The C-band Relocation Payment Clearinghouse has concluded its operations, with all reimbursement claims reviewed and every claim approval invoiced, it said Friday in its final quarterly status report (docket 18-122). The FCC Wireless Bureau in June approved the clearinghouse ceasing operations at the end of that month (see 2506040046). The new status report covers April 1 through Friday. Earth station operator Anuvu is appealing its reimbursement for relocation costs (see 2506180021).
Alliance for Automotive Innovation President John Bozzella and others from the group met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to discuss the commission’s “ongoing deregulatory efforts and termination of certain proceedings,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 25-133 and others. They also discussed the notice of inquiry on alternatives to GPS (see 2503270042) and an FCC proposal to update its “covered list” of unsecure companies to reflect a January finding by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security on connected vehicles (see 2506300052), among other issues.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Friday opened docket 25-223 on its proposed update of how the agency prepares its Telecom Act Section 706 reports to Congress. Chairman Brendan Carr is seeking a vote at the Aug. 7 FCC meeting on an NPRM soliciting comment on the issue (see 2507170048). The docket is captioned “Inquiry Concerning Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Capability to All Americans in a Reasonable and Timely Fashion.”
Pearl TV pushed back on critics of ATSC 3.0’s use of encryption in an FCC filing Friday that said a popular DVR “gateway” device is blocked from receiving 3.0 broadcasts because it incorporates tech from Chinese company Huawei. Pearl’s claims about the HDHomeRun are “false,” said Nick Kelsey, president of SiliconDust, which makes the device. “We have zero association with the Chinese government. Proudly designed and developed in the United States of America.”
NCTA is challenging some changes sought by utility company interests to the FCC's pole attachment item on its July agenda. The proceeding continues to attract significant lobbying from broadband and utility advocates (see 2507160024), particularly over contractor approvals.
An FCC draft order on the July 24 open meeting agenda that would give the bureaus authority to delete FCC rules without seeking notice and comment is drawing warnings from public interest groups, but communications industry officials told us they aren’t concerned. The agency has also recently skipped notice and comment while shifting the language of existing rules.
FCC Media Bureau Video Division Chief Barbara Kreisman retires Aug. 1, after 50 years … Nexstar promotes Dan Lanzano to president of national advertising sales, a newly created position … Digital infrastructure firm Equinix names Shane Paladin, ex-Siteimprove, executive vice president and chief customer and revenue officer.
The FCC has opened a docket, 25-233, on Charter Communications' proposed $34.5 billion purchase of Cox Communications, the Wireline Bureau said Thursday. The cable ISPs filed their application for FCC approval of the change of control earlier this week (see 2507150051).
Both Antonio Cesar Guel and the FCC Enforcement Bureau have appealed Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin’s June ruling that Guel must pay a $188,491 penalty -- the maximum allowed for a single violation -- for a sham transfer of multiple broadcast stations to his teenage niece (see 2506160044). The Enforcement Bureau said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-267 that FCC precedent dictates that each of the seven stations Guel pretended to sell constitutes a separate violation, and that Guel should have to pay $188,491 for each one. That would total $1,319,437. Guel's filing, posted Thursday, argued that the ALJ improperly set the $188,491 penalty amount and that before requiring a forfeiture the agency was required to issue a notice of apparent liability proposing a $188,491 penalty. An NAL would give Guel the opportunity to submit evidence about his inability to pay the forfeiture amount, his filing said. He also argued that the FCC doesn’t have the authority to issue monetary forfeitures after the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy ruling and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ subsequent ruling striking down the agency’s forfeiture against AT&T. “Under those courts’ rulings, the FCC cannot impose civil penalties upon Mr. Guel without the protections of a trial by jury before a neutral arbitrator,” said the Guel filing. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has maintained that the FCC still has forfeiture authority (see 2504280038)
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved GCI Communications’ updated performance plan for mobile services under the agency's Alaska Plan order (see 2507020032). The bureau approved wireless providers’ initial performance plans in 2016, but “throughout the duration of the ten-year Alaska Plan,” it may “require the filing of revised commitments at other times if justified by developments that occur after the approval of the initial performance commitments,” the bureau said in a notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest.