A Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on implementation of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum statute is expected to emphasize the law's language to aid the broadcast incentive auction repacking process. The hearing also will likely be an opportunity for House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., to showcase the act as the committee's top telecom policy achievement this Congress, before the end of the GOP majority in the chamber, lawmakers and communications lobbyists said. The act's language was included in the FY 2018 federal spending law (see 1803230038).
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The FCC will investigate if top wireless carriers submitted incorrect coverage maps in violation of Mobility Fund Phase II rules, Chairman Ajit Pai said Friday. The commission suspended the window for responding to MF-II challenges until the probe’s conclusion. Carriers said they'll cooperate. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, state commissioners and rural competitive carriers welcomed investigation, saying more work is needed.
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee approved the final part of its model code for states Friday, wrapping up two days of discussions that built on July's gathering (see 1812060038). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he's extending the charter an additional two years and the agency will release a notice seeking to update membership this week.
The FCC can't "rest on our laurels” because the rest of the world is ahead of the U.S., said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at Thursday's Practising Law Institute's Institute event. The agency must “ruffle feathers” if it's necessary to reallocate more mid-band spectrum, said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly.
Avis Budget is contributing “both our fleet and our addressable audience” to test mobile ATSC 3.0 reception through the Pearl TV-led model-market project in Phoenix, said Chief Information Officer Arthur Orduna on a 3.0 panel at the TV of Tomorrow conference Thursday in Manhattan. Orduna has a history with cable, having worked for the Canoe advertising venture owned by major U.S. operators, and also for ADT.
The House and Senate Commerce committees are likely to make the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization debate and further work on spectrum and broadband-centric legislation some of their top 2019 priorities, said telecom aides during a Thursday Practising Law Institute event. Aides also cited interest in continuing to talk about net neutrality policy next Congress. Lawmakers and communications lobbyists we recently interviewed were skeptical of progress on a net neutrality compromise given the upcoming shift to split partisan control of Congress (see 1811290042). FCC Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel meanwhile told PLI the commission shouldn't be cautious in pursuing policies to keep the U.S. competitive (see 1812060056).
The basis for an upcoming hearing with Google CEO Sundar Pichai (see 1811280067) -- claims of Silicon Valley’s anti-conservative bias -- is “nonsense,” House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us Thursday. The expected chairman has “a lot of different priorities” for when Democrats take control of the House in 2019 and will be releasing “them in due course.” The hearing, originally scheduled for this past Wednesday, was rescheduled to Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Rayburn 2141 due to funeral services for former President George H.W. Bush (see 1812040061).
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee moved forward Thursday on work left over from its July meeting (see 1807270020), approving more parts of its model code for states. BDAC will meet again Friday, getting the first update from its Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group. Parts of the code OK'd on divided votes remain controversial. BDAC went further than the FCC did in a September infrastructure order in clarifying that absent local action a facility is “deemed approved.”
The FCC without fanfare included its latest Measuring Broadband America reports in draft appendices to a draft communications market report -- mandated by Ray Baum's Act -- slated for a vote at commissioners' meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the "slow" release of MBA reports that she and others said were "buried" in a long document. They generally show the median consumer broadband speeds of ISPs participating in tests continue to rise, with cable companies at the top, followed by telco fiber and satellite, and telco DSL at the bottom.
Challenging DOJ on multiple fronts, the three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel hearing oral argument Thursday on the antitrust challenge to AT&T buying Time Warner showed skepticism. "You have to put in some evidence beyond just an economic theory," Judge Judith Rogers said. A former DOJ antitrust trial lawyer told us that since the decision likely will affirm U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's June decision allowing the merger (see 1806120060), it could come within a month or two.