A new bid by Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and other senators to attach stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and additional money for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to the FAA Reauthorization Act (see 2405070083) faces resistance from chamber leaders. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other leaders are skeptical about including nongermane language in the FAA package. A previous proposal to attach ACP money drew opposition during a Tuesday night “hotline” that Senate leaders ran to gauge lawmakers’ support for amendments in the package.
The FCC gave net neutrality supporters some of what they were looking for on 5G network slicing, one of the most contested issues before commissioners, providing further clarity (see 2404190038), a comparison of the order and a draft shows. The FCC posted the order late Tuesday. The commission approved it 3-2 at a contentious meeting last month.
With the federal ban on TikTok, Congress has taken the "unprecedented" step of enacting a law that “bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide,” TikTok and ByteDance said Tuesday in their petition for review (docket 24-1113) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit to invalidate the ban.
Congressional Republicans’ recent renewed interest in ending federal funding for NPR is a major issue in a memo from House Commerce Committee GOP aides and in written testimony from witnesses ahead of a Wednesday Oversight Subcommittee hearing on recent claims of pro-Democratic Party bias at the public broadcasting network (see 2405010081). Several Republican lawmakers filed legislation or are eyeing crafting measures aimed at ending NPR’s federal funding (see 2404190060), including the Defund NPR Act (HR-8083). The Commerce Oversight hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
Minnesota won’t craft a law that might put the state's $652 million allocation from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program in jeopardy, Senate Broadband Committee Chair Aric Putnam (D) pledged shortly after midnight Tuesday. Up late considering a labor budget bill that included an industry-opposed broadband safety proposal, senators voted 35-32 to reject amendments from Sen. Gene Dornink (R) that would have scrapped the worker safety plan.
Space operations need more data sharing and openness about who is operating where, satellite operators and space industry representatives and regulators said Tuesday in an FCBA CLE. Multiple speakers expressed the need for more global, integrated rules as well as added consistency in space situational awareness (SSA) data.
The Universal Service Administrative Co's. (USAC) role in administering the FCC's Universal Service Fund programs "is purely administrative," the FCC told the U.S. Supreme Court in response to Consumers' Research's challenge of how the commission determines quarterly contribution factors (see 2401100044). USAC "must comply with detailed regulations issued by the FCC" and "helps the FCC compute the amount of each quarterly payment" carriers must contribute, the agency said in an opposition brief filed in docket 23-456.
Most comments support an Enterprise Wireless Alliance petition at the FCC seeking modifications to Part 90 rules to eliminate the assignment of frequencies within the band's 809-816/854-861 MHz portion to specific pools of eligible entities (see 2402280033). Public safety groups opposed the change.
Adell Broadcasting will bring legal action against Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting if Mission doesn’t accept the FCC’s conditions for approving Mission’s proposed $75 million buy of Adell’s WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan (see 2404240070), Adell CEO Kevin Adell told us in an interview Tuesday.
NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson announced on Tuesday the agency is making available $420 million in funding to build radio equipment needed to spur open radio access networks in the U.S. and abroad, under Phase 2 of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. Plans are to make the first grants in the fall, he said. Applications are due July 10. Davidson spoke during a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.