The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court, issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Regulatory Bulletin.
TELECOM
FCC
The FCC announced that on April 8, 2014, it received the applications of Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. Seeking approval to transfer of control of the licenses and authorizations held by Time Warner Cable and its wholly-owned and controlled subsidiaries to Comcast. The FCC said that the applications have not yet been accepted for filing and that, when they are, it will issue a separate public notice announcing that fact and setting forth a pleading schedule. The FCC said the applications will be governed by the permit-but-disclose ex parte procedures that are applicable to non-restricted proceedings under section 1.1206 of the its rules. In anticipation of the filing, the FCC issued a Protective Order on April 7, 2014, adopting procedures to (i) limit access to proprietary or confidential information that may be filed in the proceeding, and (ii) more strictly limit access to certain particularly competitively sensitive information, which, if released to competitors or those with whom the Submitting Party does business, would allow those persons to gain a significant competitive advantage or an advantage in negotiations.
The FCC has asked for comments by May 8, 2014, and reply comments by May 23, 2014, on a Petition For Declaratory Ruling filed by Mediacom Communications Corporation. Mediacom seeks a declaratory ruling that, under §224 of the Communications Act an indemnification clause in a pole attachment agreement between a cable operator attacher and a utility pole owner that imposes asymmetric indemnification responsibility for negligence solely on the attaching party and holds the attaching party responsible for negligence by the utility owner, is not a “just and reasonable” term and condition of attachment.
New Jersey
The Board of Public Utilities has sent a letter to remind carriers that legislation enacted in January 2014 will allow LECs and IXCs to detariff all retail competitive services. TMI Regulatory Bulletin Service subscribers see New Jersey Bulletin dated January 27, 2014. The Board asks carriers to provide a copy of their implementation process no later than May 12, 2014. If a carrier already provides the required information on their website, they should provide a direct link to the Board (alan.molner@bpu.state.nj.us) as soon as possible.
New Mexico
The Commission has established dates for filing reply comments in its proceeding to determine whether wireless telecommunication carriers operating in New Mexico are required to pay the Utility and Carrier Inspection Fee (UCIF) and to file a Utility and Carrier Inspection Report (UCIR). Reply comments are due April 23, 2014. The PRC’s initial order in March 2014, did not include a reply comment date. TMI Regulatory Bulletin Service subscribers see New Mexico Bulletin dated March 10, 2014.
