Regina Keeney, ex-chief policy counsel for Dell Computer and former chief of 3 FCC bureaus, moves to Lawler, Metzger & Milkman as partner… Jessica Wallace, legislative asst. to Rep. Tauzin (R-La.), is latest staffer to follow him to House Commerce Committee, where she will be telecom counsel… William Moll, ex-pres.-gen. mgr., WKRC-TV Cincinnati, appointed pres., Clear Channel TV, succeeding Ripperton Riordan, who plans to go into ministry… Ann Marie Cumming, NAB dir.- media relations, resigns to move to Germany with her husband, CIA official… Ann McGowan promoted to dir.-business development, Showtime Networks… Michael Norten, ex-WPGH-TV and WCWB Pittsburgh, appointed vp-sales and news, Video Networks… John deGarmo, ex-Scripps Networks, named senior vp-affiliate relations, Moviewatch… Stephen Castro, ex- NetStream, appointed regional sales dir.-San Francisco, NTT America… Glenda Davis, ex-Fujitsu Business Communications Systems, named pres.- CEO, MCK Communications… Bob Johnson promoted to vp-northeast, Nextel Communications.
Although she hasn’t formally announced her resignation, FCC Cable Bureau Chief Deborah Lathen confirmed she planned to leave Commission soon after its new Republican chairman took over. Lathen, who has run Cable Bureau since spring 1998 and presided over further deregulation of cable industry, told us Fri. that she hadn’t decided on departure date but “will ensure a smooth transition” to next bureau chief. She said she also hadn’t decided what she would do next. At Western Cable Show in L.A. in late Nov., Lathen said her plan was to complete AOL- Time Warner merger review and then “wiggle my toes in the sand.” She brushed off questions about her legacy, saying she wasn’t focusing on that and considered it “the height of arrogance” to spin others about one’s record of accomplishments. “The way you live your life is your legacy,” she said. “Everyone in Washington is always talking about their legacies… I've tried to have broader aspirations.”
U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., again overturned FCC’s broadcast EEO rules, this time saying both minority-based and gender-based rules “put official pressure upon broadcasters to recruit minority candidates, thus creating a race-based classification that is not narrowly tailored to support a compelling governmental interest.” Court ruled only on constitutionality of 2nd option (Option B) for broadcasters to meet EEO requirement, but said Option B wasn’t severable from first option so it threw out entire rule (CD Oct 2 p6, Jan 21/00 p1). FCC Chmn. Kennard called decision “a defeat for diversity. At a time when many Americans are outraged at the lack of minorities in prime time and in the boardrooms of America, the broadcasters have once again used the courts to strike down even a modest outreach effort.”
CARLSBAD, Cal. -- NAB and MSTV decided there’s “insufficient evidence” to continue DTV transmission tests of 8-VSB and COFDM and said industry should stay with 8-VSB as standard. Action was taken here Mon. at joint meeting of NAB TV board, MSTV board and digital steering committees of both groups and following digital “summit” of TV broadcasters in Washington last week (CD Jan 12 p9). Straw vote of participants at Cal. meeting was 29-3 in favor of 8-VSB with dissents from Pax TV, Sinclair Bcstg., Pappas Telecasting. Only Dean Goodman of Pax TV dissented in following formal vote by NAB TV board.
NAB, which hasn’t presented its “Spirit Of Broadcasting Award” since 1995, will present 2 at April convention in Las Vegas. One will go to Margita White, retiring pres. of Maximum Service TV and former FCC commissioner, 2nd to American Women in Radio & TV. Previous winners include ex-President Ronald Reagan and former FCC Comr. James Quello.
PanAmSat asked FCC to defer deadline for filing comments on supplemental information provided by Intelsat in application to construct, launch and operate C-band and Ku-band satellites. PanAmSat wants comment period delayed until Commission has: (1) Acted upon Intelsat request, which PanAmSat opposes, for confidential treatment of documents filed along with supplemental information. (2) Determined whether Intelsat should be required to furnish additional relevant and material information.
With FCC Chmn. Kennard scheduled to leave Fri., there’s still no word from Bush Administration on replacement, sources close to process said Tues. Comr. Powell remained likely choice, at least in interim, but rumor that he already had talked to one bureau chief about staffing proved unsubstantiated.
FCC’s compromise approval of AOL takeover of Time Warner (CD Jan 16 p1) received generally good early reviews among Hill staffers. While instant messaging (IM) conditions won’t have immediate impact, said one, at least “FCC has put its imprimatur on IM interconnection.” Less pleased was economist Rick Warren-Boulton of Microeconomic Consulting Research & Assoc. (MiCRA), which submitted report to FCC detailing dangers of allowing AOL not to interconnect to IM competitors. Warren-Boulton told us FCC’s conditioning its IM interconnection requirements on AOL-Time Warner’s (TW) offering new broadband IM services wasn’t “the kind of thing that an economist would construct.” He said there were 2 possible outcomes, and FCC’s order wasn’t ideal either way: (1) AOL-TW offers new services quickly, in which case FCC “would be better off saying just do it.” (2) AOL-TW delays new offerings to avoid requirements, creating “problem for technical change in general.”
FCC Chmn. Kennard made it official Fri.: He’s leaving Commission Jan. 19 “with great pride in the accomplishments of the Commission” and “deep gratitude” for opportunity to serve, he said in resignation letter sent to President Clinton Fri. Kennard said that for “next few months” he will be senior fellow of Aspen Institute’s Communications and Society Program in Washington. He also will be first chairman of program’s new advisory board. However, his immediate plans are to “get some rest and spend some time with my 10-month-old,” he told reporters after news conference on AOL-Time Warner vote. He said he hadn’t decided what he would do after Aspen Institute. Asked if he wanted to stay in telecom policy, he responded: “Sure, I love it.” Asked to name his top 3 accomplishments, he listed (1) implementation of Telecom Act, (2) e-rate, (3) expanding telecom service to disabled community, native Americans, small and minority businesses. Ex- FCC Chmn. Reed Hundt said Kennard “has done more to include minorities and disadvantaged groups in the communications revolution than all previous FCC chairs combined.” NARUC Gen. Counsel Brad Ramsay said he “will hate to see him go” because Kennard made effort to include state regulators in development of issues. “He always made time to come to NARUC and discuss things one-on-one,” he said. Announcement of new chairman isn’t expected until after President-elect George Bush is sworn in Jan. 20.
FCC seemed to please no one with its compromise instant messaging (IM) conditions on its approval of AOL takeover of Time Warner (TW) last week (see separate story). Despite pleas of Democratic Comr. Tristani, agency chose not to require AOL-TW to provide immediate interoperability for competing IM providers, even when IM services were provided over TW’s cable platform. Instead, it mandated interoperability on hypothetical future IM services such as streaming video, which it labeled “advanced, IM- based high-speed services (AIHS).” AOL-TW also must file progress report with FCC every 180 days on steps it has taken toward IM interoperability. Competing IM providers immediately criticized conditions as ineffective, while many said FCC should have imposed no conditions at all.