A Senate Natural Resources National Parks Subcommittee hearing Tuesday featured limited but positive discussion about the Making National Parks Safer Act (S-290) amid a larger focus on a slate of more than two dozen other measures on the agenda. S-290 would require the Interior Department to develop a plan within one year to install next-generation 911 technology at the National Park System's emergency communications centers. Tuesday's hearing didn’t touch on lingering questions about how Congress would fund NG911 upgrades after Republicans decided in July against allocating future spectrum auction revenue for that purpose in the budget reconciliation package, previously known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (see 2507080065).
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.
The FCC's supplemental coverage from space (SCS) rules framework, adopted in 2024 (see 2403140050), tackled critical issues but is ready for an update, SpaceX Vice President of Satellite Policy David Goldman said Monday at a seminar in Washington organized by ForumGlobal. Also discussed at the event was use of terrestrial versus satellite spectrum for direct-to-device (D2D) service.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday signaled a willingness to uphold President Donald Trump’s firing of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, a decision that liberal justices said could totally upend existing structures at independent agencies like the FTC and the FCC (see 2511280002).
Paramount Skydance announced a hostile takeover bid Monday to buy WBD, offering $30 each for all outstanding shares of the company. The move follows the announcement that Netflix struck an $82.7 billion deal last week to purchase WBD (see 2512050046). One analyst said he sees President Donald Trump's heavy involvement in the fight over WBD as an advantage for Paramount over Netflix.
The FCC appears unlikely to move forward quickly on changing its rules for legacy business data services (BDS), as proposed in an NPRM that commissioners approved ahead of their August meeting (see 2508050056), industry officials said. Unlike other reform proposals that are getting enthusiastic endorsement, at least from industry -- including faster copper retirements (see 2509300039) and streamlined wireline siting rules (see 2511170028) -- the BDS changes are seeing little support.
Charter, Cox and a number of groups supportive of the MVPDs’ $34.5 billion merger blasted a petition to deny the deal in replies filed in FCC docket 25-233 last week. The petition (see 2511190049) from Public Knowledge, the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and the Center for Accessible Technology used old data and ignored the competitive landscape for MVPDs, said filings from the Free State Foundation, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Center for American Rights, the League of Latin American Citizens and others. The petition’s “portrayal of Charter and Cox as dominant Internet access ‘gatekeepers’ simply does not match today’s marketplace realities,” said a joint filing from the companies.
Netflix announced Friday an agreement to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion after the latter company spins off Discovery Global, but the deal could face regulatory hurdles at the FTC or DOJ, and the combination has been criticized by lawmakers of both parties.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr cracked self-deprecating jokes about his relationship with President Donald Trump, the uproar over his conflict with Jimmy Kimmel, and his colleagues on the commission during his first address as chairman at the annual FCBA dinner Wednesday night. Directly across Massachusetts Avenue from the event at Washington’s Marriott Marquis hotel, Free Press, Public Knowledge and Tech Freedom projected criticisms of the Carr administration onto the front of the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) voiced concerns about a planned Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee hearing Tuesday on whether to levy a performance royalty on stations playing music on terrestrial radio, saying Thursday that the meeting “could be used to conflate” that issue and expected congressional action on the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-979/S-315). Congressional leaders scrapped a bid to attach a previous version of the measure to a continuing resolution to extend federal appropriations last year after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pressed to simultaneously add the American Music Fairness Act, which would institute a terrestrial performance right (see 2412180033).