Standard General and its founder Soohyung Kim filed an amended complaint Friday in an April lawsuit that accuses FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Allen Media CEO Byron Allen, Dish CEO Charlie Ergen and others of conspiring to block Standard’s $8.6 billion attempted purchase of Tegna last year (see 2306010077). The amended complaint is largely similar to one filed in April (see 2404250059) but includes an additional count, which argues that the FCC violated the Communications Act when it considered Allen as an alternative buyer to Standard. “The possibility of an alternative buyer for TEGNA -- Mr. Allen -- infected the agency’s entire treatment of Standard General’s license-transfer application,” the amended complaint said. Considering an alternative buyer constitutes “an extreme agency error” that should be subject to judicial review, and the court should enjoin the FCC from doing so for Standard’s future transactions, the complaint said. “Mr. Kim has had to alter Standard General’s immediate broadcast strategy” to avoid deals that fall under FCC review to prevent future discrimination against Standard, the complaint said. “Without declaratory or injunctive relief, he cannot pursue larger deals that he would otherwise be pursuing and that require the FCC’s pre-approval.” The amended complaint also calls out the timing of meetings and phone calls Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and Rosenworcel had with Ergen and I Street Advocates attorney David Goodfriend, who has represented Dish, Allen and unions that opposed Standard/Tegna. “Mr. Ergen and Chairwoman Rosenworcel had a scheduled breakfast to occur within a week of the shot clock starting, Mr. Goodfriend and Ms. Saurer had a scheduled meeting the same day the objectors first filed, and Mr. Allen called Mr. Kim the day after the FCC ordered Standard General to produce highly sensitive documents,” the complaint said. The defendants “expressly or tacitly entered into an agreement to work with each other and with Chairwoman Rosenworcel and Ms. Saurer to thwart the Standard General-TEGNA deal,” the amended complaint said. The FCC, Dish, Allen and the unions have until Sept. 9 to respond, according to the court’s orders. Dish, Allen Media, the FCC and Goodfriend didn’t comment.
The FCC should establish "clear timelines" for large pole orders as part of its final order streamlining the pole attachment process, the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition told the Wireline Bureau in a meeting (see 2403140068). The group said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 17-84 that there should be "clearly defined and equitable standards for pole replacement costs." SHLB also sought clarification on costs associated with pole replacements, suggesting that pole owners be responsible for "at least 50 percent of the cost of pole replacements, given that they will own and benefit financially from the new pole." The group also opposed Edison Electric Institute's petition concerning the definition of a "grandfathered" pole (see 2402260073).
An FCC notice of inquiry on whether to require cable, phone and broadband providers to offer simple cancellation and access to live representatives is getting applause from consumer advocacy groups. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office on Monday circulated the draft customer service NOI. The White House said the NOI was part of a broader "time is money" initiative aimed at consumer woes. In addition, the effort will investigate whether health insurers make it difficult for customers to submit claims online.
The FCC Media Bureau granted Microsoft’s request to withdraw its petition of reconsideration against FCC rules easing the creation of broadcaster-distributed transmission systems, according to a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Microsoft dropped the petition in a filing posted Tuesday (see 2408060043). The DTS order was intended to aid the ATSC 3.0 transition. Microsoft had raised concerns that the order would lead to broadcasters interfering with devices using the TV white spaces.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau proposed a $14,000 penalty for Audacy over allegations that it violated the agency’s contest rules by not selecting and notifying winners of a radio contest according to the contest’s stated terms, a notice of apparent liability in Friday’s Daily Digest said. The NAL is a response to a complaint about a 2021 “National Cash Contest” Audacy conducted for 21 days on 194 stations. Under the contest’s terms, 11 times daily listeners could listen for a keyword and win $1,000 by submitting that keyword to the station within the hour it was announced. “One national winner was to be selected randomly from each hour’s eligible entries from all participating stations, for a total of 297 (27x11) opportunities to win,” the NAL said. The contest terms said winners would be notified within 72 hours of selection and get their prize within eight to 12 weeks. After receiving a letter of inquiry (LOI) from the EB, Audacy admitted it “did not act timely in selecting and/or notifying 50 winners out of the 297 time slots, which is 16.8% of the potential winners.” Audacy said part-time employees' performance caused the mishap and that it sent out the remaining contest winnings after receiving the LOI. The NAL said that wasn’t sufficient. “We hold that the Licensee’s conduct constitutes an apparent willful violation of the requirement of section 73.1216 of the Commission’s rules to conduct the Contest ‘substantially as announced or advertised,’” the NAL said.
The FCC sought comment Friday on the future of the 37 GHz band, as expected (see 2407240039). Comments are due Sept. 9 in docket 24-243, per a public notice by the Wireless Bureau. The band is one of five teed up for further investigation in the administration’s national spectrum strategy, though unlike the lower 3 GHz and 7/8 GHz bands, carriers are not targeting it for licensed, exclusive use. The strategy identifies 37 GHz “as a band for further study ‘to implement a co-equal, shared-use framework allowing federal and non-federal users to deploy operations in the band,’” the public notice says. “We find that additional information on potential uses of the Lower 37 GHz band would be helpful in the preparation of the Lower 37 GHz Report,” it adds, noting that the current record is limited. While commenters predicted uses including fixed wireless, point-to-point links, IoT networks, device-to-device operations, augmented reality, smart cities, smart grids and private networks, “they have not provided much detail about implementation of these services in the band,” the FCC says. The notice requests “specific and updated information on the contemplated uses of the band, to include interdependencies of pairing spectrum bands with the Lower 37 GHz band.” The PN also asks about the “feasibility” of aeronautical mobile service operations in the band. “We anticipate that operations offered in the band initially will be point-to-point and point-to-multipoint operations, although other types of operations -- including mobile operations -- may develop later.” The PN asks about the design of a coordination mechanism. It notes that discussions among the FCC, NTIA and DOD are aimed at a two-step mechanism. “In the first phase, an interference contour would be drawn around each existing and potential site based on its technical parameters, including transmitter details such as location (latitude and longitude), equivalent isotropic radiated power, antenna height, and antenna azimuth angle,” the notice says: If the site’s contour doesn’t overlap with any existing registration, “coordination is successful, and registration of the new site may proceed. If there is overlap, there would be a second phase.”
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is pressing Republican FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington to insist the full commission review requests from restructuring radio group Audacy for expedited foreign-ownership review as part of the purchase of its stock by George Soros-affiliated entities (see 2404230054). In July, Cruz wrote Democratic Commissioners Anna Gomez and Geoffrey Starks, urging that they push for a full FCC vote. “Considering the large number of stations involved, the presence of foreign ownership interests in excess of limits specified in federal law, and the deal’s timing in the final run-up to the Presidential election, I argued that a thorough vetting by the full Commission was both an expected duty of the officeholder and necessary to protect the interests of the American public,” Cruz said Friday in a letter to Simington. Cruz's letter to Carr wasn't available. Gomez and Starks “indicated they were eager to avoid accountability by letting faceless, unelected bureaucrats who were not accountable to the public or the Senate rubber-stamp the deal under the guise of delegated authority.” The Democratic commissioners “appear willing to turn a blind eye to Chairwoman [Jessica] Rosenworcel’s pattern of abusing delegated authority,” Cruz said: “This was seen most starkly in the Commission’s mishandling of” the terminated Standard General/Tegna deal (see 2306010077), “where instead of holding an open and transparent Commission-level vote, [Rosenworcel] violated FCC precedent and quashed the deal through a bureau-level order.” He asked Carr and Simington to respond by Aug. 23 about whether they back a full FCC vote on Audacy.
The FCC Media Bureau approved a waiver from Warner Bros. Discovery for TBS and TNT on the agency's audio description rules (see 2406210030). In a docket 11-43 order Thursday, the bureau said WBD has committed to an amount of audio description on the channels and on TruTV that exceeds the current quarterly requirement. It also said the unopposed petition saw support from advocates for blind and visually impaired consumers.
Representatives of Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute met with FCC Wireless and Public Safety bureau staff on the groups' concerns about giving FirstNet, and AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band (see 2407230045). The groups pointed to AT&T’s February wireless outage, the topic of a recent FCC report (see 2407220034). “The network configuration error that shut down the AT&T Network simultaneously shut down access by first responders to FirstNet because FirstNet operates on the same AT&T network and relies on the same device certifications as all other devices connecting to the AT&T mobility network,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100 said. There should be “no doubt that giving FirstNet an overlay license to the 4.9 GHz spectrum means that the 4.9 GHz band will be fully integrated into AT&T’s network, primarily for use by AT&T,” the groups said. The Lincoln, Nebraska, Fire & Rescue Department, meanwhile, said the band should be given to FirstNet. Giving FirstNet control “will enable the deployment of next-generation technologies such as 5G, AI, and IoT, which are crucial for effective emergency response,” the department said.
Test solutions company Keysight Technologies spoke with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff about the company’s perspective on the agency’s cyber trust mark program (see 2403140034), including ways to make the program “more successful,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-239 said. Among the topics discussed were “the role of security test automation to the program,” the importance of “standardized data interchange” and “keeping the cost of the program reasonable," Keysight said.