Initial reaction diverged on an FCC draft to streamline telecom service discontinuance and network change processes, which Chairman Ajit Pai placed on the tentative agenda for the June 7 commissioners' meeting (see 1805170060). Some incumbent telco representatives Friday welcomed the draft order to reduce regulatory barriers to wireline infrastructure deployment, while Public Knowledge and a counsel representing large business customers voiced objections. Various others said they were reviewing the draft's details and didn't comment.
Cable and leased access programmer (LAP) reaction to the FCC's proposed revisit of its cable leased access rules is hazy, as is whether issuing the further NPRM on June's FCC agenda (see 1805160051) will be a unanimous commissioner decision, experts said. The 2008 leased access order supported by the Leased Access Programmers Association and opposed by cable was never put into place, and the FNPRM that proposes rescinding that order could be a chance for "new thinking" on leased access that better balances rules tilted today toward cable, said LAPA Vice President Duane Polich.
In what some called an unusual move, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly used the agency's blog Friday to defend each of the commission's media regulations under Chairman Ajit Pai against criticism that such actions are benefiting Sinclair. Recounting a trip last week to the Pearl TV-led ATSC 3.0 model-market project in Phoenix (see 1805090082), O'Rielly fleshed out his view that the Pai-led commission isn't trying to help only Sinclair, but broadcasters overall when circumstances dictate.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn remains at the FCC a month after she announced she was leaving (see 1804170056), in a move some FCC watchers said is unusual for departing members. She has stopped participating in monthly open meetings and wasn’t at the May 10 meeting. Yet she remains a commissioner and has continued to vote on some items on circulation, FCC officials said. Clyburn had an FCC goodbye party (see 1805070036) yet she continues making other public appearances.
The FCC would further streamline telecom service discontinuances and network changes under a draft wireline infrastructure order circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai for consideration at the June 7 commissioners' meeting (see 1805160051). Pai also plans votes on draft telecom items on rural telco broadband USF contribution relief, intercarrier compensation arbitrage in general, toll-free number arbitrage and fraud, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) rates and use, and telephone slamming and cramming.
PMCM was peppered with questions from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit during oral argument Thursday over the broadcaster’s contention the FCC should allow its WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, to broadcast on virtual channel 3 (see 1805140068). When PMCM attorney Donald Evans of Fletcher Heald said there was “ambiguity” in rules on channel assignment to a station relocated to a new market as WJLP did, Judge Thomas Griffith interrupted. “What do we do with ambiguities in this court?” Griffith asked. In such cases, the court generally “defers to an administrative agency,” Evans conceded. “That’s what the law tells us to do,” said Griffith, nodding.
Chairman Ajit Pai defended the FCC December order to rescind 2015 net neutrality rules amid criticism Thursday from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Democrats, a day after the Senate voted 52-47 to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at repealing the rescission order (see 1805160064). FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, in his first Capitol Hill appearance since becoming the head earlier this month (see 1805010026), faced questions on his vision of the trade commission's policy role on net neutrality, privacy and data security issues.
BOSTON -- Massachusetts Senate leaders presented a bipartisan case for net neutrality and ISP privacy rules Thursday in a closed-door bipartisan informational caucus, a day after the U.S. Senate disapproved of the FCC repealing net neutrality rules (see 1805160064). Against heavy industry lobbying, Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (D) and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R) aim to educate members about a proposal of their Special Senate Committee on Net Neutrality and Consumer Protection, Creem said in a Wednesday interview at the State House. Meanwhile, in Vermont, a state senator urged industry to bring lawsuits against a net neutrality bill passed Saturday.
The 5G item set for commissioners' June 7 meeting proposes to undo some restrictions on spectrum holdings and tie up other loose ends. The FCC released its draft order and Further NPRM Thursday, providing details beyond what Chairman Ajit Pai discussed in a Wednesday blog post (see 1805160051).
The pair of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite applications on the June 7 commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1805160051) will likely get 4-0 approval and point to the FCC clustering future approvals, with others likely later this year, experts told us.