Standard General’s lawsuit and conspiracy accusations against the FCC, Dish, Byron Allen, and several unions and public interest groups ignore rules protecting free speech and the conduct of government officials, said the defendants in a number of reply filings Tuesday, calling for the case to be dismissed (see 2409240017). Standard's lawsuit accuses those parties of being part of a racially motivated conspiracy to sink its acquisition of Tegna. “An agency’s conduct and oversight of an administrative proceeding is not a ‘conspiracy’ with parties who make submissions in that proceeding in accordance with agency procedures,” the FCC and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a filing. “A ruling allowing this lawsuit to proceed would deter protected speech, discouraging vocal citizens, interest groups, and lobbyists everywhere,” said a filing from attorney David Goodfriend, who represented several unions opposing the failed Standard/Tegna deal. The defendants “have a constitutional right to donate to politicians and lobby the government, and no amount of rhetoric can support imposing a money judgment against them for engaging in protected speech,” said Allen Media. Dish and the FCC also argued that Standard’s case was improper because a hearing designation order isn’t a final agency action. Standard’s arguments that it needs the court to act to protect the FCC and others from conspiring against its future transactions should also be discarded because the agency is about to come under new leadership, the FCC said. The agency also dismissed Standard’s accusations of racial prejudice. “The allegations in the Amended Complaint are entirely consistent with the conclusion that the administrative process involved, not racial discrimination, but consideration of public interest factors submitted by interested parties,” the FCC said. “There is no ‘conspiracy’ exception to the First Amendment,” said Allen Media.
The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, this week opposed several proposed changes to pole attachment rules. The FCC shouldn’t create a requirement that pole owners notify attachers “whether they will be able to meet the Commission’s pole access timelines within fifteen days of receiving a complete application,” EEI said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 17-84: “A pole owner needs to complete a survey to know with confidence what the scope and complexity will be of any make-ready work required to accommodate a specific attachment.” Reject proposals to prohibit prepayments for surveys and make-ready work, the group said. “Such proposals would enable attachers to use these fees to punish utilities for delays in the pole access process due to factors beyond their control.”
Attorneys general from all 50 states and the District of Columbia warned four companies Tuesday that they have been transmitting suspected illegal robocall traffic on their networks. KWK Communications, Inbounc Communications, AKA Management and CallVox received letters from the bipartisan Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Task Force, informing them that it shared the findings of its investigation with the FCC Enforcement Bureau. An investigation into KWK found that it received at least 129 traceback notices from the industry traceback group between 2020 and 2022 regarding calls associated with the federal government, auto warranty and utilities scams. Inbound was estimated to have "routed more than $28.4 million DirecTV and cable discount scam robocalls in a single month in 2022." AKA allegedly routed about 12.1 million Amazon and Apple-related robocalls in a single month. CallVox received more than 47 traceback notices between 2020 and 2022 concerning unlawful or suspicious robocalls to people who were registered on the do not call list. “These phone companies let robocallers on our networks, and they plague North Carolinians with illegal scam calls,” said the state's attorney general, Josh Stein (D), who co-chairs the task force. “These companies need to act now to stop these robocalls from inundating people’s phones.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Wednesday announced the selection of 10 more companies that will serve as cybersecurity label administrators (CLAs) under the agency’s voluntary cyber trust mark program. Last week, it said UL Solutions was picked as the first CLA and will serve as lead administrator (see 2412040038). The CLAs announced Wednesday are: CSA America Testing & Certification, CTIA Certification, Dekra Certification, Intertek Testing Services, the ioXt Alliance, Palindrome Technologies, SGS North America, the Telecommunications Industry Association, TUV Rheinland and TUV SUD America. “The program will allow qualifying consumer smart products that meet critical cybersecurity standards to display a label, including a new U.S. government certification mark, which will help consumers make informed purchasing decisions, easily identify trustworthy products and encourage manufacturers to prioritize higher cybersecurity standards,” the bureau said. The FCC adopted the program unanimously in March (see 2403140034).
Hilliary Acquisition filed for a writ of mandamus in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit seeking the return of $841,128.25 the company made in down payments for 42 licenses when it was the high bidder during the 2020 citizens broadband radio service auction. Hilliary missed a scheduled payment and sought a waiver, but the FCC rejected its request, it told the court. The company said the agency won't make a refund “until such time as Petitioner’s defaulted licenses are re-auctioned and the final default payment can be calculated.” The FCC’s spectrum auction authority lapsed “after Congress failed to agree on the terms of extending that authority, meaning that fulfillment of the conditions the FCC stipulated for repayment of the held funds was impossible,” Hilliary said. The FCC has held the funds since Oct. 16, 2020, the company said. “The FCC’s auction authority has lapsed for over a year and a half and there is no way of knowing when, if ever, it will be reinstated.” Hilliary cited the Administrative Procedure Act, which, it said, requires the D.C. Circuit to “compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed.” A writ of mandamus is appropriate “where (1) Petitioner has a clear and indisputable right to relief, (2) the government agency has a clear duty to act, and (3) Petitioner has no adequate alternative remedy,” Hilliary said.
Google's Starfish Infrastructure is seeking FCC approval for construction and operation of a private, noncommon carrier subset fiber optic cable system connecting Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands to French Polynesia and Chile. In an application posted Wednesday, Starfish said Guam is increasingly a "gateway for international connectivity" and that the system will be one of the first connecting it directly to French Polynesia, and the first to connect Guam and the Pacific region directly to the South American continent. Starfish said the submarine cable system is known in the U.S. as Halaihai, a type of beach vine.
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Wednesday adopted the National Exchange Carrier Association's recommendations on proposed changes to the USF cost per loop (CPL) formula. The bureau sought comment in September, and none was received (see 2409190029), it said. “We find that NECA’s results and CPL calculations appear to be accurate and complete, and the proposed [high-cost loop support] formula should reasonably approximate the CPL of the sample average schedule companies, and thereby allocate funds appropriately to average schedule companies.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr answered press questions about TikTok and the Department of Government Efficiency after Wednesday’s FCC open meeting (see 2412110040). Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel didn’t hold a news conference Wednesday due to a scheduling conflict. Carr said that Congress offered TikTok “many paths forward that don’t require the app to be shut down” in legislation that requires it change owners or cease operating in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently ruled against the company’s challenge of that law. “At this point I’m letting that process run out,” Carr said. In addition, Carr said he hasn’t had discussions with representatives of the planned Department of Government Efficiency about possible FCC cuts, but he anticipates doing so next year. There are "lots of opportunities ... [for] synergies at the FCC, even operating on our own if DOGE was never or is never set up, to look to push for greater efficiency.” For example, he said the FCC could seek more efficiency in permitting. Spending money on broadband projects but not easing the permitting process is “stepping on the gas and the brakes at the same time,” Carr said. He also discussed the Salt Typhoon hack, saying “we never should have been in this situation where these networks are compromised at this level” (see 2412110067).
Boston is saying amen to comments that Fairfax County, Virginia, submitted this week about the FCC's customer service requirements notice of inquiry. Noting Fairfax's arguments countering the cable industry's assertion that FCC action isn't needed on broad service provider customer service requirements (see 2412100010), Boston said it was "disheartening" that cable operators would rather reduce customer service as a way of cutting costs rather than try to attract new customers.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases since the last update are marked with a *.