Shure and Sennheiser fired back at NAB, which opposed a January petition by the wireless mic companies seeking reconsideration of an FCC order terminating docket 15-146 on use of vacant channels in the TV band to provide spectrum for TV white space devices and wireless mics (see 2101080050). “NAB’s Opposition mischaracterizes the underlying purpose of the 2015 Vacant Channel NPRM, overstates any potential burden on broadcasters, and ignores the significance of this UHF spectrum to the content creation industry, especially given the massive decrease in clean, usable UHF spectrum for wireless microphone operations pursuant to FCC actions over the past 12 years,” said Sennheiser in Tuesday's posting. “A diverse array of interests urge the Commission to reconsider its decision in the vacant channels docket,” Shure said: “These parties see value in allocating a vacant UHF channel for wireless microphone operations in each market where possible in light of current needs and the lack of other viable spectrum solutions that exists today, particularly for unlicensed microphone users.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was asked to be more flexible on ReConnect, during a virtual listening session Tuesday. Consider changing more program loans to grants, said Yurok Tribe Council member Lana McCovey. "The repayment process would be hard to do." Akiak Technology CEO Kevin Hamer agreed: "The only way that we're going to get access as an unserved area is through infrastructure grants, not loans." Exclude low earth orbit satellites, Hamer said. Aleut Community of St. Paul Island Tribal Government Project Manager Dylan Conduzzi asked for reconsideration of satellite technology: "There are no other back-haul options available to us." Allow more flexibility in the grant application process, said Raymond Concho, Acoma Pueblo transportation planner. "We just don't have the matching funds, especially after the past year." Guiding principles from tribal leaders in recent months included requiring tribal government resolutions of support for broadband applicants, increasing flexibility for applicants, enabling tribal governments to serve their own lands, allowing tribes to certify whether they're served or underserved, and requiring compliance with tribal government regulations for all broadband recipients serving tribal lands, USDA staff said. Comments on eligibility requirements are due April 27 (see 2102260044).

The FCC plans a news briefing with bureau staff after Thursday’s commissioners' meeting, agency spokespeople told us Tuesday. This will be the first such briefing since February 2020. “Ultimately, the Chairwoman thought it was important and wanted to find a way to make it happen,” a spokesperson said, referring to acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The briefing will be on the record and held via teleconference before the usual news briefing with Rosenworcel, the spokespeople said. The Rosenworcel FCC had been continuing the same policy begun at the start of the pandemic under then-Chairman Ajit Pai, where bureau briefings of journalists on the record weren’t held. The briefings will be officially announced Wednesday, the agency said. Communications Daily highlighted the reduction in such briefings (see here and here). Our news bulletin on bringing back the news conferences is here.

The FCC draft order on new requirements that broadcasters air disclosures for content sponsored by foreign governments is overly broad and “asymmetric regulation” because it doesn’t address foreign-sponsored content on MVPDs or the internet, NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan blogged Monday: “There is simply no good reason why the Commission needs to saddle thousands of leases with new burdens of any kind.” NAB and other broadcast organizations had ex parte discussions with the agency (see 2104160069). “The Draft Order’s central problem -- both legally and as a matter of policy -- is that it imposes burdens on any broadcaster that engages in a lease, without any regard for whether the broadcaster ever has or ever will engage in a programming contract with a foreign governmental entity,” said NAB in calls last week with aides to Commissioners Nathan Simington and Brendan Carr, per a filing posted Monday in docket 20-299.The FCC proposal would require diligence from broadcasters to determine if any programmer is an agent of a foreign government, Kaplan blogged. “You might be wondering if there is an exception for the station leasing time to a long-standing trusted business partner, right? Nope. What if you are leasing time to a local church for services on Sunday mornings? Nope.” Additional burdens make broadcasting a less attractive investment, Kaplan said. “If the Commission is truly committed to increasing diversity among broadcast owners, it should carefully weigh the impact of its new regulatory actions before piling more on,” he said. “It is patently unfair to require anything of broadcasters who do not have reason to believe they are engaging with a foreign government or its agent.” The agency didn’t comment.

The $100 billion in capital expenditures that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to make over the next three years to expand capacity to help relieve the global chips shortage (see 2104150034) will include $30 billion in spending for 2021 -- 74% more than in 2018, 2019 and 2020 combined, said a Form 20-F annual report for 2020 filed Friday with the SEC. TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, after announcing the $100 billion investment on Thursday's Q1 earnings call, also said he isn't worried about TSMC customer Intel’s recently announced plans to jump into the competitive foundry business in a big way.

The FCC Wireless Bureau created a new docket Friday, 21-154, for C-band transition relocation dispute referrals. The bureau directed transition relocation coordinator RSM US to notify the FCC of disputes on "comparability of facilities, workmanship, and preservation of service” by submitting them in the docket.

House Commerce Committee Republicans urged acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Friday “not to impose stringent net neutrality regulations that may result in Americans losing their internet services.” The FCC has been expected to try to bring back some form of its rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules once President Joe Biden names a third Democratic commissioner (see 2101060055). Congressional Democrats are eyeing legislative options to restore the 2015 rules or require the FCC to go even further (see 2103300001). Commerce ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and the committee’s other GOP members invoked the recent start of enforcement of California’s net neutrality law, as expected. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ review on whether California’s law negatively affects VA partnerships with wireless carriers, which help veterans “with limited data plans connect with their healthcare services” (see 2103250027), is a sign of “the negative effects that burdensome utility-style regulations would have on American consumers,” the Republicans said in a letter to Rosenworcel. California’s law “declares unlawful the zero-rating of Internet applications under certain circumstances. What those circumstances are, however, is far from clear under the law -- which nonetheless threatens violators with state [attorney general] enforcement, private rights of action and potential fines.” The Republicans believe “we must avoid state-by-state regulation as well, which would increase burdens and introduce inconsistencies that ultimately would jeopardize further investment and innovation, and in turn harm consumers. Our current regulatory environment was proven successful as our broadband networks excelled under unprecedented pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The other Republicans signing the letter include House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta of Ohio and Minority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana. The FCC didn’t comment.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion over the next three years to increase capacity and support “the manufacturing and R&D of leading-edge and specialty technologies,” said CEO C.C. Wei on a Q1 earnings call Thursday. The world’s largest pure-play chip foundry expects the increased capacity to “improve supply certainty for our customers and help strengthen confidence in global supply chains that rely on semiconductors,” he said.

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the FCC will “re-establish” the Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council, with a new focus on 5G network security. Rosenworcel also asked the group Thursday to “review software and cloud services vulnerabilities and to develop mitigation strategies.” CSRIC will now include members from “the FCC’s federal partners with similar interests,” she said. Former Chairman Ajit Pai rechartered the group four years ago, with less emphasis on cybersecurity, which had been a focus under former Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1704100059). “The damage from recent supply chain attacks, like the SolarWinds software breach, demonstrates our need for a coordinated, multifaceted, and strategic approach to protecting our networks from all threats,” Rosenworcel said. The FCC asked for nominations for membership by June 1, with a planned first meeting in September.

Frontier Communications expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy “in the coming weeks,” the carrier said Thursday after resolving outstanding issues at the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC at a livestreamed meeting Thursday unanimously adopted a proposed decision to clean up lingering issues in the state’s Frontier reorganization OK. The CPUC last month gave Frontier the last regulatory clearance needed to close the carrier’s reorganization, but a controversial, late-added condition prevented it from emerging right away (see 2103250059). Frontier earlier this month supported a proposed revision to that condition (see 2104060033). The CPUC this week rejected other suggested tweaks (see 2104130027). Also at the California commission meeting, members unanimously approved a resolution to adopt a settlement requiring Sprint to repay $41.7 million to California LifeLine for erroneously received reimbursements (see 2104020033).