• Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions - Part III Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions - Part III [This is the third in a series of posts by Bob Butler on the Fine Art of Telecom Transactions. In the first installment, he cautioned about the needs to plan early and to understand the structure ad interrelationships of the deal documents. In this and the other installments in this series, he identifies more factors to watch out for in the drafting[…]
  
  Created on: 21 May 2012 | 5:48 am
  
  21 May 2012 | 5:48 am
• Don't Touch That REC button . . . Don't Touch That REC button . . . UNLESS and UNTIL you’ve got consent – Section 73.1206 leaves very little wiggle room. The telephone rule strikes again! Back in February of last year, we thought we made it pretty darn clear that, with very few exceptions, you’re not supposed to record any part of a telephone conversation for future broadcast unless you have first obtained consent from the other[…]
  
  Created on: 17 May 2012 | 10:45 pm
  
  17 May 2012 | 10:45 pm
• FCC Query: How Much Free Internet Does it Take to Get Consumers Hooked? FCC Query: How Much Free Internet Does it Take to Get Consumers Hooked? The Universal Service Fund (USF) – it’s not just for telephone service anymore. For more than a decade, the Universal Service Fund (USF) has subsidized (1) telephone lines in places where there isn’t enough of a business case for phone companies to build and operate them, and (2) monthly telephone service for people who couldn’t afford it.  That’s not good[…]
  
  Created on: 17 May 2012 | 7:45 am
  
  17 May 2012 | 7:45 am
• Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions - Part II Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions - Part II [Blogmeister’s Note: This is the second in a series of posts by Bob Butler on the Fine Art of Telecom Transactions. In the first installment, he cautioned about the needs to plan early and to understand the structure ad interrelationships of the deal documents. In this and upcoming installments, he moves on to factors to watch out for in the drafting process.][…]
  
  Created on: 17 May 2012 | 7:34 am
  
  17 May 2012 | 7:34 am
• Update: Revised "White Space" Rules To Take Effect June 18 Update: Revised "White Space" Rules To Take Effect June 18 Last month we reported on an FCC action that may mark the end of the decade-long “white space” proceeding authorizing the operation of some unlicensed devices in the broadcast television bands. The Commission’s Third Memorandum Opinion and Order (3rd MO&O), released in early April, disposed of a handful of petitions for reconsideration of the agency’s 2010 decision which had in turn[…]
  
  Created on: 17 May 2012 | 5:36 am
  
  17 May 2012 | 5:36 am
• Media Access Project Exits Stage Left Media Access Project Exits Stage Left Public interest communications “law firm and advocacy organization” closes up shop Media Access Project (MAP), a long-time player in the soap opera that is communications law, has left the show. As of May 1, MAP suspended operations “after evaluating the difficult funding environment facing MAP and other progressive public interest groups.” Founded in 1973, MAP assumed a variety of roles over[…]
  
  Created on: 16 May 2012 | 5:37 pm
  
  16 May 2012 | 5:37 pm
• FHH Welcomes Back Kathy Kleiman FHH Welcomes Back Kathy Kleiman Internet expert returns to co-head Internet Law and Policy Group. Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C. is pleased to welcome Kathy Kleiman back into the FHH fold.  Kathy was an associate with the firm in the 1990s, but she left to explore the then-just-developing world of Internet Law (but not before she had co-founded the firm’s Internet Law Group, one of[…]
  
  Created on: 15 May 2012 | 11:28 am
  
  15 May 2012 | 11:28 am
• Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions Top Ten Tips for Telecom Transactions [Blogmeister’s Note: In January Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth welcomed Robert Butler into the fold. Bob – whose extensive bio can be checked out here – has decades of experience in telecom contracting, the fine art of identifying a client’s telecom needs and negotiating to secure the capacity and services to meet those needs without (a) over-buying (i.e., ending up with more[…]
  
  Created on: 15 May 2012 | 10:04 am
  
  15 May 2012 | 10:04 am
• Online TV Public File Update: Deadlines Set for Seeking Reconsideration, Judicial Review Online TV Public File Update: Deadlines Set for Seeking Reconsideration, Judicial Review Meanwhile, FCC cranks up the Paperwork Reduction Act process If you’re thinking about asking the FCC to reconsider its recent decision to move TV public files to an FCC-maintained cloud-based online system – or maybe if you’re more inclined to ask the courts to take a look at that decision – your deadlines for doing so have now been set. The[…]
  
  Created on: 11 May 2012 | 5:42 am
  
  11 May 2012 | 5:42 am
• Wireless Bureau Sheds Light on Upcoming Tower Registration Regimen Wireless Bureau Sheds Light on Upcoming Tower Registration Regimen Announcement of OMB approval expected soon If you’re planning on building a new tower, or significantly modifying an existing tower, in the foreseeable future, listen up. The Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau has issued a public notice laying out the new registration procedures that have been adopted (but not yet implemented) to provide pre-registration notice-and-comment opportunities relative to environmental considerations. We have previously[…]
  
  Created on: 10 May 2012 | 3:06 pm
  
  10 May 2012 | 3:06 pm

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