An FCC proposal requiring that MVPDs notify the agency of retransmission consent blackouts exceeds the agency’s authority and could prompt additional blackouts, said NAB in meetings last week with aides to FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-427. A draft item proposing rules on blackouts is on circulation to the 10th floor. “Given the Commission’s very limited role and its inability to use information on negotiating impasses to require parties to take any additional steps, it is not clear what lawful purpose this information gathering effort can serve,” NAB said. Consumers aren’t likely to consult an FCC database on blackouts, and wouldn't find it useful for comparison shopping MVPD services because it won’t contain information on blackouts of nonbroadcast services such as regional sports networks, NAB said. A database focused on disruptions in service would provide “an incomplete picture given that the overwhelming majority of retransmission consent negotiations are concluded without event,” NAB said. MVPDs will use the database as evidence for regulatory or legislative intervention in the retrans consent negotiation process, NAB said. “There have been documented increases in disruptions during key Congressional or Commission deliberations on retransmission consent issues,” NAB said. “The database will serve as an ‘attractive nuisance’ that MVPDs cannot resist, triggering increased disruptions and harming consumers.”
The Alaska Telecom Association asked the FCC to include certain language in its pending rulemaking on next steps for the Alaska Plan's Alaska Connect Fund (see 2409130026). In a letter posted Tuesday in docket 23-328, ATA urged the FCC to account for the "unique circumstances facing each provider in the state," including geographic challenges and the availability of infrastructure. The group encouraged the FCC to "carefully determine the milestone dates for key assessments and measurements" for participating providers. "Any milestones set before 2031 risk ignoring that many [broadband, equity, access, and deployment] projects will require three or four years of permitting," the group said. The Alaska Remote Carrier Coalition raised similar concerns in a separate letter.
NTIA supports the FCC’s proposal for expansion of nonfederal use of the 13 GHz band, provided there are protections for in-band and adjacent federal operations, said a filing last week in docket 22-352. NTIA responded on behalf of NASA and the National Science Foundation. To ensure “in-band compatibility” with NASA’s Deep Space Network receiving ground station at Goldstone, California, and NSF-operated radioastronomy (RA) observatories, “NTIA and the Commission should develop a coordination process that would protect these important scientific endeavors while still permitting more intensive use of the band,” NTIA said. “Because the RA observatories are located in remote areas, successful coordination should be possible,” NTIA said. The FCC launched a notice of inquiry on the future of the 13 GHz band two years ago (see 2210270046).
Garmin International provided additional information to the FCC on its request for a waiver of rules for handheld general mobile radio service (GMRS) devices limiting them to one transmission every 30 seconds (see 2310060031). Garmin responded to a North Shore Emergency Association filing, which found an earlier filing on a September meeting of Garmin with FCC staff was inadequate (see 2407260036). “Garmin reiterated [during the meeting] that the data transmissions of its proposed GMRS device will have a reduced duty cycle and less practical effect on users of GMRS devices compared to the digital data transmissions currently permitted under the Commission’s GMRS rules, including by limiting data transmissions to interstitial channels,” said the latest Garmin filing, posted Tuesday in docket 24-7. “Specifically, Garmin is seeking to provide very short (50 milliseconds) digital data transmissions, such as GPS location data, once every five (5) seconds, provided that in non-emergency situations the channel being used has not been utilized for voice communications in the prior 30 seconds,” Garmin said.
Groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing opposed a CTIA request that the FCC indefinitely extend its September 2023 temporary waiver allowing use of the interim volume control testing method for hearing-aid compatibility (HAC) compliance. CTIA made the proposal as part of its FCC outreach on the draft GAC order, set for a commissioner vote Thursday (see 2409260047). The FCC’s waiver standard “dictates that the Commission should not act now to preemptively extend -- without imposing any time limits -- the September 2023 waiver allowing use of the interim HAC volume control testing method,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-388. The groups also raised concerns about the CTIA’s comments on labeling (see 2410090051). The FCC should “take into account that consumers with hearing loss must receive all the information they need to make an informed decision about any handset before purchase,” the filing said. Groups signing the filing were the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Hearing Loss Association of America, Deaf Equality, TDIforAccess and Communication Service for the Deaf.
Consultant Whitey Bluestein argued in favor of the FCC adopting uniform handset unlocking standards. Current nonmandatory standards “were adopted 11 years ago" with “little or no consumer input,” said a filing Tuesday in docket 24-186: “Since then, industry structure, technology, networks, spectrum, devices, services, usage and regulations -- virtually everything comprising the mobile ecosystem -- have changed dramatically.” Among the changes, Bluestein cited smartphones are now “increasingly powerful” and their cost “has nearly doubled, averaging $823 in 2023, and expected to increase.” FCC commissioners approved an NPRM 5-0 in July proposing that all wireless providers unlock handsets 60 days after they’re activated, unless a carrier determines the handset “was purchased through fraud” (see 2407180037).
Commnet Wireless and NTUA Wireless asked for additional six-month extensions of pending deadlines to remove Huawei and ZTE components from their networks under the FCC’s rip-and-replace program. The carriers, which serve the Navajo Nation, requested the extension in a series of FCC filings, posted Tuesday in docket 18-89. Commnet said in one of the filings it faces a Jan. 27 completion date. “Commnet is unable to meet this deadline due to factors beyond its control, and we thus assert that the grant of a six-month extension as contemplated by the Commission’s rules is warranted and would serve the public interest,” the filing said: “Commnet continues to work diligently to complete its plan to remove, replace and securely dispose of equipment, however, even after receiving our previous extension, we also continue to face challenges with repeated delays caused primarily from zoning and permitting restrictions that have severely delayed our overall progress.”
The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Milton on Monday, said a public notice Monday. The agency is still taking outage reports on nine counties in North Carolina and seven counties in Tennessee. Tuesday’s update showed 10.6% of cellsites in the affected area without service, and 40,963 cable and wireline subscribers without service.
Three judges that Republican presidents appointed will handle the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ review of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The panel includes Judges Richard Griffin and Raymond Kethledge, who are appointees of President George W. Bush, and John Bush, one of six 6th Circuit judges that President Donald Trump appointed. Oral argument is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Cincinnati in the 6th Floor West Courtroom, starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT (docket 24-7000). Each side was allocated 20 minutes for argument. Some legal experts say it seems likely the 6th Circuit will reject the order as raising major questions that should be left to Congress and the panel's makeup may not prove critical (see 2409030030). Ten of the 6th Circuit's 16 full-time judges are Republican appointees.
Maine should harmonize its Chapter 880 pole-attachment rules with recent FCC rules changes, Comcast and Charter Communications commented last week at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. However, the cable companies disagreed with various Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) recommendations contained in a recent report. Versant Power, an electric utility that owns poles, said Maine needn’t make more regulatory or legislative changes.