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To: MikeM54321 who wrote (10639)	3/2/2001 9:17:30 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 12823

OT He was so vociferous about GSM before, that now he keep talking against the Euro-vendors without realizing that he is in the same boat. Hence the about-face. Is kind of Jacobs Saying: "hey your side of the Titanic is sinking!" I hope the QCOM crowd don't read this <g>

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (10639)	3/2/2001 3:27:11 PM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Re: US appeals court overturns cable ownership limits Thread- Big news that should benefit ATT substantially. Armstrong was pleading with the FCC to lift the 30% rules so he could connect ATT's long distance network to as many local customers (via ATT's cable plant) as possible. Well up to today, the FCC said "NO!" Apparently that is all changing with today's ruling. I hope it stands. If it does, maybe Armstrong will do an about face on his ridiculous plan to break up ATT and maybe ATT will even go back to his original $100 billion+ cable plant plan he started with--By pass the ILECs and their billion dollar fees. In the process, create true competition in the local loop. -MikeM(From Florida) ________________________ US appeals court overturns cable ownership limits By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court overturned on Friday federal rules limiting the number of cable customers one company can serve, handing a victory to the two biggest cable operators, AT&T Corp. and AOL Time Warner Inc. The two companies had challenged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules that capped at 30 percent the share of the U.S. cable market one firm can serve and limited the companies from filling more than 40 percent of their channels with affiliated programming. AT&T and Time Warner Entertainment, a unit of AOL Time Warner, had argued that the FCC limits violated free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution and were arbitrary and capricious. ``Concluding that the FCC has not met its burden under the First Amendment and, in part, lacks statutory authority for its actions, we remand for further consideration of both limits,'' the unanimous three-judge panel said in reversing the rules and sending them back to the agency to be redone. In the main part of the ruling, Williams said the FCC must justify its chosen limit as not burdening substantially more speech than necessary. ``Far from satisfying this test, the FCC seems to have plucked the 40 percent limit out of thin air,'' he said. ``We are very pleased with the decision, it's a good day for cable operators' first amendment rights,'' said AOL Time Warner spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan. An FCC spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the decision and declined further comment. The companies also challenged part of the FCC rules that count toward the ownership cap passive interests in programming entities that cable operators do not control or influence. But the appeals court -- in an opinion written by Judge Stephen Williams and joined by Judges A. Raymond Randolph and David Tatel -- upheld that FCC rule applying to voting stakes of five percent or more. The court did give the FCC the opportunity to take a second crack at the rules but that will depend on the agency, which has a new chairman and soon three new commissioners. ``We do not foreclose the possibility that there are theories of anti-competitive behavior other than collusion that may be relevant to the horizontal limit and on which the FCC may be able to rely on remand,'' the court decision said. Impact on AT&T The ruling could have huge implications for AT&T, which was ordered by the FCC last year as part of the MediaOne acquisition to shed some of its cable interests to reduce its holding from 42 percent to below the 30 percent cap by May. To comply, AT&T has been negotiating to sell its 25.5 percent interest in Time Warner Entertainment to Time Warner but the two sides have been unable to agree on a price and AT&T began the process this week of registering its stake to sell. It was unclear what impact the appeals court ruling would have on AT&T complying with the MediaOne merger conditions. An AT&T spokesman had no immediate comment. AT&T is also attempting to spin off programming interests including Liberty Media Group, which is an investment vehicle that owns stakes in programming assets such as USA Networks Inc., but needs a favorable ruling from the IRS to avoid a big tax payment if the operations are spun off. The FCC, charged with monitoring and regulating the cable and telecommunications industries, could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, or it could simply come up with new limits to comply with the ruling. While a spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the decision, new FCC Chairman Michael Powell said on Thursday evening that in general he did not usually favor ownership caps because they often outlived their usefulness. ``That's not to say that you can't make cases for them in limited circumstances,'' Powell, a Republican, said at the Precursor Group conference. ``But, you know, I believe in antitrust'' law to deal with anticompetitive issues. Republican President George W. Bush will also have the opportunity to appoint three new commissioners in the coming months, two of whom will likely be Republicans and could share Powell's view on ownership caps. The FCC panel is split three to two in favor of the party occupying the White House.