The FCC’s rule barring stations from using affiliation deals to get around ownership limits falls outside the agency's congressional authority, Gray Television told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. In a supplemental brief (docket 22-14274), Gray said the appellate court should determine that authority's scope and meaning without deference to the commission. The 11th Circuit earlier this month requested a brief about the effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision (see 2407110058). Gray is appealing a $518,000 forfeiture order over its alleged violation of the FCCs "Note 11" affiliation deals rule related to its purchase of the network affiliation of an Anchorage TV station (see 2301040059). The FCC has 14 days to respond to the supplemental brief. In its brief, Gray said Loper Bright mandates that the court first resolve whether the agency had statutory authority to promulgate and enforce Note 11. It said while Congress gave the FCC regulatory authority over license transfers, Note 11 and the forfeiture order are about what the FCC considers the "functional equivalent" of a license transfer.
Samsung Electronics America representatives met with FCC Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington on the company’s request for a waiver on a 5G base station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). Samsung “emphasized its dedication to the success of CBRS and 5G, generally, in the United States,” a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-93 said. “The proposed device -- which has been before the Commission for over 700 days -- would simply enable operators to deploy one radio where they would otherwise deploy two radios with substantially similar performance characteristics,” Samsung said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Thursday reminded Part 90 and Part 101 public safety licensees to update their license contact information with an email address. “Licensees without valid or updated email addresses will not receive courtesy electronic reminders regarding license expiration or construction deadlines,” which can lead to license cancelation, the bureau said in docket 19-212.
Edison Electric Institute representatives discussed the need electric utilities have for licensed spectrum to support uncrewed aerial systems and suggested to the FCC that the 4.9 and 5 GHz bands provide ideal frequencies. The utilities met with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “The companies described the ways in which UAS operations allow them to more efficiently inspect and repair infrastructure, improve worker safety, and maintain consistent, reliable service for customers,” a filing Wednesday in docket 07-100 said: Utilities “conduct UAS operations to safely inspect property for damage after a storm, earthquake, fire or other adverse weather events or natural disasters, which often involves coordination with public safety.”
CTIA Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the FCC’s first spectrum auction by calling on Congress to restore the agency’s lapsed general auction authority. “For the past three decades, this Nobel-prize winning innovation has become increasingly key to America’s economic competitiveness and innovation leadership,” CTIA President Meredith Baker said. The anniversary is “an important reminder of the critical role that auctions play, and we call on policymakers to restore auction authority with a spectrum pipeline so that we can secure the benefits of wireless leadership for all Americans,” she said. CTIA also released the opening video of what it said will be a series of remembrances about auctions and the early days of the wireless industry. “The essential asset of wireless communications is spectrum,” former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler said in the first video. Wheeler noted that he became involved in wireless as part of a group of investors that won spectrum licenses in one of the lotteries that predated auctions, “the FCC’s dumbest way of allocating spectrum.” His group’s pingpong balls were picked “and suddenly I was in the wireless industry.” Licenses were also assigned through “beauty contests,” where companies made the case at the FCC on why they needed spectrum in a given area, he said. “That may have solved the instant problem, but it certainly didn’t facilitate how do you then have a concerted effort to deliver the important services,” Wheeler said: “It was widely understood that the … system was flawed.” Tom Sugrue, former head of the D.C. office for T-Mobile, said licenses' value increased rapidly “as people began to appreciate what mobile technology was worth.” But the “tools the FCC had to assign those licenses were becoming increasingly, obviously deficient.”
Sorenson and CaptionCall urged the FCC to ensure IP-captioned telephone service providers are compensated to support communications assistant-based and automatic speech recognition-based services (see 2407110029). The companies said in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington that a $1.67 per minute rate with "a rate floor no lower than $1 for ASR would result in savings to the TRS Fund," according to an ex parte filing Wednesday in docket 03-123. The FCC should also "consider the costs of reaching hard-of-hearing Americans who need IP CTS but are unaware of it, and the needs of elderly consumers for support in their homes with installation of purpose-built phones," Sorenson and CaptionCall said.
Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., filed a Senate version of a Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval to undo the FCC’s April net neutrality order (Senate Joint Resolution 103) earlier this week. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, filed a House CRA resolution in May (see 2405230021). Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., previously filed an amendment (see 2406110054) to the stalled Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) aimed at nullifying the net neutrality rules. The House Appropriations Committee advanced its version of the FCC-FTC FY 2025 funding bill (HR-8773) in June with a rider barring the commission from using its allocation to pay for implementation of the net neutrality order (see 2406140054).
The citizens broadband radio service band has shown that spectrum can be shared without interfering with government users, in particular the naval radars that use the band, Richard Bernhardt, Wireless ISP Association vice president-spectrum and industry, said Thursday. Recent changes approved by the FCC, working with DOD and NTIA (see 2406120027), will make the band much more usable, he said during a WISPA webinar on “CBRS 2.0.” The rule changes take effect Friday.
If courts rule that the U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v Jarkesy decision means a wide swath of FCC enforcement proceedings require jury trials, the agency may not be able to pursue any enforcement without congressional authority, former FCC Office of General Counsel and Enforcement bureau veterans said Wednesday.
The FCC approved on a 3-2 party line vote an NPRM seeking comment on requiring disclosures for political ads that use AI-generated content. The proposal, which was approved July 10 on circulation but not released until Thursday, doesn’t specify the timing of an eventual order. Commissioner Brendan Carr and Federal Election Commission Chair Sean Cooksey condemned it as an attempt to interfere with the 2024 election. The FCC declined to comment on the intended timing of a final rule, or the delay in the item’s release.