CBS CEO Les Moonves emphatically denied Thursday the network is in talks to acquire CNN. Rumors of such a deal are "real fake news," he said at an Economic Club luncheon, saying he hasn't talked with executives at CNN or parent Time Warner. A TW spinoff of CNN was speculated as part of AT&T's bid for the cable network (see 1701130018). TW didn't comment. Moonves said a programming talent war is growing with streaming services' original content and with tech companies getting increasingly into the TV space. He said CBS' competitive niche is in programming expertise and its broadcast assets' mass audience. With the growth of skinny programming bundles, CBS's strategy is to always be part of those skinnier bundles alongside its CBS All Access direct-to-consumer streaming service, he said. He also predicted a rebound in NFL ratings this season, chalking up last year's 8 percent ratings decline to more interest in presidential election coverage and anemic Thursday night game matchups. Meanwhile, DOJ may soon OK AT&T/TW, reported the Los Angeles Times earlier that day. DOJ didn't comment.

The Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council urged the FCC to ban "digital redlining" by using its Telecom Act Section 706 mandate to ensure advanced telecom capability is being adequately deployed to all Americans. "The FCC should adopt an impact standard, rather than an intent standard, to determine whether a company is engaged in redlining," MMTC commented Thursday in docket 17-199 on a Section 706 inquiry into ATC deployment. Three Cleveland residents recently filed an FCC complaint alleging digital redlining by AT&T, which AT&T denied (see 1708240046). MMTC also said the commission should evaluate mobile services both jointly and separately from fixed services because the two services are both complements and substitutes in different instances. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association said the commission should set "targets for both fixed and mobile broadband that are sufficiently fast to accommodate high-bandwidth uses and a proliferation of internet-connected devices." Comments were due Thursday but the FCC extended the deadline to Sept. 21.

The FCC needs to cut unnecessary regulation, starting with parts of the 2015 net neutrality rules, to spur the growth of broadband, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday at the Institute for Policy Innovation in Irving, Texas. “Broadband networks are expensive to build. And they don’t have to be built. Capital doesn’t have to be spent. Risks don’t have to be taken. So the more difficult government makes the business case for deployment, the less likely it is that broadband providers, big and small, will invest the billions of dollars needed to connect consumers.” Pai said cutting wireless siting red tape is key to 5G, which will require network densification and building small cells across many markets. “We are talking about hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of small cells,” supported by backhaul, he said. “That’s a lot of approvals that will have to be given -- and a lot of possibilities for delay and higher costs.” Rules "designed for 100-foot towers might not make sense for small cells that are the size of a pizza box," he said.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition pressed the FCC to make documents available to the public about consumer open internet concerns. NHMC officials updated Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and aides on the agency's response to the group's Freedom of Information Act request for 47,000 consumer complaints since the 2015 net neutrality order was implemented, said the group's filing Tuesday in docket 17-108. They asked the agency "to publish the evidence and incorporate it into the record." Citing another FOIA request on consumer email interactions with an FCC open internet liaison, NHMC said the commission had begun to produce related documents but hasn't released an analysis of assistance provided or alternative remedies. "Because the Commission has proposed eliminating this role, we urged the Commission to analyze the information, publish it for public review, and incorporate the documents into the record," it said. The FCC didn't comment.

Obvious deficiencies with dedicated short range communications technology for vehicle-to-vehicle communications, married to the Department of Transportation's August downgrading of the DSRC mandate, shows why the FCC should maximize use of the 5.9 GHz band instead by unlicensed technologies, NCTA said in an FCC docket 13-49 filing posted Wednesday. The association said using the band for DSRC safety service is "an inefficient spectrum-warehousing effort," since it's unlikely most of the services and message types talked about by the Association of Global Automakers (AGA) will ever come to market, given lack of development of such services in recent years. It said assertions that six of the seven DSRC channels will be primarily for safety don't square with extensive commercial plans for DSRC. NCTA said the 5.9 GHz band isn't internationally harmonized for DSRC, and there are international indications of less interest in DSRC and more in connected vehicle technologies using LTE networks. It said automakers are divided on the efficacy of DSRC, and there are technologies like cellular-V2X capable of supporting vehicle safety in existing bands. AGA didn't comment. NCTA said DOT's downgraded its vehicle-to-vehicle communications proceeding status from "NPRM" to "undetermined." DOT didn't comment.

An FCC regulatory fee order includes a hike on direct broadcast satellite providers from 27 cents per subscriber to 38 cents per subscriber this year, as proposed in an NPRM, despite opposition from AT&T's DirecTV and Dish Network (see 1708230015 and 1706230027). The commission said it agreed with cable industry arguments that DBS providers occupy Media Bureau resources "similar" to those used by cable (including IPTV), while it noted a disparity in regulatory fee assessments. The DBS increase is "an effort to bring the regulatory fee closer" to the cable fee, which is now 95 cents per subscriber, said the order and Further NPRM in docket 17-134 released Tuesday to collect $356.7 million in regulatory fees in FY 2017 (see 1709050081). The FCC projected about $22 million (6.2 percent of the allocation) in fees from International Bureau regulatees; $89 million (24.9 percent) in fees from Wireless Bureau regulatees; $116 million (32.4 percent) from Wireline Bureau regulatees; and $130 million (36.5 percent) from Media Bureau regulatees. Industry regulatory fee payments are due Sept. 26, said a public notice. The FCC failed to justify a decision to reassign 38 staff full-time equivalents for non-high-cost USF regulatory activities from the Wireline Bureau to an "indirect" category, "meaning that the cost of these programs will be borne by all Commission licensees," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who partially dissented from the order. He also cited a lack of support for AM/FM changes that reduced fees for small broadcasters, but he "hesitantly" backed the DBS fee increase. The FNPRM sought further comment on the appropriate tiers for calculating terrestrial and satellite international bearer circuit fees raised in the 2016 and 2017 NPRMs, and on the methodology for calculating cable-TV subscribers in multiple dwelling units raised in the 2008 NPRM. Attorneys from law firms blogged on details of the actions, including Davis Wright, Fletcher Heald and Wilkinson Barker.

The FCC and industry stepped up preparations for Hurricane Irma -- a Category 5 storm that was near Puerto Rico Wednesday and projected to head toward Florida. The Public Safety Bureau activated its disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for Irma to facilitate communications provider reports on infrastructure status and other storm-related situations. Reports are requested starting at 10 a.m. Thursday and continuing daily at that time until the system is deactivated for Irma, said a public notice. (The agency deactivated DIRS for Hurricane Harvey, said another PN, one of several Tuesday.) FCC bureaus announced procedures to help communications providers "initiate, resume, and maintain operations" in areas affected by Irma, said a PN, with guidance on special temporary authority requests and much contact information. A PN announced a 24/7 call line (202-418-1122) and email address (FCCOPCenter@fcc.gov) to address emergency needs. An FCC webpage on Irma contains links to various resources. "FCC public safety staff is busy preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irma while continuing to respond to the aftermath of #Harvey," tweeted Chief of Staff Matt Berry. Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday visited 911 operations and other facilities in Texas to view the damage from Harvey, said a release. Comcast is making its 137,000-plus Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in Florida available to non-Comcast customers through Sept. 15 in anticipation of Hurricane Irma's landfall, it said Wednesday. It also prepared facilities including staging emergency generators and fuel trucks and bringing in extra technical and network restoration teams. AT&T (here), T-Mobile (here) and Verizon (here, here) issued releases on Irma preparations. Amazon faced allegations of price gouging on bottled water in Florida as Irma approached, according to some reports (here, here). The company doesn't "engage in surge pricing," it emailed. "Amazon prices do not fluctuate by region or delivery location. Prices on bottled water from Amazon, and third-party sellers that are doing their own fulfillment to customers, have not widely fluctuated in the last month.”

The FCC moved up its October commissioners' meeting from Oct. 26 to Oct. 24, said an agency notification Tuesday that didn't cite a reason. Friday, citing a commissioner's schedule, the agency also moved up by two days this month's meeting, among other actions that day (see 1709010043).

The FCC released an order Tuesday to assess and collect $356.7 million in regulatory fees from industry parties for FY 2017, with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissenting from the item, which included an NPRM. The agency also extended the comment and reply deadlines on its Telecom Act Section 706 advanced telecom deployment notice of inquiry to Sept. 21 and Oct. 6, respectively (they had been Thursday and Sept. 22), in an order from two bureaus. Some Democratic senators and groups had sought a delay, though the groups didn't get all the time they requested.

The FCC is expected to take up the next wireless completion report, the first under President Donald Trump, at the Sept. 26 commissioners' meeting, industry lawyers said Tuesday. The item is likely to be the most contentious at the September meeting because of the longstanding fight between Democrats and Republicans on whether the U.S. industry should be considered effectively competitive, former FCC officials said. All of the reports released during the Obama administration declined to make this finding, a break from the FCC’s stance during the George W. Bush administration. The Ajit Pai FCC also is expected to find effective competition (see 1705080047). Most of the other items said to be teed up are less contentious, including media modernization, a hearing-aid compatibility small-business report, AM revitalization and an item on cable-signal leakage. The FCC declined to comment.