June timeline of ex partes.

I've put together a list from FCC filings to get a better picture of what is going on at the FCC. I have left out the numerous letters and WCS filings. This is what has transpired since the beginning of June 1, 2008. For purposes of this post, SX = Sirius Xm

6/3/08
- C3SR met with FCC staff, of note was Copps legal advisor.
- Attorneys general from CT, IA, MD, MO, OH, TN, WA, & WI meet by phone with Martin

6/4/08
- SX meets with Martin

6/5/2008
- Pioneer meets with FCC staff

6/6/2008
- Ibiquity met with Martin's staff
- Clear Channel and Tn. Reps meet with Tate
- SX counsel meets with Tate

6/10/2008
- SX counsel meets with Tate
- NAB with McDowell & Martin

6/12/2008
- SX counsel meets with Martin, Tate & McDowell
- Georgetown meets with Adelstein to discuss its free ride.

6/13/2008
- SX files its proposal

6/16/2008
- NAB meets with FCC staff to oppose open access
- Pioneer meets with Adelstein and Copps staff.
- Mel K. Meets with Adelstein
- Public Knowlerdge (PK) and Media Access Project (MAP) met with Adelstein
- Minority Media & Television meets with Copps and Adelstein

6/17/2008
- MAP & PK met with Copps & staff, proposed concessions
- SX execs & counsel met with Adelstein's staff, Copps, and McDowell.
- NAB sends letter stating merger will hurt Nashville.

6/18/2008
- C3SR phoned McDowell
- SX counsel meets with Tate

6/19/2008
- SX sends letter showing merger will benefit music city!
- C3sr meets with Tate.
- Clear Channel & Friends meet with McDowell & Staff, Copps and Adelstein's staff.
- Entercom met with Tate & staff
- David Rehr, NAB pres. met with McDowell
- Free press met with FCC staff

6/20/2008
- US electronics met with Adelstein, proposal submitted

6/23/2008
- Georgetown meets with Adelstein, now opposes merger.

6/24/2008
- NAB met with staff of Tate and Copps
- US electronics met with McDowell, letter to Tate
- MAP and PK met with McDowell and staff
- APM met with McDowell,.
- RIAA met with Tate
- PTC meets with Tate, supports merger
- Georgetown met with McDowell to oppose merger

6/25/2008
- APM met with Tates staff, and Martins staff
- NAB met with Adelsteins staff
- MAP & PK met with Tate and staff
- Pioneer met with McDowells staff
- NTU meets with Tate, supports merger
- SX execs provide Tate e-mail responses to questions

6/26/2008
- RIAA phones Tate
- Entercom meets with Adelstein
- NCWO meets with Tate, supports merger
- NAB met with Tate, FCC counsel, Martins legal advisor, McDowell's legal advisor and staff to stall any vote - filed petition to defer action.
- APM met with FCC staff and Adelstein
- SX counsel and Mel K. met with Adelstein and Tate
- Georgetown with Martins staff

6/27/2008
- 5 Mn democrats (see hall of shame) send opposition letter following David Rehr/NAB event in Mn.
- Pioneer met with Tates legal advisor
- Georgetown met with Copps

6/30/2008
- New York State Federation of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce met with Tate.
- The Latino Coalition met with Tate
- League of rural voters met with Tate
All 3 of these urged prompt approval of the merger.

Hey man, good to have you back.

Other than a big bulls-eye on Tate, I'm not picking up any other kind of pattern in here. What do you think?

Looks like we are nearing a conclusion. Look at the volume of "work" that transpired between the 24th and 26th.

Then notice that on the 26th, the NAB filed a motion to defer. It's safe to assume at that point, the discussions had ended. The NAB is making a last attempt to quell the vote. If they had the votes, they would not have interfered in this way. They would have pushed for it. A very good sign.

My opinion of their motion is that it is baseless. It stems from c3sr's allegations that have already been addressed by the sx attorneys.

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520031900

1. The NAB is asking the FCC to wait.

2. The NAB is asking that the FCC toll its 180 day time clock until it has had time to review the documents submitted by C3SR, it's own subsidiary.

3. It would like an open-ended amount of time for this review and preparation of any documents.

(Again, these issues were already addressed. They refer to high level employee's truthfulness and repeater interference)3

4. The NAB claims this to be to the benefit of consumers.

5. The NAB claims that the price packages proposed by xm and sirius cannot be assured, (using c3sr's already proven baseless arguments of honesty)

6. The NAB is using findings from the echostar deal to support their argument that the merged company will not serve the public interest.

7. I'm a bit confused on this part. Seems the NAB was given an opportunity, by their own admission, to review these documents one year ago. They seem to be claiming they have not had enough time to review these documents.

8. The NAB is claiming that because they have raised an argument, that the FCC should not move forward with the merger proceeding.

9. They threaten to appeal if the FCC goes forward without addressing their concerns.

10. They ask to stop the clock until the commission releases the c3sr documents.


Analysis: All of this is based on one common thread. The honesty of high level execs with regard to interoperable radios and repeater issues.

As I have stated. Sirius and xm have addressed these issues. The chairman obviously dismissed the allegations when he decided to give the merger a green light.

I will find the sirius argument to the c3sr complaint, and post it next.

Sirius' reply to the allegations...filed June 6th. It's a dead issue. Martin made his decision after this. It was dismissed. The NAB's argument is based on these allegations, that have been addressed.


http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520013361

Nice job researching and putting the time line together, when you see it laid out like that - you really start to wonder why they wouldn't want to get this thing done, and not have to see the guy from the NSB every day of your life...

This is why I wanted you back here CRF. Great rundown.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crfceo

6/4/08
- SX meets with Martin
6/5/2008
- Pioneer meets with FCC staff
6/6/2008
- Ibiquity met with Martin's staff
- Clear Channel and Tn. Reps meet with Tate
- SX counsel meets with Tate
6/10/2008
- SX counsel meets with Tate
- NAB with McDowell & Martin
6/12/2008
- SX counsel meets with Martin, Tate & McDowell
- Georgetown meets with Adelstein to discuss its free ride.
6/13/2008
- SX files its proposal

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It is quite telling that Sirius/XM (SX) met with Martin, Tate, and McDowell the DAY before releasing their proposal, and a couple of times throughout the week leading up to it. I do not think they would have done that if they did not honestly feel that the votes were in the bag.

Great work crf.

If the votes are in the bag, and all this talk about Tate being on the fence is media speculation. What are we still waiting on? In your opinion are we in the 10 day window?

The bad news is that it seems they are not done. These will be posted on the FCC site tomorrow:

July 1, 2008

- Ibiquity met with Adelstein , Copps asst, and McDowell to discuss HD

- Clear channel & Greater Media Inc (new player?) met with Tate to complain of the competition the merger would bring to terrestrial radio. The 4th link below is this story...really interesting.


http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520032772

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520032776

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520032780

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520032820


July 2, 2008

- American Public Media meets with Amy Blankenship, legal advisor to Tate. Want 25% of spectrum.


http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/r...ent=6520032863

Cool, thanks for the hard work and nice to have you back. :thumbup:

Glad my little ongoing battle wasn't a waste :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crfceo

The bad news is that it seems they are not done.

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We knew this because of the B&C Article

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zcurzan

via BroadcastingCable.com

Let me save you some reading...

Blah blah blah, merger was proposed over a year ago...

"But the commissioners have had an item before them that proposes a series of conditions under which the deal could be approved, and at least one prominent broadcast lobbyist suggested that the deal might be close to being done.

An aide to one commissioner said meetings on the deal were still scheduled for this week but did not rule out a decision either."

Blah blah blah, DOJ approval... blah blah blah waiting on FCC.

the end

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So the commissioner's aid was for Tate

I think it is a given. Tate has to finish off any scheduled meetings she already had.

It would look very bad if she told NAB and GTP "Oh, I am cancelling your meeting where you wanted me to hear your concerns (even though you have told me the same speil 957 times in the last 18 months) because I have already voted in favor of the merger."

She has to finish off her meetings that were scheduled already, so she can say that she listened to everyone and formed her own opinion.

I would expect to hear something from her or one of her aids early next week.

I'm hoping to hear something this weekend. Funny thing today...I know its a holiday, but there were people at the FCC today. We know this because the ex parte filings I posted would be on the update today were in fact added today. Also general comments were added to the record, including a couple from me. The funny thing...no new ex parte filings were added.

Now I suppose they could have just left them for next week, but that's not been their MO. Typically, they will post any and all before they go home, so some will appear in a document search in the evenings. That's how I get them before anyone else.

There is nothing since the one meeting yesterday in which American Public Media met with commissioner Tates legal advisor. Ibiquity meetings took place the prior day. So the actual commissioners had no meetings yesterday, and no meetings today. Could they be preparing their statements? That's my hope.

BTW I saw someone on the Yahoo boards (I wanna say it was Egiscodr) posted a bunch expartes and then he happened to post your public comment to. That was sweet haha.