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.
The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District petitioned the FCC to stay a requirement that 4.9 GHz licensees provide the agency with granular licensing data by June 9 or face cancellation of their licenses. BART said it's using the band to build a communications-based train control system that will “enhance the safety of its transit operations.” Absent a stay, BART would have to devote “crucial and limited resources to a cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming data collection process, which must begin immediately to meet” the June 9 deadline, said a petition posted Wednesday in docket 07-100. The Government Wireless Technology & Communications Association and state groups previously asked the FCC to delay the requirement (see 2412230048). The National Sheriffs’ Association and California State Sheriffs’ Association also asked that the FCC stay the October order giving the FirstNet Authority -- and, indirectly, AT&T -- use of the 4.9 GHz band pending judicial review (see 2501230034).
Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (REACH) asked the FCC to revise its robocall/robotext safe harbor rules in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-402. The rules should confirm “that no member of the U.S. telecom ecosystem” may “block or label calls or text messages on the basis of content of the communication” or “block or label calls or text messages that are made consistent with the Commission’s rules related to express consent.” The revisions are needed “in light of the rampant scourge of unconstitutional and illegal call and text blocking that are censoring speech and limiting legitimate American businesses from accessing" cellphone provider networks, REACH said.
Hilliary Acquisition told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that it wants to continue its case for a writ of mandamus 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 (see 2412110065). The FCC denied the request in a Jan. 16 order, the company said. “The FCC now argues that with the grant of such Refund Order, mandamus relief is unavailable to Hilliary because an adequate alternative remedy now exists,” Hilliary said in a brief filed Tuesday.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau on Wednesday approved ZP Better Together’s request to continue providing video relay service (VRS) supported by the interstate telecommunications relay services fund following the acquisition of indirect ownership and control of ZP by Teleperformance Group. The bureau noted it sought comment in December, and none was filed. “Applicants state that ‘ZP currently meets or exceeds all mandatory minimum standards that are applicable to VRS and have not been waived by the Commission, and will continue to do so’ after the Teleperformance acquisition is consummated,” the bureau said.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.