Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
A compromise package to reopen the federal government (HR-5371) that the House and Senate are expected to vote on soon (see 2511100022) would also enact FY 2026 funding for the Agriculture Department with more rural broadband money than Congress proposed earlier this year. HR-5371’s USDA funding section includes $108.5 million for rural broadband programs, 13% more than the $96 million that the House and Senate included in slightly different versions of a minibus funding bill they passed in June (HR-3944).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Digicel-Haiti sells calls from the U.S. to Haiti and thus should be subject to the Communications Act, UPM said in a reply brief filed Monday at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. UPM wants the court to reverse FCC decisions backing Digicel-Haiti’s 2014 deactivation of thousands of SIM cards that UPM purchased from a third party, which granted access to a Digicel-Haiti discount roaming plan (see 2506050044). The FCC has ruled that Digicel’s actions didn’t violate the law because it doesn’t qualify as a U.S. carrier. The language of the Communications Act creates jurisdiction over foreign communications originating in the U.S., UPM said. “The mere fact that Digicel is a terminating foreign carrier does not exempt it from the Act when it has taken actions within the U.S. with respect to those calls."
With one of the FCC's largest monthly agendas in recent years -- nine items -- the commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved everything from a major revamp of the agency's satellite and earth station approvals process to a proposal to end simulcast requirements for the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. But three items were adopted Tuesday over the dissents of minority Commissioner Anna Gomez. She said the broadband labels further NPRM was "one of the most anti-consumer items I have ever seen." She also dissented on the prison-calling order and NPRM (see 2510280045) and the wireless direct final rule.
The suspension of most FCC functions as part of the broader government shutdown (see 2509300060) is already generating “a fair number of negative consequences” for the agency, and the gridlock will worsen the longer the closing lasts, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Thursday during a USTelecom event. Meanwhile, Senate Communications Subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., raised continued concerns about how NTIA’s June 6 policy restructuring notice for its $42.5 billion BEAD program (see 2506060052) is affecting their respective states’ plans for their allocation of the connectivity money.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
More consolidation among local broadcast stations is a must for survival, but beyond a change in ownership, it will also bring a change in how stations operate, station group owners said Wednesday at NAB’s annual New York City show. They also said the ATSC 3.0 transition needs a deadline for exiting 1.0 that the FCC will support.
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.