The FCC went dramatically overboard in response to Congress' desire to streamline the cable-TV effective competition petitioning process when it decided the cable market is effectively competitive in every franchise area and put the onus of rebutting that presumption on franchising authorities, said NAB, NATOA and Minnesota's Northern Dakota County Cable Communications Commission (NDCCCC) in a brief. It was filed Monday, the deadline for those petitioners to file their initial brief in their lawsuit against the FCC at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NAB, NATOA and Minnesota's NDCCCC -- whose executive director, Jodie Miller, is president of NATOA -- sued the FCC in August (see 1508280033), asking the D.C. Circuit to reject the June order (see 1506020060).
The long-sought goal of the commercial communications satellite industry to get more Defense Department traffic on its satellites is closer than ever due to the increased commercialization of space, growing space-based national security threats, and federal budget sequestration meaning "no more open checkbook," Intelsat General President Kay Sears said Tuesday during a Washington Space Business Roundtable panel discussion on the possibility of DOD and the Air Force using more commercial satellites for communications.
A decision in Tennis Channel's legal complaint against the FCC could come within a couple of months, or might take longer if the federal appellate court decides to schedule oral argument, Stephen Weiswasser of Covington and Burling, representing Tennis Channel, told us. Friday was the deadline for the agency, Tennis Channel and intervenor Comcast Cable Communications to file in the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The Supreme Court's ruling for DirecTV on binding arbitration language in customers' service agreements has little applicability in the real world, "but the consequences are profound" since it marks a landmark reversal of a state court decision on arbitration, on the grounds a state court misapplied state contract law, said Harvey Rosenfield, a founder of Consumer Watchdog. As a result, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) now seems to supersede everything, including parties' contract terms, legal experts tell us. "What the majority did here was dangerous and leads to a very slippery slope. In effect, the majority just federalized a big area of contract law, which has traditionally been a subject of state regulation and oversight," said Imre Szalai, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans and co-author of an amicus brief in the case.
The Supreme Court's ruling for DirecTV on binding arbitration language in customers' service agreements has little applicability in the real world, "but the consequences are profound" since it marks a landmark reversal of a state court decision on arbitration, on the grounds a state court misapplied state contract law, said Harvey Rosenfield, a founder of Consumer Watchdog. As a result, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) now seems to supersede everything, including parties' contract terms, legal experts tell us. "What the majority did here was dangerous and leads to a very slippery slope. In effect, the majority just federalized a big area of contract law, which has traditionally been a subject of state regulation and oversight," said Imre Szalai, a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans and co-author of an amicus brief in the case.
The new iteration of FCC.gov is functional and -- at the very least -- doesn't make the site less usable, unlike the last upgrade and redesign, communications regulation practitioners told us Friday, the second day it had been live. "It seems to be easier to read, generally more like what you'd expect a modern website to look like," said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld: "It looks like my internal bookmarks to things like ECFS [Electronic Comment Filing System] still work."
The new iteration of FCC.gov is functional and -- at the very least -- doesn't make the site less usable, unlike the last upgrade and redesign, communications regulation practitioners told us Friday, the second day it had been live. "It seems to be easier to read, generally more like what you'd expect a modern website to look like," said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld: "It looks like my internal bookmarks to things like ECFS [Electronic Comment Filing System] still work."
Rather than a definitive victory or defeat of the FCC net neutrality order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is likely to deliver "a hodgepodge of wins and losses," NCTA President Michael Powell said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators. "That will create a sort of Swiss cheese of a regime, which is part of what I've been concerned about all along. It will leave more confusion and complexity than it will stability and finality." The three-judge decision likely won't be issued for four months, and it will almost surely be appealed to the Supreme Court, Powell said.
The FCC likely will tweak its two-degree satellite spacing rules but not do away with them altogether when commissioners vote Thursday on Part 25 rule changes at their December meeting, one lawyer with a satellite client told us. Much of the industry's lobbying efforts in recent months have involved two-degree spacing, the most contested issue in the agency's array of proposed Part 25 changes (see 1508050034).
Rather than a definitive victory or defeat of the FCC net neutrality order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is likely to deliver "a hodgepodge of wins and losses," NCTA President Michael Powell said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators. "That will create a sort of Swiss cheese of a regime, which is part of what I've been concerned about all along. It will leave more confusion and complexity than it will stability and finality." The three-judge decision likely won't be issued for four months, and it will almost surely be appealed to the Supreme Court, Powell said.