On June 18, 2008, Howe Electric Inc., a California-based electrical contractor, pled guilty and agreed to pay a fine of $3.3 million for rigging bids on Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program (“E-Rate”) projects in two Fresno, CA schools. The company will pay a total of $300,000 in criminal fines and $3 million in restitution.
On April 24, 2008, Leonard Douglas “Doug” LaDuron, a former owner of three Kansas computer service companies (Serious ISP Inc., Myco Technologies Inc. and Elephantine Corporation), and his mother, Mary Jo LaDuron (a.k.a. Mary Jo Gault) pled guilty to conspiracy charges to defraud the Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC”) E-Rate Program. The E-Rate Program was authorized under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to provide economically disadvantaged school districts and libraries with funds to connect to the internet. Mr. LaDuron was also charged with making false statements by misrepresenting his employment status to gain housing assistance to the U.S. Department of Urban Development.
IHOP Corporation announced its plans to buy Applebee's International Inc. for $25.50 per share, as the newly restructured company seeks growth outside its pancake chain. IHOP franchises almost all of its restaurants, and believes it can improve the currently struggling chain by franchising a majority of Applebee's 508 company-operated restaurants.
Continue reading "IHOP buys Applebee’s for $1.9 billion" »
In the race to build a more powerful marketing vehicle, Yahoo Inc. made its move by taking control of Right Media two weeks after Google agreed to buy DoubleClick in April. Right Media creates an open exchange to help buyers and sellers trade digital media more effectively, and Yahoo is counting on this acquisition to enhance its Internet ad sales. This form of advertisement is expected to be an increasingly popular method for companies to promote their brands rather than the use of newspapers, magazines, and television.
Continue reading "Yahoo takes control of Right Media" »
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. are the only two corporations authorized by the Commission to provide satellite radio service in the United States. On March 20, 2007 they submitted an application to the FCC requesting permission to combine into a single entity. Each entity would own half of the company, and the equity ownership would be divided evenly between the shareholders of both corporations.
Continue reading "XM and Sirius Proposed Merger " »
The FCC finally approved AT&T Inc.’s (“AT&T) merger with BellSouth Corp. (“BellSouth”) late on December 29, with the telephone companies agreeing to several conditions, including a controversial network neutrality provision aimed at protecting Web players such as Microsoft and Google. AT&T was eager to close the $80 billion-plus deal for several months. FCC approval was the last hurdle facing the merger. AT&T was forced to yield on network neutrality because FCC Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein insisted on protecting Internet-based providers of data, video, and applications from potential anticompetitive harms. Because four FCC members voted – Republican Robert McDowell did not participate – Copps and Adelstein held a veto over the deal.
Continue reading "Commission Approves AT&T-BellSouth with Conditions" »
Local governments will have 90 days to act on cable-franchise applications filed by AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications and other entities with existing rights to access city-owned conduits, the FCC ruled in an action on December 20 that split the agency along partisan lines. With support from major phone firms, FCC chairman Kevin Martin championed franchise reform as his proclaimed antidote for rising nominal cable rates and for spurring deployment of high-speed Internet-access facilities across the country. Because cable incumbents were not granted similar 90-day guarantees, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (“NCTA”) called the FCC vote a rejection of a “level playing field” among cable providers.
Continue reading "FCC Sets Timeframe for Action Regarding AT&T, Verizon Applications" »
To circumvent federal limits on radio ownership, investors trying to buy industry giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. (“Clear Channel”) plan to become passive owners in some radio stations they already own and divest others. According to their merger application submitted Friday, December 15, to the FCC, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP (“Lee”) and Bain Capital LLC (“Bain”) plan to insulate their interests in other radio companies in which they have a stake to avoid violating the agency’s limits on how many stations one company can own in a single market.
In a November 27 filing with the FCC, Cablevision Systems (“Cablevision”) said the agency’s rule banning set-top boxes with integrated security functions should not require the operator to deploy CableCARD-based boxes because all of its digital set-tops already contain removable smart cards. In the filing, Cablevision requested a limited waiver of the July 1, 2007, integration ban because the company, “alone among the nation’s cable operators, already has deployed set-top boxes that use separable, removable security on smart cards.”
Continue reading "Cablevision Challenges FCC’s Integration Ban" »
On November 16, the Senate voted unanimously to confirm FCC chairman Kevin Martin to a second five-year term, according to the office of Senate Commerce Committee chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Martin was nominated by President George W. Bush to a Republican seat on the Commission and sworn in on July 3, 2001. Bush named him chairman on March 18, 2005.
Continue reading "Senate Votes to Confirm Chairman Martin to Second Term" »
On October 6, the FCC ended its investigation into Time Warner Cable’s (“Time Warner”) decision in August to drop the NFL Network without providing appropriate notice to subscribers. The FCC reached a consent decree in which Time Warner agreed that it violated an FCC rule that requires cable operators to provide customers 30 days notice before deleting a channel. The agency said it would take no action against Time Warner and closed the investigation. NFL Network complained to the FCC after Time Warner dropped the sports channel on some newly acquired systems from Comcast and Adelphia Communications.
Continue reading "FCC Takes No Action against Time Warner for Dropping NFL Network" »
On October 2, the FCC consented to the applications filed in connection with the proposed acquisition of Midwest Wireless Holdings, LLC (“Midwest Wireless”) by ALLTEL Communications, Inc. (“ALLTEL”), subject to certain conditions. ALLTEL provides wireless communications services to approximately 11 million wireless customers in 35 states. Midwest Wireless is a wireless provider with more than 400,000 customers in southern Minnesota, northern and eastern Iowa, and western Wisconsin.
Continue reading "FCC OKs ALLTELL-Midwest with Conditions" »
On September 27, five major cable companies asked the FCC for conditions on AT&T’s merger with BellSouth to ensure that the combined phone giants cannot discriminate against cable’s competing digital-phone service. The cable companies seeking these conditions were Advance/Newhouse Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications and Insight Communications.
Continue reading "Five Cable MSOs ask FCC for Conditions on AT&T/BellSouth Merger" »
On September 25, the FCC adopted its Eleventh Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition in the mobile telephone – or Commercial Mobile Radio Services (“CMRS”) – industry. This report examines the conditions prevailing in the CMRS marketplace in 2005.
On September 19, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously reported on the nomination of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin for a second five-year term. Martin was approved following an off-the-floor markup held after the first vote on the Senate floor. According to Commerce Committee spokesman Joe Brenckle, the only senator to miss the 21-0 vote was Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona). Martin now awaits consideration by the full Senate.
Continue reading "FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Nominated for Second Five-Year Term" »
The FCC’s first auction of Advanced Wireless Service (“AWS”) spectrum licenses ended on September 18. A total of 1,122 licenses were offered in the auction, and 104 bidders won 1,087 licenses. The AWS licenses can be used to provide any of a wide array of innovative wireless services and technologies, including voice, data, video, and other wireless broadband services offered over Third Generation (“3G”) mobile networks.
In an August 14 letter to the FCC, internet video distributor VDC Corp. (“VDC”), owner of VDC.com, complained that it is having difficulty securing carriage deals with established cable networks. While VDC.com distributes content from Discovery Communications, most of the company’s carriage deals are with smaller cable networks such as The Pentagon Channel and Mav TV. The broadband video site also carries home-shopping channels QVC and ShopNBC. VDC chairman Scott Wolf said that VDC plans to seek relief from the FCC “in the next few weeks” under the FCC’s program access rules. In his letter to FCC chairman Kevin Martin, Wolf alleges that some cable networks are balking at licensing their networks to VDC.com because of “external influence, mainly from the large [cable] MSOs.”
