The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's rejecting two FCC conditions on Charter Communications' buy of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (see 2008140018) is more evidence the commission needs to quit imposing supposedly "voluntary" conditions unrelated to compliance with existing statutory or regulatory requirements. That per Free State Foundation President Randy May in a blog post Thursday for Yale Journal on Regulation. He said Congress should revise the FCC's merger review process, but neither that nor the FCC's "adopting a new policy of self-restraint in its transaction review process" seems likely in the foreseeable future.

The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system for the 24 Iowa counties affected by the recent derecho, said a public notice Wednesday. The deactivation was at the request of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Coordinating Center for Communications and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the PN said. The final report, also released Wednesday, said there were 21,570 cable and wireline subscribers without service, outages at 1.9 % of cellsites in those areas, and eight FM stations and one AM remain down.

The FCC’s World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee plans its first meeting, virtually, to prep for the next WRC, starting at 11 a.m. EDT Tuesday. “This first meeting will focus on WRC processes, among others, the final charter, committee structure including the appointed chairmen and vice-chairmen, and the working method guidance,” said Wednesday's Federal Register.

Accounting firm CohnReznick and its subcontractors Squire Patton Boggs and Intellicom Technologies don't have the relevant experience managing complicated transactions, and shouldn't be named as C-band relocation payment clearinghouse, said Vertix Consulting in a docket 18-122 posting Wednesday. It said the clearinghouse team suggested by the search team (see 2008030049) also hasn't shown how it will carry out "the robust duties ... vital to protecting the public interest" in processing and administering the estimated $13 billion in transition costs and accelerated clearing incentive payments, and lacks a financial institution that's party to the clearinghouse agreement, as required. The team proposal doesn't show any methodology to collect and distribute relocation payments, or that it has an existing methodology that it used successfully in the past, Vertix said. Nor does it show accounting methodology, similar risk management experience or demonstrated approach to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, it said. Truist Financial is mentioned as a partner to the team, but Truist hasn't agreed to the FCC C-band order terms and conditions, it said. The FCC and CohnReznick didn't comment. Vertix said it was representing a team including Deloitte, Bank of New York Mellon, Lerman Senter and Venable. Boeing didn't object to the team but said the FCC should direct it to act to prevent conflicts of interest involving clearinghouse work and participants in the C-band clearing. It suggested the 800 MHz transition administrator's independent management plan as a guide.

FCC commissioners split 3-2 on a notice of inquiry released Wednesday seeking comment for the next broadband deployment report. Democrats dissented as they did on the 2020 report (see 2004230060), which said broadband was “reasonable and timely” deployed nationwide. Comments are due Sept. 18, replies Oct. 5, in docket 20-269. “This proceeding is the perfect place to detail the extent of our nation’s broadband challenges,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The last report “found all was well,” she said: “It clapped its hands and said job done. That’s just not right. For starters, the FCC concluded that there were only 18 million people in the United States without access to broadband. That number wildly understates the extent of the digital divide in the country.” The FCC “continues to repeat its mistakes,” including comparing providers’ deployment in one year against past years to measure progress, said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “We also continue to rely on the Commission’s misleading Form 477 data,” he said, “despite broad recognition that Form 477 has distorted our view of the digital divide.” Only they released statements. “While the 2020 Report acknowledged there is still work to be done to fully close the digital divide, more Americans than ever before now have access to the benefits of broadband as the Commission’s policies have created a regulatory environment to stimulate broadband investment and deployment,” the NOI said. Commissioners approved the NOI Aug. 7.

There are 23,477 cable and wireline subscribers without service in the 24 Iowa counties affected by the recent Midwest derecho, said the FCC’s disaster information reporting system in Tuesday’s report. There were 23,522 without service Monday. The affected areas also have outages at 2% of cellsites, compared with 2.4% Monday. As was the case Monday, eight FM stations and one AM remain out of service, and no public safety answering point reported being down in the affected areas.

A trio of GOP ex-officials and politicians with ties to the tech sector backed former Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden during the Democratic National Convention’s Monday session. Former Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, who was Google vice president-policy and government relations 2012-2018 (see 1811020020), called Biden “exactly what this nation needs at this time” and criticized President Donald Trump as “disappointing.” Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, who previously led eBay and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, said Biden’s economic plan, if enacted, would “strengthen our economy for working people and small-business owners.” Whitman was the GOP’s 2010 California gubernatorial nominee. Former Trump Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor, on leave from a Google security strategy role, also endorsed Biden during the Monday DNC session. Trump’s re-election campaign criticized Molinari for being “a registered lobbyist for Russia” while at the Washington Group and noted Whitman’s support for 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Trump called Taylor a “former DISGRUNTLED EMPLOYEE” and said the Democrats “will take anyone against us.”

Songwriters of North America, Music Artists Coalition and Nashville Songwriters Association International were three groups that spoke on behalf of songwriters at DOJ’s music licensing workshop (see 2008170042).

The FCC said a forum on 5G open radio access networks, postponed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will happen virtually Sept. 14. Chairman Ajit Pai and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are scheduled to speak. Pai will moderate an industry panel on virtualized networks. “Open and virtualized radio access networks may help operators deploy more secure, cost-effective 5G networks,” Pai said Tuesday. The U.S. must “lead the way in researching and developing innovative approaches to mobile network deployment,” he said. The session starts at 10:30 a.m. EDT. "Open RAN networks enable providers to bring together best-in-class vendors, including from the U.S., unleashing innovation and unlocking the economic potential enabled by 5G,” emailed Stephen Bye, Dish Network executive vice president-chief commercial officer, saying Dish is building "the nation's first cloud native Open RAN based 5G network.”

The citizens broadband radio service auction bids continue to climb, hitting a net $4.3 billion after four rounds Monday. The auction first hit $1 billion Aug. 3, climbing to $3 billion Aug. 11. New Street said in a Friday note when prices in large urban areas like New York and Los Angeles were close to 50 cents MHz/POP, “demand fell sharply as bidders pulled out of those markets. Many of those bids were then parked in counties where supply exceeded demand, creating a rotation of bids that drove up gross proceeds while leaving aggregate bids little changed.” Four more rounds are scheduled Tuesday.