Cable operators need to be vigilant about threats of being overbuilt as tens of billions of federal dollars are poised to be directed toward broadband projects in coming years, said cable lawyer Tom Cohen of Kelley Drye Wednesday at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2021. The broadband infrastructure funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, if passed, would take a year or so to be implemented and could start flowing in 2022 (see 2110120038), he said. That could give incumbents time to get ahead of competition and also think about what unserved areas nearby that could be grabbed, he said.
Congress needs to identify an AI regulatory framework so companies like Facebook can be held accountable for biases and side effects associated with algorithms, said House AI Task Force Chairman Bill Foster, D-Ill., during a hearing Wednesday.
Industry groups warned about high compliance costs from a proposed Massachusetts Information Privacy Act, at a virtual hearing Wednesday. Consumer privacy advocates said MIPA could be the strongest state law in the country. The Joint Committee on Advanced Information Technology, the Internet and Cybersecurity heard testimony on 40 bills, including net neutrality, privacy, broadband, digital equity and RF safety.
The FCC Media Bureau will issue a decision by Nov. 30 on a contentious sale of three stations owned by Edward Stolz, said Larry Patrick, the court-ordered receiver who's overseeing the stations and their proposed sale for $6 million to religious broadcaster VCY America. “I just want to be out of this,” said Patrick, founder of media brokerage Patrick Communications, in an interview.
The Biden administration is looking past 5G to 6G, said Evelyn Remaley, NTIA acting administrator, at the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Wednesday. She's “very optimistic” about opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G and sees industry support for developing a national spectrum strategy. Others cited the importance of the C-band and issues that must be addressed after the record-setting auction.
Facebook and Instagram illegally deceive users and the government by hosting murder videos violating their terms of service, gun safety advocate Andy Parker alleged in an FTC complaint Tuesday. Testimony from whistleblower Frances Haugen last week confirmed Facebook can remove videos but doesn't because it's not in the company’s financial interest, Parker told reporters at the National Press Club. He filed a similar complaint in 2020 against Google and YouTube (see 2002200049). These stem from a video of Parker’s daughter Alison, a reporter who was assassinated on live TV in 2015 (see 2002030059).
5G remains a theoretical competitive threat to cable, not an actual one, though additional midband and millimeter wave spectrum and new entrants like Dish Network could change that, cable operators and allies said Tuesday at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo 2021.
The FCC remains focused on opening the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for 5G, acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the Americas Spectrum Management Conference Tuesday. Other speakers said the U.S. is making progress on 5G, but it's a time of uncertainty and change on spectrum policy. Promoters had planned an in-person event but took it virtual with the rise in COVID-19 infections.
States are considering whether to sue Frontier Communications after their claims were dismissed last week about DSL-speeds advertising. U.S. Central District of California Judge Gary Klausner suggested, in dismissing claims from Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Indiana, that “judicial economy” and “the interest of comity” would favor trying their claims in courts more familiar with applicable laws (see 2110040066).
Municipal interests are on one side, telecom interests largely on the other, over a Mediacom petition seeking FCC preemption of a deal between Google Fiber and West Des Moines, Iowa, on constructing a conduit network to provide broadband in unserved parts of town, per comments last week in docket 21-217.