The commercial space launch industry should not be sanguine about SpaceX's forthcoming Starship heavy launch rocket's impact on competition, though changes won't be immediate, Arianespace Chief Commercial Officer Steven Rutgers said Tuesday at the Washington Space Business Roundtable. Meanwhile, a notable shakeout in the ranks of new and emerging launch providers is coming, launch executives predicted.

Public broadcasting advocates are bracing for House Republicans to again attempt ending advance funding for CPB as part of the FY 2025 appropriations process, but they’re hopeful the effort will fall short as it has in the past. The first salvo will likely happen Thursday, when the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) Subcommittee is set to mark up its FY25 bill. The subpanel unsuccessfully tried halting CPB's advance federal funding as part of the FY 2024 appropriations cycle (see 2307140069). Observers are monitoring whether Republicans will use recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at NPR (see 2405080064) as ammunition to move further on defunding that network or CPB.

Policymakers have a better appreciation for the importance of standards as the telecom industry moves closer to the launch of 6G, experts said Tuesday during a 6G workshop streamed from the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Experts warned that standards development is complicated and always is a lengthy process.

Public interest, consumer groups and two providers called on the FCC Tuesday to launch a proceeding that examines “uniform, industrywide” handset unlocking requirements. Industry officials said they expect Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to circulate a notice this week examining the issue for a vote at the July 18 commission meeting. The Open Technology Institute at New America, Consumer Reports, Public Knowledge and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, as well as Verizon and EchoStar, parent of Dish Wireless, signed the joint letter.

Vodafone and other wireless carriers have a ways to go to deploy 5G and are in no hurry to get to 6G, David Lister, Vodafone 6G research lead, said Monday during a 6G workshop streamed at the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Affordable Broadband Campaign and WTA asked the FCC to reconsider its decision granting ISPs forbearance from Communications Act Section 254(d), which governs USF contributions. The contribution mechanism isn't "stable or equitable" and the declining revenue base is "hindering the ability of the commission to ensure that universal service is properly evolving," the groups said in a petition filed Monday in docket 23-320. The FCC granted ISPs forbearance in its May order restoring its net neutrality framework and reclassification of broadband as a Title II telecom service (see 2404190043).

The federal TikTok ban that takes effect Jan. 19 is “unprecedented” because Congress has never “expressly singled out and shut down a specific speech forum,” said TikTok/ByteDance's opening brief Thursday (docket 24-1113) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit challenging the ban’s constitutionality (see 2405070045).

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us Thursday he supports allowing victims of deepfake porn to sue violators, as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., proposed.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday denied AT&T relief from carrier of last resort obligations, while opening a rulemaking to take a fresh look at COLR rules. Also at its meeting, the CPUC approved broadband grants, acted on enforcement items and set annual budgets for the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) and state video franchise law.

While the cable industry invests heavily in the groundwork for DOCSIS 4.0 and the greater speeds it will bring, existing DOCSIS 3.1 broadband delivery specifications and technology will be in use for years to come, cablers said Thursday. During an SCTE webinar, some said DOCSIS 4.0 could open the door to cable operators shifting from "best efforts" service standards to service level agreements (SLA), letting them guarantee specific speed tiers and latency.