MVPD and telecom groups don’t agree with broadcasters on the practicality of revamping the FCC’s regulatory fee system, said reply comments filed in docket 22-301. NAB, a group of 57 smaller broadcasters and nearly all state broadcast associations filed replies in support of proposals from NAB and the Satellite Industry Association to rethink how the FCC parcels out the fees, but the Wireless ISP Association, NCTA and CTIA panned the idea. “The proposals of NAB and SIA are self-serving, impracticable, and would be unmanageable,” said NCTA.
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Noting an FCC structure built for another era without mega constellations or space entrepreneurship, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel unveiled plans Thursday for an International Bureau reorganization including creating a Space Bureau to handle all space-related issues and a stand-alone Office of International Affairs. Agency and space industry officials said one hoped-for effect would be swifter processing of space operation applications. The commission didn't comment on expected time frame for the reorganization or what kind of additional resources the new bureau might have.
The FCC should reexamine its proportional allocation of indirect full-time equivalents in the assessment of regulatory fees, said NAB comments responding to the agency’s notice of inquiry in docket 22-301. “Rather than assuming the work performed by all the noncore bureaus and offices of the Commission is so cross-cutting that it cannot be meaningfully disaggregated,” the FCC should examine whether those functions correspond to the way indirect costs are allocated, NAB said. The FCC's current division between indirect and direct FTEs is “too general to be a reasonably accurate proxy for the assignment of Commission work,” the Satellite Industry Association said. “Splitting all FTEs into direct and indirect FTEs based on whether they are assigned to a ‘core’ or ‘non-core’ bureau is an oversimplification.” The agency could assign indirect FTEs for noncore offices to the bureaus they largely support, or create a hybrid, “intersectional FTE,” the SIA said. NAB also called for the FCC to reexamine the Media Bureau FTEs working on broadband matters. “Regulatees in the other core bureaus also benefit from the Commission’s broadband work,” said NAB. “It would be inconsistent with the Commission’s methodology to not require such regulatees to share in the cost.” ACA Connects said the FCC should be cautious about altering the regulatory fee system. The system isn’t perfect, but it works, said the MVPD group. “As part of such an evaluation, the Commission should be guided by a bureaucratic Hippocratic Oath: first, do no harm.”
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The Satellite Industry Association recommends the National Space Council make regulatory changes to the U.S.' commercial remote sensing rules and its export control regime for RF remote sensing satellites and data. In a white paper Wednesday, SIA said commercial remote sensing rules should change to reflect emerging applications such as RF remote sensing and the use of hyperspectral and short-waved infrared remote sensing. It said the "Fundamental Goal" for language in the national security policy directive adopted in 2003 should be updated to include economic leadership and commercial space innovation. In a separate paper, the industry group said there should be an interagency review of existing International Trafficking in Arms Regulations rules and "a more pragmatic policy and licensing approach" to ITAR rather than the assumption all RF remote sensing satellite products for all users and use cases fall under the State Department rules. It said an alternative could be putting RF remote sensing with other space systems without ITAR controls.
The Satellite Industry Association recommends that the National Space Council make regulatory changes to the U.S.'s commercial remote sensing rules and its export control regime for radio frequency (RF) remote sensing satellites and data. In a white paper Oct. 19, SIA said commercial remote sensing rules should change to reflect emerging applications such as RF remote sensing and the use of hyperspectral and short-waved infrared remote sensing. It said the "Fundamental Goal" for language in the national security policy directive adopted in 2003 should be updated to include economic leadership and commercial space innovation. In a separate paper, the industry group said there should be an interagency review of existing International Trafficking in Arms Regulations rules and "a more pragmatic policy and licensing approach" to ITAR, rather than the assumption that all RF remote sensing satellite products for all users and use cases fall under the State Department rules. It said an alternative could be putting RF remote sensing with other space systems without ITAR controls.
Trade groups that represent semiconductor manufacturers and customers lauded the Senate's passage of incentives for domestic manufacturing, while unions and a union-funded advocacy group both praised the bill and said trade provisions that were not included still need to pass.
Trade groups that represent semiconductor manufacturers and customers lauded the Senate's passage of incentives for domestic manufacturing, while unions and a union-funded advocacy group both praised the bill and said trade provisions that were not included still need to pass.
NAB and tech industry groups still don’t agree on proposals to expand the base of regulatory fee payors, according to reply comments filed in 21-190 by Monday’s deadline. “It is inconceivable that Congress would prefer to see small broadcasters struggle to provide service to their local communities so they can subsidize massive technology companies,” said NAB. The FCC doesn’t have the authority to charge fees to companies it doesn’t regulate, said TechFreedom: “Especially after the Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. EPA, an administrative agency can’t undertake new regulations just because it’s a good idea -- they must be grounded in clear statutory authority.” In the short term, the FCC should exempt broadcasters from paying for the costs of the USF and for Media Bureau full-time equivalents connected with broadband policy, and cap the fee increases for broadcasters in the current draft order at 5%, said NAB. A group of 53 broadcasters said the agency should credit application fees against regulatory fees. “Cherry-picking one type of regulatee to exclude from contributing their share of the Commission’s indirect costs would threaten the administrability of the regulatory fee program as a whole,” said CTIA. The FCC “lacks legal authority to add a new regulatory fee category for broadband internet service providers,” said the Wireless ISP Association. The agency should develop a reduced fee category for small satellites and charge an interim fee in the meantime, said Spaceflight and Turion Space. “It is essential to the development" of the on-orbit services industry, "and not premature, that the Commission act now so that regulatory fees developed for traditional" non-geostationary satellite orbit "are not imposed on OOS missions,” said Spaceflight. The Satellite Industry Association disagreed: “The record supports the Commission’s conclusion that OOS services are still too immature for their own regulatory fee category at this time,” said SIA. “An interim regulatory fee schedule as suggested by Spaceflight is unnecessary.”
Broadcasters, MVPDs, ISPs and other entities argued over the state of competition in the broadband and video marketplaces and how to address it, in comments posted at the FCC by Friday’s deadline in docket 22-203 for the agency’s biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress, due in Q4. Regulations premised on lack of competition “should be repealed,” said NCTA. The FCC “must consider the real-world consequences of imposing, in a highly competitive marketplace, a burdensome and outdated regulatory regime,” said NAB.