AT&T, T-Mobile Spent More on Lobbying in Q4
AT&T's and T-Mobile’s lobbying punch rose in Q4 compared with the same period last year. T-Mobile, which transitioned from the fourth-largest carrier to the third, spent $1.97 million in 2015’s Q4, well up from the $1.3 million it spent in Q4 a year earlier. AT&T, the largest carrier and now owner of DirecTV, continued its heavyweight spending at $3.49 million, up from the $3.06 million in the same quarter last year. Sprint and Verizon, meanwhile, spent less on lobbying. Sprint dropped to $635,313 this year from $772,658 in that quarter a year earlier, and Verizon spending was $2.52 million, down from $2.97 million a year ago.
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Disclosure forms were due Wednesday. Some companies including Dish Network and several lobbying firms submitted information earlier (see 1601190061). Larger telecom initiatives, such as satellite TV reauthorization last Congress and what now seems to be an abandoned effort to overhaul the Communications Act this Congress, have been seen to drive industry lobbying of Capitol Hill. The major possible telecom initiatives believed to be on deck this year include possible legislation involving spectrum reallocation, FCC process and broadband deployment in addition to ongoing areas of intense Hill interest including net neutrality and oversight of the FCC’s broadcast TV incentive auction.
Other priorities have occupied companies and associations that filed this week. T-Mobile cited lobbying on cybersecurity and the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom measure. The carrier participated in “lobbying activities and contact specific to wireless policy on consumer protection and privacy issues in the House and Senate Commerce and Judiciary Committees” and “general lobbying activities on spectrum policy and related recommendations in the FCC's National Broadband Plan,” it said. Sprint reported lobbying on special access, 800 MHz rebanding and spectrum management, among other priorities. Sprint also mentioned lobbying on “WMATA wireless buildout,” referring to the organization that runs Washington’s subway system.
NAB and NCTA remained heavyweight spenders in this space. NAB spent $4.54 million, roughly on par with the $4.53 million a year earlier, despite less of an overt focus on video policy in 2015 than the year earlier during satellite TV reauthorization. Like carriers, NAB cited lobbying on the upcoming incentive auction. NAB lobbied on all provisions of the Mobile Now draft bill from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. That proposal earned other lobbying mentions, with AT&T reporting lobbying on the draft’s issues of spectrum availability for commercial providers. NAB lobbied on legislation to grandfather broadcast joint sales agreements from before the FCC limited them -- one of the few media provisions enacted into law last year. Sinclair, which was down $5,000 in its $50,000 lobbying price tag, also mentioned lobbying for the grandfathering measure, including lobbying for its inclusion in the omnibus funding deal signed into law, and on broadcast exclusivity rules.
NCTA spent more than a $1 million less than it had a year earlier -- $4.37 million vs. the $5.5 million spent at the end of 2014. It cited several lobbying priorities, including FCC process overhaul proposals and the JSA grandfathering proposal, and cybersecurity, tax and trade measures. NCTA also listed lobbying on “cable and consumer electronics voluntary agreement to improve the energy efficiency of internet modems, routers and other equipment that deliver broadband,” an effort focused on both Hill chambers, the FCC, the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. The smaller cable operators of the American Cable Association reported spending $150,000 in this Q4.
Some individual companies clocked a rise in spending. CBS was up $60,000 to $960,000 this Q4, devoting some of its lobbying to drones in addition to more traditional media policy issues. NTCA spending rose to $160,000, up $40,000 from the year before. Consumers Union also spent more: $60,000, up $10,000.
Other entities reported small drops in spending. The Computer & Communications Industry Association reported spending only $25,000 on lobbying, down from last year’s $40,000. Writers Guild of America, West spent $150,000, a drop of $10,000 from the previous year, and lobbied on Charter Communications’ proposed acquisitions of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable and on the FCC net neutrality order. WTA spent $75,000, which is $5,000 less. “The association lobbied on USF distributions, specifically on the FCC's Alternative Connect America Model (ACAM) and on an industry Plan that would allow customers to purchase broadband only from their local RLEC at a more reasonable rate than it must be offered today,” it said in its filing. “WTA also discussed the elements of the FCC's Bifurcated Approach which would as of a date certain require RLECs to receive USF support under two different mechanisms based on when those network investments were made.” It backed legislation to codify a small business exemption to the FCC net neutrality order’s enhanced transparency requirements.
Windstream spending was unchanged at $140,000 both quarters. NATOA spent less than $5,000 on lobbying from General Counsel Steve Traylor on what it called “opposition to legislative initiatives that would adversely affect local government tax policies and revenues.”