The FCC theoretically could still find a regulatory hook for reviewing AT&T's proposed $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner, but the multichannel video programming distributor indicated no TW licenses will need to transfer to the buyer, and that probably means the agency won't have a direct role, cable insiders and experts told us Friday. The MVPD anticipates TW won't need to "transfer any of its FCC licenses to AT&T in order to continue to conduct its business operations after the closing of the transaction," AT&T said in an SEC proxy statement. The filing doesn't give any details about what TW plans to do regarding the licenses and says TW won't give AT&T any information about its WPCH-TV Atlanta station. Sale of that station as part of the deal was expected (see 1610240046).
Forcing Cablevision to comply with the FCC administrative law judge's initial decision in the Game Show Network carriage discrimination complaint before an administrative and judicial review is done would be unprecedented and violate the Administrative Procedure Act and Cablevision's due process rights, the cable company said in an opposition posted Wednesday in docket 12-122. Cablevision filed exceptions urging the agency to reverse the ALJ initial decision and a petition seeking a stay of GSN's petition pending an administrative review.
With its NBC affiliation agreement now expired, WHDH Boston dropped its appeal in its NBC affiliation fight with Comcast. In a motion (in Pacer) for voluntary dismissal filed Wednesday in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, WHDH said since its June appeal "the parties' respective circumstances have changed," leading to WHDH's dropping its appeal. The station's appeal brief had been due Friday. Michael Gass of Choate Hall, representing the station, told us that with it not getting injunctive relief to prevent the expiration of WHDH's NBC affiliation agreement, which expired Sunday, "it's hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube." Station management instead decided to continue focusing on running the station as an independent with local news and syndicated programming like WHDH owner Sunbeam previously did with its WSVN Miami, Gass said: "There's no reason to think they can't do that here." WHDH sued Comcast last year over plans to move its NBC affiliation to a Comcast-owned station (see 1603110031).
Globalstar's revised terrestrial low-power service plans netted the company FCC approval (see 1612230060), but they might have left the company with few options for deploying in the spectrum, experts tell us. "All sorts of things have been cut away to get an approval, so the question is, how do you use this and what value?" said satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar. Globalstar didn't comment, and said it would address use case issues in a call with investors Friday. In its revised application in November, the company didn't discuss specific use cases. Approval would "support high data rates, provide a diversity of customers and locations with additional terrestrial broadband capacity, and help satisfy consumers’ demand for wireless broadband," said the satellite firm.
Cable and broadcast interests -- at odds in multiple retransmission consent talks breakdowns around the country -- are also at odds over the significance of those failed talks. The American TV Alliance (ATVA) pointed Tuesday to carriage disruptions in 48 markets nationally, calling it "a tidal wave of television blackouts." But Scott Flick of Pillsbury, who represents a number of broadcast stations, said: “In the grand scheme of things, [2016 was] probably one of the smoothest years” for retrans talks, and the fact so many deals expire at year’s end leads to a disproportionate bubble of talks that come to loggerheads. Separately, retrans may be one reason why Nexstar hasn't gotten the FCC OK to buy Media General for about $4.6 billion (see 1701030054).
Whether the Supreme Court opts next month to take up an appeal of a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in a Nickelodeon video privacy case could hinge on whether the 3rd and 1st U.S. Circuit are split on what constitutes personally identifiable information (PII) as laid out by the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). The case, C.A.F v. Viacom, was distributed for a conference to be held Jan. 6, according to the Supreme Court docket.
The Fixed Wireless Communications Coalition expects, and the satellite industry agrees, the satellite community will launch numerous objections to and arguments against an FWCC petition asking for changes in earth station licensing rules (see 1610180035). The FWCC sees the petition as more evenhanded and flexible than what the group proposed in its 1999 push for conditions on fixed satellite service (FSS) earth stations, an FWCC lawyer said, but satellite interests see it as deja vu.
Donald Trump's incoming administration has become a key subject in fundraising and mobilization efforts by multiple telco advocacy groups in recent weeks. The amount of messaging that's overtly political is higher than ever, some experts tell us. "Telecom has always been a political process; when you're talking about subsidies of billions of dollars, let's not kid ourselves here," said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak. "But it wasn't what you see now at all."
Consideration of Boeing's V-band satellite constellation plans could involve which companies -- satellite operators or terrestrial wireless -- are well-suited to serve the rural market. CTIA, T-Mobile and Straight Path Communications, in final replies Monday to Boeing's application for its non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) mega constellation, disputed which technology is best for serving rural subscribers. Boeing's application also triggered a processing round with a March 1 deadline for applications and petitions for declaratory ruling on similar NGSO satellite operations in the same frequency bands.
As WHDH Boston fights Comcast-NBCUniversal over the network's move of NBC affiliation to an owned-and-operated station (see 1603110031), broadcast industry experts tell us more such affiliation shifts could be coming if and when there's a successful conclusion to the broadcast incentive auction. Meanwhile, many say the political pressure that was put on Comcast in the fight likely had scant effect.