The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on channel substitutions for WLOV Licensee and One Ministries, said NPRMs in Tuesday's Daily Digest. One Ministries wants to switch the community of license for KQSL Fort Bragg, California, to Cloverdale, California, said an NPRM in docket 25-246. WLOV Licensee wants to change the channel of WLOV-TV West Point, Mississippi, from 16 to 26, according to an NPRM in docket 25-247.

A three-judge panel has rejected a California business's challenge related to the FCC's rules on over-the-air reception devices (OTARD). In a judgment Tuesday (docket 24-1108), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied Indian Peak Properties' petition for review. The judges said that while Indian Peak's briefing revolved substantially around the human presence requirement in the OTARD rules, it should have filed a petition for reconsideration challenging how the human-presence requirement was adopted before seeking judicial review.

Supporters of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979/S-315) are pressing for the House Commerce Committee and congressional leaders to prioritize the measure when lawmakers return from the August recess, given that they have repeatedly put it on the back burner in recent months. HR-979 and S-315, which the Senate Commerce Committee advanced in February (see 2502100072), would require the Department of Transportation to mandate that future automobiles include AM radio technology, mostly affecting electric vehicles. The bill’s supporters unsuccessfully tried to attach it to a December continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations (see Ref:2412180033]).

The decision Friday by public interest groups not to challenge the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ narrow decision overturning last year’s net neutrality order appeared to be based on a number of considerations, including avoiding a precedent that could prevent future FCC rules (see 2508080020). Friday was the deadline to file a petition for certiorari seeking U.S. Supreme Court review. Some lawyers saw the 6th Circuit’s decision as badly reasoned and susceptible to further review (see 2507160048).

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will consider launching a rulemaking to update the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF), which offers schools, libraries, clinics and nonprofits a 50% discount on charges for advanced communication services. The CPUC will analyze who qualifies, what services should be covered, and whether the $5 million revenue cap for nonprofits should be raised. The cap was lowered from $50 million to $5 million in 2019, said a draft proposed decision. In addition, the CPUC is considering ways to improve how the program is run. The item would explore administrative updates such as how the program is implemented, monitored and evaluated. Comments are due within 30 days, with reply comments 15 days after that. It's not the first time the California Teleconnect Fund has been tweaked. Previously, voice services were dropped, eligibility for funding was revised, and mobile and satellite broadband were added, the draft item noted.

The Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to stay its proceedings regarding Verizon's acquisition of Frontier. In a motion filed Friday, the group asked that the currently scheduled hearings be removed from the commission's calendar so there's enough time to conduct discovery.

Operators of tolling systems won't be affected by NextNav's proposal to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to allow a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing services, according to a study that the company filed at the FCC. It supplements a Brattle Group report that NextNav filed previously (see 2507180034).

CPB said Friday it has begun an “orderly wind-down of its operations,” given enactment of the 2025 Rescissions Act to claw back $1.1 billion of its advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 and the Senate Appropriations Committee’s advancement Thursday of its FY26 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee spending bill, which didn’t allocate money to the public broadcasting entity (see 2507310062). Meanwhile, the FCC didn’t comment on whether the Enforcement Bureau will continue investigating PBS and NPR stations for possible violations of underwriting rules (see 2501300065) after the commission released a set of April letters from Chairman Brendan Carr to House lawmakers indicating that the probe “remains ongoing.”

Debate is intensifying at the California Public Utilities Commission over how to define “facilities-based” VoIP providers, which could expand regulatory obligations (see 2410160044), according to reply comments posted Thursday (No. 22-08-008).