Modern LCD TVs consume less energy, even as sets increase in size and resolution, CTA reported Wednesday. CTA commissioned Fraunhofer to study 9,000 models of TVs marketed between 2003 and 2015, it said. It said 2015 TVs consumed 76 percent less energy (per screen area) than in 2003, and it costs consumers on average 6 cents a day to power a TV. It’s “fundamental” that industry and government devise “a standardized way to measure energy use,” CTA said. “The consumer technology industry has initiated efforts at the domestic and international levels, with participation by governments and energy efficiency advocates, to update the current consensus measurement standard for TV energy use to reflect technology and market changes.” Lack of an updated test clip has been a sticking point of proceedings to draft Version 8.0 of EPA's Energy Star TV specification (see 1706280026). The Natural Resources Defense Fund agrees with the CTA study’s "core finding" that national TV energy use has gone down, Senior Scientist Noah Horowitz emailed us Wednesday. But TVs in some cases "use a lot more energy in a person’s home than the value reported by the industry," Horowitz said. "There are flaws in the test method specified by the government for measuring the energy use of new TVs and some manufacturers are exploiting them big time," he said, referencing NRDC's 2016 report accusing major TV makers of duping the public on TV energy use.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters Wednesday he's asking DOJ Antitrust Division head nominee Makan Delrahim to meet with him to discuss any contact Delrahim may have had with members of President Donald Trump's administration on AT&T's proposed buy of Time Warner. Blumenthal's request follows media reports that White House officials viewed DOJ's ongoing review of AT&T/TW as a potential way to address Trump's well-known frustrations with TW's CNN's coverage of his administration. Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee ranking member Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also warned DOJ on its interactions with the Trump administration over AT&T/TW (see 1707070054). Blumenthal and Klobuchar both raised concerns about AT&T/TW on antitrust grounds. The White House “is ethically and morally barred from intervening” in the merger review, Blumenthal said. “The mere threat of it is a very serious potential violation of ethics.” Delrahim has not yet responded to the request for a meeting, Blumenthal said. DOJ didn't comment.

FirstNet held in-person consultations with 36 states and territories after delivering AT&T state plans June 19, said FirstNet Director-Consultation David Buchanan Wednesday on an International Wireless Communications Expo webinar. Remaining meetings are scheduled before Aug. 4, he said. FirstNet met with state single points of contacts, with governors attending in a few states. FirstNet delivered plans to 53 of 56 states and territories, with Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa still to go, he said. Coverage has been a hot topic in the consultations, Buchanan said. Todd Early, Texas Department of Public Safety deputy assistant director, agreed coverage is a critical concern for his state, the second largest in the U.S. He said the state is reviewing the AT&T plan. Network uptime and resiliency is a big discussion point in talks with AT&T and California, said Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System Executive Director Scott Edson. “Public safety is making a demand to ensure that we do have that,” and states should insist the issue is fully addressed in final state plans, he said. Early opt-ins by Virginia and Wyoming (see 1707110059) excited FirstNet, which looks forward to continuing the dialog with the 54 other states and territories, Buchanan said. States have until Aug. 4 to provide feedback on initial plans, then FirstNet will provide final plans this fall, he said.

The Technological Advisory Council next meets Sept. 19, 12:30 p.m. at FCC headquarters, the agency said Tuesday. TAC “will discuss progress on work initiatives discussed at the previous meeting,” said a public notice. The meeting will be the second under Chairman Ajit Pai, after a session in June (see 1706080031).

Correction: The rate set by an FCC video relay service order for Tier 1, covering the first 1 million monthly minutes of larger providers' calls, was $4.82 a minute (see 1707060062).

The FCC’s vacant channel proceeding hangs over low-power TV “like the Sword of Damocles” and should be terminated, said the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance in a meeting with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week, according to an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 12-268. LPTV stations and translators are now “on the verge” of deciding whether to make “very substantial investments” to survive the repacking, ATBA said. “The vacant channel proceeding enormously compounds the difficulty of those decisions.” The FCC also should provide a path to permanent status for LPTV stations that survive the repacking, quickly approve ATSC 3.0 for all licensed TV broadcasters, open a second displacement window for unbuilt LPTV broadcasters, and “liberally” waive rules that require forfeiture if LPTV stations go dark for more than a year because of the repacking. “ATBA members understand that some of the conditions of repacking are beyond the FCC’s control,” the group said. “But there are a number of targeted steps the Commission can take that would materially improve the prospects for low power broadcasters through the repacking process.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai ordered Universal Service Administrative Co. to impose safeguards "to mitigate the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse" in the Lifeline program subsidizing low-income telecom and broadband service. He said "immediate action is warranted" in light of FCC investigations and a recent GAO report (see 1706290037). "We must be vigilant in stopping abuse of the Universal Service Fund," Pai said in a letter Tuesday to USAC acting CEO Vickie Robinson. "American taxpayers demand and deserve to know that the money they contribute each month to the Fund is not wasted or put to fraudulent use by unscrupulous eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs)." Pai directed USAC to take numerous specific steps to address "ineligible subscribers," "oversubscribed addresses," "phantom subscribers," "deceased subscribers," "exact duplicates" and "sales agent accountability." He asked USAC to identify and audit the top 10 ETCs with the highest number of potentially ineligible subscribers according to GAO, and to review monthly a statistically valid sample of their subscribers to determine their eligibility and de-enroll the ineligible. He also asked USAC to identify and review every address associated with 500 or more subscribers, and require all relevant ETCs to de-enroll any subscribers who can't verify certain Lifeline qualifications.

The Internet Association launched a Net Neutrality Day of Action website for Wednesday's events aimed at encouraging public comments to the FCC on preserving a "free and open internet," said a Monday release on the site. "Net Neutrality is fundamental to the continued success of the internet," said IA President Michael Beckerman. Silicon Valley companies are playing a "dangerous political game" by asking Washington for more government involvement in their industry, countered Entropy Economics: "It may not end well." FreedomWorks and other groups concerned about Title II network neutrality regulation launched their own site Thursday.

The FCC simplified annual reporting duties of recipients of high-cost USF support by eliminating rules that it said are duplicative or no longer necessary. The commission, acting on a 2016 Further NPRM targeting rate-of-return telcos, found it could end certain reporting requirements eligible telecom carriers face for network outages, unfulfilled service requests, complaints, pricing information, service quality certification and duplicative Form 481 filings (contingent on Universal Service Administrative Co. implementation of an online portal), said an order in docket 10-90 in Monday's Daily Digest.

FCC staff rejected a request for a regulatory stay of a business data service order, said a spokesman Monday, referring to a Wireline Bureau denial. Critics of the deregulatory BDS order that filed the request had said they would take FCC inaction as of June 30 as a denial. Last Monday, they filed for a court stay (see 1707050032), and Friday, they pressed the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to transfer the case to the D.C. Circuit, which is reviewing an AT&T challenge to a 2016 BDS tariff investigation order. Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee, BT Americas, Granite Telecommunications, Incompas, Windstream and Sprint disputed opposition arguments of the FCC, Citizens Telecommunications and CenturyLink: that the two cases are unrelated, that the D.C. Circuit will dismiss (or remand) the AT&T tariff case, and Citizens' justification for 8th Circuit review. "The BDS Rate Order and BDS Tariff Order are as related as two agency decisions possibly can be," the critics replied (in Pacer) in Citizens Telecommunications v. FCC, No. 17-2296. "The Court should decline the opposing parties' invitation to prejudge the merits of the motions pending before the D.C. Circuit. And Citizens' explanation of why it chose to proceed in the Eighth Circuit merely reveals its motivation in this appeal: forum shopping."