DOJ's slight shift on theory in its AT&T/Time Warner litigation gives it an easier argument (see 1803150030), possibly reducing the stakes, American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow Daniel Lyons blogged. Justice initially argued New AT&T would be able to raise consumer prices by making rivals pay more for TW content; now it's focusing on the costs to AT&T competitors, since the government's expert found merger efficiencies are likely to reduce AT&T subscriber pricing, Lyons said. Meanwhile, AT&T dropped its selective prosecution arguments, in which it claimed it was being singled out because of Trump administration antipathy to CNN, since the court signaled skepticism, he said. One must for the government is to show its estimated increase in rivals' subscriber prices -- 45 cents per month -- is significant enough to constitute harm to competition, he said. He said DOJ could face difficulty in proving New AT&T would have incentive to coordinate with Comcast and "may have a path to victory" since Judge Richard Leon of Washington also presided over the 2011 Comcast/NBCUniversal and thus is familiar with the government's theory in the case, he said. Also Friday, telecom lawyer/consultant Jonathan Lee criticized DOJ's case as not reflecting contemporary video distribution business realities. Being an MVPD "simply isn't as profitable as [the agency] seems to remember," and MVPDs now lack the ability to pass on programming price increases without losing customers, Lee blogged. He said DOJ arguments that New AT&T will be able to raise prices ignores that blackouts are on the rise, which indicates MVPDs are far less willing to accept programmers' price demands, and declining subscriber numbers show customers reject current price levels. The trial is to begin Monday and is expected to last 15 days (see 1803080047).

The FCC will examine Matanuska Telephone Association's application to discontinue "basic exchange telecommunications radio service" to 215 customers in a remote area of Alaska. After the agency received 10 comments and one informal complaint, the application "will not be automatically granted," said a public notice in docket 17-363 in Thursday's Daily Digest. "Removal of MTA’s application from the automatic grant process should not be construed as a final determination on the merits."

Attempts to replace vigorous enforcement of antitrust laws with regulation -- such as in the form of antitrust exemptions or immunity -- should be met with "heavy skepticism" because of the dangers that come from government limits on competition, DOJ Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim said Wednesday, according to remarks prepared for the division's competition and deregulation event. The roundtable, along with others set for April 26 and May 31, are aimed at helping Justice frame "effective and appropriate competition policy" and identify related regulatory burdens, Delrahim said.

The local number portability administrator transition should proceed "without delay," said Sprint, citing "a very low likelihood of catastrophic failure that would necessitate a manual rollback" from incoming LNPA iconectiv to incumbent Neustar. "Sprint's testing to date has been successful," said its letter posted Wednesday in FCC docket 09-109. Sprint did Number Portability Administration Center "connectivity testing in a production environment and is able to move, without issue, between Neustar and iconectiv. ... Sprint has also tested successfully its internal platforms to ensure they are working with iconectiv’s. And, Sprint has engaged in a variety of industry-level testing." Although it highly doubts the need for a rollback, the carrier "has confidence in the contingency plan" of North American Portability Management and its transition oversight manager, PwC. "Some carriers, including Sprint, will also take measures to delay/suspend large port transactions until after the cutover is complete (i.e., Sprint will avoid mass porting jobs during the cutover)," it said. CenturyLink and Frontier Communications recently supported (here and here) the transition timetable and NAPM's contingency rollback plan, buttressing filings from other large carriers; Neustar, the LNP Alliance and Cloud Communications Alliance have objected (see 1803090031, 1802280041, 1802070003 and 1803130047).

AT&T shareholders will vote at the company's April 27 proxy meeting on a series of stockholder proposals, including one requiring it to prepare annually a report on its lobbying efforts. The company is recommending "no" votes on the stockholder proposals, according to proxy Monday at the SEC. The statement said the lobbying report would require the company to disclose its policies and procedures for lobbying; any company payments for lobbying or grassroots lobbying communications, including amounts and recipients; and membership in and payments to tax-exempt organizations that write or endorse model legislation. The board said it gives the public and shareholders "ample transparency and accountability" via reports on its websites and reports filed with the federal government. Other shareholder items to be voted on are a change in proxy access requirements, a requirement the chairman be independent, and a reduction in the amount of shares necessary for stockholders to take action by written consent. Such shareholder efforts on lobbying are common and frequently get voted down (see 1706140023).

The bench trial on AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner starting March 19 is expected to last 15 days, according to a docket 17-cv-2511 supplemental scheduling order (in Pacer) issued Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington.

The FCC informed users of local number portability administrator "ancillary" services that incoming LNPA iconectiv launched "Wireless Do-Not-Call, Enhanced Law Enforcement Platform, and law enforcement Public Safety Answering Point Interactive Voice Response services (also referred to as ancillary services)" Saturday (see 1803050055). "All Ancillary Services users should now use their iconectiv credentials to access the iconectiv online portals going forward," said a Wireline Bureau public notice in docket 09-109 in Wednesday's Daily Digest. It noted incumbent Neustar's related services will be discontinued Friday.

AT&T is considering an initial public offering for a minority interest in DirecTV Latin America. It said Wednesday it filed a registration statement with the SEC on a possible sale of Class A common stock shares of Vrio, its DirecTV Latin America holding company, though that form hasn't become effective.

Bitcoin-derived blockchain technology might improve an FCC Lifeline program that is ineffective and has seen "considerable fraud," said Mark Jamison, American Enterprise Institute visiting scholar and director of the University of Florida's Public Utility Research Center. "Studies consistently demonstrate" the low-income USF support program "has little impact and is costly," he blogged Tuesday. Blockchain transactions are conducted using "wallet" software that contains private and public keys to protect security, along with computer "miners" to verify transactions, he wrote. For Lifeline, "each person that is enrolled in one of the qualifying federal programs and that does not have a phone would be assigned a wallet suitable for the service for which the person wants to use the subsidy," he said. "The wallet might be an app on a secure smartphone if the person wants to use the subsidy for mobile service or on a piece of hardware that could plug into a smartphone, laptop, or tablet computer." Universal Service Administrative Co. each month "could transfer the Lifeline subsidy from a USAC wallet to the recipient’s wallet," he wrote. "The recipient could then use the currency to pay all or part of the service fee, depending on how much the person is paying for service. This payment would be made from the recipient’s wallet to a wallet designated by his or her service provider."

The recent tax overhaul will boost AT&T and Verizon cash flow by billions of dollars, Moody's said Monday. The changes "will result in an increase in operating cash flow by about $3 billion for AT&T and by up to $4 billion for Verizon," said Mark Stodden, senior vice president. "The extra cash will increase both companies' flexibility to continue investing in capex and modestly reduce leverage, while sustaining high dividends." The higher cash flows are unlikely to affect the pace of telecom consolidation or materially change AT&T's or Verizon's level of capital investment, he added.