Industry lawyers and analysts expect a busy start for the FCC in 2024, with the 3-2 Democratic majority able to approve items without the FCC’s two Republicans, and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel eager to address priorities before the usual freeze in the months before and after a presidential election.
Republican lawmakers are eyeing further action in opposition to FCC data breach notification rules (see 2312130019), but what form this will take is unclear, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists told us. GOP leaders say the rules sidestep a 2017 Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval that rescinded similar regulations as part of the commission's 2016 ISP privacy order (see 1704030054). Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington raised the CRA in their dissents as the commission approved the rules last week 3-2.
TechNet promotes Chief Financial Officer-Vice President of Administration Patricia Albertson to CFO-senior vice president of administration … Wiley announces T-Mobile’s Sydney White, former T-Mobile analyst, as special counsel privacy, cyber and data governance and telecom, media and technology practices … Disney adds Morgan Stanley Chairman-CEO James Gorman and former Sky Group Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch to its board; Gorman’s appointment is effective Feb. 5, Darroch's is effective Jan. 9 ... Radware appoints Alex Pinchev, ex-Red Hat, to board until next annual meeting when appointment will be up for a shareholder vote … Musixmatch, global music data platform, names former Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff chief business officer ... Bastion, web3 orchestrator company, promotes Caroline Friedman to chief operating officer ... Inseego, 5G edge cloud solutions company, hires Sierra Wireless’ Keri Bolding as senior vice president-global channel sales and distribution, newly created role.
The U.S. Supreme Court might opt to avoid likely fights over the FCC's digital discrimination rules or proposed Title II net neutrality rules, Andrew Schwartzman, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society's senior counselor, told Communications Daily this month. In an extensive sit-down interview, Schwartzman spoke about his long career as a public interest advocate within telecommunications, evolution of that domain, and how the FCC's net neutrality regulatory push is not merely a repeat of the past. The following transcript of our conversation was edited for length and clarity.
A proposed $25,000 forfeiture against a small radio broadcaster shows that stations need to recruit broadly and adhere to FCC equal employment opportunity rules, said Wiley broadcast attorney Kate Dickerson in an online post. The FCC enforcement bureau issued a notice of apparent liability earlier this month against Rocking M and Melia Media, two Kansas radio groups owned by Monte and Doris Miller. According to the NAL, the broadcaster late-filed EEO reports, didn’t recruit adequately for vacancies and failed to adequately document EEO recruitment efforts. The stations told the agency that their businesses were disrupted by COVID-19 and the departure of a CEO. “Relying on a licensee’s own private contacts, such as employee or client referrals, is not recruitment as contemplated under the Commission’s rules,” which require public outreach, the NAL said. “The lesson for broadcasters here is to use a variety of sources -- including online sources with a broad reach, such as Indeed, and more locally focused sources such as a college or university -- to advertise full-time job openings,” Dickerson wrote. A broadcaster should also “get in the habit of taking screenshots or retaining job-posting confirmation emails for each and every online source it utilizes,” said Dickerson. Broadcasters should also periodically review their recruitment sources, Dickerson said. “If the same sources are referring applicants over and over, the broadcaster should consider adding additional sources (preferably, local sources and sources targeted at relevant minority populations),” she wrote.
Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and subpanel members from both parties voiced growing frustration during a Tuesday hearing with DOJ’s perceived reticence in enforcing existing anti-robocall statutes and eyed the FCC’s Further NPRM giving consumers more choice on the robocalls and robotexts they will receive (see 2306080043). There was more uneven interest among Senate Communications members and witnesses at the hearing in pursuing additional legislation to address ongoing robocall problems amid those enforcement shortcomings.
The Senate Communications Subcommittee rescheduled an anti-robocall hearing for Oct. 24, the Commerce Committee said Tuesday. The hearing will “examine how robocallers are evading enforcement, consider public-private efforts to combat illegal robocalls and investigate what next steps are needed to protect Americans from fraudulent and illegal text messages and calls,” Senate Commerce said. The panel postponed the hearing, originally planned for Oct. 3, amid reshuffling to accommodate senators who wanted to attend the funeral for former Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. USTelecom Vice President-Policy and Advocacy Josh Bercu and YouMail Chief Technology Officer Mike Rudolph are among those set to testify. Also on the witness list: Wiley’s Megan Brown on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and National Consumer Law Center Senior Attorney Margot Saunders. The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.
The FCC's abdicating its internet oversight authority in 2017 largely neutered the agency's ability to protect online privacy and to require ISPs to address lengthy outages, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Tuesday as she announced the agency was moving to take that authority back. Reclassification of broadband as a service under Title II would end having to often jury-rig legal justifications for actions the agency is taking, she said, saying October's agenda will include a draft NPRM on reinstating the agency's 2015 net neutrality rules. The move met loud criticism, including from inside the FCC, as well as support.
A recent FCC Media Bureau Audio Division notice of apparent liability confirms that agency permission isn’t needed for gradual changes in noncommercial educational broadcaster governing boards, said Wiley broadcast attorney Kathryne Dickerson in an interview and blog post. In an August NAL proposing a $20,000 forfeiture (see 2308280071) for Olympia, Washington, translator owner Northwest Rock N Roll Preservation Society (NWR), the Audio Division rejected an accusation that the broadcaster had changed ownership without the FCC’s go-ahead because the multiple changes to the NWR board had happened over time rather than all at once. “We find that, because the nature of the changes to the NWR board were gradual, no unauthorized transfer of control of NWR occurred,” said the NAL. Though the agency made a similar ruling in a tentative conclusion in a 1989 notice of inquiry, it has never adopted the policy as a formal ruling, Dickerson said. In the August NAL, the agency said that though it isn’t bound by the 1989 NOI, the FCC “has hewed to them in later policy-making decisions.” With biennial ownership reports due soon, that acknowledgment should give some certainty for many NCE stations unclear on their status, Dickerson said. The decision is particularly notable because the NWR board gradually underwent a total changeover between 2010 and 2022, without FCC authorization, Dickerson said. The NAL's providing clarity on the agency’s view of such changeovers could save many NCE organizations time and money in preparing their ownership reports, Dickerson said.
Congress should continue to fund the affordable connectivity program, the FCC may not be the right entity to regulate AI and the agency's spectrum auction authority should be restored, said former FCC chairs and commissioners at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s 2023 virtual Former Chairs’ Symposium Tuesday. Panelists -- including former acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and former Chairman Richard Wiley -- also discussed diversity, the failed Standard/Tegna deal, and the confirmation of nominee Anna Gomez. Gomez is “a mainstream Democrat” who will “work well on a bipartisan basis,” said former Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “She’s not particularly ideological even though she’s been a strong fighter.”