Defying some expectations, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai decided not to seek action on any items at the Jan. 13 commissioners’ meeting. Pai released an agenda today for the meeting, which lists five panels updating commissioners on various parts of the FCC’s work. The meeting will be Pai’s last as chairman.

“I have asked FCC Bureaus, Offices, and Task Forces to prepare presentations highlighting their most significant accomplishments over the past four years,” Pai blogged: “It’s been a privilege to work alongside these outstanding public servants. Three weeks hence, the spotlight properly should shine on them.”

The chief of the nation's capital city 911 system, Karima Holmes, has resigned and will stay on until after the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. Office of Unified Communications Director Holmes several days ago gave her resignation to District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and it was accepted, said OUC's spokesperson.

The District's auditor has been examining dispatching accuracy in the 911 center Holmes has overseen for about five years. Communications Daily for much of 2020 has investigated such problems, finding that rescue personnel have been sent to wrong addresses, slowing response times. Members of Congress have voiced concern. For reaction to the latest Communications Daily report on D.C. 911 errors, see here and here.

Holmes is leaving effective Jan. 25, OUC's spokesperson said in a phone interview Monday night. The director got a job offer from the private sector in California, the representative said. It "fell into Karima’s lap" and "it seemed to be the right thing at the right time," she said. "She was recruited." The name of the industry employer isn't known.

Bowser's office didn't comment right away.

Bidding in the C-band auction is accelerating, hitting $40.3 billion as of midday today, per the FCC's Auction 107 public reporting system. That's nearly double the amount at the close of bidding Thursday. Today marks the 10th day of the auction, which began Dec. 8. It could eclipse the AWS-3 auction, which raised $45 billion in 2015 and become the largest spectrum auction in commission history.

The bidding is to pause midday Wednesday for the holidays and resume Jan. 4.

Fox got some but not all of what it sought from FCC staff Friday afternoon. The company can keep WWOR-TV Secaucus, New Jersey, and the New York Post under a continued newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule waiver.

Unlike what the media company sought, the waiver is temporary. Although it wasn't in doubt that Fox could hang onto both properties, at least for now, some critics of the current commission raised concerns about a possible last-minute permanent waiver of ownership rules.

The Media Bureau decision is here.

Fox didn't immediately comment. Nor did Free Press, which opposed the company's request.

Thirty-plus states sued Google Thursday. Colorado, Nebraska, Arizona, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, the Dakotas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia were among them and the District of Columbia also signed on. They allege the company violated Sherman Antitrust Act Section 2.

The states and D.C. plus Guam and Puerto Rico seek to "restrain Google from unlawfully restraining trade and maintaining monopolies in markets that include general search services, general search text advertising, and general search advertising" in the U.S. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

Google didn't comment right away.

Newly minted FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington was sworn in Monday morning, officially ending predecessor Mike O’Rielly's term. Simington was confirmed last week. The FCC tweeted that Simington was sworn in “moments ago” at 9:52 a.m. but didn’t immediately respond to requests for additional information about the nature of the ceremony. Former Commissioner Robert McDowell has said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai can administer the oath of office to new commissioners.

Simington now also has a brief biography posted on the FCC website, listing his ”private and public-sector experience” with the NTIA and Brightstar. The bio includes a link to Simington’s official FCC email address. “Look forward to working together with you and our other FCC colleagues for years to come,” tweeted Commissioner Brendan Carr.

O’Rielly tweeted Monday that his time on the commission was over. “Excitingly, I am a private citizen and not an FCC Commissioner,” O’Rielly said. “As such, this twitter account is not associated with the @FCC or the federal government in any way.”

FCC commissioners approved an order clarifying that contractors working for federal, state or local governments, as well as local governments themselves, must obtain consumer consent before making robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The FCC also clarified that “federal and state government callers, when acting in an official capacity, are not subject to the prior consent requirements of the TCPA.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly concurred. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks approved in part and dissented in part.

Rosenworcel objected to the finding that state authorities are beyond the reach of the TCPA. “Where the law is at all ambiguous, and even if it may be a close call, I think this agency should side with consumers and their cry to cut down the number of robocalls they receive,” she said.

“With regard to state authorities, we should have used that discretion here given the TCPA’s primary goal of protecting consumers from unwanted robocalls,” Starks said. O'Rielly didn't release a statement.

The order was approved last week and released Monday.

FCC commissioners approved 5-0 an order rejecting Huawei’s application for review of a June 30 Public Safety Bureau order designating it as a covered company barred from participating in the USF. Commissioners also agreed to move forward on a proceeding revoking China Telecom America's U.S. authorizations for international telecom services following a recommendation by executive branch agencies, led by DOJ. “Network security is national security,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks.

Commissioners also voted 5-0, as expected, to put in place a system to replace insecure equipment from Chinese gear makers Huawei and ZTE in U.S. networks. Congress has yet to approve money to pay for replacing the equipment.

Facebook faces antitrust lawsuits from 40-plus states with attorneys general of both parties along with the FTC for allegedly illegal, anticompetitive behavior in the social media market. While the agency's chairman signed onto the litigation, fellow FTC GOP members Noah Phillips and Christine Wilson voted no. Chairman Joseph Simons joined the agency's two Democrats voting yes.

The FTC and states filed separately Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Washington. State AGs look forward to collaborating with the FTC, New York AG Letitia James said (D) in a livestreamed news conference Wednesday.

“For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance ... to crush market rivals and snuff out competition all at the expense of everyday users,” James said. “No company should have this much unchecked power.” Facebook used vast money to acquire rivals before they could challenge dominance, with its $1 billion buy of Instagram in 2012 and $19 billion buy of WhatsApp the most glaring examples, she said. Facebook’s behavior hurt innovation and privacy, she said. James and a bipartisan group of state AGs opened a Facebook antitrust probe in September 2019.

“Facebook’s actions to entrench and maintain its monopoly deny consumers the benefits of competition,” said FTC Competition Bureau Director Ian Conner. "Our aim is to roll back Facebook’s anticompetitive conduct and restore competition so that innovation and free competition can thrive.”

Facebook didn't immediately comment.

The Senate voted 49-46 Tuesday afternoon to confirm Nathan Simington as an FCC commissioner. The vote was along party lines, as expected. His confirmation followed a largely muted Senate floor debate.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., were the only lawmakers to speak about it. Both senators opposed Simington, citing his support for an FCC rulemaking on its interpretation of Communications Decency Act Section 230 and the prospect his confirmation would result in a deadlocked 2-2 commission once Chairman Ajit Pai leaves Jan. 20.

FCC gridlock at the beginning of President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration will “undermine” its telecom policy goals from the very beginning, Blumenthal said. If that happens, “this body bears” responsibility for the consequences, he said.

Simington would take over from outgoing fellow GOP FCC member Mike O'Rielly.

Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said his departure from the FCC “looks to be on track for some point next week,” in a goodbye email with an accompanying video message sent to FCC staff Friday. O’Rielly said his “FCC end date is soon approaching in the days or weeks ahead.” His office said O’Rielly intends to serve the rest of his term. Under the law governing FCC terms of office, a commissioner’s service doesn’t end until the individual's term has expired or a replacement takes the oath of office, an FCC spokesman confirmed.

O’Rielly’s expected replacement, Nathan Simington, could be confirmed Wednesday, but it’s not clear how soon after that he will be sworn in. The FCC’s December meeting is Thursday, and, while it which had been projected to be O’Rielly’s last, that may not be the case if Simington is sworn in before it. That's possible, said former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell. Simington could be sworn in by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, said McDowell, who was sworn in by then-Chairman Kevin Martin.

In the goodbye video, O’Rielly thanked FCC employees, and said no one “should be remotely saddened or upset” by his exit. He also hinted at future endeavors, saying FCC staff shouldn’t take it personally when he’s not around during the two-year cooling-off period for former employees to lobby the commission, and he will have “more to say on communications matters, in the next stage of my career, whatever that may be.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai plans to leave the commission Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, the Republican announced Monday. Democrat Joe Biden will be sworn in as president that day.

FCC spokespeople didn't immediately comment further, in the minutes following the news release's issuance.

SNR Wireless and Northstar Wireless remain under de facto Dish Network control and thus aren't eligible for $3.3 billion in designated entity bidding credits they sought for licenses they won in the AWS-3 auction, the full FCC said in an order Monday. This arose from issues remanded from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2017 after it upheld FCC denial of the auction bidding credits but gave the DEs a chance to negotiate a solution to the Dish control.

However, SNR and Northstar don't owe the FCC that $3.3 billion, having defaulted on 197 licenses and paid full price for the remaining spectrum they won in the 2015 auction, the order said. Dish and outside counsel for SNR and Northstar didn't immediately comment.

While agreeing with the decision's outcome, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly dissented in part as a criticism of what he called "the extremely flawed process [that] inexplicably been mishandled and dragged out for over five years." Concurring, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the Dish/SNR/Northstar agreements fell short of de facto control rules, but he still supports the DE program and its aims of "creat[ing] economic opportunities so that our country’s wireless spectrum isn’t strictly controlled by a few large carriers. We must do better."

Fellow Democratic minority Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel concurred, with no statement. Her office didn't immediately provide an explanation.

5G security is the major focus of the FCC’s Dec. 10 meeting, Chairman Ajit Pai blogged. Pai didn’t propose an expected order further liberalizing rules for Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz band, which had looked more in doubt in recent days (see our report here).

There were no tentative agenda items that appeared on their face to be controversial. The agency had been asked to adopt such a pencils-down tack until Joe Biden is sworn in as president and can tap his own commission chief. The FCC wasn't commenting on whether it's now following pencils' down, after commissioners voted on a controversial item on 5.9 GHz at their meeting earlier Wednesday.

Commissioners will vote on an order implementing the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019, Pai blogged. “These new rules would establish the procedures and criteria for publishing a list of the communications equipment and services that pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States,” he said: “They would then require eligible telecommunications carriers to remove and replace such equipment from their networks, and would establish the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to subsidize smaller carriers to remove and replace such equipment.”

The FCC will also consider "two additional national security matters, which I am unable to discuss in detail at this time," Pai said. Also on the agenda: changes to equipment authorization rules and "a proposal to encourage the deployment of services using ATSC 3.0."

The FCC Wireline Bureau set the Lifeline monthly minimum service standard for broadband at 4.5 GB on delegated authority, after a circulated order that would have done similar didn’t get enough commissioner votes, said an order released Monday. Without FCC action, the MSS would have increased from the current 3 GB to 11.75 Dec. 1, but with the order the 4.5 GB MSS will take effect on that date. The order partially grants a petition for a waiver from the National Lifeline Association, which sought to freeze the MSS at 3 GB.

“The order states that the scheduled increase to 11.75 GB could risk undue disruption for Lifeline subscribers and providers," emailed an FCC spokesperson. "But allowing the standard to stay at 3 GB, as the petitioner requested, would risk leaving Lifeline consumers behind at a time when broadband access is more important than ever.” Lifeline advocates say the industry can't survive with a 4.5 GB MSS.

The Wireline Bureau also extended COVID-19 Lifeline waivers and denied NaLA’s stay request. See here and here. NaLA didn’t comment.

John Williams, senior counselor at the House Judiciary Committee, leads the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris presidential transition’s FCC review team. Former Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is on the team, as is DLA Piper’s Smitty Smith, a former FCC and NTIA staffer. Rounding out the team is Paul de Sa, former FCC official and analyst, now at Quadra Partners. The FCC was one of the agencies left out last week when other teams were named.

"FCC alumni from the Obama/Wheeler era" are on the new team, New Street Research's Blair Levin emailed investors. Williams' appointment indicates "the hold up in naming the FCC team probably related to the issues of detailing a current government employee to the transition when the GSA has not certified the transition," the analyst wrote, referring to the General Services Administration.

The FCC didn't immediately answer our query, and nor did the transition team.

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).

The team leader for the FTC is Heather Hippsley, who recently retired as the agency's deputy general counsel. Other members are Bill Baer from the Brookings Institution and Laura Moy from Georgetown University.

The University of Pittsburgh's Geovette Washington leads the team at the Commerce Department. Others on that team, and their most recent affiliations, are: Joshua Berman, Clifford Chance law firm; Colleen Chien, Santa Clara University; Tene Dolphin, Greater Washington Black Chamber of Commerce; Michelle DuBois, Values Partnerships; Anna Gomez, Wiley law firm; Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Third Way; Karen Hyun, National Audubon Society; Charmion Kinder, CNKinder; Paul Laudicina, Global Counsel; Nancy Potok; Pravina Raghavan, Empire State Development; Denice Ross, National Conference on Citizenship; Kris Sarri, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Mary Saunders, American National Standards Institute; Patrick Schaefer, state of New Mexico; Kathryn Sullivan, retired from NOAA; Atman Trivedi, Hills & Co.; Todd Tucker, Roosevelt Institute; Arun Venkataraman, Visa; and Kathryn de Wit, Pew Charitable Trusts.

DOJ's cohort is led by Christopher Schroeder, Duke University. These individuals also will review the Federal Election Commission, among other entities.

People on the Justice team, and their most recent affiliations, are Roy Austin, with Harris Wiltshire; Matt Axelrod, Linklaters; Michael Bosworth, Latham & Watkins; Afua Bruce, DataKind; James Cadogan, Arnold Ventures; Melanca Clark; Hudson-Webber Foundation; Danielle Conley, WilmerHale; Raj De, Mayer Brown; Chai Feldblum, Morgan Lewis; Shirlethia Franklin, Jones Day; Larry Gold, Trister Ross; Kathleen Hartnett, Cooley; Rocio Inclan-Rodriguez, National Education Association; Dawn Johnsen, Indiana University Maurer School of Law; Pam Karlan, Stanford University; Gene Kimmelman, Public Knowledge; Richard Lazarus, Harvard Law School; Martin Lederman, Georgetown University Law Center; Neil MacBride, Davis Polk; Alexander Mackler, Delaware DOJ; Teresa Mason, Bronx District Attorney’s Office; Barb McQuade, University of Michigan Law School; Jose Morales, Fair Fight Action; Brian Nelson, 2028 Summer Olympics; Cristina Rodriguez, Yale Law School; Kris Rose, Healing Justice Project; Lynn Rosenthal; Center for Family Safety and Healing; and Paul Tiao, Hunton Andrews.

The transition team didn't immediately answer our questions, including about when and if an FCC team will be named. The Commerce Department and DOJ didn't comment right away on whether they will cooperate with the administration changeover volunteers. NTIA referred us its parent department.

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, which President Donald Trump is fighting. The House letter (see here and here) was expected (see here). Such requests are known colloquially as "pencils-down" requests.

FCC Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks supported the Capitol Hill statement. The FCC declined to comment and an FTC representative said there's no immediate comment.

“With the results of the 2020 presidential election now apparent, leadership of the FCC will undoubtedly be changing,” said the House letter to the FCC, signed by Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Mike Doyle, D-Pa., chairman of the Communications Subcommittee. “As a traditional part of the peaceful transfer of power -- and as part of our oversight responsibilities -- we strongly urge the agency to only pursue consensus and administrative matters that are non-partisan for the remainder of your tenure.”

The White House and the Biden transition team didn't immediately comment.

Election Day hasn't yet claimed any key members of Congress' panels overseeing tech and telecom. Republicans appeared to be defying prognosticators’ expectations. Vote counts showed them retaining several vulnerable Senate seats and regaining some House seats Democrats took in 2018. Control of the White House and Congress remained unresolved Wednesday morning with millions of votes in Tuesday’s election still being counted.

The Senate margin was even, with Republicans and Democrats both estimated to hold 47 seats. Some news agencies called the House as likely to remain in Democratic control, but neither party at that point appeared to have definitively won enough seats to claim the majority. The margin stood at 181 Democrats and 171 Republicans. Both parties had gained and lost two seats.

Commerce Committee member Cory Gardner, R-Colo., was the only senator on that panel or the Judiciary Committee that news agencies declared as losing. Gardner was trailing Democratic former Gov. John Hickenlooper, 54%-44%.

Senate Commerce member Gary Peters, D-Mich., was trailing GOP challenger John James by more than 35,000 votes, 49.4%-48.7%. Peters is also Homeland Security Committee ranking member. Commerce member Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was leading challenger Al Gross, 62%-34%. Sullivan is considered a potential swing vote on FCC nominee Nathan Simington, who appears before Commerce next week. More on Simington is here.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., declared victory against former South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison. Graham, lead sponsor of the Earn It Act and another Communications Decency Act Section 230-related bill, led 56%-42% with 91% of the vote counted. Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., remained in a tight race with former state Sen. Cal Cunningham. Tillis led 49%-47% with 94% of votes in.

Two other Judiciary members also won. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is projected to defeat Theresa Greenfield. She led 52%-45% with 91% counted. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, was projected to defeat M.J. Hegar. He led 54%-44% with 94% counted.

Incumbents of the House Commerce and Judiciary committees generally won or were ahead. Among those who won included the panels’ Democratic and GOP leaders. Consumer Protection Subcommittee member Richard Hudson, R-N.C., one of the few House Commerce members believed vulnerable ahead of the election, won with 53% of the vote. Communications Subcommittee member Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., was at 52%. Former Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., was at 58%. Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., is retiring.

Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., author of anti-sex trafficking legislation passed in 2018, was projected to defeat Democratic challenger Jill Schupp. She led 52%-45% with 95% counted. Former House IP Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., led Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former Department of Labor official, with a 52%-48% tally at 78%. IP Subcommittee ranking member Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, declared victory over Democrat Kate Schroder. He led 52%-45% with 90% counted. Antitrust Subcommittee member Lucy McBath, D-Ga., was projected to defend her seat against Karen Handel, leading 54%-47% at 82% tallied.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota, an opponent of FCC approval of Ligado’s L-band plan, is among the incumbent Democrats who lost. GOP former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach prevailed over Peterson 53%-40%. House Rural Broadband Task Force member Abby Finkenauer, D-Iowa, was trailing Republican challenger Ashley Hinson by more than 10,000 votes, 51%-49%.

Voters greenlit a sequel to the California Consumer Privacy Act, as expected. Opponents conceded Wednesday.

About 56% of voters supported the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), or Proposition 24, showed the state’s unofficial returns Tuesday. It would take effect Jan. 1, 2023.

“We are at the beginning of a journey that will profoundly shape the fabric of our society by redefining who is in control of our most personal information and putting consumers back in charge of their own data,” said Prop 24 sponsor Alastair Mactaggart. CPRA “will sweep the country and I’m grateful to Californians for setting a new higher standard for how our data is treated,” said former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Californians for Consumer Privacy chair.

“While we came up short, millions of California voters still realized now is not the time to pass a measure riddled with serious flaws that creates a costly new privacy bureaucracy,” said No on 24 Campaign Chairperson Mary Ross and Campaign Strategist Marva Diaz. They noted that they reduced support from a July poll that showed 77% support.

Election Day hasn't brought sweeping telecom regulation changes in state races, although there will be a revamp in one state. And a key state regulator will continue in her job.

New Mexico voted to switch from an elected to governor-appointed Public Regulation Commission, with 55% voting yes. It would become the 40th state with appointed commissioners.

New Mexico’s constitutional amendment to change from five elected commissioners to three appointed members will take effect in 2023. Until then, Democrats will maintain a 4-1 majority after keeping two seats in the election. Taking 59% of the vote, incumbent Cynthia Hall defeated Janice Arnold-Jones (R), said New Mexico unofficial results. Democrat Joseph Maestas defeated Libertarian Christopher Luchini 71% to 29%.

NARUC Telecom Committee co-Vice Chair Crystal Rhoades easily won reelection at the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Rhoades, a Democrat and the only committee member up for reelection, defeated Republican opponent Tim Davis 62.4%-37.6%. “I'm delighted that the voters in Omaha are pleased with my performance and I am looking forward to being their advocate for another term,” Rhoades emailed Tuesday.

T-Mobile agreed to pay $200 million to the U.S. Treasury to end a probe of Sprint’s compliance with Lifeline rules, the FCC announced Wednesday: It's "the largest fixed-amount settlement the Commission has ever secured to resolve an investigation."

The Enforcement Bureau said Sprint, before T-Mobile bought it, claimed monthly subsidies for some 885,000 Lifeline subscribers who weren't using the service. The Oregon Public Utility Commission brought this to light, the FCC said: "Sprint agreed to enter into a compliance plan."

T-Mobile, the FCC and Oregon PUC didn't comment right away.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai confirmed Tuesday commissioners will vote Nov. 18 on their long-awaited order opening the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything.

The proposed rules make the lower 45 MHz available for unlicensed uses like Wi-Fi, said an FCC news release. The upper 30 MHz would be allocated to C-V2X, with no specific allocation for dedicated short-range communications. DSRC has occupied the band for 20 years.

“5.9 GHz spectrum has lain fallow for far too long,” Pai said: “For the last two decades, the American people have waited for this prime mid-band spectrum to be put to use, and the time for waiting is over. … We should move on from DSRC and unlock forward-looking automotive safety technology.”

Congress authorized the FCC to interpret “all provisions” of the Communications Act, including amendments like Section 230, so the agency has the authority to issue a rulemaking clarifying the immunity shield’s scope, General Counsel Tom Johnson blogged Wednesday.

The agency’s authority originates from the “plain meaning of” Communications Act Section 201(b), “which confers on the FCC the power to issue rules necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act,” Johnson wrote. Congress inserted Section 230 into the Communications Act, making clear “that the FCC’s rulemaking authority extended to the provisions of that section,” he wrote. Johnson cited two Supreme Court cases confirming that conclusion: decisions written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia in AT&T v. Iowa Utilities Board in 1999 and City of Arlington v. FCC in 2013.

The high court concluded in Iowa Utilities Board that “Congress is well aware that the ambiguities it chooses to produce in a statute will be resolved by the implementing agency,” Johnson said. This conclusion originates in part from the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, he noted. The high court concluded in Arlington that the FCC “can clarify even those ambiguous statutory provisions within the Act that are arguably directed toward courts -- such as preemption or jurisdictional provisions,” he wrote.

Citing “the unique interest generated by this proceeding,” Johnson said Chairman Ajit Pai asked that the legal analysis be made public “in furtherance of his longstanding commitment to transparency in the rulemaking process.” Section 230 was added with the 1996 Telecom Act, a set of amendments including Title V, the Communications Decency Act, Johnson noted.

The FCC declined comment on when Pai might circulate a promised NPRM on interpreting CDA Section 230. "The FCC has no business being the President's speech police," tweeted Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The other three regular commissioners didn't comment right away or declined to comment.

Exactly a week after the presidential and congressional elections, the government official who would replace outgoing FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly would get a nominations hearing. The announcement came about three hours after the agency said it would push forward on an NPRM on clarifying the meaning of Communications Decency Act Section 230, as we reported in an earlier news bulletin. O'Rielly's renomination was withdrawn after he voiced some concern about any FCC ability to reinterpret the section.

The man who would replace O'Rielly, Nathan Simington, would be among three whose hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10. Also up for 2:30 p.m. EST in 253 Russell are NASA and Department of Commerce nominees, per the Senate Commerce Committee.

The NTIA, where Simington has worked, and the FCC didn't have a comment right away, nor did the White House.

The FCC intends to move forward with a rulemaking to clarify the meaning of Communications Decency Act Section 230, Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday. He said the FCC’s general counsel told him the agency has the “legal authority to interpret Section 230.” Pai cited bipartisan concerns about “prevailing interpretation” of Section 230 immunity, a bipartisan desire to revise the law, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ statement asking the high court to review the statute.

Pai noted Thomas’ comment that “courts have relied upon ‘policy and purpose arguments to grant sweeping protections to Internet platforms’ that appear to go far beyond the actual text of the provision.” Social media companies have “a First Amendment right to free speech,” Pai wrote: “But they do not have a First Amendment right to a special immunity denied to other media outlets, such as newspapers and broadcasters.”

In the minutes after the announcement, the FCC didn't provide further details. Social media and other technology companies and stakeholders didn't immediately comment.

FCC commissioners approved 5-0 an order on circulation revising the rules on access charges for 8YY calls. The order closely adheres to a USTelecom consensus proposal, FCC officials told us. It is expected to be released Friday or Tuesday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel dissented on the 8YY NPRM adopted in 2018.

The order faced continuing opposition. “As a group of organizations that provide access to safe spaces for some of the most vulnerable people, including victims of domestic and sexual violence, victims of child abuse, individuals addicted to drugs, and those targeted for their sexual preferences or race, we cannot stand by while the FCC prioritizes the financial interests of the big telecom industry over the interests of some of the country’s most vulnerable populations,” said a filing this week by the Academy on Violence and Abuse, the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma and other groups, in docket 18-156.

Chairman Ajit Pai said the FCC will take up an order at the Oct. 27 commissioners’ meeting addressing the points raised by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the agency’s order largely overturning the 2015 rules.

The new, draft order “affirms that the FCC stands by the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, consistent with the practical reality consumers have experienced since December 2017 of an Internet economy that is better, stronger, and freer than ever,” Pai blogged Monday. Don’t be fooled by hyperbole, Pai said. In 2017, “numerous Washington politicians, far-left special-interest groups, Hollywood stars, and Silicon Valley tech giants, as well as many in the media, tried to scare the American people about what would happen once the FCC adopted” the order, he said: “The American people were told that they would get the Internet one word at a time. They were told that they would have to pay $5 per tweet. They were told that it would be the end of the Internet as we know it. It was frightening stuff to be sure, but it was utter nonsense.”

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel slammed the move. “This is crazy,” she said: “The internet should be open and available for all. That’s what net neutrality is about. It’s why people from across this country rose up to voice their frustration and anger” when the FCC “decided to ignore their wishes and roll back net neutrality. Now the courts have asked us for a do-over,” she said: “Instead of taking this opportunity to right what this agency got wrong, we are going to double down on our mistake.”

Several other items are on this next meeting's tentative agenda, many as expected. They include items on 5G USF, wireless collocation, telecom data unbundling, TV white spaces devices, AM revitalization/all-digital AM and audio description. Tonight's Communications Daily will have more details.

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the FCC’s appeal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Prometheus case, said a SCOTUS order Friday morning. The order consolidates the separate appeals of the FCC and NAB, and allots one hour for oral argument. Attorneys have told us that the pending case makes it extremely unlikely that the FCC would issue any orders relating to the 2018 quadrennial review in 2020.

FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly is throwing in the towel on efforts to stay on the commission, saying during Wednesday's commissioner meeting that he didn't want to see any further efforts to prolong his tenure there. He said he expected to leave by year's end. He said his leaving would be irrespective of the outcome of November's presidential election.

President Donald Trump has named Nathan Simington, an NTIA senior adviser, as his pick to replace O'Rielly. The timing of Senate approval is seen as hazy given the expected fight over Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Chairman Ajit Pai said O'Rielly served at the commission "with great honor and distinction" on a wide range of issues ranging from fee diversion to kidvid. "I'm proud to call you a colleague and even prouder to call you a friend," Pai said. Other commissioners said similar.

The virtual monthly commissioners' meeting is ongoing now. See here. Pai will take questions from reporters at 2 p.m. EDT, and Commissioner Brendan Carr will hold a news conference later this afternoon. O'Rielly isn't doing one today, an aide said.

E.W. Scripps agreed to buy Ion Media in a $2.65 billion deal expected to close in Q1, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway taking a $600 million investment in the buyer to help pay for the takeover. Scripps will divest 23 Ion stations, saying it has a buyer that will maintain the outlets' Ion affiliations.

The divestitures would "allow the merged company to fully comply with the FCC local and national ownership regulations," Scripps said Thursday morning. An entity controlled by Black Diamond Capital Management owns Ion.

Ion distributes its programming through TV stations it owns in 62 markets and "elects government-mandated must-carry provisions for cable distribution rather than negotiating for retransmission revenue, thereby ensuring its programming is available on cable and satellite systems," Scripps said. A conference call about the takeover is ongoing here. A Scripps spokesperson said she had no immediate comment, and Ion didn't comment to us right away.

The FCC didn't have an immediate comment. Stakeholders that often support such transactions and those that often oppose them didn't comment right away.

The Washington, D.C., auditor is issuing a request for proposals to audit the city's 911 dispatching agency after it came under fire from local stakeholders for what appears to some to be a pattern of mistakes affecting fire-rescue response. The Office of the D.C. Auditor had said it was considering such a move.

By Nov. 13, the consultant working on this review would meet with the auditing agency to "identify research issues, clarify objectives, and agree on timeline." A preliminary report would be due April 1 and the final report by May 15. That's all per the RFP dated Thursday and sent to us late this afternoon by the auditor's office.

"Recent events call into question the effectiveness of OUC’s 911 Operations Division," the RFP said of the local 911 center apparently at the heart of the issues, the Office of Unified Communications. "Recent media coverage also calls into doubt OUC’s ability to dispatch MPD and FEMS units to the correct location in a timely manner." A union representing local firefighters working for Washington's Fire and EMS Department requested such an audit. MPD is the local police department.

Various 911 stakeholders, overseers and local government entities didn't have an immediate comment.

For top news articles from our ongoing series of articles about Washington's dispatching problems, see here, here, here.

The District of Columbia’s new area code is 771. It will overlay the entire 202 area code, the D.C. Public Service Commission said Tuesday.

The PSC confirmed a 13-month implementation schedule, including six months for network preparation, six months of customer education and one month -- after a permissive dialing period ends -- when ten-digit dialing becomes mandatory. The agency established a working group to educate consumers.

“The 202 area code has been part of D.C. culture for over 50 years and it is not going away,” said Chairman Willie Phillips. “However, we stand ready to assist in a smooth transition to the added 771 area code.”

D.C. Commissioners voted 2-0 last week to approve the request by the North American numbering plan administrator for the overlay and required 10-digit dialing.

Washington, D.C., is closer to getting a new area code. It would be in addition to the widely-known 202.

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission voted 2-0 Wednesday to approve a request by the North American numbering plan administrator for an overlay of the 202 area code and required 10-digit dialing. NANPA proposed a 13-month implementation.

The overlay may be one of the most significant in years for major metropolitan areas and could lead to a secondary market for 202 numbers, said our Monday report. NANPA projected numbers in the D.C. area code would run out in Q3 2022 without relief.

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly acknowledged in written testimony submitted Wednesday before a planned Thursday House Communications Subcommittee hearing that the panel is “likely the last time I will testify before Congress as a sitting member of the Commission.” The White House announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump intends to nominate NTIA Senior Adviser Nathan Simington in O’Rielly’s place.

O’Rielly’s office didn’t comment on whether his statement represents a concession that he no longer has a chance of being renominated to the FCC. O’Rielly earlier tweeted, “­­I extend my sincere congrats to Mr. Simington for selection to join” the FCC “and offer best wishes for a smooth confirmation process and successful term at the Commission.”

“It has been a tremendous honor to hold this position, and I have approached the role as though you were in my seat, guided by fidelity to the law and the will of lawmakers; respect for the millions of Americans you represent here in Washington; regard for those appearing before the Commission and the arguments they raise; and a determination never to take a single day, meeting, site visit, or conversation for granted,” O’Rielly told House Communications. Its hearing is for FCC oversight.

President Donald Trump intends to nominate NTIA Senior Adviser Nathan Simington to replace Commissioner Mike O’Rielly at the FCC, the White House announced Tuesday night. O’Rielly’s future at the commission has been in limbo for more than a month since Trump revoked his renomination. Several top Senate Republicans have gone to bat to convince the president to reverse that decision.

Simington recently emerged as a front-runner to replace O’Rielly, after the White House decided against naming fellow NTIA Senior Adviser Carolyn Roddy, lobbyists told us. Simington joined NTIA in June and has been working on spectrum allocation and internet freedom issues. He’s a former senior counsel for wireless distributor Brightstar and was an associate at Chapman and Cutler, Kirkland & Ellis and Mayer Brown.

Simington didn’t comment. O’Rielly’s office didn’t immediately comment.

Verizon agreed to buy Tracfone from America Movil, in a deal worth as much as about $7 billion that's expected to close in the second half of 2021, the companies said (see here and here). Tracfone is the largest U.S. reseller of prepaid wireless with about 21 million subscribers, 13 million of them using Verizon’s wireless network.

"Verizon expects to bring its award-winning 4G LTE and 5G networks and other innovative technologies to Tracfone customers, further develop Tracfone’s distribution channels, and expand Tracfone’s market opportunities," the acquirer said Monday morning.

Dish Network is getting more time to meet its AWS-4, lower 700 MHz E block, AWS H block and 600 MHz license construction requirements. An FCC Wireless Bureau order Friday said the license terms for AWS-4, Lower 700 E block and AWS H-block licenses now run through June 14, 2023, and Dish is obligated to provide 5G broadband service over them. It said the license term for Dish's 600 MHz licenses is unchanged from June 14, 2029, but the interim buildout deadline of June 14, 2023, is removed and the final buildout deadline is moved up to June 14, 2025.

The bureau said the waiver and extension grants and license modifications are conditioned on the company meeting the conditions of the T-Mobile/Sprint/Dish order including mandatory payments for not meeting deployment commitments. T-Mobile has since bought Sprint.

Dish and T-Mobile didn't comment right away.

COVID-19 forced the postponement of the NAB Show in Las Vegas to Oct. 9-13, 2021, from April 11-14, said NAB President-CEO Gordon Smith Wednesday. NAB has “witnessed growing concern and uncertainty over what the next six months will bring; enough that there appears to be a good deal of reluctance around participating in large events in the first half of next year.” Evidence suggests it will be “well into next year” before COVID-19 “could be under control in the U.S.,” he said.

As with “any difficult decision,” said Smith, “there are trade-offs.” Moving the Las Vegas show to October means “we are considering alternative 2021 dates for NAB Show New York, held annually in October,” he said. The decision means the 2021 NAB Radio Show will be collocated with the Las Vegas NAB Show in October.

Wednesday’s action was NAB's third show cancellation or postponement, following NAB 2020 in Las Vegas and this year's NAB Show New York at the Javits Center.

NTIA recommends the use of exclusion zones if the FCC reallocates the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and other use. The FCC is expected to act as early as October. The zones would protect federal operations, including DOD, NASA and Department of Energy systems, NTIA said in a letter. An accompanying table proposes areas that would need to be protected across the U.S.

“NTIA has determined that, to protect federal radiolocation systems, operation of U-NII-4 outdoor point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multipoint (P2MP) devices would require the imposition of exclusion zones,” it said. “To enforce the exclusion zones, NTIA believes that interference mitigation techniques such as geo-fencing can be employed to protect federal radiolocation operations. NTIA wishes to emphasize the importance of ensuring that U-NII device operation is not permitted inside of these exclusion zones, especially in light of experience with U-NII devices in the 5 GHz band.”

NTIA also wrote the FCC on the 3450-3550 MHz band, saying the commission should issue a Further NPRM. Commissioners are to vote Sept. 30 on an item addressing that band.

The FCC didn't comment right away. NTIA released the letters Wednesday.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said commissioners will vote on a draft proposal taking “decisive steps toward” the use of the 3.45-3.55 GHz band for 5G throughout the contiguous U.S. at their Sept. 30 meeting. The vote was expected.

“We are moving forward quickly, in coordination with the Executive Branch, to ensure that this mid-band spectrum is available for commercial 5G deployment,” Pai said Tuesday.

Pai is expected to blog soon on all the items set for a vote Sept. 30.

FCC commissioners will vote Sept. 30 on an order giving states the opportunity to lease 4.9 GHz band spectrum, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai blogged. Pai said it remains underutilized.

“Unfortunately, only about 3.5% of potential licensees -- less than 1 out of 25 -- have actually taken advantage of this spectrum,” Pai said: “A barrier to wireless deployment in this band is the unusual licensing framework. Public safety licensees are permitted to use their spectrum only for public safety purposes, with no exclusivity, and share the band by ad-hoc coordination to avoid interference."

The band has been allocated for public safety use since 1992. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly predicted the FCC would address it this year. The recently formed Public Safety Spectrum Alliance sought to keep the band in public safety’s hands, allocating it to FirstNet.

Data collected from carriers found it would cost an estimated $1.84 billion to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment in their networks. In June, the FCC barred the two Chinese vendors from participating in the USF. The agency also released a list of some 50 carriers that have the equipment installed in their networks.

Companies that appear to initially qualify for reimbursement under last year's Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act “report it could require approximately $1.618 billion to remove and replace such equipment,” the FCC said: “Other providers of advanced communications service may not have participated in the information collection and yet still be eligible for reimbursement.”

“It is a top priority of our nation and this Commission to promote the security of our country’s communications networks,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “That’s why we sought comprehensive information from U.S. carriers about equipment and services from untrusted vendors.”

Huawei and ZTE didn't comment immediately after Friday morning's announcement.

Verizon, seeking to close mid-band holes in its network, was the big winner in the citizens broadband radio service auction with $1.89 billion in bids, the FCC said Wednesday. Wetterhorn Wireless, a Dish Network subsidiary, bid $912,939,410. Charter Communications’ Spectrum Wireless Holdings bid $464,251,209.

Other big players included Comcast's XF Wireless Investment ($458,725,900), Cox Communications ($212,805,412) and Southern California Edison ($118,951,433). Wetterhorn won the largest number of licenses at 5,492.

Winners big and small in the CBRS bidding didn't immediately comment. Verizon, the only company to return our query so far, is "still in a quiet period for at least the next 10 days," a spokesperson emailed.

A key federal appeals court vacated some FCC conditions on Charter Communications' buys of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Then-FCC Commissioner and now-Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly originally voted against the deal curbs. Appellants are several consumers and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 against the commission prohibiting "New Charter," as the combined company is referred to, from charging programmers for access to its broadband subscribers. It also ruled against requiring New Charter to provide discounted broadband service to low-income subscribers. Judge Gregory Katsas wrote the opinion for himself and for Karen LeCraft Henderson. David Sentelle dissented.

Noting appellants include customers "whose bills for cable broadband Internet service increased shortly after the merger," the majority opinion said they had standing to challenge two conditions. The ruling vacates those curbs "given the FCC’s refusal to defend on the merits." The judges "set aside the interconnection and discounted-services conditions in the New Charter Order, and we dismiss the remaining aspects of the appeal for lack of an appellant with Article III standing."

Sentelle wouldn't "reach the merits at all because CEI lacks standing to challenge any of the proposed conditions. I do concur with the majority’s analysis and conclusion that CEI does not have standing to challenge the condition concerning charging subscribers based on data usage or the condition requiring New Charter buildout its cable infrastructure."

The FCC declined to comment. Charter said it had no immediate comment. CEI didn't comment right away after the decision was issued Friday morning.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals mostly upheld the FCC’s wireless infrastructure orders in a Wednesday opinion (in Pacer) in the consolidated case, despite claims by local governments that the agency inappropriately preempted their authority in its effort to streamline 5G deployment.

Deferring to FCC interpretation of the Telecom Act, the panel said “the Small Cell and Moratoria Orders were, with the exception of one provision, in accord with the congressional directive in the Act, and not otherwise arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law.” It rejected Fifth and Tenth amendment challenges to both orders. The panel upheld the one-touch, make-ready order and rejected challenges to parts on overlashing, preexisting violations, self-help and rate reform.

The one exception was the small-cell order’s provision on local authority to regulate aesthetics. “To the extent that provision required small cell facilities to be treated in the same manner as other types of communications services, the regulation was contrary to the congressional directive that allowed different regulatory treatment among types of providers, so long as such treatment did not ‘unreasonably discriminate among providers of functionally equivalent services,’” it said. The FCC requirement that aesthetic criteria must be “objective” lacks reasoned explanation, the court added. The court vacated those parts of the rule and remanded them to the FCC.

Judge Daniel Bress disagreed with upholding the FCC preempting any fees to telecom providers that exceed a locality’s costs. Bress said the FCC failed to adequately explain how all above-cost fees would equal an “effective prohibition” on service under sections 253 and 332 of the Act.

The FCC, NATOA, National League of Cities and attorneys for local petitioners didn't comment right away.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday sided with Qualcomm in an FTC antitrust lawsuit against the company. In the minutes after the ruling, the company's stock rose.

Judge Consuelo Callahan issued an opinion (in Pacer) vacating U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh’s judgment that Qualcomm engaged in monopolistic pricing. Callahan’s opinion reversed the district court’s “permanent, worldwide injunction prohibiting several” of Qualcomm’s IP licensing practices. The FTC alleged a mobile chip monopoly in its lawsuit against Qualcomm.

The FTC didn’t offer evidence that Qualcomm “engaged in predatory pricing,” the opinion said. The three-judge panel included Johnnie Rawlinson and Stephen Murphy. The 9th Circuit agreed with Qualcomm that the company engaged in “garden-variety price competition that the law encourages.” The district court faulted Qualcomm for “lowering its prices only when other companies introduced CDMA modem chips to the market to effectively compete,” the opinion said.

“The court’s ruling is disappointing,” said FTC Competition Bureau Director Ian Conner in a statement. “We will be considering our options.” The company didn’t immediately comment. Qualcomm rose 4.5% to $111.14 at 12:49 p.m. EDT.

There's another shift atop NTIA, as officials there take some new roles with the elections coming. Adam Candeub, who joined the agency a few months ago, is taking over on an acting basis. He's taking a role similar to that of Doug Kinkoph as acting administrator. Kinkoph remains at the agency, where his permanent role has been associate administrator of the Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications.

There has been some leadership fluidity at NTIA since David Redl left in May 2019.

Candeub joined NTIA in April. He's on a leave of absence from Michigan State University, where he's a professor of law and director of the Intellectual Property, Information & Communications Law Program. Candeub previously worked for the FCC, including at the Media Bureau.

President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday it reached agreement with DOD to allow commercial sharing of spectrum in the 3450-3550 MHz band. NTIA reported last month that spectrum is the best candidate from the larger 3100-3550 MHz band for sharing. The White House said it believes the FCC will be able to auction sharing rights for the 100 MHz beginning in December 2021, with commercial operations on the band beginning in mid-2022.

Acting Undersecretary of Defense-Research and Engineering Michael Kratsios told reporters the band “can be made available” for commercial sharing “without sacrificing” existing military incumbents. DOD Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy highlighted a spectrum sharing framework for the frequency that will protect DOD radar operations on the band.

Pentagon and White House officials began meeting in mid-April to discuss how to make the spectrum available on an expedited basis, Deasy said.

Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday the FCC plans to hold the 2.5 GHz auction in the first half of 2021. A year ago, the FCC approved revised rules for the educational broadband service band over partial dissents by Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks. Last week, the FCC extended the window for tribes to apply for licenses by 30 days, until Sept. 2. Pai noted during the commissioners' ongoing meeting that some 280 entities had applied during the 2.5 GHz rural priority window.

Also during the meeting, FCC members voted 3-2 along party lines on C-band auction rules.

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, whose renomination was suddenly pulled this week by President Donald Trump, voted on meeting items. He did not make any oral statements, however.

President Donald Trump withdrew his renomination of FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly to another term, the White House announced Monday. The Trump administration and O’Rielly’s office didn’t immediately comment. O’Rielly’s nomination had been seen to be on hold until at least September due to a hold from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., and opposition from several Senate Commerce Committee Democrats.

FCC staff extended by a month an opportunity for tribes to file 2.5 GHz applications, until Sept. 2. That's less than the three additional months some sought.

The Wireless Bureau action on the filing window that opened Feb. 3 "strikes an appropriate balance between providing more time for additional Tribal entities to apply and not unduly delaying the grant of licenses to those that have already applied," said a late morning announcement Friday. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe that it is appropriate to extend the application deadline by 30 days,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. “Much longer extension would substantially delay our award of licenses to Tribal entities." With "the simplified application process as well as the extensive outreach done by Commission staff, a lengthy extension of the deadline is unnecessary, as evidenced by the large number of applications," he added.

More than 200 tribal entities filed applications, the bureau said. The announcement materials are here.

CTA will move CES 2021 to an all-virtual event on Jan. 6-9 from a physical show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, said the association Tuesday.

"Amid the pandemic and growing global health concerns about the spread of COVID-19, it's just not possible to safely convene tens of thousands of people in Las Vegas in early January 2021 to meet and do business in person,” said CTA CEO Gary Shapiro. “Technology helps us all work, learn and connect during the pandemic -- and that innovation will also help us reimagine CES 2021 and bring together the tech community in a meaningful way.”

As of Monday night, the annual tech show's website had said that "CES 2021 will be a smaller show" than in the past. Fewer people can travel, "and many of our smaller and international exhibitors will not be able to travel."

CES 2021, as a physical event with its 170,000 or more attendees, is the biggest trade show to drop from the pandemic.

NTIA filed the eagerly awaited petition to the FCC to clarify Communications Decency Act Section 230, as instructed by President Donald Trump's executive order. The changes would say when certain industry actions such as by social media platforms wouldn't be exempted under the liability safe harbor. The administration now also asked "to impose disclosure requirements similar those imposed on other internet companies, such as major broadband service providers, to promote free and open debate on the internet."

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said it has long been U.S. policy "to foster a robust marketplace of ideas on the Internet and the free flow of information around the world." Trump "is committed to protecting the rights of all Americans to express their views and not face unjustified restrictions or selective censorship from a handful of powerful companies,” Ross said.

"The FCC will carefully review the petition," emailed a commission spokesperson Monday evening. NTIA declined comment on our queries.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said her agency "shouldn’t take this bait. While social media can be frustrating, turning this agency into the President's speech police is not the answer. If we honor the Constitution, we will reject this petition immediately.”

The FCC will allow staffers who are teleworking to continue doing so until at least June, regardless of location, said a Friday emailed memo to staff from Chairman Ajit Pai’s Chief of Staff Matthew Berry “We want to provide those with concerns ranging from childcare to their own health with the peace of mind that they will have the flexibility they need over the coming months.” The decision was made “in light of recent announcements by school districts as well as the ongoing nature of the pandemic.”

The agency's planned move to new headquarters near Union Station will be delayed until September, and mandatory telework for headquarters staff will continue until the move is complete, said the document. The commission had previously said the move could take place in August.

The agency didn't comment right away.

The FCC delayed until September 2020 plans to move to new headquarters near Union Station after concerns arose about employees possibly being infected during the packing process. That's according to our interviews with staff, a spokesperson and Friday's internal memo that said workers can telework until at least June 2021. The spokesperson confirmed that the memo was sent. That followed our news bulletin earlier Friday. It's now in front of the pay wall here.

The agency last month instituted a staggered process to allow employees to move their personal possessions from the building, as we previously reported. Last week, it suspended that “because there was insufficient compliance with mandatory safety precautions and social distancing requirements” the spokesperson emailed us. A staff member who had been in the building in the past two weeks also tested positive for COVID-19, the spokesperson said. “We are confident that this staff member did not become infected as a result of being in the building.”

Chief of Staff Matthew Berry's memo said the new moving plan would “appropriately addresses lessons learned from what happened during the first two weeks of July.”

NARUC and FCC leaders are in agreement that inmate calling service rates need to be examined. NARUC President Brandon Presley agreed with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Presley wrote Thursday. Pai had written the organization earlier this week.

"Exorbitant" ICS "rates discourage family engagement, communication and hamper the successful reentry of incarcerated persons," Presley said. "We are asking all of our members to take a comprehensive review in their jurisdictions around these rates and take action where warranted. We agree with Chairman Pai on the importance of inmates’ access to reasonable calling rates. Safety, reliability and reasonable rates are at the core of our members’ public service mandate."

"Many of our members do not have authority over these rates," noted Presley (D), also a Mississippi Public Service Commission member. In this publication's survey of chairmen of all state commissions that received Pai's recent letter, we have found the same, while a few said their agencies had previously acted. "In many cases, state-level corrections officials hold and negotiate these contracts outside the purview of state public service commissions," Presley wrote. He asked Pai to join him in co-signing letters to governors and corrections officials and "ask that they review these contracts."

The FCC didn't immediately comment. ICS providers haven't been commenting, either.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asked NARUC and state regulators to act against high inmate calling service rates for calls within states. His letter Monday comes as the federal agency is poised to vote Aug. 6 on lowering some interstate inmate calling service rates and amid a focus by communications stakeholders and others on racial justice and diversity.

"Given the alarming evidence of egregiously high intrastate inmate calling rates and the FCC’s lack of jurisdiction here, I am calling on states to exercise their authority and, at long last, address this pressing problem," Pai wrote. He seeks "action on intrastate inmate calling services rates to enable more affordable communications for the incarcerated and their families. Prompt and meaningful state action on intrastate rates will provide much-needed relief to inmates and their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond." Pai noted NARUC opposed FCC action on intrastate rates.

NARUC, which is holding a conference, didn't comment right away. Nor did lawyers for ICS providers.

The tech industry wants a transition to a new data sharing regime between the U.S. and Europe, after a European court rejected Privacy Shield. Early Thursday EDT, the European Court of Justice ruled against aspects of PS. The case involves Max Schrems, who has been challenging PS for some time.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, one of the first tech groups to react, hopes "EU and U.S. decision-makers will swiftly develop a sustainable solution, in line with EU law, to ensure the continuation of data flows which underpins the transatlantic economy," said Public Policy Senior Manager Alexandre Roure. CCIA also hopes "enforcement authorities will grant Privacy Shield signatories time to migrate to alternative legal mechanisms.”

"A clear transition period" should be "put into place to allow time to get back to the negotiating table," said Internet Association Director-Trade Policy Jordan Haas. "A transition period is essential to ensure that the over 5,000 small companies on both sides of the Atlantic that rely on the Privacy Shield program can continue to leverage this privacy-protective mechanism for inter-company data transfers. IA encourages both the EU and U.S. governments to start negotiations as quickly as possible.”

Bidding on using the C band for things like 5G, necessitating moving satellite operators, is one FCC auction that won't be delayed due to COVID-19 and its fallout. Chairman Ajit Pai made the announcement Wednesday as he disclosed items for the Aug. 6 commissioners' meeting.

"When we crafted our rules for repurposing the C-band, we prioritized making this spectrum available for 5G as quickly as possible," Pai blogged. "Even though the Commission effectively shut down our headquarters less than a month after we adopted the C-band Order, we’re fully on track and sticking to the schedule."

Pai said he circulated "final draft procedures" for the auction Wednesday. "To spur the deployment of ultra-fast, world-leading 5G networks, we need to make C-band spectrum (among other spectrum bands) available as quickly as possible," he added. "If the Commission adopts this plan to launch this auction in December, barely nine months after adopting rules, that’s exactly what we’ll be doing."

The Senate Commerce Committee plans a July 22 vote on advancing FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s renomination to a term ending in 2024, as expected.

The committee said its meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants commissioners to vote at the FCC's Aug. 6 meeting on prison phone rates, an issue attracting additional scrutiny during COVID-19 and amid protests over policing, criminal justice and racial diversity. Inmate calling services providers would "generally be subject to the FCC’s rules when it comes to ancillary service charges -- including our fee caps and our limits on the types of charges allowed," Pai blogged Wednesday.

Commissioners also would vote "to propose lowering our existing caps for interstate calls," the chairman said. The per-minute limit would go from 21 cents for debit and prepaid calls and 25 cents for collect calls to 14 cents for debit, prepaid and collect calls from prisons and 16 cents from jails.

"Unlike virtually every other American, inmates and the people they call generally have no choice in their telephone service provider. Instead, their only option is typically an inmate calling services provider that, once chosen by that correctional facility, operates as a monopolist," Pai wrote. "Not surprisingly, without effective regulation, rates for inmate calling services can be unjustly and unreasonably high and make it difficult inmates and their loved ones from staying connected."

Prison phone companies and their lawyers didn't comment.

SES filed a $1.8 billion claim Tuesday in Intelsat's bankruptcy, claiming the rival C-band operator committed breach of contract and of fiduciary duties plus unjust enrichment stemming from Intelsat's alleged violation of the C-Band Alliance agreement terms. Intelsat didn't comment. The claim, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, said the CBA agreement set up SES and Intelsat as the lead members, splitting both control and the vast majority of the alliance's proceeds. SES said even after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency would pursue a public auction, the two still continued to partner until the draft C-band order, which laid out incentive payment terms for the satellite operators, with Intelsat getting a bigger share.

That's when Intelsat repudiated its CBA obligations, including one to split the proceeds evenly, SES said. That amounts to $450 million that should be SES' under the 50-50 proceeds split, it said.

Under the FCC's accelerated clearing incentive plan, Intelsat is eligible for $4.87 billion, SES for $3.97 billion.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is eyeing additional duties on French products over France’s digital services tax. After determining in December the DST "is unreasonable or discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce," USTR said Friday it plans the additional duties of 25%; it will suspend those levies' application for up to six months.

France's 3% tax is expected to have collections of about $450 million from U.S. companies for activities in 2020, and $500 million-plus next year, USTR said. "Additional duties of 25 percent on the products of France covered by the trade action should result in the collection of tariffs on goods of France at comparable, though somewhat lower amounts." It listed makeup and other beauty products and handbags.

“Today’s action sends a strong message that discriminatory taxes aimed at US companies are not a path to modernizing the global tax system," said Computer & Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers Friday. "Changes to international tax rules must be negotiated in good faith through a consensus-based approach at the OECD that addresses the changes of the digitalized global economy.”

France's embassy in Washington didn't comment right away. USTR didn't answer our questions right away, either.

The Supreme Court Monday upheld the constitutionality of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in a much-watched case heard in April, Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants. Justices let stand a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which declared a 2015 government debt collection exemption unconstitutional and severed the provision from the remainder of the TCPA.

The opinion by Justice Brett Kavanaugh had the support of the court majority, with many justices agreeing only in part. “Americans passionately disagree about many things. But they are largely united in their disdain for robocalls,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Six Members of the Court today conclude that Congress has impermissibly favored debt-collection speech over political and other speech, in violation of the First Amendment.” Seven members agree the government debt exception “must be invalidated and severed from the remainder of the statute,” he said.

It likely wouldn't be safe to hold a meeting indoors, even in October, a tech think tank announced Thursday afternoon. The Technology Policy Institute in mid-April canceled its annual summer event for Aspen, Colorado, because of COVID-19. At that time, it planned to hold the rescheduled event Oct. 16-18 in person but in Charlottesville, Virginia.

In the spring, "it seemed plausible that COVID-19 had peaked in the US and would begin to decline, at least enough that a carefully planned in-person event could be safe by October," emailed TPI President Scott Wallsten. "Given recent trends, that is unlikely to be true." He cited exhaustive research.

Now, the group is planning "a series of substantive and fun virtual events at the time we would have held the conference," Wallsten said.

Its $1.4 billion purchase of Sprint's Boost Mobile complete, Dish Network is now in the retail wireless marketplace, it said Wednesday. It said it would keep the Boost brand, and reinstituted a shrinking payments plan. It said its "$hrink-It!" plan starts at $45 a month for 15 GB and goes down by $5 after three on-time payments and another $5 after six on-time payments. It said Boost's previous shrinking payments offering ended in July 2014.

Dish said it's introducing a $35 a month 10 GB plan that includes unlimited talk and text. Some 9.3 million customers are involved in the divestiture, T-Mobile said.

Dish's purchase of Sprint's pre-paid business was one of the government conditions for T-Mobile's Sprint acquisition. In recent weeks, there had been some uncertainty this divestiture would close.

This "fulfills a commitment that T-Mobile and Sprint made to" DOJ and the FCC "as part of their merger process," T-Mobile said. “We just checked an important milestone," said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. "T-Mobile followed through on fulfilling one of the most significant commitments we made as part of this merger process."

The $8.3 billion annual USF "may no longer be used to purchase, obtain, maintain, improve, modify, or otherwise support any equipment or services produced or provided by" Huawei and ZTE, the FCC announced Tuesday afternoon. The Public Safety Bureau designated the Chinese telecom gear makers as covered under the commission's 5-0 November ban on buying from companies posing a national security threat.

This was "based on the overwhelming weight of evidence," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Both companies have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s military apparatus, and both companies are broadly subject to Chinese law obligating them to cooperate with the country’s intelligence services." This release and related actions are here.

"Network security is national security" and this helps "secure our networks against new threats from Huawei and ZTE equipment," said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. "We must prioritize our review of our recent information collection and establish an expedited plan for the removal and replacement of untrustworthy equipment." The other FCC members didn't immediately comment.

Huawei and ZTE didn't comment. Nor did China's embassy.

FCC employees will continue to work remotely at least until the agency completes its move into its new headquarters near Union Station in Washington, with that move to be completed by Aug. 27, said an agencywide staff memo Monday, the commission told us. Whether the 900-some workers at the current headquarters will report to the new building immediately after Aug. 27 hasn't been determined, it said.

Employees have begun signing up to move their personal effects out, and that move-out will be done through Aug. 10, it said. The agency then will move office equipment, furniture and cubicles Aug. 10-27, it said. The FCC had said it expects telework to remain an employee option at least through August's end, and that it anticipates being more liberal in telework policies.

The FCC stopped taking COVID-19 telehealth applications, it announced Thursday. "Based on the applications received to date, demand for funding exceeds available" money. Some $200 million was allotted. The FCC doesn't "want to impose burdens on health care providers who may prepare new applications that cannot be funded under the current appropriation."

The program has approved 444 requests in 46 states plus Washington, D.C., for $157.64 million, the agency announced. The latest awards were disclosed this week, see here. A Wireline Bureau public notice has details on the cessation of accepting new requests for money. See here.

The FCC didn't immediately answer our questions. Commissioner Brendan Carr has been a proponent at the agency for telehealth funds. His office didn't comment right away.

The FCC will consider rules for the vertical location accuracy of wireless calls to 911 and broadband mapping at commissioners’ July 16 meeting, as expected; see here. Also on the tentative agenda, an order addressing supply chain security and equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.

The vertical location accuracy item affirms “our 2021 and 2023 deadlines for nationwide wireless providers to deploy z-axis technology in our nation’s most populated markets and call for full nationwide deployment by 2025,” Chairman Ajit Pai blogged Wednesday.

Commissioners will consider a declaratory ruling saying the commission’s November order satisfies provisions in the March Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act requiring the FCC to “prohibit the use of federal subsidy funds to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain or maintain any covered communications equipment or services from certain companies,” Pai said. The November order barred Huawei and ZTE equipment from networks funded by the USF and established rules that could block other providers.

The mapping item adopts “coverage reporting and disclosure requirements for fixed and mobile broadband providers, filing and certification requirements, and measures for determining the accuracy of broadband availability data,” Pai said: “It would also develop a process for engaging directly with state, local, and Tribal governments, along with consumers and other entities, to ensure that the maps are as accurate as possible.”

APCO 2020 is canceled, the group emailed early Tuesday afternoon. Experts had said holding the annual summer convention planned for Aug. 2-5 in Orlando could pose public health problems, amid COVID-19. See our report here.

Since CEO Derek Poarch announced last week APCO was sticking by the plan to move forward, a local order requiring face masks took effect, he emailed now. "Saturday, Florida reported 4,049 new COVID-19 cases setting a record high since the pandemic began." Also that day, a Florida Department of Health advisory recommended not attending events in the state with 50-plus attendees, Poarch wrote.

Registration fees will be refunded.

The public safety group didn't comment further in the minutes after the announcement. Nor did the Department of Health.

Don't disconnect consumers and small businesses for not paying bills in the month of July, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai asked service providers, the agency announced Friday. He wants customers to stay connected amid the pandemic even after his Keep Americans Connected pledge ends June 30. He also wrote Congress seeking legislation to this end, covering "the coming months," the commission said.

"Broadband and telephone companies, especially small ones, cannot continue to provide service without being paid for an indefinite period," Pai said. "Now is the time for legislation." He cited the broadband connectivity and digital equity framework.

Pai had calls with broadband and phone service providers this week, the FCC said. "Many companies reported they have already committed to taking steps to keep Americans connected in coming months."

The agency and industry associations didn't comment further right away.

Team Telecom recommended the FCC deny OK for the portion of a Pacific Light Cable Network undersea cable system that would directly link the U.S. and Hong Kong, DOJ announced. The commission declined to comment.

But the DOJ, DOD and Department of Homeland interdepartmental body, formally called the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector, recommended the commission grant the portions of PLCN’s application seeking to connect the U.S., Taiwan and the Philippines. That part lacks China-based ownership and is "separately owned and controlled by subsidiaries of Google" and Facebook, DOJ said. It would have a "condition that the companies’ subsidiaries enter into mitigation agreements."

The other deployment "would have allowed for the highest capacity subsea cable connection between" the U.S. and Asia and "the first direct connection between" the U.S. and Hong Kong, Justice said Wednesday. "This raised national security concerns, because a significant investor in the PLCN is Pacific Light Data," which is part of Dr. Peng Group, China's No. 4 telecom services provider.

There has been heightened U.S. scrutiny of China and its trade and IP practices. China's embassy in Washington and Google and Facebook didn't comment right away.

The California justice department submitted final rules for implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) by Monday night’s Office of Administrative Law deadline, Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said Tuesday. The AG office just released the rules submitted for OAL review.

The AG needed to submit rules Monday to get laws into effect by July 1 when enforcement starts, though it’s up to OAL what date they are finally released. The office normally has 30 days but due to COVID-19 is allowed to take an additional 60 calendar days to approve state regulations. After OAL approves, final regulations would be filed with the Secretary of State and take effect. CCPA took effect Jan. 1 and allows enforcement to start before the AG's final regulations are in force.

Our report Monday evening about the down-to-the-wire effort is here.

The White House will “hopefully” make an announcement before 5 p.m. EDT Thursday on an executive order from President Donald Trump, said White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. A draft executive order seeks to clarify the scope of the tech industry’s content liability shield, potentially exposing platforms to DOJ and FTC scrutiny. Various shields allow platforms to censor conservative voices, McEnany said. The intention is to remove those shields and shed light on platform decisionmaking, she added.

What's known of the EO is opposed by a slew of industry interests, including the Internet Association, and groups that often seek regulation and those that often oppose it. For our bulletin last night on the coming EO, see here.

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday “pertaining to social media,” a White House spokesperson told reporters Wednesday evening. Another spokesperson previously indicated Trump would sign the order Wednesday night. The White House didn’t provide details on what the EO would do.

Trump threatened earlier in the day to “strongly regulate” or shut down social media platforms. He cited political bias against conservatives a day after Twitter included fact-check warnings for a series of his tweets.

A long-awaited Copyright Office report on a key statute governing internet platforms said Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512 may need a revamp. The section's safe harbor operation "is unbalanced," CO said in a news release Thursday afternoon. "While the Office is not recommending any wholesale changes to section 512, the Report points out these and other areas where Congress may wish to consider legislation to rebuild the original balance between rightsholders and online service providers."

"The balance Congress intended when it established the section 512 safe harbor system is askew," said the document's conclusion (see page 204). "The internet, in all its various component parts, has grown successfully and exponentially over the past two decades. However, despite the advances in legitimate content options and delivery systems, and despite the millions of takedown notices submitted on a daily basis, the scale of online copyright infringement and the lack of effectiveness of section 512 notices to address that situation remain significant problems."

The years-long study, the last requested of the CO in a prior Congress, is "the final output of the Office on topics related to the 2013-2015 copyright review hearings held by the House Judiciary Committee," the release said. Stakeholders we queried in the minutes after the document was released didn't have any immediate reaction.

The main associations of state telecom commissioners and of local cable and telecoms overseers changed annual conference plans due to coronavirus precautions. They join many other events in going virtual this summer.

NARUC will go digital-only for its July 20-22 conference rather than meet in Boston, the state utility regulators’ association said Wednesday. Later that day, NATOA announced its board voted unanimously to virtualize its Aug. 31-Sept. 3 conference rather than have it in Denver.

NARUC decided based on surveys earlier this month of industry stakeholders and commission chairs, said Michelle Malloy, senior director-meetings and member service, in an interview. Respondents raised concerns about safety, budget and travel bans at their organizations with no declared end dates, plus the planned location Boston hasn’t set an end date for its shutdown, she said.

The FCC confirmed Monday that members' next meeting tentatively will include a vote on wireless infrastructure, as we reported last week. Other items potentially on tap for a June 9 vote are auction procedures for the $16.4 billion, 10-year high-cost USF; high-band spectrum action; and on ATSC 3.0.

"This latest attempt to modernize our wireless infrastructure rules will clarify the Commission’s interpretation of section 6409(a) of the Spectrum Act," Chairman Ajit Pai announced. That section says “a State or local government may not deny, and shall approve, any eligible facilities request for a modification of an existing wireless tower or base station that does not substantially change the physical dimensions of such tower or base station.” Pai said, "We want to resolve uncertainty about section 6409(a) in order to expedite the process for state and local governments to review applications to deploy wireless infrastructure." CTIA and the Wireless Infrastructure Association petitioned the agency for that clarification. They didn't have immediate responses.

That the infrastructure item apparently is a declaratory ruling rather than an NPRM disappointed NATOA General Counsel Nancy Werner, she emailed us. "The industry petitions that prompted this action don’t provide any insight into the Commission’s thoughts on these issues, so we are left to guess how the rules might change," she said. "Given the tremendous burden local governments are under right now in dealing with the pandemic, it would be unfortunate for the Commission to add to the load by issuing a new declaratory ruling local governments will have to digest and implement."

"One key to unleashing 5G has been repurposing high-band, millimeter-wave frequencies," the chair noted. Pai's new plan would "explore innovative new uses of the 71-76 GHz, 81-86 GHz, 92-94 GHz, and 94.1-95 GHz bands," he said of the so-called 70/80/90 GHz bands. "We will be seeking comment on potential rule changes for commercial users to facilitate the provision of wireless backhaul for 5G, as well as the deployment of broadband services to aircraft and ships, in these bands. Because this is co-primary spectrum for federal and non-federal users, we will coordinate any proposed rule changes with affected agencies through" NTIA. The 70/80/90 item is an NPRM, a commission spokesperson told us.

The Phase I of Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction procedures involve an Oct. 29 start that some sought to either delay or speed up. Another item that Commissioner Brendan Carr is involved in, in addition to the wireless siting action, is about ATSC 3.0 allowing "broadcast spectrum capacity to support 'Broadcast Internet' services," Pai wrote. The chair said commissioners will vote on a declaratory ruling, and comment would be sought.

The 3.0 declaratory ruling would say broadcast ownership attribution rules don't apply to stations banding together to lease their spectrum for the wireless uses enabled by the new standard. The item would include an NPRM seeking comment on other rules that could be streamlined to allow broadcasters to use their spectrum to meet wireless capacity needs.

The four items for Wednesday's monthly commissioners' meeting were OK'd 5-0, FCC officials told us this morning. During the meeting, which began at 10:30 a.m. EDT, an official said the items were approved on circulation, as expected. "We're doing this in record time," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said of the gathering.

The actions were on regulatory fees; the 900 MHz band; deploying satellite earth stations in motion; and broadcaster applications public notices.

FCC spokespeople didn't immediately provide a vote count. One said that there won't be a news conference today with Chairman Ajit Pai or with staff who worked on the items.

Sinclair agreed to a $48 million civil penalty as part of settling an FCC probe of the company's since-killed takeover of Tribune Media, the agency announced Wednesday. It's the highest civil penalty involving a broadcaster, the FCC said: The prior high was $24 million by Univision in 2007, as that company was being taken private. Now, Sinclair has licenses up for renewal.

The FCC said the new decree ends investigations of Sinclair's disclosure of information about buying Tribune TV stations and whether the buyer negotiated retransmission consent agreements in good faith and identified the sponsor of content it produced and supplied to Sinclair and other TV stations. A company representative declined to comment right away on the record.

“Sinclair’s conduct during its attempt to merge with Tribune was completely unacceptable,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. “Today’s penalty, along with the failure of the Sinclair/Tribune transaction, should serve as a cautionary tale to other licensees seeking Commission approval of a transaction in the future. On the other hand, I disagree with those who, for transparently political reasons, demand that we revoke Sinclair’s licenses. While they don’t like what they perceive to be the broadcaster’s viewpoints, the First Amendment still applies around here.”

Offices of other commissioners didn't comment immediately.

FCBA canceled the annual December FCC chairman's dinner. It's one of the further-out telecom and tech events canceled so far due to the pandemic and resulting public gathering precautions.

"Planning the Chairman’s Dinner is a months-long endeavor that generally begins about now," said FCBA's newsletter (see bottom of page 3), emailed Monday evening. It cited "uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak." And "it seems possible -- and perhaps even likely -- that a seated indoor event for more than 1,600 guests may still be either prohibited or unwise at that time." The Executive Committee made the decision.

The association didn't have immediate further comment. Spokespeople for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai didn't comment.

NTIA has filled at least two policy roles, the agency confirmed Friday afternoon. Michigan State University law professor Adam Candeub was named deputy assistant secretary of commerce for the agency and former Charter Communications Group Vice President-Advanced Engineering Jim Medica became senior adviser.

Doug Kinkoph will remain acting NTIA administrator. There have been some leadership changes since the agency abruptly lost its permanent head, David Redl, last May amid spectrum disputes with the FCC. Later in the year, acting head Diane Rinaldo also left.

Candeub didn’t comment and referred us to NTIA. He previously worked at the FCC.

ICANN rejected the Internet Society's proposed sale of Public Interest Registry to Ethos Capital after "completing extensive due diligence," Chairman Maarten Botterman blogged Thursday night. Directors found withholding consent to the transfer "is reasonable, and the right thing to do." The deal had attracted scrutiny from legislators and from at least one attorney general, while nonprofit advocates opposed it. The decision "sets a dangerous precedent with broad industry implications," said Ethos.

The board "was presented with a unique and complex situation" affecting one of the largest registries with more than 10.5 million domain names registered, Botterman said. The review found that "the public interest is better served in withholding consent as a result of various factors that create unacceptable uncertainty over the future of the third largest gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) registry." The entire board stands by the decision, Botterman wrote.

The decision "is a hard-fought victory for nonprofit Internet users," said the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We’re glad ICANN listened to the many voices in the nonprofit world urging it not to support the sale."

The registry called it a "disappointing decision" that's "a failure to follow [ICANN's] bylaws, processes, and contracts." The Internet Society said it's "disappointed that ICANN has acted as a regulatory body it was never meant to be." Parties to the deal reacted in a joint post with comments from each of them that a spokesperson provided us when asked for comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants ISPs to not cut off services to customers for an additional approximately month and a half, through June. He extended his Keep Americans Connected pledge until June 30, the agency announced Thursday.

"Companies representing the vast majority of broadband and telephone subscriptions have already agreed to this extension," Pai said. Since the pledge began March 13, 700-plus broadband and phone service providers committed for 60 days to the pledge, the agency noted now. "Given our nation’s current situation, I’m urging these companies to extend these important offerings -- uninterrupted service, waiving of late fees, and continued availability of Wi-Fi hotspots."

AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox, Midco, Verizon, T-Mobile and others had recently agreed to extend the no-cutoff period, amid COVID-19, as we reported. The FCC and major trade associations didn't say right away what other companies have since signed on.

As COVID-19 continues to affect the U.S., ISPs are beginning to extend the period of time they will delay disconnecting telecom services. Within minutes of each other Monday afternoon, Cox and Verizon made such commitments. More companies are expected to follow.

Under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's Keep Americans Connected pledge announced March 13, 700-plus companies and associations agreed to take actions such as not cutting off residential or small business customers because of inability to pay for about two months "due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic" and waiving associated late fees. The agency declined to comment now.

Monday, Verizon extended its pledge through June 30. That "was a proactive step by our company," a company spokesperson emailed us when we asked if it at Pai's request: "We made the decision based on the current national and needs of our customers."

Cox extended through June its similar pledge that also includes keeping its Wi-Fi hot spots open.

NCTA expects other members to add time to their pledges, as Cox did, said a spokesperson for the association. Other cable, telco and wireless groups and companies didn't comment.

AT&T's Randall Stephenson is retiring as CEO. The 60-year-old who has been chief for 13 years will become executive chairman until January; he had been CEO-chair. The board elected Chief Operating Officer-President John Stankey, 57, as CEO effective July 1, and a director on June 1.

The telco will split the CEO and chair roles, it announced Friday. The board will elect an independent director as chair when Stephenson retires as executive chairman in January.

Shareholder Elliott Management has criticized AT&T. Elliott didn't comment now, and AT&T didn't comment on whether the change was made to address these or other concerns.

The FCC is poised to act against four companies it alleges are controlled by China's government. The agency issued show cause orders Friday to China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, ComNet and Pacific Networks. They are asked to explain why the commission shouldn't “start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate” in the U.S. The materials are here.

The agency rejected a China Mobile USA application last year, and was expected to take additional steps against other such companies this year. “The Show Cause Orders reflect our deep concern -- one shared by the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and State and the U.S. Trade Representative -- about these companies’ vulnerability to the exploitation, influence, and control of the Chinese Communist Party, given that they are subsidiaries of Chinese state-owned entities,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Citing COVID-19 and communications network usage, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said he supports the show cause orders. “With such an unprecedented increase in data traffic, we’ve never had a greater need to ensure the security of these communications,” he said. “We must pay even greater attention to whom we permit to interconnect with American communications networks.”

The four companies and China's embassy in Washington didn't immediately comment.

FCC members unanimously approved Ligado's use of its L-band spectrum for terrestrial use, the agency announced Monday morning. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called the vote "another step forward for American leadership in 5G and advanced wireless services.” The vote "reflects the broad, bipartisan support that this order has received," he said.

Swift action on the draft order, which went on circulation last week, was expected.

Ligado didn't immediately comment. The text of the order wasn't released and the commission didn't comment right away.

The FCC and the Office of the Solicitor General filed a cert petition at the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Prometheus IV. Parties to the case sent us the filing, which wasn't yet online or confirmed by the FCC.

A similar petition from NAB and several broadcasters is also expected to be filed Friday. The 3rd Circuit sent back some media ownership rules to the commission.

“For the past 17 years, the same divided Third Circuit panel has repeatedly prevented the Commission from fulfilling Section 202(h)’s mandate that the agency ‘shall’ repeal or modify any ownership rule it determines is no longer ‘necessary in the public interest,'" the government said. “The panel’s repeated vacaturs and remands, and its retention of jurisdiction over subsequent appeals, have had far-reaching consequences for domestic broadcast markets.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to OK with conditions Ligado’s application for a low-power terrestrial nationwide broadband network, the agency confirmed Thursday morning in a long-anticipated move. The L-band operations could support 5G and the IoT, the regulator said. “This draft order would both promote more efficient and effective use of our nation’s spectrum resources and ensure that adjacent band operations," including GPS, "are protected from harmful interference,” it added.

Some inside and outside the FCC seek and/or expect a quick vote, we are told. Some FCC members could vote very soon, an official said. But there doesn't appear to have been much consideration or discussion of the draft among commissioners, another official said. No draft is expected to be made public, in keeping with the custom for commission actions that aren't initially slated for meeting votes. A commission spokesperson had no immediate comment.

“After many years of consideration, it is time for the FCC to make a decision and bring this proceeding to a close,” said Pai. “We have compiled an extensive record.” He noted the company previously agreed to lower the power of its operations due to interference concerns.

As with some other spectrum matters, the federal government wasn't of one mind on how the FCC should proceed here. "Although I appreciate the concerns that have been raised by certain Executive Branch agencies, it is the Commission’s duty to make an independent determination based on sound engineering," Pai said. "The draft order would authorize downlink operations at a power level that represents a greater than 99% reduction from what Ligado proposed in its 2015 application.”

Attorney General William Barr hopes "the full Commission moves forward quickly.” His statement cited the need to keep up U.S. leadership on 5G. "Freeing up L-band spectrum for use in tandem with the C-band, as the Chairman proposes, should greatly reduce the cost and time it will take to deploy 5G throughout the country and would be a major step toward preserving our economic future," he added. NTIA didn't comment right away.

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly tweeted that he appreciates that Pai is “circulating an item on a long pending issue. As always, I will read and vote quickly.”

The other commissioners didn't immediately make any statements and their staffs had no immediate comment.

T-Mobile/Sprint got its final OK, as the California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 Thursday for a revised proposal that reasserted the agency’s authority to review the deal while adjusting some conditions.

The carriers closed April 1 without CPUC clearance but later agreed to pause consolidating California operations until commissioners voted. The carriers claimed CPUC lacked authority over wireless transactions, and that review of a Sprint wireline transfer was no longer needed because Sprint moved customers to VoIP.

“We very fundamentally disagree on this point” of jurisdiction, said assigned Commissioner Cliff Rechtschaffen at Thursday’s webcast meeting. T-Mobile/Sprint was a “tough case,” but Rechtschaffen ultimately decided benefits would outweigh possible competitive harms if the CPUC added enforceable conditions on state LifeLine and other things, he said.

The California Public Utilities Commission reasserted authority to review T-Mobile/Sprint, while tweaking some conditions the carriers opposed, in a revised proposed decision released Wednesday. Commissioners plan to vote Thursday.

T-Mobile and Sprint “have California wireless subsidiaries that are public utility telephone corporations under state law, and subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission,” the CPUC said. The agency rejected the carriers’ motion to withdraw their wireline application, plus Sprint’s letter relinquishing its wireline certificate, the two moves the carriers used to lay foundation for closing without California OK.

The CPUC removed specific backup power obligations and requirements that 5G commitments extend to 2030. It added a condition that 93% of California's population has 300 Mbps download speeds in 2024. The agency also tweaked conditions for Lifeline, a Boost pilot program and CalSpeed testing. The companies have completed their deal and made moves to begin integrating in states other than California.

COVID-19 effects continue to be felt in media, telecom and technology. NAB won't move when planned, we were told Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier that day, we heard that an annual summer Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen, Colorado, was postponed and moved cross country to be in the fall. You can see that report in front of our pay wall here (as is some of our other coronavirus coverage). Monday, we reported that the FCC also won't move on time. See here.

NAB had planned to move from its longtime building near Dupont Circle to its newly constructed headquarters last week, its spokesperson said now. That wasn't possible, he noted: "NAB staff has been working remotely from home since March 16."

The broadcasters' association is "currently in a holding pattern on when we actually will be able to move in to 1M" St. SE (see here), emailed the spokesperson: "The building is ready whenever it's deemed safe to transition from our 'shelter in place' status."

In an interview on C-SPAN taped at around the time much of Washington began what's now called work from home, NAB CEO Gordon Smith had said the HQ move was "on track." He called the new facility a "beautiful new building" that puts the trade group closer to Congress. "It will enhance our efficiency," he told us then.

Frontier Communications is the latest telco to file for bankruptcy. Bondholders representing more than 75% of the carrier's approximately $11 billion in unsecured bonds agreed to support the plan that's expected to reduce the company’s debt by more than $10 billion, said an email we received at around 11 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The company said it and subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

"Frontier expects to continue providing quality service to its customers without interruption and work with its business partners as usual throughout the court-supervised process," said its news release: It "has sufficient liquidity to meet its ongoing obligations."

The company plans to continue the sale of its Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington operations to Northwest Fiber for $1.35 billion cash. Closing may occur April 30 and the seller said it will seek court approval "to complete the transaction on an expedited basis."

Last year, Windstream filed for bankruptcy. Frontier's filing wasn't immediately available.

The Technology Policy Institute is the latest organization in media, technology and telecom to reschedule an event due to COVID-19. TPI moved its annual conference from Aug. 16-18 in Aspen, Colorado, across the country to Boar's Head Resort in Charlottesville on Oct. 16-18, we were told this week. It's one of the farthest out on the calendar events to be rescheduled due to COVID-19.

The change is because of "ongoing uncertainty about the feasibility of travel" by August, emailed TPI President Scott Wallsten Tuesday. "The Democratic Convention is now scheduled for that weekend, and we don't want to compete with that."

The Democratic National Convention Committee said April 4 it rescheduled the 2020 Democratic National Convention to the week of Aug. 17 in Milwaukee.

The FCC’s move to new headquarters near Union Station has been delayed at least two months due to COVID-19, a spokesperson told us Monday afternoon. The move had been slated to happen in late June.

Since the FCC’s pandemic response means few employees are in the building, preparations for the move were delayed. One official told us it may be delayed into the fall.

The new HQ is Sentinel Square III at 45 L St. NE. The current location is 445 12th St. SW.

The FCC Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau won't investigate any allegedly inaccurate statements by President Donald Trump on COVID-19 that broadcasters carried. FCC staff "today wholly rejected a petition by Free Press demanding a government investigation into broadcasters that have aired" such statements during White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings and related commentary "regarding the coronavirus pandemic by other on-air personalities." That's per a letter/order the commission announced Monday.

General Counsel Tom Johnson and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey said Free Press "seeks remedies that would dangerously curtail the freedom of the press embodied in the First Amendment and misconstrues the Commission’s rules." Their agency "will neither act as a roving arbiter of broadcasters’ editorial judgments nor discourage them from airing breaking news events involving government officials in the midst of the current global pandemic," the FCC said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the "federal government will not -- and never should -- investigate broadcasters for their editorial judgments simply because a special interest group is angry at the views being expressed on the air as well as those expressing them." He said "we will not censor the news" and "consistent with the First Amendment, we leave it to broadcasters to determine for themselves how to cover this national emergency.”

Free Press made an emergency petition late last month. The group and NAB didn't comment immediately.

T-Mobile told California regulators Tuesday night it's completing the multibillion-dollar takeover of Sprint before getting their approval because of concerns over COVID-19 and financing. Wednesday morning, it completed that deal.

T-Mobile will honor its 50 voluntary commitments to the California Public Utilities Commission but not additional requirements in the CPUC’s proposed decision, the company wrote the regulator. T-Mobile then-president and now-CEO Michael Sievert asked the agency to revise its proposal and vote on it at commissioners' April 16 meeting. That's when the agency plans to vote on the deal, with CPUC conditions.

“The companies ... cannot take the risk of waiting any longer to consummate the merger,” Sievert wrote. “The COVID-19 crisis has created unprecedented uncertainty and risk in the financial markets, including the debt markets that are critical for us to secure the required financing for the merger and our 5G network build-out,” he said. “If we do not close the transaction on April 1, it is conceivable that we may never be able to do so.”

The CPUC didn't comment. Nor did T-Mobile.

Our earlier news bulletin about the completion of the deal is here. Our earlier article about the companies' plans is here. (Communications Daily is putting coronavirus-related news in front of its pay wall.)

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai confirmed Wednesday he will seek a vote at the commissioners' March 23 meeting on making 1,200 megahertz available for Wi-Fi and other unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band. The draft rules are to be posted Thursday.

“I’ve shared with my colleagues my plan to unleash next-generation Wi-Fi -- a plan that one champion of innovation has called, ‘without a doubt the single biggest opportunity in Wi-Fi -- and probably in wireless -- in a generation,” Pai wrote.

Also at the meeting, Pai seeks a vote on a 5G Fund for rural America. “This proposal would use multi-round reverse auctions to distribute up to $9 billion, in two phases to bring 5G service to rural areas of our country,” he said now: “Phase I … would target at least $8 billion of support over ten years to rural areas of our country that would be unlikely to be covered by the commitments made by New T-Mobile as part of its acquisition of Sprint.”

FCC commissioners OK'd rules for a $200 million COVID-19 telehealth program late Tuesday, after remaining members voted, agency officials told us. It directs the funds appropriated in the Cares Act. Also OK'd, but without unanimous support, was a three-year, $100 Connected Care pilot funded by USF, agency officials said.

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly dissented from the pilot program, "which in addition to resting on shaky legal footing is unrelated to the health crisis and has numerous problems in how it’s to be administered," an aide emailed. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel approved in part, and concurred in part, to the joint item, an aide emailed.

Commissioners voted on the telehealth programs as a single item, not as two separate ones, an idea that came up Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai heralded the coronavirus telehealth program Wednesday in a tweet and an appearance on Fox News.

The orders weren't released by early afternoon.

In court documents emailed to stakeholders a few hours after deal completion was announced, T-Mobile got the final federal nod for buying Sprint. The final judgment on the deal and divestiture to Dish Network was in U.S. District Court in Washington, which had been reviewing the transaction on antitrust grounds.

Sprint and T-Mobile didn't comment on this latest action, which is in Pacer here and here. California Public Utilities Commission OK still may be needed.

“Once the Consent Decree is entered, T-Mobile has 90 days to divest Boost to DISH," Dish emailed. "We are eager to welcome Boost customers, employees and dealers, and look forward to delivering lower prices and increased competition in the prepaid market.”​

Our earlier news bulletin about the completion of the deal is here. Our earlier article about Sprint and T-Mobile's plans is here. The acquirer said it's completing the deal now in part because of COVID-19. (Communications Daily is putting coronavirus-related news in front of its pay wall.)

Lacking California OK, T-Mobile completed the purchase of Sprint. The deal completion was announced Wednesday morning by T-Mobile, which earlier this week and as we previously reported signaled its intention to complete the multibillion-dollar deal without California Public Utilities Commission approval.

T-Mobile also said that it shifted CEOs, ahead of schedule. What it described as its "long-planned Chief Executive Officer transition from John Legere to Mike Sievert" is now complete. Legere remains on the board "for the remainder of his current term," until the annual meeting in June, the carrier said.

T-Mobile and the CPUC didn't comment immediately about completing the deal before commissioners voted. The FCC and DOJ had OK'd the combination, with conditions.

T-Mobile and Sprint might be trying to close their deal without California OK. Sprint advised the California Public Utilities Commission Monday evening that it is relinquishing its state certificate and the two carriers moved to withdraw their wireline transfer-of-control application.

Nearly two years after T-Mobile and Sprint sought California OK, “the nature of Sprint Wireline’s services has changed, and approval for the wireline transaction under California Public Utilities Code § 854(a) is no longer required,” the carriers said. Sprint completed transition of wireline services to VoIP, an information and interstate service that’s not regulated by the state, the carriers said. The carriers didn’t ask to withdraw a separate filing notifying the CPUC that they are combining wireless assets. Deal watchers said the state agency’s authority over wireless is murky.

The carriers had said they wanted to close April 1. California commissioners were expected to vote April 16 on a proposed decision to clear the deal with conditions. The companies didn't comment Tuesday morning.

“Timing is definitely driving this unusual action,” emailed former CPUC Commissioner Rachelle Chong. The carriers’ filings set the stage for the carriers to close without CPUC permission and gives them basis to challenge any conditions, Tellus Venture Associates President Steve Blum blogged.

In a new twist for the COVID-19 age, commissioners approved, before they gathered electronically, all five regulatory items at a truncated monthly meeting held virtually and webcast live, agency officials told us. All or many of the votes appeared to have been unanimous. Items weren't discussed in detail and voting was done on circulation, as planned. Spokespeople said vote counts weren't immediately available.

It's the understanding of Commissioner Mike O'Rielly that all items were OK'd 5-0, he told us in media Q&A. After the meeting, O'Rielly had spoken with journalists via Zoom.

Commissioners approved actions on phone access charges, distributed transmission systems for ATSC 3.0, robocalls, TV station coverage areas and program carriage rules. The agenda is here.

The webcast was here.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is circulating plans for some $300 million of telehealth spending. One plan is for $200 million and would support healthcare providers' telehealth services to fight the coronavirus, under the Cares Act. The rest of the money is for the agency's connected care pilot. It would use USF money over three years.

Pai noted Commissioner Brendan Carr's work on the latter telehealth issue. To get some of the money, Carr said that eligible healthcare providers "would submit a streamlined application" and the agency "would award funds to selected applicants on a rolling basis until the funds are exhausted or until the current pandemic has ended."

"As we self-isolate and engage in social distancing," telehealth becomes "more important across the country," Pai said in Monday's announcement. Healthcare "providers are under incredible, and still increasing, strain as they fight the pandemic," he added.

Tegna confirmed it got "four unsolicited acquisition proposals in recent weeks," saying two plans led to discussions that have since ended amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Without identifying any of the would-be buyers, the TV station owner said Sunday "these two parties made their proposals shortly before the recent market dislocation due to the COVID-19 pandemic and both subsequently informed" the company "they were ceasing discussions."

The broadcaster's board is "willing to consider transactions that create compelling value, and our focus now is on helping management navigate through an unprecedented environment,” said Chairman Howard Elias. CEO Dave Lougee said, like other companies, his "is operating in uncharted waters due to COVID-19 as we focus on ensuring the health and safety of our employees while continuing to create and preserve value."

The company's market value is $2.88 billion, it says. It didn't comment further. Its release said it doesn't "intend to update this disclosure."

The FCC delayed two spectrum auctions, due to COVID-19, in an announcement Wednesday.

Auction 105 on priority access licenses for the 3550-3650 MHz band now starts July 23. The start originally was about a month earlier. The band involves citizens broadband radio service.

The regulator "is postponing indefinitely Auction 106" of FM construction permits, it said. It was scheduled to begin April 28.

“Many Americans have had to make tough decisions on how they do business in this rapidly changing environment, and the FCC is no different,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. It's in "everyone’s best interest to make these changes," he added. "We remain committed to holding the 3.5 GHz auction this summer and look forward to beginning this important mid-band auction in July.”

Spokespeople didn't immediately answer our questions.

FCC staff delayed deadlines on the agency "seeking to refresh the record" on net neutrality and Lifeline, it announced Wednesday afternoon. "With this 21-day extension, comments are due" April 20, replies May 20. A Feb. 19 public notice sought feedback on aspects of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s Mozilla v. FCC ruling.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, California Public Utilities Commission, Los Angeles, Center for Democracy and Technology, Common Cause, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Incompas and Public Knowledge were among those that earlier this month sought delays to have comments due April 29, replies May 29. Some of those groups didn't comment right away.

The PN had a month for comments and one more for replies, the commission said now. "Nevertheless, we find that Requesters have shown good cause for an extension of the comment cycle, and that the public interest will be served by extending the" deadlines, it added. "Requesters assert that staff, officials, and first responders who possess knowledge relevant to the public safety-related questions raised in the Public Notice are presently occupied with preparing for and conducting emergency responses to the COVID-19 public safety crisis."

The March 31 FCC commissioners' meeting will be livestream only and all items will be voted beforehand on circulation, agency officials said in interviews this week. The unusual format stems from the agency’s COVID-19 prevention measures, which have most staffers teleworking and headquarters closed to visitors without special permission.

Officials said the meeting will likely be short. Instead of commissioners giving statements with each meeting item, each will give a single set of brief remarks. The regulator said a sunshine notice Tuesday would address the meeting format.

Details on Tuesday's meeting are here.

The Supreme Court vacated the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruling a lower court dismissal of a discrimination complaint against Comcast brought by Entertainment Studios Network. The decision Monday penned by Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected ESN arguments that under federal civil rights law, the plaintiff bearing only the burden of showing race was a motivating factor. SCOTUS said the court has rejected the motivating factor test in other cases.

The decision remands the case to the 9th Circuit to see how the complaint fares under the proper standard. Oral argument was in November.

The opinion was joined by all justices except Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.

President Donald Trump renominated FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Wednesday to another five-year term, ending June 30, 2024.

The White House announced the renomination in a notice of nominations it sent to the Senate.

FCC staff waived some USF healthcare and E-rate gift rules amid COVID-19. Some stakeholders had sought these and other actions.

The Wireline Bureau allowed service providers to offer until Sept. 30, and Rural Health Care and E-rate program participants to seek and to get, "improved connections or additional equipment for telemedicine or remote learning during the coronavirus outbreak." That lets healthcare providers, schools and libraries get improved capacity, Wi-Fi hot spots, networking gear, and other equipment and services, the FCC announced Wednesday afternoon.

“The increase in COVID-19 patients is presenting unique challenges to America’s hospitals and health care providers,” said Chairman Ajit Pai. He said telemedicine can help, as can remote learning for students "home for an extended period." Private-sector efforts can "complement the Commission’s ongoing work with Congress to appropriate funds for a Remote Learning Initiative and a COVID Connected Care Pilot," he added.

Communications challenges posed by the novel coronavirus prompted NAB CEO Gordon Smith to seek help from other industries. He hopes for no retransmission consent blackouts of TV stations' content on MVPDs. And he wants social media platforms to work with broadcasters to combat fake news.

"Broadcasters don’t want to see service interruptions of any kind," Smith said Wednesday late-morning in a C-SPAN interview for the Communicators, answering our questions. "Hopefully, our friends on the cable and satellite side will kind of stand down." In past crises, TV stations have a "history of doing that and I have no reason to believe that won’t continue," Smith said. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made such a request Tuesday. His spokespeople didn't comment now.

ACA Connects backed Pai's request, a spokesperson for the association noted now. It endorsed Pai’s "suggestion that broadcasters and MVPDs work to maintain a 'quiet period' to avoid disruption during this national emergency. We will ask our members to respect this quiet period and expect that they will do so." NCTA declined to comment. AT&T, owner of DirecTV, and Dish Network didn't comment.

Smith wants to prevent social media from spreading what he called fake news. He thinks if those platforms work with broadcasters and with newspapers, they can promote "solid, factual journalism." The Internet Association, Facebook, Google and Twitter didn't comment.

The FCC Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau are allowing stations in the current repack phase affected by delays related to the novel coronavirus to wait until the next phase, said a public notice Tuesday. The repack just began phase 9, scheduled to end May 1. Stations that can’t meet that deadline will be granted a waiver of that deadline and a reassignment to phase 10, May 2-July 3, the PN said.

“We recognize that the construction and delivery delays that are occurring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as efforts undertaken by the stations themselves to protect the health of their employees and their families, result from circumstances outside of a station’s control,” the PN said. The repacking transition plan includes flexibility to allow the agency to adjust the schedule for specific stations on a case-by-case basis “as they navigate specific transition problems,” the notice said.

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Dozens of ISPs of all sizes agreed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's suggestion the industry not take adverse action against customers for the next two months amid the coronavirus pandemic, he announced Friday morning. Those companies won't terminate service to any residential or small-business customers because of inability to pay due to such disruptions; will waive any related late fees; and will open their Wi-Fi hot spots to anyone. Pai is also seeking that the providers make other changes, including related to bandwidth caps.

"Yesterday, in multiple phone calls with broadband and telephone service providers and trade associations," Pai "emphasized the importance of keeping Americans connected as the country experiences serious disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak," the agency said. Many agreed to what Pai coined as the Keep Americans Connected Pledge, and the FCC said they "will implement it as soon as possible."

Among them, the agency said, are AlticeUSA, Atlantic Broadband, AT&T, Burlington Telecom, Cable One, Central Arkansas Telephone Cooperative, CenturyLink, Charter, Cincinnati Bell, Citizens, Comcast, Consolidated Communications, Cox Communications, Frontier, Google Fiber, Grande Communications, Granite Telecommunications, Great Plains Communications, Mediacom, RCN, Sonic, Sprint, Starry, TDS, T-Mobile, TracFone, Uniti Fiber, US Cellular, Vast Broadband, Verizon, Vyve and Windstream.

Pai is also urging providers to do the following, a spokesperson emailed: "Expand and improve low-income broadband programs" and start such initiatives if they lack them; "relax data cap policies as appropriate"; waive long-distance and overage fees, also "as appropriate"; work with "schools and libraries on remote learning"; and "prioritize the connectivity needs of hospitals and healthcare providers."

The FCC said ACA Connects, the Competitive Carriers of America, CTIA, Incompas, NCTA, NTCA, USTelecom and the Wireless ISP Association endorsed the plan. Some groups confirmed their endorsement, in emails in the minutes after the FCC news release. Others didn't comment immediately.

"This is a challenge, but one that our industry will strive mightily to meet,” said NCTA CEO Michael Powell. Others saying similar included Incompas CEO Chip Pickering and WISPA. CTIA CEO Meredith Baker said the wireless industry is "committed to serving our customers and continuing to provide access to the world’s most reliable wireless networks."

Due to the coronavirus, the FCC closed its building to visitors, Chairman Ajit Pai announced Thursday afternoon. He also noted in a series of tweets that the agency is encouraging its employees to work remotely, as we had just reported. See here. The commission cited the need for social distancing, which some experts say can help limit the spread of COVID-19.

"As the number of reported COVID-19 cases in the United States increases and the World Health Organization has classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, the FCC, effective immediately, will no longer allow visitors into our facilities, absent special permission from the Office of Managing Director," the FCC said. "No visitor will be granted such permission unless there is a clear operational necessity. This measure will remain in effect for the foreseeable future and is being taken to help protect the health and safety of our employees and mitigate or slow the transmission of COVID-19 within the community."

With the building limitations and telework, the goal is "continuing to conduct the regular and ongoing work of the FCC and encourage parties with business before the Commission to work with Commission staff to schedule necessary meetings by teleconference," the regulator said. "These measures will help to provide for the orderly conduct of Government business, while protecting FCC staff and outside parties."

Questions and requests to enter the agency's facilities should go to FCC Managing Director Mark Stephens, the agency said. The notice lists his contact information.

The FCC is encouraging staff to work remotely due to the coronavirus, we were told Thursday. This was expected. See here.

The agency hopes to have a small contingent of workers at its facilities at any one time, staffers were apparently told today, according to our interviews and to a memo.

FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry in a memo said he and Chairman Ajit Pai were recommending all who had telework OK to work from home as much as possible. Berry said those who aren't part of a remote work program could seek such permission.

Commission officials noted the increased precautions weren't meant to induce panic, and those we spoke with were acting accordingly. Spokespeople didn't have a comment.

Geoffrey Starks tweeted Thursday at around the time of a commission memo that "as communications policymakers, @FCC should be a leading example of how we can stay healthy and perform effectively with telework. That’s why starting tomorrow, my team and I will be working remotely. We will reassess the situation as facts develop."

Among other commissioners' offices, Brendan Carr's said his staff was teleworking. Other commissioners' offices didn't share their plans.

NAB's annual show next month was canceled. CEO Gordon Smith cited the coronavirus.

"In the interest of addressing the health and safety concerns of our stakeholders and in consultation with partners throughout the media and entertainment industry, we have decided not to move forward with NAB Show in April," Smith wrote this afternoon. "We are currently considering a number of potential alternatives to create the best possible experience for our community."

Broadcasters and FCC watchers had been closely monitoring the situation, with some in the industry pulling out.

More details are here. NAB Show's website is here.

The California Public Utilities Commission would conditionally allow T-Mobile to buy Sprint, under a proposed decision issued Wednesday by Administrative Law Judge Karl Bemesderfer. The PD tees up a commission vote at CPUC’s April 16 meeting.

The proposed decision follows California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) announcing a settlement earlier Wednesday.

COVID-19 caused CTA to cancel a raft of events through June, while moving another to a “virtual format,” said the association Wednesday.

The April 20 CES on the Hill was canceled, as were the April 21 Digital Patriots dinner and the CEO Summit June 22-25. The May 11-14 Technology and Standards Spring Forum in San Francisco will now be a “virtual event.” CTA postponed indefinitely the June 10-12 CES Asia show in Shanghai, about 500 miles east of the outbreak's original epicenter.

With the expanding U.S. coronavirus outbreak, “companies are halting travel, avoiding group gatherings and figuring out the best way to protect employees and serve customers,” said CTA. Canceling “all or part of several near-term 2020 events” will permit member companies to “focus on core operations, plan ahead and conserve resources,” it said. “Canceling meetings at the last minute means frustration and lost expense and no gain."

FCBA postponed its March events.

President Josh Turner's email to members Monday afternoon cited "the coronavirus outbreak" that's evolving rapidly. He noted the FCC and "a number of our members’ companies and firms have put temporary travel restrictions in place, and in some cases have limited participation in public events." Read our earlier bulletin about the FCC's policy here.

Events put off for now by the legal association include CLEs, brown bags, a happy hour and a privacy symposium next week. View a list of those events here.

Since "the situation is fluid," the group isn't now changing its April and May events, Turner emailed. "We will be closely monitoring the guidance being promulgated" by the Centers for Disease Prevention and World Health Organization, "as well as the impact of the policies put in place by our members’ companies, firms, and organizations, as well as the federal government."

"If we are going to help reduce the spread of COVID 19, we need to be willing to make small sacrifices like these," Turner concluded his email. "Hopefully this disruption will be short, and we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming soon."

House Communications Subcommittee leaders agreed to let the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) advance to the full House Commerce Committee Tuesday, but there hasn’t been an agreement yet on the bill’s underlying language, subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., told us Monday night. HR-4855 would allocate most proceeds of the coming FCC auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to fund telecom projects. It’s among 11 spectrum, media diversity and public safety communications measures the subcommittee plans to mark up Tuesday.

“We’re going to pass [HR-4855] by voice vote” but “we’re still negotiating” on the bill’s language with House Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and others, Doyle said in an interview. “We’re passing the shell of the bill” for purposes of advancing it to the full committee and are “still working” to reach a consensus ahead of that future markup. “We’re going to have a bill one way or the other” by the time House Commerce leaders decide to bring HR-4855 up for a full committee vote, Doyle said.

Walden confirmed he won’t object to advancing HR-4855 out of House Communications. He emphasized the lack of an agreement with Democratic leaders on the bill text. “The key is not to upend” the C-band auction given the FCC’s recent vote to advance a plan for the sale, he told us. Walden remains against “anything we do that would” hinder the current timeline of making C-band spectrum available for 5G.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a plan to deregulate what he calls telephone access charges, among items tentatively up for a vote at commissioners' March 31 meeting. It would detariff "the last handful of interstate end-user charges that remain subject to FCC regulation," he blogged Monday afternoon.

"Under this proposal, the FCC would also prohibit all carriers from separately listing these charges" on customer bills, the chairman wrote. "Eliminating these line-item charges would make it easier for consumers to understand their phone bills and compare prices among voice service providers as well as help ensure that a carrier's advertised prices are closer to the prices that consumers actually pay." His blog post detailed the "alphabet soup" of such charges. Telecom groups didn't comment in the minutes after the disclosure.

The meeting also will have a vote on robocall/caller ID authentication, as Pai disclosed last week.

Among media items, one is a "proposal to make it easier for broadcast TV stations to use a distributed transmission system, or DTS." Pai noted the FCC majority had "encouraged" the industry to move to ATSC 3.0, and deployments are proceeding: "But there are concerns that the Commission's current rules inhibit expanded DTS deployments with the new standard."

Pai circulated an NPRM based on a proposal by America's Public Television Stations and NAB to seek comment on DTS and 3.0, he said. "We would look at amending the Commission's rules to permit, within certain limits, DTS signals to spill over beyond a station's authorized service area by more than the currently allowed 'minimal amount.'" Those two associations didn't comment immediately.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will propose his colleagues vote at their March 31 meeting to require phone service providers to cut down on spoofed robocalls through caller ID authentication using secure telephone identity revisited standards and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens. That would deliver on Pai's previous comments on Stir/Shaken and a newer law.

"Last year, I demanded that major phone companies voluntarily deploy STIR/SHAKEN, and a number of them did," Pai said Friday morning. "It’s clear that FCC action is needed to spur across-the-board deployment of this important technology. There is no silver bullet when it comes to eradicating robocalls, but this is a critical shot at the target.”

Originating and terminating voice service providers would need to implement Stir/Shaken in the IP portions of their networks by June 30, 2021. A Further NPRM would propose one-year extensions for small and rural providers.

Industry and FCC officials didn't respond to our queries in the minutes after the announcement.

America's Communications Association is postponing its annual Washington, D.C., summit, scheduled for March 17-19, citing coronavirus concerns.

"Our priority is the health and safety of our ... members and all other attendees," ACA President Matt Polka said Thursday morning. ACA didn't have a rescheduled date.

The move follows the scrapping of MWC 2020 in Barcelona and the FCC announcing it was suspending "non-critical" staff travel due to COVID-19 caution.

The FCC suspended "non-critical" staff travel, among other coronavirus precautions, it announced Wednesday afternoon. Also on hiatus "until further notice" is the agency's "involvement in non-critical large gatherings that involve participants" from "across the country and/or around the world."

Certain visitors also are banned from the agency's facilities, including its headquarters. That's based on where they have traveled in the past two weeks.

More details are here.

Commerce Department Deputy Chief of Staff and Policy Director Earl Comstock is leaving the department, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed Monday. “I value his wise counsel, his deep policy expertise, his innovative thinking and leadership, and I thank him for his service to the American people,” Ross said in a statement. Comstock's positions on spectrum policy have conflicted with goals of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

FCC members OK'd rules for a C-band auction, at their ongoing meeting Friday morning. The vote was along party lines, 3-2.

The auction of some 280 MHz in 3.7-4.0 GHz, with a 20 MHz guard band, could start later this year. The draft order is here.

Also voted on was a public notice on auction procedures for the satellite spectrum. The agency seeks to have the incumbent operators paid to vacate that swath when bidders purchase it for applications including 5G. That draft PN is here.

This C-band proceeding is one of the most complicated ones he has worked on, said Wireless Bureau Chief Donald Stockdale. It's more than incumbents had thought they could give up, said Commissioner Brendan Carr. "You might know that we got it right by the grumbles that we will hear from both sides."

The FCC would "force" auction winners to pay as much as some $10 billion "over and above relocation costs" in this plan, Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said. "We pluck that amount out of thin air." Commissioner Geoffrey Starks worries the agency's majority "has overstretched our legal precedent."

"We want satellite operators to vacate the lower portion of the C band quickly," said Chairman Ajit Pai. "To properly align those incentives," there will be the approximately $9.7 billion in incentive payments, he added. Pai noted that carriers, not the agency, would make those payments. He agreed with Stockdale on the proceeding's complexity.

The FCC proposed fining the four national wireless carriers a total of more than $200 million over privacy concerns, the agency's chairman, Ajit Pai, announced to reporters this afternoon. He said that the proposed penalties had recently been adopted.

T-Mobile faces a $91 million-plus penalty, according to Pai and an FCC handout given to reporters during the chairman's news conference after the monthly commissioners' meeting. AT&T faces $57 million, Verizon $48 million and Sprint $12 million. All those amounts are a "proposed fine of more than" those figures, per the release.

The four carriers didn't comment immediately.

Disney's board picked a successor for Bob Iger. Bob Chapek was elevated to CEO, effective immediately. He was chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

Iger becomes executive chairman "and will direct the Company’s creative endeavors, while leading the Board" through the end of his contract on Dec. 31, 2021. The company's announcement came Tuesday after regular U.S. markets closed.

Iger's succession has been closely watched. He was named chief in 2005.

Disney has an investor conference call at 4:30 p.m. EST today. Go here.

After a few years of some stakeholders seeking one, a field hearing will be held in Puerto Rico that involves the FCC. A commissioner, not the agency itself, will host it, we were told.

Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will host the field hearing Feb. 21 in San Juan, his office announced Thursday. "The hearing will convene stakeholders from across private and public organizations to discuss steps taken to improve the resiliency of communications networks since Hurricanes Irma and Maria, how communications networks and recovery efforts performed during recent, earthquakes, and what additional actions are needed to ensure that communications networks are always available, particularly to meet public safety needs."

The event will be at the University of Puerto Rico's Rio Piedras Campus.

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has sought an FCC field hearing for some time. Her office and those of Starks and Chairman Ajit Pai didn't have an immediate comment.

The U.S. accused Huawei of conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. DOJ said Thursday afternoon that "a superseding indictment was returned yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York."

"The 16-count superseding indictment also adds a charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets stemming from the China-based company’s alleged long-running practice of using fraud and deception to misappropriate sophisticated technology from U.S. counterparts," Justice said. "The new charges in this case relate to the alleged decades-long efforts by Huawei, and several of its subsidiaries, both in the U.S. and in the People’s Republic of China, to misappropriate intellectual property, including from six U.S. technology companies, in an effort to grow and operate Huawei’s business."

The superseding indictment was partly redacted, and cited "Victim Companies." The names of those companies wasn't immediately clear. Justice didn't immediately comment. Nor did Huawei.

The annual Mobile World Congress was canceled due to the coronavirus. Many companies had pulled out, as we previously reported.

"With due regard to the safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country today, the GSMA has cancelled MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the coronavirus outbreak, travel concern and other circumstances, make it impossible for the GSMA to hold the event." The group made the announcement Wednesday.

GSMA didn't immediately answer further queries.

The FTC ordered Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft to provide information about acquisitions they made since 2010 that weren't reported to that agency or DOJ under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The FTC Act Section 6(b) orders "will help the FTC deepen its understanding of large technology firms’ acquisition activity, including how these firms report their transactions to the federal antitrust agencies, and whether large tech companies are making potentially anticompetitive acquisitions of nascent or potential competitors that fall below HSR filing thresholds," the agency said Tuesday.

“This initiative will enable the Commission to take a closer look at acquisitions in this important sector, and also to evaluate whether the federal agencies are getting adequate notice of transactions that might harm competition," said Chairman Joe Simons. "This will help us continue to keep tech markets open and competitive.”

The tech companies must "provide information and documents on their corporate acquisition strategies, voting and board appointment agreements, agreements to hire key personnel from other companies, and post-employment covenants not to compete," the agency announced. They seek details on "post-acquisition product development and pricing, including whether and how acquired assets were integrated and how acquired data has been treated."

Commissioners OK'd the move 5-0. Commissioners Christine Wilson and Rohit Chopra issued a statement.

The five companies didn't comment immediately.

The judge who heard states' case about whether T-Mobile can buy Sprint won't block the deal.

Judge Victor Marrero isn't finding for states. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York jurist's decision was released Tuesday.

Marrero disagreed the new T-Mobile would pursue anti-competitive behavior that would result in higher prices or lower quality and lessen competition in a national market. The judge disagreed that Sprint would be strong without the merger. He also disagreed that Dish wouldn't be a viable national competitor entering the market under the DOJ pact. "The court concludes that judgment should be entered in favor of Defendants and Plaintiff States' request to enjoin the Proposed Merger should be denied."

In December and January, Marrero heard the trial. The FCC and DOJ have approved the deal. The California Public Utilities Commission hasn't decided whether to greenlight T-Mobile/Sprint. Tunney Act review also remains pending at the U.S. District Court in Washington.

A public auction of 280 MHz of C-band spectrum is targeted to start Dec. 8, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Relocation costs for incumbents -- an estimated $3 billion to $5 billion -- will be covered by auction winners, he said. He said satellite operators then should be eligible for up to $9.7 billion in accelerated relocation payments for clearing the lower 100 MHz in 46 of top 50 partial economic areas by September 2021, and remaining 180 MHz by September 2023.

It's "in the public interest" to make the spectrum available as soon as possible, and such payments will align satellite company interests with public interests, Pai said this afternoon. He said the Miscellaneous Receipts Act makes it unlikely the FCC can give the incumbent satellite operators a cut of proceeds. Those incentives would come from the winning bidders, not the FCC.

Pai said the draft order would be released Friday, and that he had circulated it for a vote at commissioners' Feb. 28 meeting. He called this one of the most complicated matters the FCC has tackled during his chairmanship. He said 280 MHz is an “appropriate balance” of reserving enough spectrum for incumbent uses and still a significant amount. There also would be a 20 MHz guard band.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's $9.7 billion C-band clearing plan has support from fellow Republican commissioners. That means the order has the votes needed to be approved at or before the Feb. 28 commissioners' meeting.

Brendan Carr told us the Pai proposal "landed it in the exact right spot" and that he would be "voting for these numbers." He said the proposal is "legally sustainable" and the agency has "ample authority" for this approach. Carr's office also released a statement.

Mike O'Rielly in a statement said he intended to support the order. See here.

Democratic votes are less clear. Jessica Rosenworcel said the Communications Act seemingly doesn't allow some payments the agency plans to make. Commissioner Geoffrey Starks didn't comment.

Under Pai's plan announced today, a public auction of 280 MHz of C band would kick off Dec. 8. He said aside from reimbursement costs for repacking and transition, incumbents in the band would be eligible for up to $9.7 billion in incentive payments for clearing 100 MHz by September 2021 and the rest by September 2023.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated Wednesday an NPRM for a Feb. 28 commissioners' vote. It "would allow white space devices to reach users at greater distances, thus enabling improved broadband coverage," the agency announced this morning. "Because white space device operations must protect other authorized services from interference, Chairman Pai is also proposing to increase the minimum required separation distances for white space devices operating at higher power."

This proposal "would further help bridge the digital divide while protecting TV stations,” Pai said. The rulemaking proposes to OK "higher transmit power and higher antennas for fixed white space devices in rural areas." It would allow "higher power mobile operations within geo-fenced areas and proposes rule revisions to facilitate the development of new and innovative narrowband" IoT services, the agency said.

Microsoft has sought white spaces changes, and NAB has agreed on some but not all of them. The company and association, as well as wireless groups, didn't comment right away.

The agency will release Pai's blog Thursday about items he's circulating for the Feb. 28 meeting, an agency spokesperson told us. Those drafts will be released Friday, she said.

President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union speech he’s “committed to ensuring that every citizen can have access to high-speed internet, including and especially in rural America.” Tuesday night was the first time Trump mentioned broadband connectivity as a priority in the annual address, having not cited it during calls to pass infrastructure legislation in 2018 and 2019.

Trump called again for a rebuilding of “America’s infrastructure.” He asked Congress to pass the America’s Transportation Infrastructure Act (S-2302), which focuses on investments in roads, bridges and tunnels.

Trump touted Capitol Hill passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the U.S. phase one trade agreement with China. The deal “will defend our workers, protect our intellectual property, bring billions of dollars into our treasury, and open vast new markets for products made and grown right here in” the U.S., Trump said. “For decades, China has taken advantage of the United States, now we have changed that but, at the same time, we have perhaps the best relationship we have ever had with China.”

Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the FCC Friday for taking “so long” to reach its finding today that “one or more wireless carriers apparently violated federal law” in their location-tracking practices, including the sale of customer location-tracking data allegedly accessed by bounty hunters. Chairman Ajit Pai wrote House Commerce Committee Democrats Friday to inform them the agency had concluded its year-plus investigation into the claims. The carriers didn’t immediately comment.

“For more than a year, the FCC was silent after news reports” first revealed the carriers’ practices, Rosenworcel said in a statement. “It’s a shame that it took so long for the FCC to reach a conclusion that was so obvious.”

The FCC auction of 3,400 MHz in the 37, 39 and 47 GHz bands garnered gross proceeds of $7.56 billion, the agency announced during commissioners' monthly meeting. “Bidding in the clock phase" ended Thursday after round 104.

"Bidders won 14,142 of 14,144, or more than 99.9%, of available licenses," a spokesperson emailed (and see here). "Winning bidders will now have the opportunity to bid for frequency-specific licenses in the assignment phase of Auction 103." Look for a public notice "soon" with details.

The auction brought in the highest bids of any high-band FCC sale, Communications Daily reported a few days ago.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai plans to soon circulate an item on the C-band auction and seek a vote at the next commissioners' meeting, he told Communications Daily in Q&A after Thursday's monthly gathering. "We will be considering an item on the Feb. 28 meeting to go forward with the C band.”

He noted he likely will send the draft around to all commissioners next week. That's the standard FCC practice.

"We’re still targeting commencement of the auction this year," Pai told us.

The FTC will review social media-related advertising guidelines in 2020, the agency confirmed Thursday. It will consider updating “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” The guides offer insight into how the agency views truthfulness and deceptiveness in ads.

The agency disclosed plans in letters to Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. The three had asked the agency to investigate “undisclosed sponsorships and hidden advertising in child-directed YouTube videos and online content created by social media influencers.” That's per a letter from Chairman Joe Simons.

Our publication obtained the correspondence through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., filed their Spectrum Management And Reallocation for Taxpayers (Smart) Act Tuesday in a bid to designate the proceeds from a coming auction of bandwidth on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Aides to Kennedy and Schatz confirmed the bill’s filing to us ahead of a formal announcement.

The Smart Act would allocate $5 billion in C-band spectrum sales to fund incumbents’ relocation, an additional $1 billion in incentive payments to satellite companies and a further $5 billion to the U.S. Treasury for deficit reduction. Any additional funds from spectrum sales would be for rural broadband and next-generation 911 projects, in keeping with previous proposals from Kennedy and congressional Democrats.