Industry widely opposes the FCC's proposal to adopt additional reporting requirements for providers as part of the commission's efforts to combat digital discrimination. Commissioners sought comment on an NPRM proposing to adopt annual reporting and internal compliance program requirements following a November order adopting rules to curb discrimination (see 2401310052). Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 22-69. Consumer advocates and state officials urged the FCC to adopt the proposed requirements and establish an Office of Civil Rights within the commission.
Updates to FCC rules for full-power and Class A stations to reflect the digital transition and the broadcast incentive auction took effect Monday, said a Media Bureau public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. The update stems from a Sept. 22 unanimously approved order (see 2209290017). The changes update rules language and are largely ministerial, intended “to ensure the rules reflect the Commission’s requirements and are understandable for our licensees and the public,” the PN said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau said the Huron County, Ohio, Emergency Management Agency can conduct a wireless emergency alert system test March 20, one day later than the county requested (see 2402200072). The revised starting time is 9:45 a.m. EDT. The county asked for the delay because March 19 is election day in Ohio and the state, in conjunction with the National Weather Service, will be conducting its annual statewide tornado drill March 20, the bureau said.
The House is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act, a “minibus” funding bill that includes reductions for NTIA and other Commerce Department agencies but a slight increase for the DOJ Antitrust Division. President Joe Biden signed a continuing resolution (HR-7463) March 1 that extended federal appropriations for those agencies through Friday, March 8 (see 2403010072). The chamber is also set to vote this week on the 988 Lifeline Cybersecurity Responsibility Act (HR-498) and NTIA Reauthorization Act (HR-4510) under suspension of the rules (see 2403010073).
Australia's Fleet Space is seeking to amend its pending U.S. market access petition (see 2208080019), reducing satellites and changing the focus of the constellation's mission. In an FCC Space Bureau application last week, Fleet Space said the constellation would focus on subsurface earth monitoring instead of industrial IoT connectivity, and that it would be comprised of three satellites instead of four. The company said it anticipated launching in October on a SpaceX mission.
Colorado should pass a bill expanding its right-to-repair statute to cover digital electronic equipment like cellphones, the FTC said Thursday. Consumer Protection Bureau attorney Christine Todaro testified before the House Business Affairs Committee in support of HB 24-1121. Introduced in January by Reps. Brianna Titone (D) and Steven Woodrow (D), the bill expands Colorado’s right-to-repair law, which was last amended in 2023 to include farm equipment. The latest iteration would cover cellphones manufactured since July 2021 and other consumer electronic devices manufactured since July 2015. The FTC supports the latest bill because it protects consumers’ access to “cost-effective repairs and advances the numerous benefits that flow from increased competition in repair markets,” said Todaro. The bill awaits committee passage in both chambers.
The FCC approved six-month extensions of a mandate to rip and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from telecom networks under the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program for various carriers, in a notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. The Wireline Bureau has been handling extension requests on a carrier-by-carrier basis. Advantage Cellular’s deadline to remove, replace and dispose of covered equipment and services was extended from March 10 to Sept. 10. NE Colorado Cellular got two different dates for parts of its network -- March 9 to Sept. 9 and from April 6 to Oct. 6. Other extensions granted include: Panhandle, from April 18 to Oct. 1; Stealth Communications, from March 29 to Sept. 29; and United Wireless, April 21 to Oct. 21. “The Bureau strongly encourages recipients that intend to file a petition for an extension to do so as promptly as possible after determining that their circumstances meet the standard for an extension established in the statute and the Commission’s implementing rules, and well in advance of the recipient’s deadline, so the Bureau is able to fully consider and grant or deny the petition before the recipient’s term expires,” the notice said.
The FCC should conduct a separate proceeding about aggregate out-of-band interference limits in supplemental coverage from space (SCS) service, SpaceX said. In a docket 23-65 filing Thursday recapping meetings with Space and Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff, SpaceX said that approach would allow consideration via a more robust record and technical data than would tackling it in the SCS draft order on the agency's March agenda. The FCC "has an incomplete picture of supplemental coverage operations from multiple operators on which to base a general rule," SpaceX said, adding the proposed threshold is far too strict. It said if the agency doesn't defer consideration, it should revise the proposed limit.
Fox News, ESPN and MSNBC are exempt from FCC audio description rules governing the top-five national nonbroadcast networks, the FCC Media Bureau said in an order in Thursday's Daily Digest. The three provide less than 50 hours per quarter of prime-time programming that isn't live or near-live, the bureau said. Effective July 1, the top-five national nonbroadcast networks subject to the audio description requirements will be: HGTV, Hallmark, TLC, TNT and TBS, it added.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is seeking comment, due April 30, on a proposed NPRM on “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain,” said a notice for Friday’s Federal Register. The rulemaking is intended to assist BIS “in determining the technologies and market participants that may be most appropriate for regulation” under a 2019 executive order by former President Donald Trump, the notice said.