The call-branding Further NPRM on the FCC's October agenda (see 2510070038) needs to delve more into what happens when originating providers don't meet their branding obligations, ZipDX said Monday (docket 17-59). Language about "enforceability" doesn't spell out who the enforcers might be or what obligations they might have, the conferencing service provider said. It called for the FNPRM to ask what entities, aside from the originating provider, should have responsibility in ensuring that caller identity information is correct.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Tuesday night that it has rescheduled for Oct. 21 a postponed meeting that will include a vote on the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (S-2666). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. S-2666, which Senate Commerce originally intended to vote on last week (see 2510080053), would direct the FCC to create a public-private task force to recommend new methods “to combat unlawful robocalls made into” the U.S. from outside the country. The task force would also examine whether creating a robocall-focused office within DOJ would improve the department’s ability to conduct enforcement against unlawful robocalls.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Experts warned Wednesday that there are no easy answers to shoring up the USF and making predictable funding available for years to come. During a Broadband Breakfast webinar, panelists noted that some federal funding is disappearing, with FCC commissioners voting 2-1 last month to delete support for school bus Wi-Fi and internet hot spots that aren't on school or library premises (see 2509300051).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said Thursday that he opposes language in the Senate's FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act version (S-2296) that would give the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands. Hudson said during a Punchbowl News event that his next priority as Communications chair will be to enact legislation aimed at easing broadband permitting rules, despite Democrats’ recent criticism of a mostly GOP-led set of proposals during a Sept. 18 hearing (see 2509180069).
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday signed into law SB-576, which mandates that the volume of commercials on streaming services can't be louder than the original programming. Newsom's office said the bill builds on the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act passed by Congress, which applied to broadcast TV stations and cable operators.
The FCC wants to adopt what it's calling a "licensing assembly line" approach to speeding up its review of satellite and earth station applications, according to a 201-page draft NPRM on space licensing reform. The item, which is on the FCC's Oct. 28 meeting agenda, would also extend the license terms for most satellites and earth stations to 20 years, move largely to a nationwide blanket license approach for earth stations, and require that satellite operators share space situational awareness data. The draft agenda items were released Tuesday.
The second flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket should be later this month or in early November, with a mission of sending a NASA satellite into orbit around Mars, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said Friday at a tech conference in Italy. The company is also working on a hydrogen-powered lunar lander for a moon mission "in a few years," as well as conducting R&D to make solar cells from lunar material, he said. Bezos predicted that solar-powered data centers would be built and operated in space within 10 to 20 years.
The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night that it plans to vote Oct. 8 on the Foreign Robocall Elimination Act (S-2666). The measure would direct the FCC to create a public-private task force to recommend new methods “to combat unlawful robocalls made into” the U.S. from outside the country, as well as determine whether the agency’s Stir/Shaken rules “adequately provide call authentication for unlawful robocalls from foreign originating providers or foreign intermediate providers through gateway providers” in the U.S. The task force would also examine whether creating a robocall-focused office within DOJ would improve the department’s ability to conduct enforcement against unlawful robocalls. The Senate Commerce meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.