“The profusion of crystal-clear, widescreen digital HDTV sets in almost every American home and office, we just take for granted today,” former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley told a commemorative industry Zoom call Monday. Wiley chaired the FCC Advisory Committee on Advanced Television Service for 12 years. Saturday was the 25th anniversary of ACATS' final report to the commission, recommending adoption of the Grand Alliance HDTV system as “better than any of the four original” DTV proposals and “superior to any known alternative system.” Wiley doubts ATSC 3.0 “would be possible were it not for the work of the Grand Alliance and the advisory committee,” he said. What “really surprised” Wiley about the Grand Alliance proposal “was how much opposition we got from government and business leaders,” he said. “It all seems still very odd to me,” he said: “Yet all the credit” should go to ACATS and Grand Alliance members “who just continued to plod along and do your work, criticism notwithstanding, and stayed the course and made HDTV a reality.”
Backers and some critics of Ajit Pai agreed he was a particularly effective FCC chairman, leaving behind a legacy of major accomplishments and changes. Pai announced Monday he will step down on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 (see 2011300020). Supporters said his scorecard includes enacting policies that accelerated broadband deployment and steering the agency through the pandemic.
Democratic leaders of the House Commerce Committee asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and FTC Chairman Joseph Simons Tuesday to stop working on major items in light of Joe Biden's election as president (see 2011100066), which President Donald Trump continues to fight through legal challenges. Trump’s legal fight could slow the overall transition, stakeholders say. The House letters (see here and here) were expected (see here). Such requests are known colloquially as "pencils-down" requests.
The Joe Biden-Kamala Harris presidential transition team named members of transition teams through the government. They included volunteers at some agencies, such as the FTC, and departments including Commerce and Justice. An FCC team wasn't listed but one may be forthcoming (see here).
Joe Biden's presidential transition team for the FCC is starting to take shape, but it's early on given most national news organizations declared his win Saturday. President Donald Trump hasn’t conceded. A few names are emerging for the landing team, and a final list isn't likely until after Thanksgiving, stakeholders said in interviews. Team leaders from former President Barack Obama's interregnum 12 years ago said cooperation from the outgoing administration is critical.
Election watchers expect California to revamp its state privacy law through a Nov. 3 ballot vote. The replacement for the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) could have national ramifications, experts told us. If voters agree, the proposed California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), or Proposition 24, would take effect Jan. 1, 2023. “The one-two punch here for the biggest platforms would be CPRA passing and Democrats sweeping the elections,” said Cowen analyst Paul Gallant.
Wiley hires privacy and cybersecurity lawyer Sam Kaplan, ex-Department of Homeland Security, to Telecom, Media and Technology Practice as special counsel ... At AT&T's WarnerMedia, Warner Bros. Television Group Chairman Peter Roth stepping down from studio responsibilities, effective in early 2021; Channing Dungey, ex-Netflix, named chairman, Warner Bros. Television Group ... Windstream promotes Drew Smith to treasurer.
The 5.9 GHz band should be reallocated for vehicle-to-everything communications, with no allocation for Wi-Fi, argued a Panasonic white paper filed at the FCC. The commission is expected to consider the band in November (see 2009090058). “Reallocating 45 megahertz of 5.9 GHz spectrum for unlicensed use" would require forgoing "the significant safety benefits associated with next-generation V2X applications,” said the paper, written by Wiley. “Sensor sharing messaging (aka cooperative perception messaging) would require at least an additional 20 megahertz,” it said: “Likewise, maneuver coordination messaging would require at least an additional 20 megahertz, and truck platooning 10 megahertz more. It is mathematically impossible to support these life-saving V2X applications, in addition to the Basic Safety Message, in only 30 megahertz of spectrum.” The paper was posted Wednesday in docket 19-138.
Key FAA drone rules on remote ID and operations over people are still on schedule to be published in December as the agency refocuses on beyond-line-of-sight rules, said Jay Merkle, executive director of the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office, at a virtual Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference Wednesday. “They are currently in interagency review … the last step before we go to a final rule,” he said. Other speakers said public perception of drones is critical to adoption and how regulators view them and was helped by increased use during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's handling of emerging and foundational technologies drew rhetorical fire on a Center for Strategic and International Studies webinar. Experts said Friday the lengthy process is impeding Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. work. “It’s a hard list," said Wiley's Nova Daly of BIS work to come up with information on such technologies that need curbs when involving certain other countries. "Emerging technologies shift and change.” Putting controls on emerging and foundational technologies is "a requirement by law," the expert added. "It will help CFIUS do its job in terms of being able to make sure we don't lose those critical technologies.” The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) let CFIUS review transactions involving such tech. Because of some BIS delays in issuing those controls, CFIUS may not have a clear definition for what technologies to target, experts say. Making CFIUS partly dependent on BIS “was a really bad idea, and I think it needs to be re-looked,” said David Hanke, who helped draft FIRRMA and now is at Arent Fox. “There needs to be more agility, there needs to be more speed, the ability for [Treasury] to see something coming, and whether or not it's covered by BIS and the commerce control list, to be able to designate that in a quick manner.” Thomas Feddo, Treasury's CFIUS lead, cautioned critics from placing too much blame on BIS. “I'm not an export controls expert. I wish Commerce was here to defend themselves,” he said. “I think they might make some argument that they're making a great deal of progress.” Feddo said CFIUS doesn't necessarily need BIS to designate critical technologies for the committee to target transactions. BIS didn't comment Monday. A BIS spokesperson Friday pointed to its notice that day announcing six additional emerging technology controls. The agency hasn't issued foundational tech final controls (see 2008260013).