A top lobbyist for Incompas is shifting some aspects of his role for the association. Alan Hill, who was Incompas' senior vice president-government relations and strategic business development, will continue his legislative activities for Incompas under the banner of the J.A. Hill Group firm, which began lobbying on behalf of Incompas and BT Americas effective July 1. Those disclosure forms were posted earlier this week (see 1608010026). Hill, who has been with Incompas since 2011 and was previously legislative director for ex-Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., told us the effect should be seamless in terms of lobbying, and he began considering the shift after his wife, Joy Ditto, became president of the Utilities Telecom Council in April. His lobbying for Incompas will focus on broadband data services, privacy, video reform and general competition issues, the registration form said. He registered a website for the firm May 5 but told us it’s still not up and running yet. Hill “is now representing INCOMPAS as an independent consultant,” a group spokesman told us. “He remains the main point of contact for legislative matters for INCOMPAS.” Incompas removed Hill from its staffers listing on its website this week.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler phoned CEOs of content companies to try to win their support for the set-top rulemaking days before the Copyright Office issued a letter slamming the FCC plan, content company officials told us. CO opinion undermines Wheeler's efforts and backs up criticisms of the FCC plan from content companies and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1607120078), content company officials told us. Advocates of the FCC plan urged the commission to reject CO's position, but Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Thursday that the critique should be “the final nail in the coffin” for the FCC proposal. Wheeler said Thursday in a news conference after commissioners' meeting that the FCC plan wouldn't violate copyright law, and many of the suggestions in the pay-TV backed apps proposal would be “adopted" in the final order.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler phoned CEOs of content companies to try to win their support for the set-top rulemaking days before the Copyright Office issued a letter slamming the FCC plan, content company officials told us. CO opinion undermines Wheeler's efforts and backs up criticisms of the FCC plan from content companies and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1607120078), content company officials told us. Advocates of the FCC plan urged the commission to reject CO's position, but Commissioner Ajit Pai said in a statement Thursday that the critique should be “the final nail in the coffin” for the FCC proposal. Wheeler said Thursday in a news conference after commissioners' meeting that the FCC plan wouldn't violate copyright law, and many of the suggestions in the pay-TV backed apps proposal would be “adopted" in the final order.

CenturyLink and Frontier Communications voiced concern to FCC leadership that the agency's proposed framework for business data services wouldn't reflect how carriers negotiate in the BDS market, including for wireless backhaul. "Market conditions have shifted considerably since the FCC’s 2013 data set, which was not accurate and which is now three years old," said a joint filing posted Wednesday on company officials' meetings with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, and various staffers. "We also explained that price regulation will distort and deter competition in the BDS market; prices set too low will preclude competitors from entering the market." They said wireline networks are critical to helping wireless providers meet "exponential" wireless data growth. "In 2015, for the first time, more wireless data traffic was offloaded onto a wired network than data carried over wireless infrastructure and that trend is increasing," the filing said. "The current BDS rulemaking would reduce, not increase, incentives to invest in much-needed wireline fiber-optic infrastructure that provides the foundation for offloading wireless data. We reiterated that it is important that any regime the FCC adopts does not deter investment, especially in rural areas." Also making recent filings in docket 16-143 were Comcast, FairPoint Communications, Incompas, Level 3, USTelecom, Windstream and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D).

CenturyLink and Frontier Communications voiced concern to FCC leadership that the agency's proposed framework for business data services wouldn't reflect how carriers negotiate in the BDS market, including for wireless backhaul. "Market conditions have shifted considerably since the FCC’s 2013 data set, which was not accurate and which is now three years old," said a joint filing posted Wednesday on company officials' meetings with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Commissioners Michael O'Rielly and Ajit Pai, and various staffers. "We also explained that price regulation will distort and deter competition in the BDS market; prices set too low will preclude competitors from entering the market." They said wireline networks are critical to helping wireless providers meet "exponential" wireless data growth. "In 2015, for the first time, more wireless data traffic was offloaded onto a wired network than data carried over wireless infrastructure and that trend is increasing," the filing said. "The current BDS rulemaking would reduce, not increase, incentives to invest in much-needed wireline fiber-optic infrastructure that provides the foundation for offloading wireless data. We reiterated that it is important that any regime the FCC adopts does not deter investment, especially in rural areas." Also making recent filings in docket 16-143 were Comcast, FairPoint Communications, Incompas, Level 3, USTelecom, Windstream and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D).

Lawmakers told us a potential revival next year of a 1996 Telecom Act rewrite effort may be better positioned than the effort derailed during this Congress. Capitol Hill Republicans blamed the FCC net neutrality rulemaking for the initiative’s stalling, and it's unknown whether a future rewrite effort can avoid the partisan conflicts that characterized net neutrality debates. One delicate factor in the latest open internet battles involved which Communications Act statutes the FCC should use to address broadband service, laws that could be subject to change in any overhaul of the broader law.

Lawmakers told us a potential revival next year of a 1996 Telecom Act rewrite effort may be better positioned than the effort derailed during this Congress. Capitol Hill Republicans blamed the FCC net neutrality rulemaking for the initiative’s stalling, and it's unknown whether a future rewrite effort can avoid the partisan conflicts that characterized net neutrality debates. One delicate factor in the latest open internet battles involved which Communications Act statutes the FCC should use to address broadband service, laws that could be subject to change in any overhaul of the broader law.

Joining TRUSTe is Hilary Wandall, ex-Merck & Co., as general counsel and chief data governance officer ... Coming to Pryor Cashman is Thomas Vidal, ex-Abrams Garfinkel, as partner, Litigation, Media + Entertainment, Intellectual Property and Technology groups ... Birch Communications appoints Chuck Williams, ex-Culhane Meadows, senior vice president-general counsel ... Huawei promotes David He to president, Huawei Enterprise US ... Zayo hires Jack Waters, ex-Level 3, as chief technology officer and president-Network Solutions, effective Aug. 15 ... Cox Media Group promotes Rob Rohr to Ohio market vice president, succeeding Julia Wallace, who announced her retirement earlier this year.

Demand Media hires Dion Camp Sanders, ex-Disney, as executive vice president-marketplaces ... Dev Bootcamp promotes Tarlin Ray to chief operating officer ... Joining TRUSTe is Hilary Wandall, ex-Merck & Co., as general counsel and chief data governance officer ... Coming to Pryor Cashman is Thomas Vidal, ex-Abrams Garfinkel, as partner, Litigation, Media + Entertainment, Intellectual Property and Technology groups ... Birch Communications appoints Chuck Williams, ex-Culhane Meadows, senior vice president-general counsel ... Huawei promotes David He to president, Huawei Enterprise US ... Zayo hires Jack Waters, ex-Level 3, as chief technology officer and president-Network Solutions, effective Aug. 15 ... Predicta, artificial intelligence services firm, names Brian Feucht, ex-Unique Wire, chief revenue officer ... Fitbit hires Adam Pellegrini, ex-Walgreens Boots Alliance, as vice president-digital health, effective Sept. 6 ... Thiel Audio hires Mark Mason, ex-Broadcast Music Inc., as director-music industry relations at Aurora, the company's 4K live streaming studio.

Industry discussions around proposed FCC rules for set-top boxes are focused on apps-based proposals, though pay-TV carriers and proponents of the NPRM disagree what that proposal should be. “It is possible for there to be an app-oriented approach that would achieve the Commission’s goals,” said Public Knowledge in an ex parte filing in docket 16-42 Friday. “The current iteration of the MVPD app proposal is not it.” Meanwhile, multichannel video programming distributor officials have told us the apps-based proposals from PK and Incompas would create the same problems for content security as the NPRM.