Bidirectional sharing of commercial spectrum for federal users to have access to commercial spectrum has emerged as a Trump administration focus. Proposals remain controversial for carriers.
Cable and direct broadcast satellite interests are locking horns over FY 2018 regulatory fees, echoing what has become an annual fight since the FCC instituted DBS regulatory fees in 2015 (see 1507080013, 1607060023 and 1706230027). Docket 18-175 comments were due Thursday and mostly posted Friday, with replies July 6. An FCC staffer said the International Bureau likely is still digesting the comments and there haven't been wide discussions on the eighth floor about how the agency might view cable or DBS arguments about the FY 2018 regulatory proposal. Small satellite regulatory fees also are coming under fire from commercial and academic interests, and there's jousting about a tiered international bearer circuits (IBC) fee structure.
USTelecom companies, in a deal with member Windstream, changed a proposal so that it would now increase by almost twice the amount of time telcos wouldn't be able to raise prices for unbundled network element connections that competitors can use to reach their own customers. Other telecom companies using such UNEs weren't swayed by the association's changed FCC forbearance proposal posted Friday in docket 18-141, after the past version drew a letter of protest earlier last week to leaders of the Senate Commerce Committee from companies including Windstream. With the changes, Windstream is now on board. Incompas remains concerned, its chief told us.
A rural North Carolina town with a population of fewer than 1,200 has two fiber networks -- and may disconnect residents and businesses from one -- due to the state’s municipal broadband laws. Greenlight, the fiber-to-the-home service provided by neighboring Wilson, planned to end service July 12 due to the arrival of a fiber-to-the-premise network by Altice's Suddenlink; a $280,000 offer by National Network Holdings, though, could preserve Greenlight. Current and former Pinetops officials are happy with Greenlight and questioned motives behind Suddenlink’s allegedly disruptive deployment. Altice said it aims to provide great service.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 police generally need a warrant to collect cellphone location data from carriers, in what some see as a landmark privacy decision but one the ruling noted only dealt with the specific case. It's the first time the court directly tackled Fourth Amendment protection of cellphone records. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the decision. Carpenter v. U.S. was heard in November (see 1711290043).
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance two Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board nominees and held over a markup of the Music Modernization Act music licensing legislative package (S-2823). Senate Judiciary advanced PCLOB nominees Edward Felten and Jane Nitze on voice votes Thursday. A markup of S-2823 will happen next week, as expected (see 1805250036), Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters.
TRENTON -- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) should end state 911 fee diversion that keeps local 911 agencies from receiving any money, said FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and New Jersey county and wireless officials at a Thursday news conference. With lawmakers in the thick of budget season, “they may not see the light yet,” O’Rielly said in an interview later. The FCC in February identified the state as the nation’s biggest diverter, saying it used about 89 percent ($108.1 million) of the revenue for other purposes in 2016.
The FCC released draft items for commissioners' July 12 meeting (see 1806200058), including an NPRM on C-Band spectrum at 3.7-4.2 GHz. Also on the tentative agenda for the meeting are drafts on wireless emergency alerts (WEA) and the emergency alert system (EAS), changes to cellular, children's TV programming (see 1806210021), nationwide number portability and enforcement proceeding rules for complaints.
The FCC should reject Sinclair/Tribune’s divestiture plans as a sham, wait for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule on the UHF discount and block the transaction, said petitions to deny in FCC docket 17-179 by a host of anti-media-consolidation groups, MVPD entities, state attorneys general, Newsmax, the Parents Television Council and American Civil Liberties Union. “This proposed merger, which would create the largest television broadcasting company in history, is anticompetitive to its core,” said the ACLU. NCTA and three state attorneys general had concerns.
Commissioner Mike O'Rielly took to multiple media outlets to plug a coming kidvid deregulatory plan, as the FCC issued the draft NPRM and opened a docket on the proceeding. Also Thursday, a self-described "coalition of 23 center-right consumer advocates" supported the effort. O'Rielly hopes to complete the kidvid proceeding "by the end of the year," he told a TechFreedom podcast. An NPRM seeking comment on relaxing the rules, spearheaded by O’Rielly, is set for the July 12 commissioners’ meeting (see 1806200058). A tentative meeting agenda was just released (see 1806210063).