Cable operators should be able to charge canceling subscribers for the full final month of service if the service, including local programming, is accessible for the full month using the cabler's streaming video application, the cable industry is urging the FCC. In a docket 23-405 filing Thursday recapping a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and Media Bureau Chief Holly Sauer, NCTA and cable operators said charging for the full month also should be permitted if the subscriber cancels within the first month of service after the expiration of the required 24-hour cancellation period. In the meeting, the cablers reiterated arguments that an agency ban on early termination fees should be limited to "unjust or unreasonable" ones (see 2406200031). Joining NCTA at the meeting were representatives of Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications.
The FCC’s proposed disclosure rules for political ads that use AI-created content “are a natural and common-sense extension” of its mandates for ensuring transparency in broadcasting and political ads, Public Citizen, Campaign Legal Center, the National Organization for Women and 39 other public interest groups said in a letter to the Media Bureau Thursday. “The proposed rules are especially important because broadcasters interpret the FCC’s current rules as prohibiting them from requiring disclosure of AI-generated content,” the letter said. “We urge the FCC to adopt these rules promptly.” NAB didn’t comment.
New Hampshire will create a Data Privacy Unit that will enforce RSA 507-H, the New Hampshire Data Privacy Act, the state attorney general’s office announced Thursday. Effective in the new year, the act codifies consumer rights when businesses buy and sell their data (see 2403070064). “Ensuring accountability, transparency, and consumer choice regarding how companies handle and monetize the personal data of their customers is a priority of my office,” New Hampshire AG John Formella (R) said. Establishing a list of FAQs covering consumer rights and business' responsibilities is the Data Privacy Unit's first task. The AG's Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau will house the new unit.
CTA advised that the FCC not require that registry operators in the cyber trust mark program meet Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) or comparable commercial standards. Representatives from CTA met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. “Certification to FISMA standards is a lengthy process and incurs a high cost to bring the entity into compliance and to earn certification,” CTA said in a filing Wednesday in docket 23-239. Adopting that standard, as the bureau suggests, “may prevent most or all prospective Lead Administrator and Cyber Label Administrator (CLA) candidates from participating,” the group said. In a June public notice, the bureau tentatively concluded that the FISMA requirements should “attach to the Lead Administrator and CLAs, who both collect and maintain information and operate information systems on behalf of the FCC” and sought comment on that conclusion. CTA also said program participants “need specific guidance on how manufacturers can use the Mark on certified products, including details like placement, border, colors and other ‘branding’ elements that are commonly associated with a protected mark.”
Representatives of Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute met with aides to three of the FCC commissioners on Axon Enterprises' request for a waiver (see 2403080044), the future of the 4.9 GHz band and other items. “We noted that Axon’s proposed analog, always-on, fixed-channel and high-power surveillance technology would be unnecessarily disruptive to the public’s use of the U-NII-3 band, which remains the most heavily-trafficked Wi-Fi spectrum and almost certainly the most intensively-used frequency band nationwide,” the groups said. They opposed FirstNet control of the 4.9 GHz band: “No one has presented a single cogent argument why the Commission should abandon its 2023 decision to adopt a band-manager approach.” The groups met with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington. The language in three filings posted Thursday in docket 07-100 and other dockets was substantially the same for each meeting. The two groups also reported that EchoStar joined them for a meeting with the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff about handset unlocking rules (see 2408090037). “The recently launched proceeding on handset unlocking will be an unequivocal win for consumers and competitive carriers if adopted,” said a filing in docket 24-186. They also discussed the lower 12 GHz band's future.
AT&T advised the FCC that while it’s making progress curbing unwanted texts to its customers, political messages remain a significant consumer complaint. While political messages are only about 7% of AT&T messaging traffic, they’re responsible for 60% of complaints, the carrier said in a meeting with Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. In April, “the #1, #2, #4, #6 and #7 most consumer complaints originated from just one Presidential candidate, and the top eleven [10-digit long code] phone numbers -- and 74 of the top 100 telephone numbers -- reported by AT&T’s own customers belonged to political texting” campaigns, a filing Wednesday in docket 21-402 said. The filing doesn’t identify the candidate and an AT&T spokesperson declined further comment. AT&T said it has become easier to use its technology on Apple and Android operating systems to make a complaint. With technological upgrades, the carrier “is blocking fewer texts” but sees “fewer suspicious texts forwarded to us by our customers.” AT&T said last year it blocked more than 9.3 billion spam and scam messages. CTIA in May launched a political texting website, which urges campaigns to use text messages “to reach voters in a responsible manner.” More than 80% of consumers “express frustration with receiving unsolicited political messages, and that feeling is growing even stronger with each election cycle -- up 20% from 2020,” CTIA said: “A recent survey also confirmed what consumers say every day -- spam is spam, whether it’s an unwanted text from a bank, a concert promoter, or a campaign.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau sought comment on claims from Arvig Enterprises and Rural Communications Holding that their enhanced alternative connect America cost model support offers were “incorrectly calculated” because Midcontinent Communications “was incorrectly classified as an unsubsidized competitor offering voice service.” Comments are due Sept. 13 in docket 10-90, a notice in Thursday’s Daily Digest said.
Representatives of the Coalition of Concerned Utilities met with FCC Wireline Bureau staff about the group’s stance on pole attachment rules. “We emphasized that pole owners, existing communications attachers, and new communications attachers all must act responsibly and collaboratively to promote the deployment of broadband service to unserved and underserved areas,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-84 said: “We discussed efforts by utility pole owners to accommodate the volume of new attachment requests, and the considerable workforce constraints to be overcome.”
Don’t expect major daylight between a Kamala Harris administration and the Joe Biden White House on major communications policy issues, industry and policy experts predicted. Much focus and effort would center on defending the FCC's net neutrality and digital discrimination orders in the current federal circuit court challenges, as well as pursuing net neutrality rules, they said. Less clear would be the nature of the relationship between Harris' White House and Big Tech. The Harris campaign didn't comment. Deregulation and undoing net neutrality are considered high on the to-do list for the administration of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump if he's elected (see 2407110034).
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated to the 10th floor plans for a full commission vote on restructuring radio group Audacy’s petition for a declaratory ruling seeking expedited foreign-ownership review as part of George Soros-affiliated entities purchasing its stock (see 2404230054), a commission official confirmed to us Thursday. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, preemptively claimed credit for Rosenworcel’s decision after pressing Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington about Audacy last week (see 2408090051).