The U.S. government wants more time to seek Supreme Court review of a 2010 decision by the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals against an FCC policy that the utterance of a single, unscripted curse word can be an indecency violation. A filing Thursday by acting Solicitor General Neal Kaytal sought a 30-day extension to March 22 of the deadline to file an appeal of Fox v. FCC. That’s according to Media Access Project Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman, who represented content creators that sided with the broadcast network in Fox. He said the decision to seek more time to file for an appeal had been expected.
All submissions to the FCC must be available online, with staff required to assign docket numbers to all proceedings other than those in “exceptional circumstances,” the commission said in an order released late Friday. It’s the second order approved by commissioners last week that the agency said would help improve public access to FCC materials. “These two items should result in significant efficiency and fairness improvements for the Commission and for those who do business with us,” said FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick.
The NAB and the Association for Maximum Service TV asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to continue to hold in abeyance challenges to the FCC’s white spaces order. The groups were responding to a request by the court for the parties’ opinions about how the case should be handled as the commission considers petitions for reconsideration.
The NAB and the Association for Maximum Service TV asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to continue to hold in abeyance challenges to the FCC’s white spaces order. The groups were responding to a request by the court for the parties’ opinions about how the case should be handled as the commission considers petitions for reconsideration.
The FCC expanded its ex parte rules to require filings be made in most active proceedings after any lobbying conversation with commissioners, their aides or other agency officials. An order approved by the commissioners and released late Wednesday largely stuck to a draft that circulated in October (CD Oct 29 p2) in also doubling the amount of time in which most ex parte filings can be made to two business days. That would have made on-time some of the recent late filings we found in our review, as many were made a day late. But advocates for ex parte reform focused on the order’s expansion of the ex parte rules.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Verizon’s request that the panel of judges who heard the Comcast case and ruled in April against the commission be assigned to its challenge of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The court has yet to rule on a motion asking the court to accept the case. Other challenges to the order, approved 3-2 in December, are considered likely, including from net neutrality supporters who want tougher rules.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected Verizon’s request that the panel of judges who heard the Comcast case and ruled in April against the commission be assigned to its challenge of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The court has yet to rule on a motion asking the court to accept the case. Other challenges to the order, approved 3-2 in December, are considered likely, including from net neutrality supporters who want tougher rules.
A senior FCC official said Friday Verizon and MetroPCS filed challenges to the net neutrality rules too early, because the text of the order hasn’t been published in the Federal Register. The commission asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put off a deadline to respond to a motion by Verizon that the case go to the panel that heard the Comcast case.
A senior FCC official said Friday Verizon and MetroPCS filed challenges to the net neutrality rules too early, because the text of the order hasn’t been published in the Federal Register. The commission asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put off a deadline to respond to a motion by Verizon that the case go to the panel that heard the Comcast case.
Four months after the FCC approved final white spaces rules Sept. 23, the Office of Engineering and Technology said nine companies have been selected as geolocation database providers. The order was announced quietly, compared to the fanfare that marked the September order. But it marks a critical step toward the sale of the first devices designed to use the TV band to surf the Internet.