After serving as head of the company for 17 years, AT&T’s CEO Ed Whitacre plans to step down June 4. Whitacre was the architect of the massive consolidation trend characteristic of what had, first, been Southwestern Bell, then SBC, then AT&T.
The post-Ma Bell divestiture Southwestern Bell went on a tear of telephone company purchases, buying PacTel, Southern New England Telephone (SNET), Ameritech, interexchange carrier AT&T and finally BellSouth to create the largest phone company and broadband provider in the world. Whitacre started as an engineer in Lubbock, TX under the old Ma Bell system and rose to President and COO in 1988, ascending to the Chairman and CEO slot in 1990.
Despite his roots in the old bureaucratic AT&T, Whitacre was one of the most competitive and aggressive of the new telco executives, with his efforts culminating in the reassembly of phone companies into a new behemoth that looks a lot like the company he first joined. He’s also been an outspoken advocate regarding the rights of the telcos to do whatever they want with their broadband networks (see “They’re my pipes”), sparking the movement for net neutrality regulations.
COO Randall Stephenson succeed Whitacre as chairman and CEO.
Update: Completely forgot to mention the most newsworthy part of the whole Whitacre retirement deal — the guy is going to get a retirement package worth $158.5 million. The second highest such deal for a public company CEO. Granted, he did work for the company for 43 years and was responsible for a string of sucesses. But, still, $158.5 million?
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 1:44 PM | Print | Comments (0)
A bill was introduced in Congress on Thursday that provides a ray of hope for net radio stations, who are facing life-threatening royalty fee increases of 300% to 1200% due to a recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). H.R. 2060 The Internet Radio Equality Act, which was introduced by Reps. Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Don Manzullo (R-IL), would give net radio companies, or webcasters, as they are known, the option of two royalty schemes.
It would set the rate at 7.5% of the webcaster’s revenue “directly related to” its transmission of sound recordings, or 33 cents per hour of sound recordings transmitted to a single listener. The new CRB rules apply a royalty of eight cents $.0008 per song per listener, retroactive back to 2006. That fee would climb to $.19/song/listener $.0019 by 2010. (Note: boy, did I have it wrong originally, by a factor of 100. Correction made thanks to an alert reader.)
A new group, Save Net Radio, has kicked off what seems to be a sophisticated lobbying campaign to rally support behind the new bill. The group has devoted a page to helping visitors contact their congressional representative by allowing them to 1. find the name and contact information of the right Member of Congress through zip code searches and 2. linking to pages that outline the issues.
Powered by a firm called Capital Advantage, the online tools also allow visitors to sign up for legislative updates and find out who the key votes will be when push comes to shove on legislation’s fate.
Not only that, but members of Save Net Radio have engaged in a sophisticated email campaign to garner customer pressure on Members of Congress. Pandora, for example, sent me an email this morning letting me know that the group’s recent call that supporters fax their members of Congress shut down “the entire fax infrastructure” on Capitol Hill. As a consequence, Pandora ended up delivering boxes of faxes to “every” Congressional office.
Pandora also informed me that my Congressman is Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and provided me with his phone number so that I could call his office and ask that he co-sponsor the new bill. All told, 200,000 Pandora listeners have weighed in with their representatives on this issue.
That’s what I call an effective, immediate and savvy lobbying campaign. Time, however, is running against this mobilized core of companies — as a clock on the SaveNetRadio site so stressfully states (it tallies the time down to seconds, counting backwards), the new CRB rates are slated to go into effect on May 15.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 11:26 AM | Print | Comments (1)
I’m a little late to this, but on Wednesday, the FCC issued its set of rules for the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction. That spectrum, which is being freed up as a result of the digital TV transition, is prime communications real estate and is poised to be used for wireless broadband purposes, potentially providing a third high-speed pipeline into homes to rival the current cable-telco duopoly.
In a move that cheered consumer advocates, the FCC put out for further comment a proposal that would, among other things, create a neutral net in the new wireless spectrum by granting third parties access to spectrum owned by other companies. Leading the push for the FCC to consider this proposal was Public Knowledge, which commended the Commission for at least considering the idea.
The FCC also solicited ideas about a proposal from 4G wireless company Frontline Wireless that would require the licensees to provide wholesale support for public safety communications, giving first responders priority access to the networks.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 10:42 AM | Print | Comments (0)Jack Valenti, the Lyndon Johnson aide who became the head of the Motion Picture Association of America and stayed there for 38 years, passed away yesterday at age 85. To say that he was a legend in Washington and Hollywood circles is too obvious a statement.
Valenti’s savvy, and sometimes silly, defense of the Hollywood studios single-handedly created a standard against which all trade association presidents, all top lobbyists have been ultimately judged and found wanting. His purple prose and twangy eloquence were almost caricatures, as was his strange fealty to Lyndon Johnson (“I sleep each night a little better, a little more confidently, because Lyndon Johnson is my president,” Valenti said while still working for Johnson).
He didn’t always get his facts right. Indeed, for a scholarly man, facts seemed to take a backseat to talking points for Valenti. (One of my interesting early experiences was to support my former boss, NCTA CEO Jim Mooney, in a surreal public debate he had with Valenti. Valenti relied on rhetoric, Mooney relied on facts and Mooney won.) In person, even in small private groups, Valenti seemed to be a poseur, “acting” the role of an idiosyncratic powerful lobbyist, a manner that alienated some people.
But, somehow Valenti managed to make it all work. The MPAA carries so much swack in DC, thanks to him, which wasn’t the case when he took over as head of the group. Valenti learned how to use the studios’ star power to dazzle lawmakers, trotting out starlets and top directors at every possible occasion. An invitation to a private screening of a new film at the MPAA’s private theater is still one of the hottest tickets in town, whether you’re a Senator or a Senate intern.
Since Valenti’s retirement from the MPAA in 2004, a void exists in DC. Right off the top of your head, name another powerful lobbyist, another high-profile trade group chief? Even for insiders, it’s somewhat hard to do. Valenti stood out as a singular force, a name that even rang a bell with non-Washington folks due to Valenti’s annual appearance at the Academy Awards. Will another Valenti ever come along?
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield at 9:50 AM | Print | Comments (0)
Blogs We Read
