The FCC Enforcement Bureau's 2025 equal employment opportunity audit letters sent to 27 randomly selected MVPDs contain the same new diversity questions that were added to letters sent to broadcasters earlier this year. Attorneys have described the new questions as “landmines” because the precise nature of the response expected by the agency is unclear (see 2508220035). While previous EEO audit letters asked stations for information on any complaints about “unlawful discrimination” involving the station brought before government entities, the new questions seek information on both internal and external complaints. The questions also go beyond unlawful discrimination related to race, sex, religion and national origin and ask about complaints related to “any bias, sensitivity or any other matters” related to those categories. The letters also tell targeted MVPDs to submit copies of “any formal or informal agreement, contract, policy, practice, or other document that impose requirements or goals (aspirational or otherwise) regarding race, color, religion, national origin or sex on the Unit, contractors, employees or any third parties providing services on behalf of the Unit.” The audit targets include Comcast, Charter, Cox, Cincincatti Bell and Mediacom. Responses to the letters are due Jan. 26.
The FCC Media Bureau has rejected altafiber’s June retransmission consent complaint against Nexstar, said an order Friday. The MVPD had argued that Nexstar violated the FCC’s good faith retransmission consent negotiation rules by demanding high rates and that altafiber carry Nexstar's NewsNation cable network in the Cincinnatiarea, where Nexstar has no broadcast TV stations (see 2506160037). Nexstar didn’t violate the good faith rules because it offered multiple proposals with different terms during negotiations, the order said. “We do not find that these proposals are so 'sufficiently outrageous' that they constitute a violation of the good faith negotiation requirements under the totality of the circumstances test,” the bureau said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has reached an $86,400 settlement with American Public Media Group over an incident in which false emergency alert system tones were transmitted by over 500 affiliated stations, said an order and consent decree Wednesday. The tones were broadcast in May 2024, during a BBC Witness History episode titled “Chasing the World’s Biggest Tornado,” the consent decree said. The settlement also requires APM to develop a compliance plan and send compliance reports to the FCC for two years.
Broadcast licensees want the FCC to rebalance the network-affiliate relationship by regulating the contracts stations reach with networks, while the networks don’t believe an imbalance exists or that the FCC has authority over their affiliation agreements, according to comments filed by Wednesday’s deadline in docket 25-322. Stations called for the agency to delve into virtual MVPD negotiations, apply restrictions to network-affiliate contracts, and cap network fees, but the big four networks said the FCC injecting itself here could kill broadcasting. Agency intervention “has the potential to severely disrupt the broadcasting ecosystem, threatening the continued survival of broadcasters facing a thinning market,” said NBCUniversal. “The market is working, and the government should not interfere.”
The Better Business Bureau National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) is referring T-Mobile to the FTC and state officials for declining to participate in NAD’s inquiry into advertising claims about the carrier's 5G capacity. “T-Mobile informed NAD that although T-Mobile is a strong supporter of the NAD self-regulatory process, it would decline to participate in this inquiry in light of a pending federal lawsuit brought by AT&T against BBB National Programs,” an NAD release said Wednesday. AT&T sued NAD in October after the agency sought to block the carrier from running ads about T-Mobile’s past violations of NAD rules against deceptive advertising (see 2510300031). T-Mobile and AT&T didn’t comment Wednesday. “Because T-Mobile declined to participate, NAD will refer this matter to the FTC and state Attorneys General,” said the release. “NAD will also refer the matter to the platforms on which the advertising appeared and with which NAD has a reporting relationship.”
Ligado is seeking FCC Space Bureau approval to operate an L-band payload that would be placed on AST SpaceMobile's low earth orbit constellation. In a bureau application Monday, Ligado said the SkyTerra Next payload would provide 5G service to consumers in conjunction with the space-based mobile broadband to be provided by AST. AST would provide telemetry, tracking and control functions for SkyTerra Next, while Ligado would retain operational control of the payload itself, the filing said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has canceled one notice of apparent liability and reached settlements with nine companies related to violations of the agency’s Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) rules, said several orders Monday. The nine settlements all involved companies that failed to provide timely information to the RND administrator on disconnected phone numbers, the orders said. Under the terms of the settlements, Claro Puerto Rico will pay $32,000, and Stratford Mutual, FiberHawk and Integrated Path will each pay $30,000. Point Broadband will pay a $27,000 settlement, while Data Network Solutions will pay $15,000, Salsgiver Telecom will pay $14,000, Palo Communications will pay $12,000 and Fort Mojave Telecommunications will pay $9,000. The bureau canceled a similar NAL against Communications Plus after finding that the company reported the disconnections, but through an affiliate.
The window to file FCC Form 855 certifications for hearing-aid rule compliance opens Jan. 2 and closes Feb. 2, said the Wireless Bureau in a public notice Monday. The FCC “requires wireless service providers to file FCC Form 855 certifications to ensure compliance with the Commission’s wireless hearing aid compatibility rules,” the reminder said. “Service providers who offer handset models for sale or use in the United States are required to annually file this form.”
Comments are due Jan. 8, replies Feb. 9, on a waiver petition from New Florence Telephone to allow the merger of four commonly owned study areas in Missouri, said an FCC Wireline Bureau public notice posted Tuesday in docket 96-45. The merging study areas are those of the New Florence Telephone Co., New London Telephone Co., Orchard Farm Telephone Co. and Stoutland Telephone Co. “Petitioners state that merging the study areas will provide more efficient operations, accounting, and regulatory compliance and will result in more operating funds to provide high-quality service,” the notice said.
The space industry has good communication channels with the U.S. government, but the efficacy of discussions among its agencies about space policy and regulation are less clear, space experts said Tuesday at a seminar in Washington organized by ForumGlobal. Tahara Dawkins, Astroscale's policy director, called for one set of rules across agencies, noting that it’s unclear if, for example, the FCC is talking with NOAA when they craft their regulations. Commercial Space Federation (CSF) Executive Director Alicia Brown added that there must be greater efforts to avoid regulatory conflicts and duplication in areas like payload reviews.