AT&T and Time Warner again agreed to push back the termination date of AT&T's buy of TW. In an SEC filing Thursday, AT&T said it and TW agreed to move the date to June 21, from April 22. The two previously agreed to move the date by six months (see 1711280063). The trial in the DOJ suit seeking to block AT&T/TW is scheduled to start March 19 and run an estimated 15 days (see 1712070067).

The FCC International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology published procedures for registering fixed satellite service earth stations entitled to protection from the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service. The Thursday public notice -- stemming from the 2016 report and order on the shared band (see 1605020059) -- detailed eligibility requirements for earth stations entitled to protection and gave an overview of the registration process.

President Donald Trump’s comments questioning the “licenses” of media outlets are mostly “bravado,” NAB President Gordon Smith said in an interview with C-SPAN’s The Communicators that will be shown Saturday (see 1710110075). Smith said he's not worried the FCC will try to penalize media outlets over their content. Chairman Ajit Pai is “totally committed” to the First Amendment, Smith said. He also said he believes statements by FCC commissioners that broadcasters who miss their post-incentive auction repacking deadlines won’t be kicked off the air, but he said broadcasters will need Congress to provide additional repacking reimbursement funds. Broadcasters “have a lot to be thankful for” in the recent federal tax reform bill, especially since it doesn’t include proposed provisions that would have removed deductions for advertising revenue. Since broadcasters get most of their income from advertising, such a rule change would be a “real and present danger” to the industry, Smith said. A Microsoft push to have vacant channels in the TV band set aside for unlicensed use is “premature,” Smith said, and shouldn’t be taken up until after the repacking is complete. The NAB head declined to take a position on whether the FCC has the authority to change the national ownership cap, saying the association’s members are still debating the matter. Some elements of NAB support leaving the cap alone, while others want the limit raised or eliminated, Smith said. He also didn’t take a position on the pending Sinclair/Tribune merger, or net neutrality rules. NAB is “neutral on net neutrality,” he said.

A court dispatched two cases involving FCC inmate calling service rate orders in light of litigant motions and a third commission order that was substantially overturned by the court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed as moot challenges to a 2013 ICS order that set interim interstate rate caps, saying all parties agree the order "has been superseded by a subsequent agency order," said an order (in Pacer) of a three-judge panel Thursday in Securus Technologies v. FCC, No. 13-1280. It was referring to a 2015 order setting permanent interstate and intrastate rate limits. In Global Tel*Link v. FCC, No. 15-1461, the D.C. Circuit in June struck down much of that order, including the FCC's intrastate pricing authority, and upheld the agency's interstate pricing authority, but found the regulatory methodology "patently unreasonable" and remanded related decisions for further consideration (see 1706130047). The same panel issued a second order (in Pacer) Thursday that "summarily vacated insofar as it purports to set rate caps" a 2016 FCC reconsideration order that adjusted rate caps, noting all parties agreed they were "premised on the same legal framework and mathematical methodology that this court rejected" in Global Tel*Link. The panel remanded the rest of the recon order to the FCC for further consideration "in light of the disposition of this case" (Securus Technologies v. FCC, No. 16-1321) and the related cases.

Sinclair’s proposed buy of Tribune is a threat to competitive wireless carriers, the Competitive Carriers Association said in a series of meetings at the FCC. “CCA described the concrete, transaction-specific injuries to mobile broadband competition that would ensue if the transaction were approved,” said a filing in docket 17-179. “Sinclair has a demonstrable incentive to exploit its position as a 600 MHz incumbent to deny wireless carriers the nearly $20 billion worth of spectrum they have purchased unless Sinclair’s preferred ATSC 3.0 technologies are incorporated into wireless handsets.”

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn explained "What Happens Next with Net Neutrality" Thursday, a week after she dissented from an order scrapping Title II broadband regulation under the Communications Act (see 1712140039). Without net neutrality protections, "broadband providers will be allowed to: block lawful content, throttle (slow down) lawful content, engage in paid prioritization (i.e. favor content of companies who can afford to pay), unreasonably interfere with the ability of consumers and content providers to reach one another [and] engage in unreasonable interconnection practices," her "fact sheet" said. "Broadband providers will only be required to provide limited transparency to consumers about the service they receive." The changes means "your broadband provider is in control of your online experience. You will have fewer protections online. This does not mean you will immediately see anti-consumer practices, but as the outrage and awareness fade, you will likely see providers roll out plans and features that are inconsistent with net neutrality," she said. The net neutrality repeal probably won't happen for several months because of the need for Office and Management and Budget approval of the revised transparency rules, she said. Parties can challenge the order after the text is published in the Federal Register, she added.

The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee confirmed a meeting Jan. 23 and 24 (see 1711170016), starting at 9 a.m. each day, said a notice set for Federal Register publication Thursday. BDAC approved six sets of recommendations for speeding deployment of wireless and wireline infrastructure at a November meeting, with some disagreement, especially from local officials (see 1711090054). BDAC is expected to finalize key recommendations at the January meeting, which will be in the Commission Meeting Room.

The FCC isn't expected to issue the net neutrality deregulation order this week, officials told us. It was adopted Dec. 14 (see 1712140039). Release could come next week, "but I wouldn't hold my breath," said an official. An FCC spokeswoman didn't comment. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said last week he would have a full statement for inclusion in the order that would be longer than the statement he read at commissioners' monthly meeting, and it's possible other commissioners could supplement statements. After meetings, the agency also sometimes responds in the text to dissenting statements, slowing release.

The section of track where Monday’s deadly Amtrak crash occurred near Tacoma, Washington, likely won’t have operational positive train control before mid-2018, a spokesman for Sound Transit, which own the tracks, told us Wednesday. Amtrak Co-CEO Richard Anderson told reporters the deaths were “unacceptable” and Amtrak is committed to PTC. The National Transportation Safety Board said earlier the train was traveling at 80 mph on a 30-mph stretch when it derailed. PTC can prevent speeding, through automatic breaking. It was installed along the tracks as part of the rebuilding of the bypass, a seven-year, $181 million project, but turning systems on is complicated, the Sound Transit spokesman said. PTC “is a fairly complex endeavor that involves equipment installed on the track, equipment installed on trains,” he said. “It involves equipment in the control center or so-called back office. It involves networking it all together.” The federal deadline for PTC on the track is December 2018, and Sound Transit expects to beat that by about six months. The NTSB was studying whether the lack of PTC was a contributing factor (see 1712190049). The original deadline for installing PTC was December 2015, but Congress granted a three-year extension (see 1510290069), NTSB board member Bella Dinh-Zarr noted on CNN. NTSB has urged PTC “for decades,” she said. “Every year that we wait to implement PTC to its fullest extent means that more people are going to be killed and injured.” “Everybody is talking about PTC,” but it isn’t required on the line for another year, Anderson said in a news conference Tuesday. Amtrak is working with its partners to get PTC online on the track, he said. “We have to keep this as a wakeup call,” he said: “You can count on Amtrak following through on NTSB recommendations” on safety. The parts of the Northeast Corridor owned by Amtrak and some other lines have PTC, Anderson said.

The FCC doubled membership on the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee advising on telecom issues affecting local, state and tribal interests, in an order released Wednesday. The increased membership means a wider range of input and the size is more consistent with other advisory committees, Chairman Ajit Pai said. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn dissented, citing objections raised in November by the IAC chair. "Instead of delaying today’s decision until a conversation could be had with the IAC, the FCC Chairman chose to move forward anyway," she said. "It is deeply troubling that we would simply ignore an advisory committee’s recommendation without any discussion." Clyburn also protested cancellation of IAC's January meeting, but Pai said it was to give more time to select members. "This process will not be completed by January," he said. "But once the IAC is at full strength, we’ll quickly schedule its next meeting."