Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “encouraged” that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement and Media bureaus for an investigation of PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065), a spokesperson emailed us Thursday night. Cruz’s “rigorous oversight” last year of NPR’s funding sources (see 2407230038) “has inspired continued attention to this matter,” the spokesperson said: He “has led the fight to end liberal bias in taxpayer-funded media” and “remains committed to conducting thorough investigations of taxpayer dollars being misused to fund liberal propaganda on public airwaves.”
On his first trip as FCC chairman, Brendan Carr said Friday he was in western North Carolina to visit “several of Hurricane Helene’s hardest-hit areas where recovery and restoration are underway.” President Donald Trump visited the area ahead of Carr, before continuing on to California, which has been hit by massive wildfires. “Everybody is talking about California, and that’s a mess,” Trump said after he arrived in North Carolina on Jan. 24. “But I said, ‘I’m not going to California until I stop in North Carolina.’” Trump also signed an executive order on rebuilding roads in the region, eliminating the need for permitting. Carr said he will make several stops in the state, spending "time with emergency management and public safety officials, telecom crews, broadcasters, and other government representatives that are now working to rebuild these communities.” He added: “I am grateful for the surge in support that President Trump and his Administration have been providing to communities across Western North Carolina, including an Executive Order that will speed restoration efforts here.” Carr hasn’t made other travel plans, FCC officials said Friday. He went to California for a visit tied to the Dixie Fire in 2021.
A reported escalation of the FCC’s investigation into CBS is “a retaliatory move” against broadcasters over unfavorable coverage and is intended to “weaponize” the agency’s license authority, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement Friday. This came after a report in the L.A. Times said the agency demanded a full, unedited transcript of an October interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that ran on 60 Minutes and Face the Nation. The FCC’s request is “designed to instill fear in broadcast stations and influence a network’s editorial decisions,” Gomez said. CBS didn’t comment. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said in interviews as far back as November that he expected the transcript to come up in the agency’s ongoing review of Skydance’s proposed purchase of CBS TV stations from Paramount (see 2411190051). During the first two weeks of Carr’s reign, “the FCC has shown a concerning pattern of implementing the will of the Administration on issues that go far beyond our core responsibilities,” Gomez said. “These actions disregard long-standing norms and ignore the mandate granted by Congress to the FCC to act as an independent agency,” she added. “They also set a dangerous precedent that threatens to undermine trust in the agency’s role as an impartial regulator.”
Five days before a scheduled oral argument on the FCC’s Form 395-B collection of diversity data from broadcasters, DOJ told the court Thursday that it no longer supports aspects of the equal employment opportunity (EEO) rule, citing the recent White House executive orders on diversity and gender terminology in a letter filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in docket 24-60219.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Monday night that President Donald Trump is nominating panel Republican Telecom Policy Director Arielle Roth as NTIA's leader, as expected. Lobbyists had previously also tipped Roth as a top contender for former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s seat but Trump nominated Senate Armed Services Committee Republican staffer Olivia Trusty for that role instead. Roth was previously a legislative aide to former Senate Commerce member Roy Blunt, R-Mo., O’Rielly’s wireline adviser and a Wireline Bureau legal adviser. She also had stints at the Hudson Institute and Federalist Society.
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez staff changes: Hayley Steffen joins Office of International Affairs; Jessica Greffenius returns to the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau; Jonathan Uriarte joins as strategic communications and policy adviser from former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s staff ... Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson (D) appoints Brian Rybarik, ex-Microsoft, chair of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for six-year term starting March 3; he replaces David Danner, retiring … Commercial Space Foundation names Alicia Brown, ex-NASA, executive director … Privacy professionals group IAPP elects to board through 2025: Oliver Draf, Volkswagen; Kristie Chon Flynn, Google; Lara Liss, GE HealthCare; Susan Hintze, Hintze Law and Hintze Data Advisors; elected to the executive committee are: Caroline Louveaux, Mastercard (chair); Barbara Cosgrove, Workday (vice chair); Christina Montgomery, IBM (treasurer), Travis LeBlanc, Cooley (secretary); and Faith Myers, McKesson (past chair).
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacating part of the FCC's 2023 one-to-one consent robotext marketing order (see 2501240068) shows "the importance of clear and reasonable regulations that balance consumer protection with access to competitive marketplaces," LendingTree said. In a statement Wednesday, CEO Doug Lebda said the ruling "ensures consumers can continue benefiting from critical financial services while we focus our efforts on preventing unwanted and confusing phone calls." LendingTree lobbied the FCC against the one-to-one consent rule (see 2312010028 and 2411220019).
The National Sheriffs’ Association and the California State Sheriffs’ Association lack grounds for a stay of the FCC’s 4.9 GHz order, the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 07-100. The groups sought a stay pending judicial review of the order (see 2501230034). The sheriffs groups “feigned surprise” but “had ample notice that the Commission was considering the band-manager framework adopted in the Order,” PSSA said. Even if the arguments “had merit, they are not entitled to a stay because they do not come close to demonstrating that they will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay,” PSSA said: Their purported injury “is based on speculation that their members might wish to expand operations in the future and would not be able to do so, and that it will be costly for them to collect and present the data concerning their existing operations.” But the groups don’t “show that any member has concrete plans to expand operations -- a necessary prerequisite for a claim of irreparable injury.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement and Media bureaus to investigate PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations, and he doesn’t think they should receive taxpayer funds, according to identical letters sent to the CEOs of those stations Wednesday. Attorneys told us the FCC hasn’t historically been very active in policing underwriting, and the agency’s Democrats said that the letters appeared to be an attempt to intimidate public broadcasters.
With the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) out of the picture, Lifeline's monthly benefits aren't covering the growing broadband affordability gap, the National Lifeline Association said in a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted Wednesday (docket 21-450). NaLA said its most recent survey of more than 68,000 consumers found that 40% of respondents reduced their food spending to afford the monthly internet bill, 20% indicated they were unable to work remotely or accept shift work, and nearly 20% said their children were having difficulty completing homework. In addition, 36% reported having discontinued telehealth after ACP ended in 2024, and 70% said they relied on ACP and/or Lifeline benefits to access healthcare services, including telehealth. Lifeline’s $9.25 monthly subsidy “comes nowhere close to making basic retail internet service offerings affordable,” NaLA said, since most prepaid mobile broadband plans with at least 5GB of data and mobile hot spot cost $30 or more, and none offer a free smartphone. NaLA said it pushed for interim funding for a reformed ACP, and it supports long-term funding for a single low-income support program inside the USF.