FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Monday night that he has asked the Enforcement Bureau to “examine” claims made by Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week about broadcasters circumventing the commission’s sponsorship identification rules ban on payola. Blackburn wrote Carr that “we have learned” broadcasters are pressuring musical artists to “perform ‘free radio shows’ -- also referred to as ‘listener appreciation shows’ or ‘charitable concert events’” in exchange for airtime. “There is often an implicit suggestion that declining to perform could result in reduced airplay,” Blackburn said. “This forced quid pro quo applies to essentially all artists,” and some “have told me that it is not unusual for them to perform anywhere from 10 to 50 such shows in any given year.” That “practice is exploitative and should not be tolerated,” she said: “Artists should not be extorted into providing free labor in exchange for airplay.” Carr said this “conduct hurts America’s songwriters [and] musicians,” and he plans to “provide an update” on the probe this week.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced more staff appointments to a number of agency offices, including the Space Bureau, in a release Tuesday. Jay Schwarz, who previously served as a wireline adviser to former Chairman Ajit Pai, will become the bureau’s second ever chief, replacing Julie Kearney. The release also included the announcement of former acting NTIA head Adam Candeub becoming general counsel, which Carr posted Monday on X (see 2502030063). Adam Jackman, former director-digital communications for the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, will serve as Carr’s director-strategic communications for the Office of Media Relations. Dana Howell, a former information resource manager in the FCC Office of the Managing Director, will serve as executive assistant in Carr's office, the release said. “Additional staff announcements will follow,” it added.
The Alaska Telecom Association urged the FCC to move with care as it considers how to implement parts of the Alaska Connect Fund (ACF), approved by FCC commissioners in November (see 2411050002). Comments were due Monday on a Further NPRM on mobile and fixed wireless under the fund in docket 23-238.
Telnyx didn't do enough to stop artificial and prerecorded voice messages claiming to be from a nonexistent FCC "fraud prevention team" -- calls that went to FCC staff and their family, among others -- the agency said Tuesday in proposing a $4.5 million fine against the communications platform operator. The notice of apparent liability (NAL) was the first commission-level action under Chairman Brendan Carr. The agency said in the NAL that at least one recipient of the FCC impostor calls in February 2024 was connected to someone who demanded that outstanding FCC fines be paid in Google gift cards. The agency said Telnyx didn't conduct due diligence in verifying that the people who placed the call were who they said they were or their reasons for establishing Telnyx accounts. "Cracking down on illegal robocalls will be a top priority at the FCC,” Carr said, adding that the fine "flows from an apparently illegal robocalling scheme and continues the FCC’s longstanding work to stop bad actors.” The 3-1 approval of the NAL saw Carr's fellow Republican commissioner, Nathan Simington, dissenting, as he did under Democratic Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in recent months, due to questions about the agency's enforcement authority (see 2409060054). Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement that she supports self-reporting on potential rules violations and applauded Carr's office for allowing edits to the NAL to encourage self-reporting.
The FCC abruptly declined to defend the inclusion of a nonbinary gender category in its broadcaster workplace diversity data collection shortly before the start of oral argument at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The eleventh-hour shift could lead to the court declining to rule on the case, attorneys told us.
Senate Commerce Committee Democrats are already signaling that they're unlikely to give new NTIA administrator pick Arielle Roth a free pass through her confirmation process, particularly given their amplified doubts about how the agency-administered, $42.5 billion BEAD program will fare under Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary nominee (see 2501290047). Several Senate Commerce Democrats are likely to vote against Lutnick at a Wednesday panel meeting, but lobbyists told us he is all but certain to advance to the floor with unified GOP support.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr names Adam Candeub, ex-Michigan State Law School, general counsel ... Julie Kearney steps down as chief, FCC Space Bureau; Kerry Murray becomes acting chief … Sinclair promotes Linda Greenwald and Matthew Diehlmann to directors of programming, replacing Dave Howitt, retiring March 31.
Any NPRM that looks at new power limits on non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites should consider how the space industry and the assumptions underlying the original NGSO/geostationary orbit spectrum-sharing framework have changed, Amazon's Kuiper said. In a filing posted Monday, Kuiper recapped a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staffers where it presented four pages of suggested questions and topics for such an NPRM. It said the commission should ask about the level of protection GSO systems reasonably require and if the current equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits are the right ones for that level of protection. The FCC also should ask if the current EPFD limits overly restrict NGSO operations, Kuiper said. It should seek input on a new NGSO/GSO spectrum-sharing framework and on the best methodology for protecting GSO operations that use adaptive coding and modulation. SpaceX has petitioned for higher EPFD limits (see 2408120018).
The FCC’s investigation into PBS and NPR stations “could expand” beyond the “narrow issue” of underwriting, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a Fox News interview Monday. The FCC sent letters to the two networks last week announcing an investigation into whether their member stations were running commercial ads (see 2501300065). “Where the investigation goes from there, we'll just be led by the facts,” Carr said Monday. “Every broadcaster has a public interest obligation, and for years, I think the FCC has been completely absent on enforcing the public interest obligation."
UScellular representatives met with FCC staff to discuss the company’s response to a December data request from the Wireless Bureau (see 2412270031), said a filing posted Monday in docket 24-286. They discussed “acceptable formats for submission” of the data, UScellular said. The company also “asked clarifying questions concerning some of the data variables requested … and provided information to staff regarding the scope of data UScellular creates and maintains in the ordinary course of business,” the filing said. Representatives met staff from the Wireless Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics.