FCC action on AT&T deal hits roadblock

FCC ACTION ON AT&T DEAL HITS A ROADBLOCK
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera]
Robert McDowell's confirmation in May as the fifth member of the Federal Communications Commission was supposed to end a 2-2 partisan deadlock that had stymied the agency on several issues for more than a year. But with commission approval all that's standing in the way of AT&T's purchase of BellSouth Corp., it's back to stalemate again at the FCC because of the occasional bane of regulatory agencies -- a recusal. McDowell, a Republican who holds the tiebreaking vote, has removed himself from voting on the $83-billion purchase because he used to lobby for an association of smaller phone companies that opposes the deal. His decision has given the commission's two Democrats leverage to hold up approval unless some of their conditions are met, such as preventing the companies from charging for priority delivery of services over their Internet lines — a controversial issue known as network neutrality. McDowell's recusal was expected. During his confirmation hearing in March he agreed to "make sure that there's not even the appearance of a conflict of interest" after being pressed on the point by two senators. But it still has roiled a process that AT&T and BellSouth had hoped would be wrapped up by now after the Justice Department gave the deal its blessing Oct. 11.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-recuse24oct24,1,7354207.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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