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FCC Should Let Lieberman Access HCI, ACA Says

The FCC should let American Cable Association Senior Vice President Ross Lieberman access highly confidential information in the Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV deals, ACA said in an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 14-57. Though access to video…

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programming confidential information (VPCI) about the deals is the subject of a pending U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision, other parties in the transactions have been allowed access to other confidential documents, ACA said. Lieberman was one of several attorneys objected to by the group of content companies challenging the FCC’s right to release VPCI, but the agency eventually granted them access to the lesser forms of confidential information on the grounds that the objections against them had specifically referenced VPCI. Lieberman and Ellen Stutzman, in-house counsel of the Writers Guild of America, West, were the only attorneys who remain barred from accessing any CI in the proceedings. Though the confidentiality orders in the proceeding mandate access by outside counsel, in-house lawyers for Comptel have been granted access, ACA said. ”Mr. Lieberman’s limited participation puts ACA and its members at a significant and unfair disadvantage, and as a matter of fairness, the Commission must promptly rectify this matter."