The FCC defended the Wireline Bureau's decision denying LTD Broadband's long-form application for the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. LTD, which was the largest winning bidder, sought a reversal of the decision, claiming the FCC improperly denied its entire application. In a Monday reply brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (docket 24-1017), the commission said it "repeatedly stated that the bureau would perform an in-depth review of long-form applications" to consider the technical and financial information of winning bidders (see 2405090056).
CTIA and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed AT&T’s challenge of the FCC's fine for data violations, filing amicus briefs in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On a 3-2 vote in April, commissioners imposed fines against the three major wireless carriers for allegedly not safeguarding data on customers' real-time locations years earlier (see 2404290044).
Telecom and banking groups urged that the FCC adopt proposed modifications to its letter of credit (LOC) rules for Universal Service Fund support recipients. Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 10-90 (see 2407030062). The commission proposed modifying LOC rules for its high-cost programs and Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) support recipients.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democrats’ 2024 presidential ticket, enters the national stage with a record of pro-rural broadband action but is largely a blank slate on other tech and telecom matters, observers said in interviews. Harris announced Walz as her pick Tuesday after a two-week vetting process in which other governors with stronger broadband policy backgrounds were in contention (see 2407260001). Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republicans’ vice presidential nominee, has been a leading congressional advocate for injecting funding into the FCC’s lapsed affordable connectivity program (see 2407150062).
The FCC giving the green light to partial deployment of AST SpaceMobile's direct-to-device satellite constellation is "a significant step to targeting 100% nationwide coverage from space of the continental United States on premium cellular spectrum,” President Scott Wisniewski said Monday as the company announced the approval. Under the FCC Space Bureau authorization order in Monday's Daily Digest, AST may operate feeder links and telemetry, tracking and command operations in the V, S and UHF bands. The approval defers on additional frequencies, inducing terrestrial bands that it would use to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS). The agency said the approval lets AST begin deployment, with the goal of testing a system capable of providing SCS service, subject to additional approvals. "While this grant does not authorize any operations or testing for SCS, we believe that the deployment of five satellites under this limited grant ... will enable AST to request authority to further test this still emerging technology," the agency said. The FCC conditioned the approval on AST making "a good faith effort" to reduce optical brightness of its satellites, choose lower orbital elevations when feasible, and provide orbital information to astronomy sites and astronomers. SpaceX had sought conditions on AST satellites that matched those the agency imposed on the second-generation Starlink satellites. The commission agreed, saying that would let it monitor AST operations continuously. But the agency rejected a 100 object-years metric for measuring AST satellite failures, as Amazon's Kuiper was seeking. The approval covers five BlueBird satellites, with the FCC deferring on 243 others. AST said its first five BlueBirds have completed environmental testing and are ready for shipment to Cape Canaveral this week for a seven-day launch window in September.
The FCC emergency alert system test reporting system (ETRS) is now accepting Form One filings from EAS participants, a Public Safety Bureau public notice said Monday. The forms are due Oct. 4. EAS participants have to renew their identifying information required by ETRS Form One annually, the notice said.
Comments on a recent FCC NPRM requiring disclosure when generative AI is used when creating political advertisements are due Sept. 4 in docket 24-211, a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest said (see 2407250046). Replies are due Sept. 19.
A recent Media and Democracy Project (MAD) submission of a petition with 25,000 signatures against the renewal of Fox-owned WTXF-TV Philadelphia (see 2407250056) is an attempt at “distort[ing] the Commission’s processes” and less than 2.3% of the signatories reside in WTXF’s viewing area, the network said in an ex parte filing Friday. “Taking at face value MAD’s claim as to the accuracy of the names and locations in its filing,” only 571 of them “possibly reside in Fox 29 Philadelphia’s viewing area,” Fox said. “In contrast, over 3.1 million households, and many more people, live in the Philadelphia” designated market area. The FCC “does not, and should not, make decisions on whether to grant a license renewal application based on the number of persons allegedly willing to fill out a webform.” The petition “cannot outweigh the testimony of numerous viewers of Fox 29 Philadelphia who have urged the Commission to swiftly renew the station’s broadcast license.” The FCC “should adhere to its own precedent, weigh the evidence in the record fairly, and grant Fox 29 Philadelphia’s license renewal without further delay.” The "issues raised in the petition go well beyond the Philadelphia station and raise serious questions about the decisions made by its owner to knowingly spread dangerous lies to protect profit,” MAD Executive Director Milo Vassallo said in an email. “It is time to remind Fox that we the people own the airwaves, not any single individual or corporation."
The FCC should reconsider resurrecting rules restricting commonly owned, same market FM stations from duplicating content, NAB said in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 19-310. In 2020, the previous FCC dropped the rule for FM and AM stations, but the current commission reinstated the FM portion in June, responding to a 2020 petition from REC Networks, the musicFIRST Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition (see 2407020055). The FCC “has no basis to reverse its initial judgment in this proceeding and willfully turned a blind eye to conducting any research including seeking any updated comment after waiting nearly four years to act,” NAB said. The FCC should have sought comment on whether the reversal was needed but instead acted based only on the record from 2020, NAB added. The trade group also said the recon order returning the nonduplication rules “turns the petition for reconsideration standard on its head.” FCC precedent requires showing a material error or omission in the order, but in the FM nonduplication recon order the agency “reasons that it has the ability to reconsider the Order here because the material error is that the Order itself was wrongly decided.” NAB added, “Were the FCC to adopt this new approach to petitions for reconsideration, the standard would amount to no standard at all.” The FCC should “reconsider its grant of the Reconsideration Petition in this proceeding, and solicit comment on the effect of eliminating the FM radio duplication rule during the past four years.”
The FCC initiated the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for 44 Florida counties in anticipation of Hurricane Debby making landfall, a public notice said Sunday. The alert encompasses much of northern Florida, including Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Tampa. In addition, it activated the mandatory disaster response initiative (MDRI) for facilities-based mobile wireless providers in the affected area, which requires companies to allow reasonable roaming and cooperate in service restoration during disasters. On Monday, the commission expanded the DIRS and MDRI requirements to 27 counties in South Carolina. Monday’s DIRS report shows 1% of cellsites down in the affected counties, and 82,858 cable and wireline subscribers without service. Two TV and one FM stations were reported down; no AM stations were listed as out of service and one FM station redirected. The FCC also issued public notices on priority communications services and emergency contact procedures for licensees that need special temporary authority. The Public Safety Bureau issued a reminder for entities clearing debris and repairing utilities to avoid damaging communications infrastructure. Hurricane Debby became Tropical Storm Debby Sunday. T-Mobile issued a statement that they're working with FEMA and local emergency operations centers to prioritize restoration efforts.