Claims that a stay of the C-band lump sum election deadline could jeopardize the timing of the band's auction are "fanciful" as bidders face much bigger uncertainties than the lump sum elections, ACA Connects told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a reply Monday (docket 20-1327, in Pacer). ACA said excluding integrated receiver/decoder costs from the lump sum amount is "illogical." Its filing was in response to oppositions from the FCC and others to its proposed stay. The FCC, in its opposition Friday to the petition for writ of mandamus, said ACA's stay is about getting a larger lump sum reimbursement amount to pay for replacing satellite distribution via the C band with fiber, but the lump sum isn't supposed to "provide a windfall" or cover fiber costs. Intelsat, SES and content companies Discover, Disney, Fox and ViacomCBS said a delay in the lump sum election could mean uncertainty and delays that "impair the ongoing planning, purchasing, and work necessary to carry out the C-Band transition on the FCC’s tight schedule." Also opposing ACA's stay were AT&T, Verizon and CTIA.

The House and Senate Commerce committees are eyeing two hearings next week on telecom issues, communications sector lobbyists told us. House Commerce is expected Thursday to issue a notice on a Sept. 17 FCC oversight hearing, lobbyists said. Senate Commerce, meanwhile, plans a panel on oversight of FirstNet, lobbyists said. The House Commerce hearing would be FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s first public appearance on Capitol Hill since President Donald Trump withdrew his renomination to another term (see 2008030072). The panel is expected to touch on FCC plans for handling NTIA’s petition for regulations defining the scope of Communications Decency Act Section 230 (see 2007270070). O’Rielly’s reluctance to publicly back FCC OK of the Trump-sought Section 230 petition is considered the main reason his renomination was revoked (see 2008040061). Senate Commerce’s FirstNet hearing would be the first Hill oversight panel on the network since 2017 (see 1711010035). House and Senate Commerce didn’t comment.

Hubbard won’t face monetary penalties for political file violations at a host of its radio stations, according to an FCC Media Bureau order and consent decree. The bureau has reached similar consent decrees with other large groups, including iHeart and Beasley (see 2007300054). Those items were posted on the FCC’s website under the company name, whereas Friday’s Hubbard order and consent decree were labeled by the name of a subsidiary: “Chicago FCC License Sub, LLC, et al.” The subject of the order and consent decree is referred to throughout the documents as “Hubbard.” The bureau and broadcaster didn’t comment. As with a slew of similar consent decrees posted in recent weeks, the bureau pointed to COVID-19 as creating extenuating circumstances that merit resolving the matter with a compliance plan and consent decree. Also like those other cases, the violations came out during the license renewal process, it said. “The Company’s disclosures in its license renewal applications combined with the exceptional circumstances brought about by the pandemic present a unique situation.” The broadcaster will be required to adopt a compliance plan, and its renewals will be processed.

Other consolidated challengers to the C-band clearing order are after "a piece of the financial action" from that clearing, but their businesses won't be impaired, so the FCC sensibly declined to make payments available, SES said in an intervenor brief Friday (in Pacer, docket 20-1142). Small satellite appellants "clearly" weren't launched to provide commercially viable C-band services in the U.S., and PSSI's "alleged woes are the result of market forces," SES said. Counsel for the appellants didn't comment. SES is appealing the order, also calling it a prophylactic measure, and participating in the appeal solely as an intervenor in support of the FCC. Federal law is clear the FCC exercised its authority permissibly to modify C-band licenses in the public interest, rather than fundamentally change them, AT&T, CTIA and Verizon said in an intervenor brief (in Pacer). They said while the appellants object to the accelerated band clearing payments, the wireless interests that will be paying them don't. They said claims about possible 5G interference ignore the 20 MHz guard band protecting incumbents.

Cable ISP interests like NCTA's pole attachment declaratory ruling petition (see 2007170023), while telecom, localities and utilities interests are more mixed, judging by docket 17-84 comments last week. The petition "confirms what the Commission already knows ...: utilities often charge unjust and unreasonable pole replacement fees" that impede network deployment, ACA Connects said. It urged codifying policies including that a utility can't assess pole replacement fees if there isn't "insufficient capacity" on an existing pole. Charter Communications said despite being told make-ready charges must reflect just the costs caused by an attachment, pole owners "frequently leverage their superior bargaining position" to make an attacher seeking access buy a new pole and pay for installation. Altice said it has run into high make-ready fees for replacements, and the FCC needs to clarify that pole owners must share in the cost of replacements in unserved areas. It applauded expedited processing of pole attachment complaints for unserved areas. Calling the petition "anti competitive, misleading and ill-informed," the Coalition of Concerned Utilities said electric utility pole owners often voluntarily replace poles and add capacity. NCTA's petition would require they pay for these capacity expansions and obligate them to expand rapidly, even at the expense of safety and reliability, the coalition said. The Edison Electric Institute, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Utilities Technology Council said the FCC has acknowledged that leaving pole owners with unrecoverable costs would create a disincentive for utilities to build taller poles or replace poles. Next Century Cities said the digital divide won't be closed more quickly by cutting local government authority to determine the cost of replacing poles, with the FCC sole arbiter. Putting attachment complaints on an accelerated docket is a problem for municipalities now, as they lack time and resources to adequately respond that quickly, it said. AT&T said NCTA's push that it's unjust in unserved areas for a pole owner to make a new attacher pay for all the replacement costs is an attempt to change rules. Rules also let access disputes be eligible for an accelerated docket, it said. USTelecom said the issues raised in the petition are better off as part of a rulemaking, adding that cable has been successfully building out networks to new locations. The Wireless Infrastructure Association backed the petition, saying pole owners should share in replacement costs everywhere, not just unserved areas.

Cable and wireline subscribers without service due to tropical storms Laura and Marco has dropped from 133,195 to 124,509 in the affected portions of Louisiana and Texas, said Thursday’s FCC disaster information reporting service release. Cellsites down decreased from 7.7% to 4.7%. One Louisiana public service answering point continues to reroute 911 calls, and KBCA Alexandria, Louisiana, remains down, along with 14 FM stations and two AMs -- one fewer AM than Wednesday (see 2009020061).

The 5G Automotive Association corrected its proposed rules for cellular vehicle-to-everything in 30 MHz of the 5.9 GHz band. Among the changes, “delete in its entirety subsection (b) in 5GAA’s proposed rule section 95.3167 and make any necessary conforming edits,” the group said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 19-138: “This subsection is unnecessary because 5GAA proposed an on board unit transmit power limit based only on effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) levels.” NCTA, meanwhile, countered a July Ford Motor report on the threat from Wi-Fi in part of the band to intelligent transportation systems (see 2007140057). The report “does not contain any new test results or analysis of existing data,” NCTA said: “Instead, the Ford Submission … repackages its previous ineffective advocacy with new mistaken assertions.”

The FCC 2.5 GHz tribal priority window closed Wednesday as scheduled with more than 400 applications, the agency said Thursday. It has been under pressure to extend by six months the window, which opened Feb. 3, but granted only a 30-day extension. As of July 31, the FCC said 229 applications had been submitted, with 55 more in the pipeline. “Tribes showed tremendous interest in the 2.5 GHz band over the past several months, and I am pleased by the large number of applications the Commission has received,” said Chairman Ajit Pai: “We are now a step closer to enabling Tribal entities to obtain this spectrum for free and quickly put it to use to bring service to rural Tribal lands.” Public Knowledge urged the FCC to open a new window. “For Tribes, closing the window before the end of the pandemic is a slap in the face that will prevent their communities from accessing the vital connections they need to engage in daily life,” PK said.

Comments are due Oct. 2, replies Oct. 19, in docket 20-221 on proposed changes to FCC ex parte rules, per a notice in Wednesday's Federal Register. Under the NPRM adopted in July (see 2007100034), exemptions would include some government-to-government consultations between it and federally recognized tribal nations and communications with certain program administrators such as the toll-free numbering and reassigned numbers database administrators. The FCC also seeks comment on requiring that all written ex parte presentations be submitted before the sunshine period and replies to them be filed within the first day of that period.

There were 133,195 subscribers reported out of service in the portions of Louisiana and Texas affected by tropical storms Laura and Marco and covered by the FCC’s disaster information reporting system, said Wednesday’s DIRS report. That’s a decrease from the 157,337 reported Tuesday (see 2008310044). The new report shows 7.7% of cellsites down in the affected area, down from 9%. One Louisiana public service answering point continues to reroute 911 calls. KBCA Alexandria, Louisiana, is down, along with 14 FM stations and three AMs.