Matt Daneman

Expect to see other MVPDs and programmers striking deals that marry traditional linear networks with streaming options, akin to the agreement Disney and Charter Communications struck ending their blackout 2309110034), pay-TV industry watchers and experts say. "It doesn't stop there," sports network and media rights consultant Lee Berke told us.

A year after the FCC adopted a five-year deorbit rule for low earth orbit (LEO) satellites (see 2209290017), space regulatory experts see the rule becoming a norm for many space operators, but it's less clear if many other countries will codify it into their own rules. Getting U.S. market access means agreeing to the five-year deorbit, which makes the U.S. rule a de facto international standard in many cases, they said.

Proposals from GOP presidential hopefuls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to abolish the Commerce Department face long odds of coming to fruition, but space experts told us the calls raise new questions about how that would affect commercial space operations and the operators that the entity currently regulates. Right-leaning groups want a new Republican administration to consider restructuring Commerce’s space regulatory operations. House Communications Subcommittee leaders, meanwhile, believe the chamber can resurrect the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (HR-1338) to revamp the FCC’s satellite regulatory process.

With a blackout of Disney channels on its channel lineup last week, Charter Communications unveiled Friday what it had been pitching to the programmer -- a plan for what it said was a sustainable video model that marries linear video with direct-to-consumer (D2C) apps. Without buy-in to this model, Charter is "moving on" from the traditional video distribution model, Charter CEO Chris Winfrey said in a call Friday with analysts and media. "This is not a typical carriage dispute," he said.

FCC commenters disagreed about whether there's consumer confusion concerning the price of cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) video service, with video providers warning in docket 23-203 replies l that the FCC's "all-in" video pricing proposal will cause rather than fix consumer uncertainty. Confusion is already here, countered locality and broadcast interests. The sides also continued to disagree about whether the commission has legal authority for its pricing disclosure proposal. Initial comments made similar points (see 2308010028). The all-in pricing NPRM was adopted in June (see 2306200042).

NTIA expects that 90% of broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) equipment spending will go for American-made equipment and materials, said NTIA Office of Internet Connectivity and Growth (OICG) Policy Advisor Will Arbuckle Wednesday in an FTI Consulting webinar. That expectation stems from an NTIA analysis of the availability of American-made items and from numerous companies announcing capacity expansion, he said. "We don't think we are done," with more companies announcing manufacturing expansions to fill BEAD made-in-America demand, he said.

ASPEN, Colo. -- The FCC broadband equity, access and deployment program’s spending will have a “huge stimulative effect” on private investments in network infrastructure over the next decade, said New Street Research’s Jonathan Chaplin Tuesday. BEAD will drive a lot of buildout by mobile carriers and wireless ISPs, said Will Adams, T-Mobile vice president-strategic policy and planning, at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. FCC Chief of Staff Narda Jones said robocalls will remain a consumer issue focus for the agency. Panels also discussed online platform content moderation controversies (see 2308220048) and broadband deployment in Mexico and Canada.

ASPEN, Colo. -- The level of content moderation that online platforms exercise -- and how much leeway they should have to moderate -- was the subject of dispute in a panel Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) Aspen Forum. Odds are good the U.S. Supreme Court will consider NetChoice's challenge of Florida and Texas social media content moderation laws in its coming session since there's a Circuit Court split on the issue, said Ashkhen Kazaryan, Stand Together senior fellow. Laura Bisesto, Nextdoor global head-policy, privacy and compliance, said she hopes the Texas and Florida laws are enjoined, but there's also a problem of state-by-state approaches to legislating moderation rules and Congress instead should take it up. Nextdoor is a NetChoice member.

ASPEN, Colo. -- House and Senate priorities when they're back in session in September include reauthorizing the FCC's spectrum auction authority, agency oversight and filling FCC and FTC commissioner openings, legislative aides said Monday at Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. Panels and speakers also discussed the inevitability of further media consolidation and social media's effect on political polarization. UScellular CEO Laurent Therivel urged revisiting the decision to allocate the 6 GHz band for unlicensed use. The prospects of AI regulation also were discussed (see 2308210029).

ASPEN, Colorado -- State and federal lawmakers have significant interest in regulating AI, but that may be premature, said industry, government and academic experts Monday at Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. Later, Oren Etzioni, Allen Institute for AI CEO, was critical of what he said was AI alarmism. Speakers also discussed Congress' tech, media and telecom legislative priorities (see 2308210009).