Consumers who buy a LeEco smartphone or 43-inch TV through Jan. 5 qualify for free access to AT&T's new streaming service (see 1611280058 and 1611290039) for three months, the new entrant to the U.S. announced Tuesday. The tie-in with DirecTV Now was the “truly disruptive” content partnership that LeEco had hoped to announce with the Nov. 2 debut of its products in the U.S. market, its representatives said. LeEco and Vizio, which it's buying, get exclusivity for DirecTV Now functionality until partnerships with Samsung and other smart TV makers kick in sometime in 2017. DirecTV Now also will be available through a wide array of Android, iOS and Amazon Fire devices from day one. “It's not very disruptive if it is only a short window of exclusivity, and in the end many devices will be able to stream the service,” Paul Gagnon, IHS Markit director-TV sets research, emailed us Tuesday.

The U.S. economy is poised to thrive under President-elect Donald Trump, CTA President Gary Shapiro said in an opinion piece posted by Fox News Tuesday. He pointed to the unified GOP government combined with an incoming Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “With this new combination, we’re likely to see legislation that helps businesses invest in growing and hiring,” said Shapiro, who criticized Trump harshly during the campaign season, but post-election said he sees "a lot of positive" in his presidency (see 1611090038). “By lowering corporate taxes; reforming patent, securities and class-action laws; and reducing regulatory burdens, businesses will have more money to invest in growth and job creation.” He also mentioned Trump’s infrastructure funding intentions and talk of rolling back burdensome regulations. The stock market will be a check on Trump’s impulses, Shapiro said: “Should he take positions that hurt tech, it would affect the broader stock market since tech stocks represent more than 20 percent of the S&P 500.”

After talking with congressional staff, Computer & Communications Industry Association Public Policy and Regulatory Counsel Bijan Madhani told us Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will likely seek Wednesday unanimous consent on the floor for Wyden's Stop Mass Hacking Act and Coons' Review the Rule Act. Those bills would delay changes made to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which are to take effect Thursday (see Ref:16112200130]). Many critics see it as expanding government hacking authority. Madhani said the "better prospect" is attaching the Review the Rule Act to an omnibus bill or a continuing resolution. CCIA, which includes members include Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Sprint and Yahoo, is interested in having a new administration and Congress look closely at the issue, and it's important for the new administration to figure out what authority DOJ has and doesn't have, said Madhani. The technology industry agrees with civil society groups about discussing government hacking and its potential ancillary effects for international relations and the economic security of companies and U.S., he said. Also Monday, DOJ Criminal Division Chief Leslie Caldwell dismissed the argument that procedural changes allowing the government to get search warrants more easily to fight cybercrimes using anonymizing technology aren't legitimate because they were considered by an "obscure committee," not Congress. Her blog post said the Supreme Court, which approved the rules in May, is "not typically referred to as an 'obscure committee' -- after extensive public consideration by the federal judiciary. Moreover, the amendments were proposed to and vetted by the federal judiciary pursuant to the statutory mechanism that Congress itself created for consideration of amendments to the rules of procedure." Caldwell's post is the third over the past week explaining why DOJ needs these changes to fight child exploitation, botnets and other cyber crimes. For instance, she said that searches would be done only to investigate the extent of a botnet and assist in freeing victim computers. Some techniques used by the government, she acknowledged, "could arguably involve conduct that would constitute a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment." Caldwell said that may be question of substantive law. "It would be strange if the law forbade the searching the scene of a crime," but nothing in the amendments affect the law, she said.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., still holds out hope that his bevy of bipartisan telecom bills can clear the Senate this year alongside reconfirmation of FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat who will have to leave the commission within weeks if Congress fails to act, he told reporters Tuesday. Congress is expected to remain in session for about two weeks. Thune said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s choice of whether and when to leave the agency is still a factor. He dubbed that concern, long judged a driving force for the GOP holds preventing Rosenworcel’s reconfirmation, an “extenuating circumstance that I think bears on that process” that he called complicated. But he declined to tell reporters whether Senate leadership was coordinating with Wheeler on a path forward. “I guess I don’t want to characterize discussions that might or might not be taking place,” Thune said. “But my hope is that that issue will get resolved before the end of the year. And we’ll probably have more to say on that at a later time.” Out of frustration over the Rosenworcel stall, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has blocked Thune’s Mobile Now spectrum bill (S-2555) and his aide told us in September he also would block the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644). Also pending on the floor is the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act (S-827) and Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act (S-2997), as Thune’s office noted recently when two Democrats briefly also put holds on Rosenworcel’s renomination, which were both lifted within a day (see 1611170061). All of these are bipartisan bills that cleared the Commerce Committee with minimal objections. Senate Commerce released its formal 10-page report on S-827 Monday. The Democratic blocks are ongoing. “We’re still trying to hotline it,” Thune told us of Mobile Now. Spokespeople for Reid and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn’t comment Tuesday. Thune told reporters he expects his legislation will move once Rosenworcel does. “That would be nice,” he said. “They should. I mean, that’s been kind of the reason the Democrats have stated for holding up a lot of that agenda, much of which has broad and bipartisan support. … I’m hoping we’ll still be able to move some of our telecom agenda.” Of the measures pending before the Senate, Mobile Now and the FCC Reauthorization Act lack precise House companions. The House earlier this year approved companion measures to the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act and Securing Access to Networks in Disasters Act.

The transition team for President-elect Donald Trump added members Monday to its landing teams for the departments of Commerce and Justice. Ideagen CEO George Sifakis is a member of the Commerce group, and Hunton & Williams Managing Partner David Higbee is joining Justice’s. Higbee is "Vice-Chair of the firm’s Global Competition practice, based in Washington, DC, and works regularly on matters before the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice,” his firm’s website says. “David previously served at the Department of Justice as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff of the Antitrust Division.”

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force estimates bidding in this stage's reverse auction will conclude by Thursday, the IATF said in an announcement on the auction's Public Reporting System Monday. "Under the current bidding schedule and decrement, the base clock price will reach $0 in round 52, which will be held Thursday, December 1st," the IATF said. Since it's possible that up to two additional bidding rounds could be needed beyond that if the final bidding status of some VHF stations hasn't yet been determined by then, the IATF is adjusting the Dec.1 bidding schedule to accommodate possible extra rounds. The current schedule of three rounds a day will proceed through Wednesday, but on Thursday the schedule will be: "Round 50. . . 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM Eastern Time (ET) Round 51. . . . 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET Round 52. . . . 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM ET Round 53. . . . 4:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET Round 54. . . . 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM ET," assuming the extra rounds beyond 52 are needed, the IATF said. The day after bidding in Stage 3 of the reverse auction ends, the IATF will announce the start of Stage 3 of the forward auction, and it's expected to begin on Monday, Dec. 5, the IATF said.

Having Jeff Eisenach and Mark Jamison on the FCC transition team could portend "favorable regulatory backdrop" for industry, said Macquarie Research analyst Amy Yong in a note to investors Sunday. That could point to an FCC regulatory regime that opposes net neutrality and preserves broadband pricing power, she said. Eisenach and Jamison are seen as conservative voices advocating telecom deregulation (see 1611210045 and 1611250022 and 1611230014). Pointing to CenturyLink's planned buy of Level 3, Yong said "a more conservative and pro-business FCC will bode well." She said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will likely leave the position on or before the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. She said parties joining the DOJ transition team (see 1611210045 and 1611180043) -- such as McGuireWoods lawyer J. Patrick Rowan, Morgan Lewis lawyer Ronald Tenpas, Morrison & Foerster lawyer Jessie Liu, and Jones Day lawyers Gregory Katsas and James Burnham -- all have "conservative backgrounds that could lead to smoother deal approvals."

President-elect Donald Trump named Kathleen McFarland deputy national security adviser and Don McGahn White House counsel Friday. McFarland had positions in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations, the Trump team said. McGahn, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, is currently at Jones Day.

World Wide Technology Chairman Dave Steward is among those President-elect Donald Trump is contacting as part of his transition, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on a call Friday. The discussion with Steward was one among many planned Friday meetings, also including Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., and involved Trump’s consideration “about people potentially playing a role in his administration,” said Spicer. World Wide Technology is “a global systems integrator with more than $7 billion in annual revenue and over 3,000 employees,” said its website. “We serve the technology needs of large public and private organizations, including many of the world’s best-known brands.” Steward co-founded the company in 1990. “With more than two decades of experience in the technology industry, David spends the majority of his time developing strategic supplier, customer and employee relationships,” the website said. “He plays a key role in WWT’s pursuit of large contract bids within its industry specific operating companies.”

CTIA said a recent AT&T victory in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit undercut the 2-1 panel ruling upholding the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order that reclassified broadband as a telecom service under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1606140023). CTIA, which has sought rehearing of the net neutrality ruling, was referring to a unanimous decision Nov. 18 by a three-judge panel in AT&T v. FCC (No. 15-1059) that vacated and remanded an FCC order siding with CLECs and over-the-top Internet phone providers on a VoIP symmetry rule (see 1611180063). "Foremost, AT&T contradicts the majority’s statement that VoIP apps 'function as an integrated aspect of mobile broadband,'" CTIA said in a letter (in Pacer) Wednesday to the court. "As AT&T explains, app-based VoIP providers do not 'provide interconnection' to users. VoIP users instead 'must obtain broadband transmission from others' to use these apps. Relatedly, AT&T makes clear that even when VoIP is considered, the Internet and the phone network are distinct. When a phone user dials an app-based VoIP user, the data travels along 'the calling party’s [long-distance line]' to 'some intermediate point,' where the VoIP provider and its LEC partner transform the data into IP packets and send it 'over the Internet' to the VoIP customer. The need for a VoIP retailer and a telephone company to convert the data confirms that the phone network and the Internet are not (as the panel majority claimed) an interconnected, single network. More broadly, AT&T confirms that the Court should not ignore technological realities when reviewing the FCC’s extension of a telephone-network regime to the Internet. The framework governing the charges at issue in AT&T did 'not map cleanly onto VoIP-[telephone] traffic.' But that did not excuse the FCC’s 'muddled' analysis."