Corrections: Statements from a blog post on FTC regulatory authority should have been attributed to the agency, not the blog’s author, Covington & Burling privacy lawyer Morgan Kennedy (see 1502240070) ... The group holding the May 6 meeting of its Network Reliability Steering Committee corrected its name on a news release about the event to the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler reassured Wall Street Tuesday that Title II Communications Act reclassification of broadband won’t mean “utility” regulation for ISPs. Wheeler appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box, live from the show floor at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The order (see 1502260043) assures that those building networks still “have the capital, have the revenue base, on which to build,” Wheeler said. The FCC doesn't regulate rates or impose tariffs or unbundling requirements, he said. “The reality is that the day after our order goes into effect, the revenues from consumer services for Internet service providers will be exactly the same as they were the day before,” he said. “We want those revenues to be there. We want those revenues to generate a good return.” Wheeler denied he changed direction on net neutrality only because of pressure from President Barack Obama. “I’ve always been for a strong and open Internet,” he said. “Over the summer,” it became clear that only Title II would protect consumers and the Internet, he said. Title II was always “one of the myriad of things we were looking at,” he said.

Verizon met with staff in the FCC Wireless Bureau Wednesday to discuss Dish Network’s use of designated entities (DEs) in the AWS-3 auction, the telco said in an ex parte notice filed Friday in docket 14-170. Dish and its DEs submitted “two or three bids for the same amount on the same licenses in the same round,” Verizon said. This bidding pattern goes beyond typical bidding agreements or consortia, it said. It allowed Dish to leave the auction once bidding reached a certain level and be replaced by its DEs, Verizon said. This raises questions as to whether the DE owners had control or if “the bidding was centrally coordinated and controlled” by Dish, it said. This type of bidding may have reduced competition, it said. The DE program increases auction revenue and mobile broadband competition, Dish said in a recent ex parte notice posted Monday. Dish didn’t comment. The DEs in question couldn't be reached for comment.

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council issued separate statements raising concerns about FCC net neutrality rules. Rainbow PUSH “is concerned about potential unintended consequences,” the group said in a news release. “We are particularly uneasy about the potential imposition of new telecom-related taxes and fees, and the under-capitalization of broadband infrastructure in vulnerable communities that may result from this regulatory course.” MMTC President Kim Keenan also expressed concerns. “While MMTC needs to thoroughly review the extensive Order to evaluate its potential impact on our constituents, we have clearly gone backward in how we regulate a tool as dynamic as high-speed broadband,” she said.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly released a statement late Thursday saying Republicans are not to blame for any delay in release of the FCC’s net neutrality order, approved by commissioners on a 3-2 vote earlier in the day. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had mentioned in the press conference after Thursday's meeting the FCC's need to respond to dissents as one of the factors that could slow release of an order. “To be clear, I filed a version of my dissenting statement … with a longer one to follow in the next few days,” O'Rielly said. “To say that this is somehow holding up the Commission’s release of the document and extending the process is ludicrous. After refusing to share this document for three weeks, it takes a lot of nerve for Commission leadership to blame me for its lack of transparency.” FCC General Counsel Jon Sallet said Thursday that waiting for the dissents to be filed is mandated by language in a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which requires federal agencies to provide a response in the final order. The FCC will work “as quickly as possible,” Sallet said. “Our goal is to get the process moving forward.” The opinion Sallet cited is Electric Power Supply Association v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a May 2014 decision on which the administration is seeking Supreme Court review.

Consumer Watchdog called AT&T’s proposed buy of DirecTV anti-competitive and anti-consumer, in a letter it sent Wednesday to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and Attorney General Eric Holder. The deal would lead to “higher prices, less competition and an expansion of the notorious anti-consumer practices that DirecTV currently practices,” said the letter posted Thursday in FCC docket 14-90. Consumer Watchdog said AT&T has failed to show why the purchase is in the public's best interest, and if it's approved the company should be required to discontinue the improper practices and maintain its current rates for at least five years. Among the practices Consumer Watchdog called improper are a mandatory service term of 18 months to two years, charging early cancellation fees and deactivation fees to those customers who cancel early and charging the fees without notifying customers. The group asked the FCC to “ignore the lofty pronouncements of those who have a direct financial interest in the proposed merger and focus instead on the practical impact upon the companies’ customers and the average American family.”

Corrections: Phoenix Center's Larry Spiwak, not Wilkinson Barker's Russell Hanser, said that the FCC order granting petitions to pre-empt municipal broadband laws in North Carolina and Tennessee contained logic that would let state utility regulators pre-empt laws created by their state legislatures and likely will face legal challenges that will send the FCC legal view on Telecom Act Section 706 authority “crashing down” (see 1502250069) ... NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay, not Hanser, said that the Supreme Court’s Nixon v. Missouri Municipal League was based more on how pre-emption clashed with the 10th Amendment than with language in Communications Act Section 253 (see 1501220063) ... Mark Aitken of Sinclair chairs the ATSC's Specialist Group on Mobile DTV (see 1502250051); Glenn Reitmeier of NBC Universal is ATSC chairman.

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai expects relations at the agency to remain cordial following the big fight over net neutrality rules (see 1502260043), he said in a news conference after Thursday's FCC meeting. Pai said he tries to take the same approach every month. “I approach the item on the merits and I figure out is there some way for us to reach a consensus,” he said. “I certainly don’t see the well as being poisoned.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, the FCC’s other Republican, said he looks forward to a continuing friendship with Chairman Tom Wheeler. But he said he's concerned about the stance the commission majority took on net neutrality. “Here, they not only asked us to violate our principles, they ran over our principles,” he said. O’Rielly predicted much of the FCC’s future focus will be on implementing the new rules. “I don’t hold out hopes we’re going to have many kumbaya moments going forward, but let’s hope that’s not the case,” he said.

Correction: The transmission method used for the two streams that FCC Incentive Auction Task Force Vice Chairman Howard Symons clarified that he meant to say were shared in last year’s channel sharing pilot between Los Angeles' KLCS and KJLA were in HD (see 1502240035). Dynamic reserve pricing is a limited exception to the rule that the commission freezes stations at a certain price rather than put them into the wireless portion of the 600 MHz band, an FCC official said.

Commissioner Ajit Pai touted FCC progress on indoor location accuracy, at a National Emergency Number Association awards gala Tuesday. The FCC approved rules 5-0 at its January meeting (see 1501290066). Pai said the input from carriers, APCO and NENA was critical. “We’re now on a path to providing emergency responders with a ‘dispatchable location’ -- that’s the room, office, or suite number where the 911 caller is located,” Pai said, according to prepared remarks. “Public safety organizations have described this as the ‘gold standard’ for indoor location accuracy because it tells first responders exactly which door they need to knock on, or in some cases, kick in during an emergency. This is a great next step in improving our nation’s 911 system.” Pai said Americans should realize how lucky they are to be able to call a single number in an emergency. He recounted a recent trip to India. “In India, there isn’t a [unique] single number that people can call for help,” he said. “There’s one number to reach the police, another for the fire department, and yet another if you need an ambulance. There are even different numbers for senior citizens, women, and children to use.” Pai also said hotel chains have made substantial progress in another key area -- letting customers call 911 from their rooms without having to dial 9 first to get an outside line. By the end of the year, all Country Inn & Suites, Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Fairfield Inn, Four Points, Gaylord, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, InterContinental, La Quinta, Marriott, Motel 6, Park Plaza, Radisson, Residence Inn, Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Sheraton, Staybridge, W and Westin properties will have that capacity, he said.