The FCC shouldn’t raise the national TV ownership cap and or relax local TV ownership rules without studying the impact on race and gender ownership diversity, said the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and several diversity and anti-consolidation groups in a meeting Friday with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, per a filing Wednesday in docket 09-182. The groups, which included the United Church of Christ Communications Office, Communications Workers of America and Common Cause, praised Rosenworcel’s support of the Lifeline program, and expressed support for previous FCC efforts to cap prison phone rates. The groups said they support "legislation to return authority to the FCC to continue that effort.”

The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board re-established a phone line for viewer complaints, said NAB, NCTA and MPAA in a letter to the FCC posted Tuesday in docket 19-41 (see 1903130061). Also that day, ratings revision proponent the Parents Television Council delivered 1,400 petitions in the proceeding, said a PTC news release. The FCC’s report to Congress on the TV ratings system is due May 15. The agency should “carefully weigh” the large number of comments from the public “against the lone, hypocritical voices of entertainment industry lobbyists,” said PTC President Tim Winter in a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai delivered along with the petitions. NAB, NCTA and MPAA rotate leadership of the oversight body, with NCTA President Michael Powell currently heading the board. The phone line was disconnected in 2017 “due to lack of use” but restored in response to comments in the TV ratings proceeding about consumers’ ability to contact the board. The Monitoring Board “is committed to reviewing its processes in response to feedback received in this proceeding. We will continue to assess such input and pursue any additional steps that may be appropriate,” the letter said. The PTC petitions ask the FCC to hold public hearings on improving the ratings system. Though PTC conceded the scope of the FCC report was “narrowly defined by Congress,” it could still be “a catalyst for positive change,” Winter said.

Creating a national, government-sponsored wholesale 5G network makes no sense and wouldn’t work, blogged FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly Tuesday. President Donald Trump last month opposed a government-backed network in favor of private industry investment (see 1904120065). “This entire effort seems convoluted and borders on the preposterous,” O’Rielly said: “Just the notion of the U.S. moving away from the highly-successful, private-sector led approach that is responsible for our country’s premier position globally would be a serious misstep. In essence, it would throw a monkey wrench into one of the greatest success stories in the history of technology.” Among the problems with such a network is no spectrum band is available, he said. “In an ever-increasingly wireless world, each megahertz is being strenuously fought over,” he said: There's also “no way to require any provider to use a wholesale wireless network. Without a mandate, it means that any use will have to be completely voluntary.” The government also would have difficulty finding tower companies that could build the network and it would provide no guarantees of security, O’Rielly said. “For those worried about the communist Chinese government’s influence and resulting harmful effects, it is nearly impossible to see how hamstringing the U.S. market with a government-sponsored network will convince other countries to take similar action,” he said: “Shooting oneself in the foot rarely leads others to do the same.”

The FCC Public Safety Bureau is meeting with communications providers to learn about their preparations for this year’s hurricane season, blogged Chief Lisa Fowlkes Monday. The bureau also is conducting “exercises” with government entities to prepare for the storm season, she said. The agency is also examining the impacts of previous storms, Fowlkes said, citing re-examination of the wireless resiliency cooperative framework. The agency is encouraging industry participation in the Disaster Information Reporting Network, the staffer wrote. Fowlkes urged state and local emergency officials to review emergency alerting best practices and plans and she plugged the FCC’s June 28 workshop on multilingual alerting. “We also encourage the use of multilingual alerting to reach non-English-speaking communities,” Fowlkes said. EAS officials don’t expect the commission to require multilingual alerting soon (see 1904240021).

Attorneys general of 42 states said the FCC should adopt proposed rules for curbing spoofed robocalls. Commissioners approved the rulemaking 5-0 in February, implementing part of Ray Baum's Act (see 1902140039). Other commenters urged caution. “It is evident that the explosive growth of caller ID spoofing and robocalls is being driven primarily by scams,” the AGs replied, posted Monday in docket 18-335. Experts estimated by the end of 2018, U.S. consumers would have received 40 billion robocalls, the group said: “Unfortunately, the problem appears to have been even worse than predicted. The industry estimates that 47.8 billion robocalls were made in the U.S. in 2018, a 56.8 percent increase over 2017.” Incompas supported rules but urged the FCC to make sure they apply only to “illegitimate activity and instances of fraud without discriminating against legitimate uses and competition.” Competitive carriers offer “a wide range of legitimate use cases that are driven by consumer demands which must be considered both by the Commission and industry as the two aim to cooperatively develop solutions to the problems of illegal robocalls and malicious caller ID spoofing,” Incompas said. EZ Texting said the rules must be narrowly written to “target illegitimate spoofing while leaving legitimate caller ID modification intact.” In some legitimate cases, companies alter ID information, EZ Texting said. “Domestic violence shelters may need to alter their caller ID information to ensure the safety of domestic violence victims,” the company said: Ride-hailing services frequently use a “temporary phone number to facilitate communication between drivers and passengers, while protecting drivers and passengers from further contact after the ride has finished.”

Altice USA, reaping gains from network investments and other improvements, had its best Q1 in terms of video subscribers, with "just 10,000 net losses," CEO Dexter Goei told analysts Thursday. That was also more than some analysts said they had expected. Friday, the stock closed 6.8 percent higher at $24.50. Revenue grew in all business segments, with the highest-ever Q1 margin at 43.1 percent, and it would have been higher if not for some mobile and other costs, Goei said. "It is really cap ex light," said Chief Financial Officer Charlie Stewart said of the coming mobile product. Revenue grew 2.9 percent from the year-ago quarter to $2.4 billion, and the company has about 3.3 million video customers. Altice is "on track for a full commercial launch this summer" of wireless service, Goei said. Its partnership with Sprint led to 19,000 small cell rollouts in about a year, the "fastest rollout of its kind in the U.S.," he said. There are "major mobile handset partnerships" in place, the CEO said. "We are in a phase of heavy testing now." Altice doesn't expect wireless carriers to soon offer 5G targeted at residences where the company operates, he said. "We have seen no 5G fixed launches in our footprint." The ISP has been investing "in our own proprietary video set-top box and broadband router," better user interfaces and new features like voice control, Goei said. "We continue to see increased customer demand for higher broadband speeds and significantly growing data usage." Many customers use Netflix through their set-top, and many Altice subscribers are using voice control, he said: The average home the operator serves has about 12 connected devices. (See also page 7.) Earlier last week, Altice said it's buying Cheddar (see 1904300120).

The Prague 5G Security Conference released a set of proposals Friday for making 5G networks more secure, emphasizing a cooperative approach to security, with each nation free to develop its own policies. No suppliers were named. The U.S. has repeatedly raised concerns about Chinese equipment maker Huawei, which continues to grow its share of the worldwide smartphone market. Huawei didn’t comment and China wasn’t invited to the conference. The document says each nation must develop its own policies, which should consider “the overall risk of influence on a supplier by a third country.” The U.S. and 31 other countries attended the conference, hosted by the Czech government. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spoke Thursday (see 1905020011). The statement appears to address U.S. concerns that Chinese banks are working with equipment suppliers to finance networks in other countries (see 1902060056). “Communication networks and network services should be financed openly and transparently using standard best practices in procurement, investment, and contracting,” the statement says. Networks and services “should be designed with resilience and security in mind,” the document says. “They should be built and maintained using international, open, consensus-based standards and risk-informed cybersecurity best practices. Clear globally interoperable cyber security guidance that would support cyber security products and services in increasing resilience of all stakeholders should be promoted.” Security is more than a technical issue, the statement says: “A safe, secure and resilient infrastructure requires adequate national strategies, sound policies, a comprehensive legal framework and dedicated personnel … trained and educated appropriately.” The U.S. government “supports” the Prague 5G Security Conference's set of proposals for making 5G networks more secure and plans to use them “as a guide to ensure our shared prosperity and security,” the White House said. The conference was “an extremely productive meeting on the need for secure telecommunications networks as the game-changing” 5G becomes “the new global system.” The FCC didn't comment.

The FCC International and Wireless bureaus sought additional comment Friday on a move to make part of the C band available for 5G. “Commenters have now weighed in by supporting or opposing a variety of clearing mechanisms, and their comments raise additional issues concerning the Commission’s authority to employ elements of those mechanisms,” said a public notice in docket 18-122. “What are the enforceable interference protection rights, if any, granted to space station operators against co-primary terrestrial operations?” the bureaus ask. “Do those rights depend on the extent incumbent earth stations receive their transmissions within the United States?” The bureaus asked similar questions on rights granted to licensed or registered receive-only earth station versus co-primary terrestrial operations. The C band is one of the main alternatives the FCC is looking at to provide mid-band spectrum for 5G, a top focus of wireless carriers (see 1904190054). Comments are due 30 days, replies 45 days after Federal Register publication.

The FCC renewed the charter for its Technological Advisory Council, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. The General Services Administration approved renewal April 16, the FCC said: “The Commission intends to renew the charter on or before May 17 … and provide the Committee with authorization to operate for two years from the effective date.” TAC last met March 26 to wrap up reports from 2018 (see 1903260056).

Future Tense corrected the time for Tuesday's event on science fiction and artificial intelligence policy. It starts at 1 p.m.