A pair of MVPD reconsideration petitions against the ATSC 3.0 order aren’t considered likely to spur the FCC to rethink requirements for the new standard, attorneys and executives on the broadcast and MVPD sides told us. The order's effective date was Monday (see 1803050049).
Tech giants need to be more heavily regulated, said NCTA CEO Michael Powell. "Governments can no longer coddle and cater" to such large and heavily influential companies, he said Tuesday at Cable Congress 2018 in Dublin, according to prepared remarks. He touched on fake news, tech addiction, consumer concerns about privacy and other tech criticisms increasing coming to the fore in Washington (see 1803050040). Critics cast the comments as the cable ISP industry trying to shift regulatory focus away from itself.
House Communications Subcommittee members spent much of a Tuesday NTIA oversight hearing focused on the agency's spectrum management role, as expected (see 1803050053). Lawmakers also peppered Administrator David Redl with other questions about his views on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, broadband mapping and public safety communications.
The House passed the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986) on a voice vote Tuesday, as expected (see 1803010056 and 1803050043). The bill includes a revised version of language from the Senate-passed Making Opportunities for Broadband Investment and Limiting Excessive and Needless Obstacles to Wireless (Mobile Now) Act (S-19) spectrum bill, as part of an agreement announced Friday between the leaders of the House and Senate Commerce committees (see 1708030060). HR-4986's path to enactment remained unclear. Backers on Capitol Hill told us they were working with members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees to attach the bill to the FY 2018 omnibus spending bill.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai proposed $954 million to help Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands restore and upgrade their communications networks, which were damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria. The plan would create a $750 million Uniendo a Puerto Rico (Bringing Puerto Rico Together) Fund and a $204 million Connect USVI Fund, said a release Tuesday. It said the proposal would add about $256 million in new funds and repurpose other USF support currently directed at the islands. Pai had said previously that recovery efforts would require additional funds (see 1711070068)
The law is clearly on the side of Boeing and SOM1101 on transferring two pending Boeing non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) applications to SOM1101, that smaller entity's owner Greg Wyler said in an interview. He said Boeing and his SOM1101 wouldn't have sought the transfers (see 1712070055) if they weren't confident of the legal basis. An FCC staffer told us the International Bureau is still early in its evaluation of the Boeing/SOM1101 request, and of proposed NGSO application amendments by O3b and OneWeb.
An argument against concerns about the size of online platforms is that they're providing useful services consumers enjoy, and government intervention would damage the quality of products. That's not stopping tech critics from both parties from ratcheting up their scrutiny of major tech companies, a trend that some expect to continue.
Though Monday was the effective date of the ATSC 3.0 order, that milestone will have little practical effect because the technology that would let stations use the new standard is largely unavailable and the portions of the order that govern outlets’ transition to 3.0 are still being approved by the Office of Management and the Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act, said broadcasters, attorneys and FCC officials.
The State Department remains focused on ITU modernization, Robert Strayer, deputy assistant secretary for cyber and international communications and information policy, told a Wiley Rein conference Monday. Strayer said it's critical for the U.S. to promote the election of an American, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, to a top leadership role at the ITU (see 1710230052). The U.S. also wants better oversight in general of the issues on which the ITU is focused, he said.
David Redl is likely to face a wide range of questions from House Communications Subcommittee members Tuesday about his vision for NTIA, as he makes his Capitol Hill hearing debut as administrator. Likely topics include plans to study the 3450-3550 MHz band for wireless broadband and his views on the 2016 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, Hill aides and industry lobbyists said in interviews. The panel intended the hearing to focus on oversight of NTIA and to discuss the agency’s $33.6 million FY 2019 budget proposal, down from the $36 million requested in FY 2018 but largely on par with funding for the year under continuing appropriations (see 1802120037 and 1802050025).