FCC LOBBYISTS COULD BE PLAYING PINOCHLE WITH MAYTAG REPAIRMAN

摘要

Lobbyists have had little to work on at the FCC since a letter from the incoming House and Senate Commerce Committee leaders prompted the commission to cancel its December meeting. With the holidays, congressional oversight, the approaching DTV switch- over and the coming change in administration, industry lawyers have largely kept their distance from the FCC this month. "There are very few meetings being scheduled," a commission official said. The number of December ex parte meeting notices filed in the FCC's ECFS system total 230. That's a change from Decembers past, when big mergers, spectrum issues, and media ownership were on the docket. During the equivalent period in 2006, 1,325 ex parte notices were filed. Last year, 522 notices came in. nnThe eighth floor hasn't come to a standstill. The FCC just adopted an order providing details on the agency's 10-digit numbering plan for Internet-based telecom relay service. And it invited meetings on a joint proposal from Ion Media and Robert Johnson's Urban TV. That plan is expected to draw opposition from the cable industry. The items that were scheduled for votes at the Dec. 18 open meeting could still be approved on circulation. But those items haven't drawn many visitors. "People are waiting and seeing what the Obama team is going to do with the FCC," an industry lawyer said. Some DTV-related issues and items with statutory deadlines are still getting attention from commissioners, the FCC official said. "But there are certainly not many meetings with outside folks."