Dept. of Justice (DoJ) and FTC formally unveiled their revised antitrust review process Tues., saying new procedures would reduce length of reviews and “thereby allow both agencies to enforce antitrust laws more effectively.” DoJ and FTC said they delayed introduction of their memorandum of understanding after congressional request for more information earlier this year. Having apparently satisfied that request, they now have allocated primary responsibility for media and entertainment mergers to Justice. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Hatch (Utah) said it was “sensible arrangement that will result in more efficiency and certainty in the antitrust review of many important transactions… I have long been concerned about past allocation of investigations to each agency, which resulted in substantial delays and wasted enforcement resources.” However, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) said information submitted on issue was unconvincing and accused DoJ and FTC of trickery in moving proposal forward. Hollings, who also is chmn. of Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Subcommittee, said proposed changes in antitrust review process violated appropriations law. Without specifying what steps he might take, Hollings pledged action: “For some reason, this Administration doesn’t like government. Under the law, they're supposed to submit their restructuring proposal to Congress… We were in the middle of discussions on how to proceed, and they just moved forward on their own. It’s a tricky way to forego consultation. We have our tricks, too.” FTC Comr. Mozelle Thompson told us in an interview that he was “profoundly disappointed” with decision by FTC Chmn. Timothy Muris and Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft to proceed with antitrust agreement. He agreed with Hollings’ rejection of claim by Muris and Ashcroft that discussions with Congress had been sufficient: “Unfortunately, that dialog has not taken place.” Thompson said Justice and FTC leaders had “downplayed the deliberative process that the FTC brings” to complex matters such as AOL-Time Warner merger. He said it was ill-advised to give Justice sole oversight of matters involving creative content, software and product distribution, particularly without proper consultation with Congress: “I'm disappointed that they didn’t even avail themselves of the opportunity to gain a bipartisan agreement that would benefit all consumers.”
Commerce Secy. Donald Evans repeated Wed. his promise that Commerce Dept. would be “proactive” in stimulating broadband demand. “Broadband is delivered to homes but consumers are not picking it up,” he said. About 70 million homes have access in U.S. but “very few actually use it, about 20%,” he said: “We need to do what we can about the demand side” of broadband access. Innovations such as broadband are “absolutely vital” to U.S. economy, Evans said, with IT alone accounting for 2/3 of productivity growth and 1/4 of economic growth. “Over the next 10 years, broadband is expected to add half a trillion dollars -- $50 billion a year -- to the economy.” Building national broadband network will create more than 1 million new jobs, he said.
Absence of firm date for broadcasters to give up analog spectrum that will be used for emergency communications jeopardizes public safety planning needs, officials told Senate panel Wed. There’s immediate need to allocate more spectrum to accommodate growing demand for public safety voice and data transmissions, panelists said in Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee post-Sept. 11 network infrastructure hearing. Although DTV transition requires transfer of spectrum for such uses, nation’s emergency entities can’t count on tentative Dec. 31, 2006, transition because of DTV penetration requirement, they said. Since broadcasters could retain analog spectrum if they failed to achieve 85% DTV penetration rate, emergency planning is weakened, officials said.
Dept. of Justice (DoJ) and FTC formally unveiled their revised antitrust review process Tues., saying new procedures would reduce length of reviews and “thereby allow both agencies to enforce antitrust laws more effectively.” DoJ and FTC said they delayed introduction of their memorandum of understanding after congressional request for more information earlier this year. Having satisfied that request, they now have allocated primary responsibility for media and entertainment mergers to Justice. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Hatch (Utah) said it was “sensible arrangement that will result in more efficiency and certainty in the antitrust review of many important transactions… I have long been concerned about past allocation of investigations to each agency, which resulted in substantial delays and wasted enforcement resources.” House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) expressed similar support for plan, saying that it would reduce “unnecessary and duplicative burdens placed on employees and employers.”
When Atlanta’s municipal leaders offered free broadband service to some of city’s neighborhoods, only half of residents signed up. “In econ-speak, that’s a demand side problem,” said Columbia U. economics professor Glenn Hubbard Tues. Hubbard also is chmn. of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, and he was speaking at meeting in Washington of President’s Council of Advisers on Science & Technology (PCAST). PCAST Co-Chmn. Floyd Kvamme of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers began meeting by noting that Bush had tasked PCAST with focusing on broadband as one of his 4 top tech priorities, with demand side being approach on which Administration should concentrate. That approach was echoed by Hubbard and Commerce Secy. Donald Evans, who outlined many ways his agency was trying to get broadband acceptance rates to approach percentage of broadband availability in U.S.
Wash. Senate bill to establish state no-call telemarketing list cleared first committee hurdle and now awaits action by 2nd Senate panel. Bill (HB-2611) would require Wash. Dept. of Licensing to establish state no-call list and handle quarterly updates. List would be enforced by state Attorney Gen. or by lawsuits filed by injured consumers. Penalty would be $1,000 per offending call, with few exemptions. Wash. Utilities & Transportation Commission would have to require all local providers to notify consumers of how to get on state list. Bill passed Senate Telecom Committee and now is before Senate Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions Committee. Also advancing is Wash. House measure (HB-2639) to extend state’s moratorium on local taxation of Internet services for additional year, to Nov. 2003. Current moratorium is to expire Nov. 2002. Bill passed Senate Telecom Committee after being adopted by House and now goes to Senate floor.
Telecom bills are advancing in 6 states -- Fla., Ill., Ky., Mich., Minn., S.D. S.D. Gov. Bill Janklow (R) signed bill (HB-1001) authorizing state to participate in multistate Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement being developed by group of states to simplify and standardize sales taxes so states can tax out-of-state merchants selling via Internet. Bill also authorizes state revenue department to levy taxes on Internet and catalog merchants once states have agreed on standardized tax administration and Congress lifts current moratorium on taxing out-of-state Internet sales. In Ky., Senate passed amended version of no-call telemarketing bill (HB-47) that House had voted in Jan. House-passed bill would narrow current broad list of no-call exemptions. Senate amended measure to delete all exemptions, making list into “zero-call” list. If House refuses to concur, bill will go to conference committee. Ky. House Tourism & Energy Committee passed bill (HB-418) to do away with mandatory transcripts of contested Ky. PSC cases. Under bill, any party to contested case hearing could request transcripts but would be responsible for their cost. Bill now goes to House floor. N.Y. Assembly passed 2 telecom bills. First is AB- 1669 that would require local providers to waive unlisted number fees for persons under protective social service orders, such as domestic abuse victims. Second is AB-5787, which would require local providers to offer small businesses installment billing with up to 12 monthly payments for nonrecurring service installation charges. Parallel Minn. no-call telemarketing bills (SF-3246 and HF-2710) cleared first committee in their respective chambers and are pending at 2nd committees. Legislation would authorize Minn. Commerce Commissioner to establish state no-call telemarketing list and impose fines up to $2,000 per offending call. It also would require that local service providers inform their customers how to get on state list and that numbers on state list be turned over to federal authorities managing any federal no-call list. Senate’s version now goes to Senate Judiciary Committee and House version to House Economic Development Committee. Fla. Senate passed bill to preempt all local ordinances restricting use of wireless phones while driving. Measure sent to House (SB- 358) also would direct state Dept. of Motor Vehicles & Highway Safety to collect data on auto accidents where cellphones and other types of driver distractions were factor. Bill would preempt Miami-Dade County ordinance banning use of handheld mobile phones while driving, which is to take effect Oct. 1. Mich. House passed bill (HB-4991) to give local school boards option to permit student use of cellphones on school grounds. Current state law bans student cellphones, even though it’s not enforced vigilantly.
Sen. Hollings (D-S.C.) and his staffers on Senate Commerce Committee and Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee aren’t swayed by recently released statistics on proposed merger review agreement between Justice Dept. (DoJ) and FTC, staff member said. In CJS appropriations hearing Feb. 26, Attorney Gen. (AG) John Ashcroft gave Hollings statistics on number of merger reviews each agency had conducted in past few years, and on Feb. 27 FTC released several documents relating to merger review agreement, including more detailed statistics on number of mergers each agency had reviewed in recent years. But Hollings aide told us statistics were too recent and didn’t necessarily reflect expertise within agency. Hollings told Ashcroft he was particularly concerned about reviews of potential media and entertainment company mergers going to Justice Dept. instead of FTC. FTC release said Justice had conducted 63 enforcement actions and 154 “substantial investigations” in media sector since 1997, while FTC had conducted just 13 enforcement actions and 22 substantial investigations. DoJ also has done all 57 telecom investigations and enforcement actions and traditionally is known to be agency that reviews telecom antitrust issues.
“At some point you have to be honest with yourself and say ‘This is not working,'” FCC Chmn. Powell said Wed., reflecting on Commission’s 6-year losing record in federal court on its media ownership rules. Powell told Vienna, Va., breakfast hosted by Northern Va. Technology Council, CapNet and Information Technology Assn. of America that FCC “needs to do an extraordinary study of the media space today.” FCC spokesman told us after speech that agency’s Media Ownership Task Force was determining how that would be done, perhaps through Notice of Inquiry (NoI), but promised proceeding would be open to public comment.
FTC released several documents related to proposed merger review agreement with Justice Dept. (DoJ), including accord itself and documents relating to information solicited from former govt. officials involved in merger reviews. Documents included: (1) Letter from the American Bar Assn. (ABA) that said powerful law organization agreed in principle with agreement, although it hadn’t seen details. (2) Similar letter from Business Roundtable. (3) Reports on number of enforcement actions and investigations by each agency. (4) Report on delays caused by clearance process. (5) Joint letter to agencies from former FTC and DoJ attorneys that detailed recommendations for clearance process review. (6) Agreement itself, which hasn’t been adopted. (7) Letter from former high-ranking FTC and DoJ officials supporting proposed agreement. Release follows questioning Tues. of Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft by Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) on issue (CD Feb 27 p4). Hollings’ initial objections caused 2 agencies to postpone announcement of agreement. Hollings and some consumer advocacy groups have expressed concern about agreement because DoJ would get review media mergers.