The DOJ is asking U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia to amend the protective order in the agency's lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner. In an unopposed docket 17-cv-2511 motion (in Pacer) Wednesday, Justice said the amended order would add protections covering the use of confidential information and also extend the existing order's protections to some materials that the U.S. agreed to produce about the 2011 Comcast/NBCUniversal consent decree. DOJ said the additional protections include a requirement parties notify some non-parties when using their confidential information in particular circumstances. Leon earlier this month denied a motion (in Pacer) by third-party Fox also asking for an amended protective order.
Amazon bought video doorbell and home security camera company Blink, said Blink Friday. Terms weren’t disclosed. For Blink product owners, “nothing changes for now,” said the company website. “We’ll continue to operate under the Amazon umbrella selling and supporting the same great products,” said the company. An Amazon spokeswoman said: “As one of their distributors, we already know customers love their home security cameras and monitoring systems. We’re excited to welcome their team and invent together on behalf of customers.”
AT&T and Time Warner again agreed to push back the termination date of AT&T's buy of TW. In an SEC filing Thursday, AT&T said it and TW agreed to move the date to June 21, from April 22. The two previously agreed to move the date by six months (see 1711280063). The trial in the DOJ suit seeking to block AT&T/TW is scheduled to start March 19 and run an estimated 15 days (see 1712070067).
AT&T, Time Warner and DOJ agreed that no dispositive motions, such as a motion to dismiss, will be filed in the DOJ lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner, according to a docket 17-cv-2511 proposed case management order filed Friday with U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It said the parties engaged in good-faith settlement negotiations and couldn't get an agreement, and neither side believes the case would benefit from an alternative dispute resolution. They said AT&T and TW agreed not to consummate or complete the deal until six days after a court judgment is entered in their favor. In a separate proposed scheduling order, the sides said they expect the trial to start March 19 and last 15 days.
Proposing fining Sinclair some $13 million for not disclosing sponsorship of advertisements (see 1712150051) likely will be a 3-2 vote at the FCC, officials said. It's possible the notice of apparent liability will be released this week, after it took time for statements on the NAL from the commissioners to be finalized, we're told. The Democratic commissioners' concerns may include that the fine would be much less than the maximum of about $80 million, officials said. The broadcaster and the FCC declined to comment Monday. Sinclair is buying Tribune, in a deal expected to get regulatory OK, but perhaps not in conjunction with this NAL.
The FCC may fine Sinclair many millions of dollars in what's seen as a precursor to possibly approving Sinclair's pending buy of Tribune, informed sources said Friday. All commissioners have completed voting on a notice of apparent liability with a penalty of about $13.3 million, though not all members necessarily voted yes, said agency and other officials in interviews. Although the NAL apparently doesn't approve or possibly even mention the license transfer, such proposed fines or settlements often occur around the time the regulator approves transactions. Sinclair allegedly showed spots about 1,700 times that some could have mistaken for news segments, and the sponsorship wasn't disclosed to viewers, officials said. Some said the maximum fine for the violations could be $80 million, more than the draft NAL would seek. The penalty would add "to the long list of evidence that the FCC-licensed broadcaster will not act in the public interest" if it buys Tribune, said Sinclair/Tribune foe Coalition to Save Local Media, with members including the American Cable Association, Dish Network, NTCA and Public Knowledge. “Today’s report [here] should prompt more scrutiny by the FCC, Justice Department, and other parties on this proposed mega-merger." Sinclair and the FCC declined to comment.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., urged committee Republican leaders Friday to hold a hearing on Disney’s proposed $66.1 billion deal to buy 21st Century Fox assets (see 1712140003 and 1712140038). “We have a responsibility to understand the potential effect of this merger on consumers and the media marketplace,” Pallone said in a letter to House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. The committee’s “oversight into these proposed mergers has been lacking. Despite repeated calls from Democratic members, this Committee has not had a single hearing to look at the changing video marketplace in more than four years.” It's “been over two years since the Committee held a hearing on the current state of ownership in the broadcast industry,” Pallone said, asking to “make it a priority in 2018 to seriously examine all of the issues related to the video marketplace" including Disney/Fox. House Commerce didn’t comment. The White House weighing in positively on Disney/Fox points to politics "playing a central role in anti-trust decision-making," BTIG's Rich Greenfield wrote investors Friday, saying President Donald Trump's differing views on CNN and Fox News are reflected in the administration's views of the proposed AT&T/Time Warner and Disney/Fox. The analyst said Disney/Fox poses "obvious and far more threatening consumer harm" in the form of higher consumer prices, fatter video bundles and reduced upstart virtual MVPD and subscription VOD competition. He said those issues exist in AT&T/TW, but "they are far less certain." Wells Fargo's Marci Ryvicker wrote investors that Disney/Fox should close in 12 to 18 months, pending regulatory review, as others have said (see 1712140038). "And Trump seems to be a fan," she said. The White House on Thursday said Trump congratulated Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch on the proposed deal and believes it "could be a great thing for jobs." DOJ didn't comment.
Verizon completed a $225 million buy of Chicago-area fiber network assets from WideOpenWest, and the fiber will support about 500 macro-cell and 500 small-cell wireless sites, the buyer announced. The FTC cleared the deal in September (see 1709080031). WOW separately announced a new CEO (see 1712140024 or 1712140025).
Pointing to Comcast/NBCUniversal conditions expiring in 2018 and the competitive threat posed by AT&T/Time Warner, RCN and the American Cable Association are pushing the FCC to adopt new program access rules. In meetings with commissioners and Media Bureau staff, the two said the National Cable Television Cooperative should be able to bring program access complaints, and backed instituting a "standstill carriage" requirement while carriage disputes are pending and instituting an arbitration process. "An 'unleashed Comcast-NBCU is certain to wreak havoc in the market," RCN and ACA said in a docket 10-56 ex parte filing posted Tuesday on the meetings. RCN said the seven-year licensing terms being offered by TW as part of the AT&T deal (see 1711280063) aren't sufficient since they don't cover all the programming that would be owned by New AT&T. RCN and ACA had meetings with all FCC members but Jessica Rosenworcel and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey.
Regulators shouldn’t be concerned about the effect of vertical transactions such as AT&T/Time Warner on programming prices, said the Phoenix Center in a release on a study. “The evidence is strong -- there was no price effect on programming prices resulting from the Comcast-NBCU merger,” said Chief Economist George Ford. “When behavioral remedies are available, excessive concern about the prices of programming following a vertical merger in the MVPD market appear unwarranted.” The study shows either that vertical combinations don’t encourage programming prices to rise, or that conditions are effective in stopping rising prices, Ford said.