter and in Q3 2010.