Antitrust experts are at odds over how AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner could shake out at DOJ's Antitrust Division, at least on conditions on approval, though OK is expected. There are questions about what kind of changes a Trump administration would represent in how Justice approaches antitrust (see 1611180043), but agency leadership appointees are consistent with what one would expect in a traditional Republican administration, likely indicating a traditional approach, said an antitrust lawyer. The Trump DOJ is likely traditionally Republican on antitrust -- more accommodating and permissive -- but "there will be the occasional lightning strike," said Brian Quinn, Boston College associate law professor, but "If there's going to be a lightning strike, [AT&T/TW] is going to be the deal." AT&T and DOJ didn't comment.
Earth station applicants should specify a requested antenna pointing range and show operations won't increase population coverage and so won't affect local upper microwave flexible use service licensees or impede future earth station applicants, SES, O3b, Inmarsat and Telesat said in comments posted Tuesday in FCC docket 17-172. Friday was the deadline for comments on implementing earth station siting methodologies in the 28 GHz and 37/39 GHz bands (see 1707240050). The satellite operators said applicants should be required to overlay the antenna contour with terrain data, such as from the U.S. Geological Survey. And they said the FCC should encourage earth station collocation by not factoring in the population covered by a new 28 GHz earth station when its interference zone falls within that of a grandfathered earth station. Boeing said power flux density contour and protection zone calculations should use existing propagation models from the ITU and 3rd Generation Partnership Project and be based on proposed earth station antenna models or data. The company said those contour and protection zone calculations should account for shielding or terrain features as part of the estimated interference levels. OneWeb said the FCC should let fixed satellite service earth station applicants use either the time-invariant gain or time-variant gain methods for assessing gain toward the horizon to allow non-geostationary orbit satellite constellations enough flexibility. The company said the agency shouldn't prescribe a single means of determining population percentages but allow earth station applicants to use any verified data source and accepted calculation method. ViaSat said the 0.1 percent population coverage limit should reflect antenna pointing only at the satellite points of communication in the earth station application, not all possible antenna pointing scenarios. It said applicants shouldn't be allowed to use worst-case modeling.
AT&T launched 5G service in Indianapolis and Austin, and expects to be in 20 markets by year's end, executives said on a Q2 earnings call Tuesday. It's testing LTE licensed assisted access -- combining licensed and unlicensed spectrum -- in San Francisco, where users are seeing 750 Mbps peak speeds -- and it will expand testing in San Francisco and into Indianapolis in coming weeks. It said it still expects to close on its Time Warner buy by year's end, and its integration team is close to done with its advertising and bundling plan. For the quarter, AT&T had consolidated revenue of $39.8 billion, and had 2.3 million wireless net adds in the U.S. and 8,000 total broadband net adds. It said it had total video subscription losses of 199,000, with growth at DirecTV Now offsetting some traditional TV subscriber declines. CEO Randall Stephenson said AT&T soon will unveil the names of additional states that agreed to opt in to FirstNet, beyond the five revealed so far. “The timeline has been set and the opt-in process is underway,” he said. States are eager to get started on construction of the network “and so are we,” he said. Stephenson said AT&T will look at all of its options as construction starts.
If the FCC pursues doing away with its administrative law judge role, it might be doing what a lot of agencies wish they could, said American University professor of practice in administrative law Jeffrey Lubbers. Such an idea was floated by Commissioner Mike O'Rielly at the agency's July meeting (see 1707130046) after commissioners 2-1 reversed the agency's ALJ on Game Show Network's programming discrimination complaint (see 1707130048). Over the past 15 years, ALJs in many places declined, probably due to agency policy decisions on what cases the agencies pursue and thus how many cases are generated needing adjudication under the Administrative Procedure Act, said Postal Service Chief ALJ James Gilbert, a member of the Federal Administrative Law Judges Conference (FALJC) executive committee. "I think it's more organic than a conscious ... or widespread effort to reduce the numbers."
Analysts are split on the likelihood of Discovery Communications joining with Scripps Networks. Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh in a note to investors Wednesday called the reported deal talks unlikely to come to fruition since previous such talks probably died due to disagreements over price and structure, and those hurdles seemingly haven't changed. A combination would have more negotiating leverage with MVPDs and advertising agencies, he said. Citi's Jason Bazinet said the idea of Discovery/Scripps talks is "credible," adding the two likely will come to an agreement due to the pressures on the cable industry and to low valuations. He said a combined entity would have more leverage with emerging digital distribution platforms like Hulu, Sling, Vue and YouTube, and also make the launch of a non-sports bundle easier. Neither Scripps nor Discovery commented Wednesday. Scripps stock closed at $76.89, up 14.7 percent, while Discovery closed at $27.18, up 4.3 percent. Scripps also reportedly has held merger talks with Viacom. Viacom didn't comment.
Carrier identification compliance standards set to be implemented in September likely would have spelled the end of a number of small-satellite news gathering truck operations, SNG operators tell us as they cheer the draft order on August's commissioners' meeting agenda largely waiving that requirement. However, some in the SNG industry see the proposed permanent waiver as hurting. An FCC mandate prompting manufacturers to spend money creating offerings for customers, with that mandate then getting upended and manufacturers stuck without a market, "doesn't do anybody any good," Accelerated Media Technologies President Tom Jennings said.
Skyrocketing retransmission consent fees paid to broadcasters as local news viewership plummets show the need for the FCC to revisit its rules on retrans consent, must-carry and exclusivity since those regulatory advantages are responsible for the retrans fee growth, the American TV Alliance said in news release Tuesday. Pointing to Pew Research data about declining audiences for local TV news since 2007, ATVA said during that time, retrans fees grew 2,426 percent, topping $7.9 billion last year. It said broadcasters use the threats of blackouts to coerce higher fees. NAB said ATVA "is rehashing tired arguments favoring heavy-handed government intervention in a free market. On two previous occasions, the FCC has determined it has no authority to intervene in private negotiations between giant cable companies and local TV stations over the value of broadcast TV programming. ATVA should focus attention on fixing pay TV’s notoriously bad customer service issues rather than continue to fixate on a phony retransmission consent crisis.”
With nearly 10 million net neutrality docket comments before the FCC, it’s unclear what exactly the agency plans to do with them. Those on both sides of the debate agree the FCC should act quickly to toss junk comments, they said in interviews this week. Replies were due Monday night.
No non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite system should have to shoulder the whole burden in coordinating spectrum sharing arrangements, and the FCC should push for equitable sharing expectations, SpaceX said in International Bureau comments filed Friday. That was the deadline for replies to oppositions to the slew of NGSO license applications and U.S. market access petitions filed in November (see 1705300042). SpaceX said NGSO operators should share data about the steering angles of each beam within a footprint, which would let operators identify which apparent in-line events are false. ViaSat said any NGSO application's approval should be conditioned on the outcome of the pending Part 2 and Part 25 rules update and on protecting geostationary orbit systems from harmful interference; Telesat Canada also backed conditions tied to Part 2 and Part 25 updates outcomes. OneWeb said any ViaSat approval should be conditioned on it only transmitting between medium earth orbit satellites and geostationary orbit (GSO) when the MEO is in the cone of coverage projected from that GSO satellite with respect to the earth. OneWeb also said the FCC should condition ViaSat's use of Ka-band for satellite-to-satellite links on ViaSat not interfering with or claiming protection from other NGSO fixed satellite service systems operating in the stated transmission direction. And Inmarsat said any use of the Ka-band for NGSO-to-GSO links needs study and rulemaking before the FCC approves ViaSat's application. Colorado-based Elefante Group, which is developing a stratospheric-based communications and IoT-enabling system, said Audacy must provide more information for better evaluating its compatibility with other services in the 22.55-23.55 GHz and 24.45-24.75 GHz bands. SES and O3b said the FCC should defer processing any Ku- or Ka-band NGSO applications lacking data needed to verify their equivalent power flux density (EPFD) compliance claims, with those including Telesat, Audacy, Boeing and SpaceX. It additionally said ViaSat's proposal is also lacking sufficient data needed for proper evaluation. OneWeb also said Boeing hadn't submitted sufficient EPFD data and its proposed phased milestone schedule would let the company keep its authorization indefinitely and prevent use of the underlying spectrum and orbital resources by others ready to launch. Iridium said that while Boeing acknowledges the need to coordinate with Iridium in the 19.3-19.7 GHz and 29.1-29.5 GHz bands, Boeing may underestimate the ground infrastructure the Iridium system might need and overestimates the effectiveness of some sharing strategies. The GPS Innovation Alliance said Theia's opposition to its petition to deny doesn't contain any meaningful technical analysis to address GPSIA's core assertion -- that Theia's earth exploration satellite service in the 1215-1300 MHz band would interfere with radionavigation satellite service operations.
FCC 2-1 reversal of its administrative law judge on Game Show Network's programming discrimination complaint might largely reflect guidance set by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's 2013 Tennis Channel decision more than the merits of the GSN complaint, said a lawyer with cable and programming agreement experience. Thursday's order reversed ALJ Richard Sippel's advisory ruling that Cablevision discriminated when it retiered GSN in 2011 (see 1611230046). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, arguing for more deference to the ALJ's work, strongly dissented, calling the FCC decision "a dangerous precedent, one I hope will not become a trend.” Asked later about whether she thinks GSN was discriminated against, she said she wouldn't weigh in.