Policy: AT&T-DirecTV, Comcast-TWC deals receive oversight committee

The Federal Communications Commission has set up a steering committee to oversee pending deals between Comcast and Time Warner Cable and between AT&T and DirecTV.
The committee will be chaired by FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, with bureau chiefs on the steering committee to include Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake, International Bureau Chief Mindel de la Torre, Wireline Competition Bureau Chief Julie Veach and Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Roger Sherman. Both proposed deals will also be headed by separate review committees.
AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV was announced in May, and is designed to bolster the telecom giant’s pay-television business and allow for a more thorough bundling of services.
The Comcast/Time Warner Cable deal, which was announced earlier this year, would combine the nation’s No. 1 and No. 2 cable providers into a new “super No. 1” with more than 30 million customers and nearly half the domestic market.
The applications for the proposed deals have yet to be accepted by the FCC.
–The FCC’s recent proposal to modernize the federal E-rate program appears to have run into some internal discord as Commissioner Ajit Pai said the current proposal would warrant an “F” grade from “any good math teacher.”
In a public letter, Pai said the E-rate reform proposal in its current state would “blow a $2.7 billion hole in E-Rate’s budget – one that the FCC has promised outside parties it’ll fill with a post-election increase in Americans’ phone bills.”
Pai said that the current proposal “promises over $5 billion for Wi-Fi, but doesn’t identify where the money will come from to fund this new program,” and adds unnecessary complexity to the program.

“Rather than fundamentally reforming the E-Rate bureaucracy, the plan doubles down on complexity,” Pai explained. “Schools and libraries will still have to file reams of paperwork, operate on Washington’s timeline, and hire consultants – that is, if they participate in the program at all. Rather than giving local school boards, principals, teachers, and librarians the flexibility to decide what services and technologies best meet their communities’ particular needs, the plan takes a Washington-knows-best mindset.”
Pai said that he has attempted to meet with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to address his concerns, but that Wheeler has rejected Pai’s recommendations.
“Unfortunately, the chairman’s office has no interest in seriously negotiating with the Republican commissioners and is determined to pass this item on a party-line vote,” Pai noted.
The FCC has proposed a modernization of the federal E-rate program designed to expand broadband connectivity to schools and libraries using Wi-Fi technology. Citing a recent report, the commission noted that three out of five schools lack broadband compliant Wi-Fi services. The E-rate program was established in 1996.
“Technology has changed. The needs of schools and libraries have changed. The E-Rate program must reflect these changes.” said Wheeler. “Modernizing E-Rate to expand Wi-Fi connectivity in schools and libraries will empower students and library patrons to use the latest education technology to access new learning opportunities and infinite worlds of information.”
The FCC is scheduled to vote on the proposal July 11.
–Canada’s telecommunications regulator Industry Canada this week announced plans to conduct an auction of 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum licenses in the so-called AWS-3 band early next year. The proposed auction will include 50 megahertz of spectrum, with 30 megahertz of that spectrum set aside for “new entrants.” That spectrum will be adjacent to the current AWS band that the government auctioned off in 2008, in a previous attempt to attract new players into Canada’s wireless market that is dominated by nationwide players Rogers Wireless, Bell Canada and Telus Mobility.
Industry Canada touted a “streamlined” auction process for the AWS-3 band that it says will allow the government agency to begin the bidding process before that of the 2.5 GHz band that is scheduled to begin on April 14, 2015.
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