FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Monday night that he has asked the Enforcement Bureau to “examine” claims made by Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week about broadcasters circumventing the commission’s sponsorship identification rules ban on payola. Blackburn wrote Carr that “we have learned” broadcasters are pressuring musical artists to “perform ‘free radio shows’ -- also referred to as ‘listener appreciation shows’ or ‘charitable concert events’” in exchange for airtime. “There is often an implicit suggestion that declining to perform could result in reduced airplay,” Blackburn said. “This forced quid pro quo applies to essentially all artists,” and some “have told me that it is not unusual for them to perform anywhere from 10 to 50 such shows in any given year.” That “practice is exploitative and should not be tolerated,” she said: “Artists should not be extorted into providing free labor in exchange for airplay.” Carr said this “conduct hurts America’s songwriters [and] musicians,” and he plans to “provide an update” on the probe this week.

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., filed the Stop Sports Blackouts Act on Friday in a bid to force cable companies to make refunds to “customers who aren’t able to watch the channels they already pay for during television blackouts,” Ryan’s office said. The measure would direct the FCC to require cable distributors to provide rebates to subscribers for blackouts that occur as a result of carriage disputes. The lawmakers cited MSG Network's recent blackout, which left more than a million subscribers in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey unable to watch local sporting events. Altice USA and some Republican lawmakers previously proposed refunds from MSG (see 2501160072). “On behalf of fans across the country, we’re putting down a marker: everyone will get their money back when a blackout stops them from watching TV, no questions asked,” Ryan said. “That means dollars back in your pockets, and, equally importantly, it provides a hell of an incentive to these billion dollar corporations to make sure these blackouts don’t happen in the future.” It’s “ridiculous the rest of us get stuck in the crossfire of negotiations between cable and broadcast companies,” he said. “Our bill is simple: if cable companies can’t provide the service you’re paying for, they owe you a refund.” ACA Connects CEO Grant Spellmeyer criticized the Stop Sports Blackouts Act, saying Friday that it “gives billion-dollar broadcast corporations a complete free pass. If we don’t address the root of the problem [with] reforms to the retrans consent regime, insatiable broadcasters will continue to abuse market power to extract higher fees, jack up prices [and] force blackouts.”

Former House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said Friday that he and Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., refiled the Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (Routers) Act. The measure would require the Commerce Department to “specify what transactions involving routers, modems, or devices that combine a modem and a router are prohibited” under President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order (see 1905150066), which bars transactions involving information and communications technologies that pose an “undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of” U.S.-based communications services. The House approved the measure last year, and it was part of a package of telecom measures in a scuttled December version of the continuing resolution that extended appropriations through March 14 (see 2412170081). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and likely Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., recently filed a Senate companion version of the bill (S-244). “We are going to continue our efforts to make sure communist China cannot surveil, manipulate, and undermine the American people,” Latta said. The Routers Act “is a good step toward that worthwhile goal.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “encouraged” that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement and Media bureaus for an investigation of PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065), a spokesperson emailed us Thursday night. Cruz’s “rigorous oversight” last year of NPR’s funding sources (see 2407230038) “has inspired continued attention to this matter,” the spokesperson said: He “has led the fight to end liberal bias in taxpayer-funded media” and “remains committed to conducting thorough investigations of taxpayer dollars being misused to fund liberal propaganda on public airwaves.”

The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night it plans to vote Feb. 5 on commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (S-315) and three other tech and telecom bills. Lutnick drew criticism from several Senate Commerce Democrats during his Wednesday confirmation hearing after he wouldn’t commit to maintaining NTIA’s approval of some states’ BEAD plans or defy orders by President Donald Trump to withhold program funding (see 2501290047). Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also criticized Lutnick in a Wednesday night statement, though for unrelated reasons. Senate Commerce’s planned vote on S-315 would come a week after Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled it. The bill, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate AM radio's inclusion in future automobiles (see 2409180047), mostly affecting electric vehicles. Also on Senate Commerce’s agenda: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-98), Insure Cybersecurity Act (S-245) and Kids Off Social Media Act (S-278). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled their AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act Wednesday, as expected (see 2412180033). The measure, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate inclusion of AM radio in future automobiles, a rule expected to mostly affect electric vehicles (see 2409180047). Cruz and other bill backers unsuccessfully attempted in December to attach it to a continuing resolution that extended federal appropriations through March 14. House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., told us he plans to refile a House companion. Cruz said AM radio “is consistently the most reliable form of communication and is critical to keep millions of Texans safe.” Markey added that millions “of listeners across the country have made clear that they want AM radio to remain in their vehicles." NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and National Religious Broadcasters CEO Troy Miller praised Cruz and Markey for refiling the measure. “Time and again, AM radio has proven itself as an irreplaceable resource in emergencies, keeping families safe and communities informed when every second counts,” LeGeyt said. In Miller's statement, he said: “Further, its diversity of programming and reach remain unique amongst all audio media.” AM radio “uplifts, entertains, and informs listeners all over the country,” he said.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., led refiling Monday of the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act. The measure, which the House passed last year (see 2409100039), would require the FCC to publish a list of communications companies holding FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China and other foreign adversaries’ governments possess 10% or more ownership. House leaders also included the measure’s language in an unsuccessful December continuing resolution (see 2412180033). Rep. Thomas Kean, R-N.J., and three other lawmakers plan to bow a House companion, Fischer’s office said. “Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia are actively working to undermine the security of our domestic communications,” Fischer said in a statement. “My bill will better position the FCC to evaluate the risks foreign ties pose to America’s national security so that we can respond to these network infrastructure threats.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Monday he and 12 other panel Republicans filed a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to undo a July 2024 FCC order that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services, as expected (see 2501160039). Cruz has repeatedly opposed proposals expanding E-rate’s scope to pay for off-campus hot spots (see 2307310063). The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals tossed Maurine and Matthew Molak's challenge to the July order (see 2409260046) but is still reviewing another case the couple brought against the FCC’s 2023 declaratory ruling (docket 23-60641) clarifying that Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose eligible for E-rate funding. Cruz said in a statement that the CRA resolution aims to “reverse the Biden FCC’s overreach and put parents back in control of their children’s online access.” Every “parent of a young child or teenager either worries about, or knows first-hand, the real dangers of the internet,” Cruz said. “The government shouldn’t be complicit in harming students or impeding parents’ ability to decide what their kids see by subsidizing unsupervised access to inappropriate content.” Other Republicans who co-sponsored the CRA resolution include Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

USTelecom urged legislative action to shore up lawmakers’ mandate for the USF amid the “existential threat” posed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2024 en banc decision that the program’s contribution factor is unconstitutional (see 2407240043). The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing the 5th Circuit’s ruling (see 2501170046). In an open letter Friday, USTelecom said Congress should “reaffirm” its bipartisan will to maintain USF “and reform how the program is funded.” It added, “Reform must begin by requiring Big Tech companies that benefit massively from universal connectivity to join in contributing to this vital national commitment.” Some lawmakers and other observers believe Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, may move Congress’ USF revamp toward making the program subject to the federal appropriations process (see 2411270060). In addition, USTelecom said NTIA, under President Donald Trump, “should roll back rate regulation and other requirements” for the $42.5 billion BEAD program “that Congress never asked for, while retaining a significant role for fiber, the high-speed broadband gold standard.” Removing BEAD requirements Congress didn’t mandate in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act “would shed the unwanted baggage and accelerate what matters most -- getting the work of connecting everyone done,” USTelecom said. “Restoring a tight focus on the mission -- broadband deployment – can dramatically accelerate efforts to fill gaps in high-speed service, helping unlock economic opportunities and access to innovation throughout” the country. USTelecom also urged lawmakers to “move again” on the American Broadband Deployment Act permitting package that the House Commerce Committee approved in 2023 (see 2305240069). The measure, which groups together more than 20 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills, drew unanimous opposition from House Commerce Democrats, and local government groups continued lobbying against it last year (see 2409180052). “Congress should green light speeding up approvals for more broadband projects on federal lands,” USTelecom said: “With a third of our nation’s land under federal control, federal permitting reform would provide an immediate adrenaline shot to the capacity, sophistication, reach and security of our nation’s information infrastructure.”

The Senate Commerce Committee unveiled plans for a confirmation hearing Jan. 29 for commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick. The committee said Wednesday night that the hearing will follow a 10 a.m. meeting to vote on its rules for the 119th Congress. Both events will be in 253 Russell. Lutnick “is an excellent choice to lead” the Commerce Department, and his experience as Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and in other roles “will serve him well in his mission to promote America’s unlimited entrepreneurial spirit,” said Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He “will play a key role in unleashing unprecedented innovation and ensuring our nation’s job creators are well equipped to expand opportunities for good-paying jobs.” Lutnick, who headed President Donald Trump's transition team for his second term, said just before the Nov. 5 election that the U.S. should auction broadcast spectrum only to broadcasters that “agree to be nonpartisan” (see 2410280037). Lutnick’s comments came amid Trump’s fights with several major broadcasters over election coverage.