Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said Thursday he led two other Senate Commerce Committee Democrats -- Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico and Gary Peters of Michigan -- in raising concerns with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington about recent commission actions they see as “weaponizing its authority over broadcasters and public media for political purposes.”

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) on Wednesday slammed the latest executive order from President Donald Trump's administration aimed at cutting the federal workforce. Trump signed the EO Tuesday that said he would require the heads of federal agencies to make "large-scale [staff] reductions.” The continuing assault has sparked anxiety at the FCC and other agencies critical to the communications industry (see 2502070047). Appearing with Elon Musk, Trump told reporters that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency had uncovered billions of dollars in fraud, but he didn’t offer details.

Three conservative groups on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to use its upcoming decision in FCC v. Consumers' Research to provide clarity on when agencies can delegate authority to private companies. SCOTUS will consider the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 9-7 en banc decision invalidating part of the USF program (see 2501090045), in part because the FCC delegated authority for overseeing the program to the Universal Service Administrative Co. (see 2412100060).

The FCC doesn’t have as much power as Chairman Brendan Carr thinks it does and is likely to be corrected by the courts, former FCC Chief Counsel Robert Corn-Revere wrote in a column for the Columbia Journalism Review last week. Framed as a letter to Carr, the column is called “A Plea for Institutional Modesty.” Now chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Corn-Revere served under acting FCC Commissioner James Quello, a moderate Democrat. “If I were your adviser, this is not how I would want history to remember you,” Corn-Revere wrote, calling Carr’s first weeks as chairman “jarring” when compared with his past statements as a commissioner on free speech and the role of the FCC. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the FCC’s rules don’t give it authority over the types of programming broadcasters can offer, Corn-Revere noted. “In 2025, any aggressive action by the FCC to regulate broadcast programming would provide an opportunity to challenge whatever remains of the public interest standard as a reason to treat broadcasters differently from other media,” he said. “FCC meddling in editorial decisions regarding political coverage and news judgment would provide an easy case for limiting the FCC’s authority.” Corn-Revere also wrote that Carr can’t get around the limits on FCC authority by exerting informal pressure on entities or “jawboning.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit “is keenly aware that the FCC can abuse its authority in this way and has limited ‘raised eyebrow’ tactics in past cases,” he said, adding that SCOTUS has also recently reaffirmed that government officials violate the First Amendment by using threats to restrict speech. “Bottom line, given your position, writing threatening letters may be enough to get you into constitutional hot water.” Governmental officials “who have tried to use their power to muzzle the press for short-term political gain have not been treated well by history.” You swore an oath "to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States, and you know very well how these things work. You might at least consider not actively reinforcing uninformed social media rants.” The FCC didn’t comment.

Verizon urged the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a $46.9 million penalty from the FCC for not adequately protecting subscribers’ real-time location information that commissioners approved on a 3-2 vote last year (see 2404290044). Last week, the 5th Circuit heard AT&T's oral argument against a $57 million fine the commission imposed (see 2502030050). The government defended the order in the 5th Circuit even though current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington had dissented.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday scheduled oral argument for March 26 in the government’s challenge of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision last year that sided with Consumers' Research and found that the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” SCOTUS agreed in November to hear what some see as the most consequential FCC case in years (see 2412100060). Members of Congress, former FCC commissioners, ISPs and public interest groups are among those urging SCOTUS to overturn the 5th Circuit decision.

Expect another year of declining net additions of broadband subscribers, Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino said Wednesday in a Fiber Broadband Association webinar. Net adds by fiber, cable and DSL were around 2.5 million in 2023 and 2.2 million last year, and will likely be fewer than 2 million this year, he said. While cable's lost broadband subscribers are often attributed to fiber and fixed wireless access competition, they might actually be due to incumbents feeling most acutely those declining net additions, he said. Cable has clearly lost its residential broadband monopoly, with close to two-thirds of households having fiber operator options alongside cable, Supino said. In five years, 75%-80% of households will have the choice of fiber and cable, he noted. Traditionally, cable saw its broadband subscriber numbers grow as the number of homes its network passed increased. Since broadband subscriber numbers are no longer growing in lockstep with number of homes its network passes, cable becomes more capital intensive, he said.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced more staff appointments to a number of agency offices, including the Space Bureau, in a release Tuesday. Jay Schwarz, who previously served as a wireline adviser to former Chairman Ajit Pai, will become the bureau’s second ever chief, replacing Julie Kearney. The release also included the announcement of former acting NTIA head Adam Candeub becoming general counsel, which Carr posted Monday on X (see 2502030063). Adam Jackman, former director-digital communications for the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, will serve as Carr’s director-strategic communications for the Office of Media Relations. Dana Howell, a former information resource manager in the FCC Office of the Managing Director, will serve as executive assistant in Carr's office, the release said. “Additional staff announcements will follow,” it added.

The Alaska Telecom Association urged the FCC to move with care as it considers how to implement parts of the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), approved by FCC commissioners in November (see 2411050002). Comments were due Monday on a Further NPRM on mobile and fixed wireless under the fund in docket 23-238.

Telnyx didn't do enough to stop artificial and prerecorded voice messages claiming to be from a nonexistent FCC "fraud prevention team" -- calls that went to FCC staff and their family, among others -- the agency said Tuesday in proposing a $4.5 million fine against the communications platform operator. The notice of apparent liability (NAL) was the first commission-level action under Chairman Brendan Carr. The agency said in the NAL that at least one recipient of the FCC impostor calls in February 2024 was connected to someone who demanded that outstanding FCC fines be paid in Google gift cards. The agency said Telnyx didn't conduct due diligence in verifying that the people who placed the call were who they said they were or their reasons for establishing Telnyx accounts. "Cracking down on illegal robocalls will be a top priority at the FCC,” Carr said, adding that the fine "flows from an apparently illegal robocalling scheme and continues the FCC’s longstanding work to stop bad actors.” The 3-1 approval of the NAL saw Carr's fellow Republican commissioner, Nathan Simington, dissenting, as he did under Democratic Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in recent months, due to questions about the agency's enforcement authority (see 2409060054). Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement that she supports self-reporting on potential rules violations and applauded Carr's office for allowing edits to the NAL to encourage self-reporting.