December 2011

Department of Justice questions if the AT&T and T-Mobile deal is still active

AT&T's decision to withdraw its application to obtain T-Mobile USA's mobile spectrum license at the Federal Communications Commission raises a question about whether the company's proposed acquisition is still active, the Department of Justice has said.

The DOJ noted that AT&T has withdrawn its license transfer application at the FCC, with the company saying a withdrawal represents an intent to "abandon the transaction altogether" or to submit a new, substantially changed application. Richard Levie, a special master overseeing the DOJ's antitrust case against the merger, said he believes the DOJ case can move forward without a license transfer application pending at the FCC. "The FCC-related activities have not ... altered the status of this litigation," he wrote. "Although FCC approval is necessary for the proposed merger, so, too, is a favorable ruling from the federal court in this case. As there is no requirement of which the Special Master is aware that one approval must come before the other, the federal court case remains on track."

Levie's order denied a motion by mobile broadband firm LightSquared to quash an AT&T request to depose LightSquared officers. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment on the nature of the deposition.

AT&T, Sprint Propose Antitrust Trial After Government’s Case

AT&T and Sprint Nextel agreed their dispute over AT&T’s planned purchase of T-Mobile USA should be tried after the government’s case opposing the deal while they clashed on the proposed schedule.

AT&T and Sprint, in separate filings in U.S. District Court in Washington, said their aim is to avoid interfering with trial of the U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit scheduled for Feb. 13. Sprint and C-Spire (Cellular South), which also sued to block the $39 billion T-Mobile acquisition, proposed that Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle set a trial date “immediately” after all the evidence is presented in the U.S. case “so that they can be heard prior to the closing of the transaction.” AT&T argued that no trial date should be set until Judge Huvelle hands down a verdict in the Justice Department case. The lawsuits involve different claims and will require different evidence, the company said.

Verizon Wireless Customers Finding Themselves At Least a “G” Short of 4G

Verizon Wireless customers are reporting what appear to be widespread network issues affecting customers in various places across the United States. Customers took to both Twitter and the Verizon Wireless support forums to kvetch about their lack of high-speed data service. Posters from locations ranging from Houston to Boston and Iowa to New Hampshire reported problems accessing the company’s data networks. Verizon said that the problems are limited to its fastest 4G LTE network.

Tech groups ask House leaders to slow down online piracy bill

Several technology industry groups wrote to House leadership asking them to slow down the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act aimed at reducing digital copyright violations.

The groups -- including the Consumer Electronics Association, the Information Technology Industry Council and TechAmerica -- warn the unintended consequences of the legislation and its Senate counterpart, PROTECT IP, could undermine the economic benefits created by the rapidly-growing digital economy. "Not only is a growing amount of economic activity facilitated by the Internet, but future economic and social growth is dependent on this critical infrastructure," the groups state. "Congress — working with all stakeholders — can develop legislation that will address online piracy while ensuring that the Internet continues to foster creativity, innovation, and growth."

Chairman Issa unveils hashtag for online piracy effort

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) rolled out a new Twitter hashtag intended to build support for the online piracy bill he plans to unveil.

A bipartisan coalition led by Chairman Issa and Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR) will offer an alternative to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) that would rely on the International Trade Commission to issue orders against foreign websites dedicated to copyright violations or trafficking in counterfeit goods. "What's better than #SOPA? #OPEN...we'll use this hashtag for our plan to keep the Internet open, protect our artists & inventors," tweeted Chairman Issa.

Chairman Issa said, "Good bills, with good support that leave the House passed, do pretty well. Bad bills that don't leave the House never get a chance to be heard in the Senate. I don't think SOPA will leave the House. I don't think it could pass a House vote today."

Newspaper companies put their money where the clicks are

Media companies McClatchy Co and Media General Inc, which are seeing their focus on online content starting to pay off, are speeding up their investments in digital media.

Newspaper publishers in the United States have seen their advertising sales and circulation flounder over the past few years and are turning to the Internet in a bid to stay afloat. Publishers such as the New York Times Co have pay-walled their online content to diversify revenue sources in a closely watched move. "The whole industry is looking to digital advertising to recover its fortunes. The future is digital, not print," said Benchmark analyst Edward Atorino.

EU ends antitrust investigation into IBM

Apparently, European Union antitrust regulators are set to accept concessions offered by International Business Machines Corp and end an antitrust investigation this month, averting a possible fine. IBM offered in September to provide certain spare parts and technical information to companies that use its mainframe hardware and software. The proposed concessions, under reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, will be for a period of five years. The European Commission agreed to accept this offer after IBM made some minor changes, one of the sources said. The EU executive's decision to drop the investigation could be announced as early as next week.

Chairmen Upton, Walden Probe FCC on New Spectrum Screen Standards/AT&T Report Release

House Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission regarding its decision to revise the spectrum screen after reviewing the AT&T / T-Mobile deal.

The chairmen wrote, “Throughout the 112th Congress, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology has taken a hard look at the processes of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to ensure that the Commission maintains the highest standard of transparency and predictability in the exercise of its duties. We therefore request additional information on how you decide whether to release staff analyses or other materials surrounding withdrawn items and how the FCC uses the ‘spectrum screen’ process in reviewing the spectrum holdings of FCC licensees. “The FCC apparently changed its spectrum screen in the recently released staff analysis on the AT&T / T-Mobile transaction, a document that was not adopted by the FCC. Moreover, questions remain as to how the Commission uses the spectrum screen.”

Members requested the FCC explain what processes it followed in making the decision by December 19, 2011.

Food and Media Companies Lobby to Weaken Guidelines on Marketing Food to Children

[Commentary] A major lobbying push by a powerful group of food and media companies appears to be working, with a federal agency indicating it would back off on parts of proposed voluntary guidelines for marketing food to children.

The guidelines are meant to combat childhood obesity. Also, language in a pending congressional spending bill, one of several that Congress must approve before the end of the year to keep the government running, threatens to prohibit the agency, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), from issuing a final version of the nutritional guidelines at all without doing a cost-benefit analysis first. Big companies such as Nestle, Kellogg, Viacom, McDonalds, General Mills, and Time Warner have indicated on official reports that they have lobbied on the controversial proposed guidelines; all together such companies have reported spending more than $37 million on lobbying this year. Most of these companies have a long list of concerns on Capitol Hill of which the nutrition guidelines are just one; however the totals reported demonstrate how powerful a presence these entities have in Washington. Most are also major sources of campaign money for members of Congress.

EU Trouble Looms For Google As Lawsuit Seeks $31 Million Over AdWords

A French company has filed a new claim to reflect the harm it says it incurred after Google unplugged it from its AdWords program.

The bellwether case is likely to go to trial in Paris in January and comes at a time when European antitrust regulators are tightening their noose around the search giant. The French claim grows out of a 2010 incident in which Google abruptly terminated the AdWords account of NavX, a company that lets drivers download the location of speed traps, on the grounds the sale of radar detectors appeared to violate French law and Google’s advertising policy. The case made headlines after the French Competition Authority issued an interim order in June 2010 that required Google to clarify its ad policy and to reinstate NavX’s AdWords account. The regulator closed the case four months later after Google agreed to provide notice before terminating accounts and to provide guidelines about which sort of ads it considered inappropriate. The NavX ruling, which technically applies only to radar companies, also figured prominently in a French report last December that suggested Google was using its dominant market position to harm other competitors.

Benton

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