House legislation to reauthorize parts of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act advanced Wednesday out of the chamber's Commerce Committee, and the Judiciary Committee was expected to clear its related bill after our deadline that evening. Commerce advanced the Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) on a voice vote after Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and committee ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., reached a deal on a compromise manager's amendment.
It's good news that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will seek a public auction of the C band next year, rather than endorse the C-Band Alliance plan (see 1911180065), Comcast said the day after the announcement Monday. Others said questions remain, though the FCC is likely to follow the outlines of Senate legislation introduced Monday. The Pai approach “will ensure that this valuable spectrum is put to use expeditiously for 5G in a manner consistent with the public interest, while also preserving the C-Band as a critical input for the delivery of video services,” Comcast told the FCC Tuesday, in a docket 18-122 filing.
The FCC’s proposal to eliminate requirements that broadcaster applications be advertised in local newspapers got wide support from nearly all commenters in docket 17-264. Public interest groups, noncommercial broadcasters and full-power broadcasters backed allowing online and on-air notices instead. Entities representing newspapers and print advertising had commented on a previous iteration of the proposal, but the electronic comment filing system didn’t show such filings this time around. Comments were due Monday.
The Dec. 12 FCC agenda will include an NPRM on designating 988 as a national three-digit suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline. A draft NPRM announced Tuesday tees up several issues, including network configurations, Chairman Ajit Pai said after a National Council for Behavioral Health event. Asked how soon the commissioners might have a draft order before them, he said he couldn't guess how long it might take to assess what comes up in the public comments, but 988 "is a special priority for me." An item on 5.9 GHz band sharing is also expected for December (see 1911190066).
Ranking Democrats on four Senate committees are exploring privacy legislation, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told us Tuesday, the day after the group introduced related principles (see 1911180054). “We will likely move forward with [a bill], but we’re talking to Republicans about it, too,” the Senate Banking Committee ranking member said.
SAN ANTONIO -- Verizon in particular and cable and telco industries generally took heat from consumer advocates and others for what they contend are lagging service quality and/or rising prices. The providers don’t face enough competition, aren’t building out broadband as quickly as possible and/or don't always meet their commitments, the advocates and others said in interviews Tuesday. They spoke on the sidelines of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates conference in the same hotel as NARUC, and on a panel (see 10:05 a.m. Tuesday).
Delay plans to remove CLECs' access to an ILEC's unbundled network elements (UNEs) at regulated prices until more-accurate broadband maps can pinpoint where broadband competition actually exists, a group representing CLECs told the FCC. "You need new maps before you can have new rules,” Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told us. He visited with FCC officials in recent weeks to ask them to withdraw the draft NPRM in docket 19-308 that commissioners are expected to vote on Friday (see 1911150016).
The FCC may have to backtrack on proposed rules for the citizens broadband radio service band after getting essentially no support in the record for cellular market area-level bidding in June’s auction of priority access licenses (PALs). Only T-Mobile backed CMA-level bidding but not using the FCC-proposed scheme (see 1911130056). Commissioners approved a notice in September that proposes to allow bidding on a CMA-level basis, rather than just by counties, in the top 172 CMAs. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks voted for the notice, though with reservations on CMA-level bidding (see 1909260040).
The House Commerce Committee was still waiting early Tuesday night to mark up the Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) and nine other tech and telecom bills, amid a protracted debate on unrelated measures. The tech and telecom measures besides HR-5035 appeared all but certain to advance out of committee on voice votes. HR-5035, which would reauthorize parts of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, also appeared likely to pass, albeit on a more uncertain roll call vote. House Commerce leaders failed to reach a deal before the markup on a compromise manager's amendment to HR-5035, dashing hopes for an easy consensus. The House Judiciary Committee remained on track to mark up the related Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (HR-5140) Wednesday.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to announce Wednesday the FCC will tackle sharing in the 5.9 GHz band between safety systems and Wi-Fi at the Dec. 12 FCC meeting. Pai is to speak Wednesday at a WifiForward event in Washington on a smart spectrum future. It's unclear whether the FCC has worked out a deal with the Department of Transportation, industry officials said Tuesday. Pai is expected to propose reallocating 45 MHz of the 75 MHz band to unlicensed use, officials told us.