ATT, Verizon, Comcast etc.. swing a very large stick in Washington with contributions and PACs. Note that of the XO/VZ Deal, ATT/FTWR Deal, and STRP/VZ Deal you had only from the Telecom/Business area: T-Mobile, CCA, and some very small local players filing petitions to deny. No Sprint, Dish?, Comcast, Charter, Google etc….
If Pai is successful in the next few years and he oversees and facilitates an era of rapid 5G deployment, economic growth, and jobs then he has essentially written his ticket to a top slot at any of the big companies provided that is what he wants. Big part of the reason for turning back Net Neutrality. Not sure what the huge debate is about as Pai has a 3-2 advantage on any vote and the overturn of NN will happen. Most undoubtedly Cap Ex will increase billions each year in aggregate for the Telcos and Big Cable players if they can get some of the government regulation and uncertainty out of the way. I firmly believe Pai is trying to tee up AT&T and Verizon to go full bore on 5G and that includes transferring the necessary spectrum and getting out of the way. If 28/39 were approved this early and ATT and VZ went after it as hard as they did then we can assume that is the prime spectrum they desired to head to the races.
I suppose the FCC could be working behind the scenes an using the Fibertower Transfer as a bargaining card to try and get AT&T to divest itself of CNN. From what I have read so far it seems that AT&T’s case is strong to get all of TWX with minor concessions that don’t include divesting CNN. Regardless of what happens with TWX, AT&T still needs to go 5G and continue to work their content acquisition strategy. The DOJ/AT&T/TWX Trial Date is set to begin March 19 and the Merger/Acquisition Termination Date is April 22.
I would expect a decision related to Fibertower well before the first date or else we are looking at being approximately 190 days past the FCC Shot Clock Deadline of 180 days.
370 Days versus a 180 Day Shot Clock. At this point it doesn't sound ridiculous given we are 90 Days past with no response or word from the FCC as to why.
Considerations in “Stopping the Clock”
The Commission may “stop the clock,” that is, suspend its informal timeline, when the Commission’s ability to process and review the merits of an application is impeded by justifiable delay, the parties’ actions, or external events. Stopping the clock in such circumstances is intended to provide a more accurate picture of the time the Commission finds necessary to process a particular transaction. Stopping the clock does not itself delay a decision in a proceeding; it merely reflects that a decision could be delayed as a result of some external factor. When this occurs, the Commission ordinarily sends the parties a letter explaining the reason for stopping the clock and posting that letter on the web page. The following are common, but non-exhaustive, examples of reasons for stopping the clock:
The Commission extends the time for filing pleadings.
The Applicants do not respond to a request for information within a stated time period.
The Commission finds it appropriate to await resolution of issues pending before the relevant U.S. law enforcement or national security agencies.
The Commission receives significant new information about an application, or the parties file a substantial amendment to the application.
If the Commission stops the clock, it generally will restart it as soon as the event justifying its stoppage has been resolved such that the Commission’s review process is no longer impeded. On rare occasions the clock may be reset to a prior date.
