Host and Tara Jeffries is with bloomberg bna. Before we get into some of the issues, i want to ask you all just kind of an opening question and see where we go with this. Lydia beyoud, whats the influence today of some of the Larger Tech Companies and here in washington . Is it growing . Is it outsized . Guest thats a great question. I think one of the things that were really seeing right now is a pivot from the Obama Administration, and now in the Trump Administration away from such a wellrecognized influence by a lot of the Tech Companies toward a little bit more skepticism. So their former influence under the Previous Administration is definitely in a different light here. What do you guys think . Guest yeah, i would agree. I think the Trump Administration definitely hasnt shown the same focus on tech groups, Tech Companies that the Obama Administration did and, frankly, were seeing some changing conversations in congress about it as well given this nod toward antitrust and monopoly issues from the democrats on their better deal agenda. So i think well see more of that in congress as well, not just the white house. Host john hendel. Guest they seem to be having to play defense a little more too. New questions about twitter and facebook in terms of the russia investigation, other pieces of legislation too such as senator rob portmans stop enabling sex traffickers act. Thats a bill that the Tech Industry is not happy with at all. Its one they see as very dangerous to their business and raising litigation concerns. You know, its essentially a bill that would kind of go after Tech Companies that host ads that, you know, facilitate sex trafficking. And its a type of bill that has attracted, you know, bicameral and bipartisan support, people like Nick Christophe saying this is a great piece of legislation that needs to move forward and shaming google very publicly in a huge way. So, you know, its interesting to see, you know, bills like that come to the fore and creating new pressure where the Tech Industry might have to actually testify about some of this and talk about some of this on top of other issues like Net Neutrality where theyre also playing defense a little bit more with House Republicans trying to bring in their top executives. This all in the backdrop of tax reform. So thats been interesting to watch. Guest i think, and to follow up on that, one of the other interesting points to make about this change in influence is that a lot of thetelecom companies, especially the isps that really felt under the gun with the Previous Administrations Net Neutrality rules are, i wouldnt say gleeful, but theyre definitely pleased that some of these tech giants are under a greater scrutiny by both Political Parties and by the public a little bit more. So for them they may feel like tides have turned a little bit and, certainly, theyre looking at some of those factors that john and tara discussed as helping them get some of their positions furthered in congress. Host so conversely, does that mean that theres been an increase in lobbying efforts by the amazons and the googles of the world . Have we seen that . Guest well, i will say i think, as lydia kind of touched on just now, the status quo is kind of advantageous at least when it comes to Net Neutrality for the Tech Companies as opposed to the isps. And i think thats partly why the isps kind of want more momentum for, you know, congress to take the wheel on Net Neutrality legislation, and you dont necessarily see as much of that coming from the tech side. Host so where are we going with Net Neutrality with congress, with the fcc . Guest that is the big question. I think, you know, the fccs got their proposed rulemaking out, and that should be, you know, the final stage of that is upcoming, and i think its really in the fccs court right now rather than congress. But we did see that september hearing get postponed i believe indefinitely on the house energy host the greg walden hearing . Guest yes, yes, the greg walden hearing. And not a hot of at least from my reporting, not a lot of certainty on what exactly happened there. But i do think theres kind of reluctance from the Tech Companies to have their ceos under, under the microscope on the hill. Especially, like i said, given that the status quo is somewhat in their favor at the moment. Host john hendel. Guest well, it seemed like a really interesting gamble for chairman greg walden, because before the august recess he had said, oh, were going to have a big hearing on this date, legislation, and it did seem to be a lot of meetings and, ultimately, no real compromise, no drafts, and i think he was looking for some sort of Tech Industry support for some sort of a bill as a way to have backing into having the democrats negotiate on legislation. Theyve typically been reluctant to do that. Theyve pointed to the fcc and think they can win more of a grassroots fight there. Its been more than 22 million comments to the fcc at this point which is kind of extraordinary than when the fcc was actually putting together the Net Neutrality order guest which, and those comments at the time was record breaking. Guest yeah. And that was four million. Everyone seems to be watching fcc chairman ajit pai, and hes facing more pressure than before given the senate has to hold a big public recall vote on his confirmation this fall which is up heard of for an fcc nominee. They normally just pass by kind of unanimous consent, by voice vote in a bigger pang, but that was the interesting thing bigger package. Democrats played hardball and said, no, were not going to include him in a package of nominees. And at this point, Senate Leaders are figuring out when they can schedule a very public floor vote for the chairman, and its going to be one of those things where democrats have a chance to talk about all the issues that have bothered them. And if hes not reconfirmed by the end of the year, he has to leave the commission. Probably has all the votes he needs, but its a very messy, very public process playing out right in the muddle of all of this. Host so when is the fcc going to follow their agenda and act on Net Neutrality . Guest weve expected them to act by december, at the december meeting. Host so the vote in the senate might come first . Or hows that going to work . Guest the latest this is theyre trying to schedule a vote before the columbus day recess, so second week of october. Theyre not sure when they can quite do that because they have so many things they need to do in the fall, but the fact they kind of cleared the deck a little bit last week helped quite a bit. So as of today, at least, senator thune is hoping for that. Hes a member of leadership and has been talking with leader mcconnell, and they do have a sense of urgency. Hes been very clear he doesnt want to wait until the end of the year for holding this, again, very public vote for chairman pai, because theres been a lot of thinking that hes reluctant to act at the fcc while this is looming. Bigger actions on media ownership, other things there which wouldnt make it easier for him. Theres some thinking that he is very wary just knowing that this is coming down the pike. Guest it would give democrats more ammunition for those floor speeches that you mentioned since deregulating the media ship, deregulating the media space is proving quite controversial for him. Host well, lydia beyoud, this is the first full contingent on the fcc, all five commissioners, going into the fall. Guest thats right. Jessica rosenworcel is back, but a lot of folks are interested in seeing what kind of policy positions, carr stakes out for himself. Hes always been close to the chairman as a former senior aide, and weve seen him touch on jobs and 5g wireless, the next generation of Wireless Technology as two key issues. But there are questions about whether he will always be step and step with the chairman or whether he way be an independent actor on different issues. So thats something that folks will be watching, but i dont expect anything no fire works are expected for this upcoming meeting. Host tara jeff reese, what are jeffries, what are you following . Guest now that we have the full commission, ive taken note trying to us out the priorities to us out the priorities for the new commissioner, brendan carr, and for rosenworcel whos returning, who has returned rather, and they both actually have visited one of their, the first visits on the job for each of them has been to my native North Carolina. So ive taken special note of that. But both with different agendas in mind. Brendan carr, for example, i believe a couple of weeks ago when he was there he went to i think a Cyber Company to take a little tour, and he seemed to be very tuned into the jobs aspect of broadband deployment and of this next generation 5g whereas rosenworcel, commissioner rosenworcel has focused more in her visit today on the erate subsidy for schools and on the socalled homework gap, kids without Home Internet access having disadvantages. Which has been a big priority for her. So those North Carolina visits, to me, gave a little glimpse into what those two are going to prioritize. And, you know, im also very curious as to how far or not far commissioner carr will hue to chairman pai. Host john hendel. Guest well, the other interesting thing, i think, is questions about how, you know, Jessica Rosenworcel will act as commissioner now that shes back after six months away from the commission, or more than six months even. There seems to be a sense already that she might be a little more outspoken. And whats partly interesting is that this kind of comes with the backdrop of commissioner Mignon Clyburn may be leaving at some point. Thats been one of those, you know, longtime kind of questions and rumors for many months about when she might actually leave. And, you know, that kind of changes the dynamic a little bit if commissioner rosenworcel is the sole veteran democrat on the commission when it come toss the Net Neutrality proceeding, bigger issues involving sinclair, it is incumbent on her to stake out those on a different way. Thats been commissioner clyburns role, but Going Forward i think thats something worth watching with especially given some of the recent, you know, hurricanes. I mean, thats been something commissioner rosenworcels been incredibly vocal on. Shes been out very early on some of these things too. So thats something im curious about, to see how that dynamic evolves especially if we do get an announcement at some point that commissioner clyburn is leaving and that suddenly creates a whole nominations battle that is coming up in the next few months or a year. Host lydia beyoud . Guest on the host what are you keeping an eye on . Guest well, actually, to go back to the Net Neutrality issue, i think looking forward a little bit past the end of this year into the next, one of the really important things to keep an eye on is were headed in a direction where two different versions of Net Neutrality will very likely be litigated in the courts. We have the wheeler Net Neutrality rules from 2015, and were going to have the pai, the untitled of innocent neutrality Net Neutrality also being litigated by companies that view those rules as disadvantageous. So i think thats going to be a really interesting legal and social battle to follow, because weve seen that Net Neutrality has been so galvanizing to the public. Will the attention fade once it hits the counts, or will the pressure keep on, and how will that impact negotiations in congress. Because what the isps would really love to see is some sort of bipartisan compromise Net Neutrality that avoids the possibility of title ii regulation but would still grant certain consumer and competitive protections. So i think that all of that is going to be an interesting dynamic the watch in 2018. Host mergers. Will they be discussed this fall in congress, and whats the fccs schedule . Guest well, i think the merger thats at the top of everyones mind both at fcc and in congress and for people who watch this space, for people in the industry is the Sinclair Broadcast Group merger or acquisition really of Tribune Media company. And this has even made it to last week tonight with john oliver, and he, you know, did a segment highlighting, you know, his views on the political implications of a company perceived as a broadcasting giant, perceived as somewhat conservativeleaning and perhaps politically aligned with republicans, with the administration. The implications of them growing even bigger with this acquisition of tribune, and its certainly drawing some criticism from Public Interest groups and, strangely enough, from other conservatives, from conservative Media Outlets like one america news network, for example, which is a small, somewhat rightleaning media company. And from small cable operators, and its kind of a combination of strange allies, strange bedfellows, if you will, that are coming up sort of against this merger on the implications that it will raise consumer costs because of the fees of transmitting some of this content and just on competitive sort of grounds and from the Public Interest groups certainly some political aspects there as well. So i think thats one of the biggest mergers to watch going into the end of the year. Guest and interesting, too, given chairman pai himself is seen as potentially giving quite a few handouts to sinclair to make this happen. Thats one of the complicated things about the politics and why that could come up in any senate floor vote. If it is approved, i think thats going to get quite a bit of fire from him from democrats on the hill and elsewhere. So, you know, thats something that i also, you know, cant help but think about too, just what that means for chairman pai in an already complicated year with net i neutrality when people also see him giving handouts to a broadcast giant even though i think he might push back on that a little bit as would sinclair. Guest well, and there are other mergers going on in the space although there arent as many as some analysts had predicted by this time this year. One that were watching really closely is century links acquisition of level three which is a cyber provider. And theyre coming up pretty close to their closing date at the end of the october. They had been pushing quite hard for a september 30th close, but because of statelevel regulatory issues, they pushed it back. But one of the main issues theyre confronting and that many other companies outside of the telecom and media space are confronting is they still havent been confirmed to the head of the department of justice, and as you know, the fcc often follows the doj in its merger decision making. So theres a lot of questions about whether or not dojs staff and fcc which has paused a shot clock which is sort of a 180day period for them to make a decision, but they can pause it at any time, its nonbinding. Theyve paused that. The thinking is because they were waiting for megan to be in place so that fcc could follow on doj, but that hasnt happened. So theres quite a number of antsy parties closely watching that transaction. Of course, weve also got at ts acquisition of time warner which owns hbo and other media properties. Theyve got a little bit more leeway. Theyve got until at least the end of the year, maybe a little bit into 2018, but thats been another big media merger that congress has been really focused on and, certainly, some of their competitors in the pay tv and content space host did john oliver mention that in his piece . [laughter] guest i dont know if he did. But it hasnt been as, perhaps, flashy as sinclair. But certainly its on members of congress minds. Ive seen a few members have, a few democrats on the senate side, i believe, have sent letters to the fcc and what not about at t time warner. Theres also, ive seen reports in the press as well about questioning whether president pt trump would, you know, scrutinize that merger or his administration would scrutinize that merger given his somewhat fraught relationship with cnn. But i have not personally reported on that aspect of it. [laughter] host is go ahead, john. Guest i was going to say on the campaign trail he had called for it to be blocked. That raised a lot of questions about just how much he might jump in, but it seems like the actual review process has been somewhat insulated from that. And thats something that the hills been watching pretty closely too. Whenever they brought megan in, even though he hasnt been confirmed yet, one of the key things democrats did press on was how independent are you going to be from the politics of this. Are you going to be really focused on just reviewing the merger in a professional, removed way. So a lot of people are wondering when megan will get many to provide any formal signoff more that deal. It seems to be moving forward at this point, you know . Just fine. I think the staff at the antitrust division are still able to work through initial talk of conditions and things like that. But again, its almost middle of september, and we still dont have a head of the antitrust div