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ARTICLE · 03 MAY 2006

Communications Law Bulletin -- March 2006

Morrison Foerster
Morrison Foerster
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Morrison Foerster

Morrison Foerster

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In this issue: The Month in Brief, Hold Placed on Nomination of Telecom Lawyer Robert McDowell to the FCC Following Endorsement by the Senate Commerce Committee, Congress Continues to Mull Data Broker Bills, AT&T-BellSouth Merger Announced, Video Competition Developments, Broadcast Developments, Legislative Developments, State Activities, Upcoming Deadlines for Your Calendar.

United StatesMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
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Originally published April 2006

The Month in Brief

March has been an eventful month for communications services and service providers. The consolidation of the former Bell companies continued with the announcement of a proposed merger between AT&T Inc. – itself the product of a recent merger with SBC Communications – and BellSouth Corp. The Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission") proposed fines of unprecedented size for broadcast indecency violations, and the Senate considered extending indecency regulation to satellite and cable programming. Meanwhile, the states moved aggressively to dismantle their traditional regulatory regimes for telephone common carriers. We summarize these and other developments here, along with our usual list of deadlines for your calendar.

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