FCC Acting General Counsel Jon Sallet Outlines Deal-Vetting Philosophy

In a speech at the National Press Club, Jon Sallet, the acting general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission, outlined what he said is FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's approach to weighing allegations that some television station license transfers are anticompetitive.

"I am aware of the reputation that some attribute to the FCC, that the answer is always 'yes' and the path to 'yes' is bargaining with the agency. It is hard to imagine that such a view can be squared with the manner in which the commission assiduously applied the law to the facts of the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile transaction," which was not approved.

He said that if "for any reason" the FCC concludes that a deal does not service the public interest, or it has a substantial question of fact about whether it does, those deals need to be designated for an administrative hearing. Sallet extolled the virtues of transaction conditions not only to remedy perceived future harms that would be tough for the Department of Justice to get at, but to make policy as well.