Matt Daneman

The only written communications between the White House and FCC before President Joe Biden's July 9 executive order to promote tech competition (see 2107090006) were some emails the day the EO was issued between an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and an Executive Office staffer about Starks' attendance at the signing ceremony. That's per a Freedom of Information Act request we submitted to the FCC July 14. We received a 34-page response Friday, most of which was a copy of the EO provided to Starks' office in advance of the signing, plus confirmation of Starks' attendance.

Streaming service Locast went dark Thursday following U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York finding it violated the copyright of local stations whose content it carried without consent. Locast ally Mitch Stoltz, Electronic Freedom Forum (EFF) senior staff attorney, told us an appeal is likely. See our bulletin on the latest move here and our report on the court ruling against the nonprofit service here.

Locast shut down service Thursday following a summary judgment court decision in favor of broadcasters suing the nonprofit streaming service for copyright infringement. In a notification on the Locast app, it said its nonprofit operating model “was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law” and that following the court summary judgment it's suspending operations immediately.

As ISPs face a growing number of lawsuits by music labels accusing them of complacency in battling piracy by their subscribers, intellectual property and copyright experts say it's not clear whether broadband internet access service providers have modified their procedures in response or whether such contributory and vicarious copyright infringement suits will continue to be filed and potentially won for years to come.

DOJ has “grave concerns” about T-Mobile's impending shuttering of its CDMA network and what that means for Dish Network's many Boost customers left in the lurch, said a July letter to Dish and T-Mobile from DOJ antitrust acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Powers that Dish filed Monday with the SEC. Justice said it might “pursue all remedies available” if the CDMA network shutdown means either T-Mobile or Dish not taking necessary steps to ensure Boost customers aren't left stranded without a functioning network. Many think the FCC is unlikely to act on Dish's CDMA complaint (see 2105060024).

Rebounding in-flight connectivity helped Viasat grow, though the company is "still well below pre-pandemic business levels," CEO Rick Baldridge told analysts Thursday on results for fiscal Q1 ended June 30. Satellite services revenue was $274 million, up 36% year over year, with commercial air activity picking up, it said. It expects revenue growth for the rest of the fiscal year due in part to passenger traffic trends. Overall revenue was $665 million, up $135 million. The stock closed 8.5% higher at $52.16.

Comcast's Peacock, with 54 million signups, is rolling out to Europe later this year to Sky's 20 million customers, and the next aim is global availability of the streaming service, said the company Thursday. Comcast executives waved off the need for more mergers and acquisitions as a prerequisite to become a viable international streaming power, during a call with analysts. "I love the company we have," and more organic growth is ahead without further acquisitions, said CEO Brian Roberts. "I think we do have the scale. We don't need M&A."

New York is enjoined from enforcing its broadband affordability law, in a stipulated final judgment (in Pacer, docket 21-CV-02389) approved Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley in Central Islip, Long Island. Hurley ruled last month that ISPs would likely succeed on conflict and field preemption arguments, and granted a motion for preliminary injunction by the New York State Telecommunications Association, CTIA, ACA Connects, USTelecom, NTCA and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (see 2106110064). Under the stipulated final judgment, the sides agreed to a final judgment in favor of the ISP interest plaintiffs conceding that the state law is preempted by federal law. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) reserves the right to appeal the stipulated final judgment, declaration and permanent injunction. Her office didn't comment. For our report on the sides settling this case that may go to an appeals court, see here.

AT&T and Verizon's Cellco Partnership were by far top recipients of C-band flexible use overlay licenses in Auction 107. Per our breakdown of an FCC Wireless Bureau public notice Friday, Verizon received 3,518 licenses and AT&T 1,620. Others included U.S. Cellular with 253 licenses, T-Mobile (141) and Canopy Spectrum (83). Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called the licenses "the sweet spot for 5G deployment [due to] the right mix of capacity and propagation that will help us reach more people in more places faster. With these licenses in hand, more carriers can deploy mid-band 5G." The C-band auction was approved under former Chairman Ajit Pai and was “no walk in the park,” Commissioner Brendan Carr said Monday. “We must do more than implement the tough spectrum decisions the FCC made over the last few years if we are going to extend U.S. leadership in 5G,” he said: “We must move forward with a number of new spectrum proceedings too.”

TV stations increasingly are available via a mushrooming number of streaming options such as aggregators. Discussions between networks and affiliates have been rising as cable subscribers decline, putting retransmission consent dollars in jeopardy, experts said in recent interviews. Networks wanted big increases on what affiliates pay based on the notion affiliates get more retrans revenue, but there's MVPD resistance to rising retrans fees, said broadcast lawyer Jack Goodman.