NEW ORLEANS -- Broadband experts, attorneys and local officials welcomed the use of AI Wednesday at the National Association of Telecom Officers and Advisors' annual conference (see 2508190045) here. Some said it could streamline permitting and speed deployment timelines but warned that federal preemption and lax oversight risk sidelining state and local voices in shaping how the technology changes communications policy.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed Standard General’s lawsuit accusing former FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Allen Media CEO Byron Allen and Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen of conspiring to block Standard’s attempted purchase of Tegna in 2023, according to an opinion issued Tuesday. Standard’s attempt to buy Tegna for $8.6 billion unraveled after the matter was designated for hearing (see 2404250059). Nexstar on Tuesday announced its plan to buy Tegna (see 2508190042).
Kelly Grier, formerly Ernst & Young, joins AT&T’s board, effective Sept. 1, replacing Scott Ford, Westrock Coffee, retiring … FCC Chairman Brendan Carr adds Courtney Cowper, ex-Honeywell, as special assistant in his office … Salem Media Group names Richard von Gnechten, WaterStone, as chairman of the board, replacing Executive Chairman Edward Atsinger in running board and stockholders meetings; Atsinger will retain his title through Dec. 31 and continue overseeing company operations.
Environmental Health Trust President Joseph Sandri on Tuesday called on the FCC and FDA to work together on RF safety issues. Sandri sent a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary, posted in docket 13-84. Earlier this month, EHT petitioned the FCC asking it to act on a 2021 remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of the agency’s 2019 RF safety rules (see 2508070032).
The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on a proposal by ShipCom and Global HF Net to offer their public coast station system for greater use by land-based parties, which they claim have a greater need. Comments are due Sept. 18, replies Oct. 3, in docket 25-255, said a Tuesday notice from the Wireless Bureau.
Consultant firm Horizon Advisory said the U.S. must take a comprehensive approach to preventing the wireless security threat from China. “Beijing can use a presence all across the value chain to cement access and exact leverage” and “defenses need to be similarly comprehensive,” the firm said in comments on a proposal to expand the FCC “covered list” of unsecure companies to put more focus on connected vehicles (see 2506300052). Horizon's filing was posted Tuesday in docket 21-232.
Transaction Network Services (TNS) told the FCC that publishing call identification information in a public call placement service (CPS) raises the risk that it will be “intercepted and abused by bad actors.” TNS weighed in this week in the FCC proceeding closing a “gap” in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules (see 2508180029).
The FCC Wireline Bureau Tuesday rejected a petition by Mercury Broadband seeking a waiver of Rural Deployment Opportunity Fund rules. Mercury said in May (see 2505200063) a potential $25.1 million in fines for the surrender of multiple RDOF census block groups was "neither reasonable nor proportionate.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr needs to clarify the FCC’s conditions for the Skydance/Paramount deal and be transparent about any role President Donald Trump played in influencing the FCC’s decision, said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in a letter to Carr Monday. Paramount Global’s settlement of a private suit by Trump followed days later by the FCC approving Skydance's acquisition of Paramount “raises significant questions and alarm” that the agency “has become a vehicle for President Trump to exact personal retribution and undermine the freedom of the press,” said the letter. “The FCC’s recent actions are especially troubling considering President Trump’s history of disparaging the press and undermining the protections afforded to them by the Constitution,” Schiff wrote. “In a blatant example of Trump’s political interference in the FCC’s regulatory review, the President boasted on Truth Social about his ‘BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN’ against Paramount just two days before the Commission’s approval of the company’s merger with Skydance,” the letter said. Schiff gave Carr until Monday to answer questions about the president’s involvement in the transaction's approval, promises made by Skydance (see 2507220070), and the FCC’s insulation from “external political pressure.”
States face a challenge getting their BEAD final proposals to NTIA by the Sept. 4, but most will meet the deadline, Colorado Broadband Office Executive Director Brandy Reitter said Tuesday at the Technology Policy Institute's Aspen Forum. Large states like Texas and California will probably need extensions, she told us. Reitter said she was fairly confident NTIA in turn would meet its deadline for reviewing the final proposals within 90 days of receiving them.