ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.
The FCC Wireline Bureau Friday published its annual list of the hundreds of counties with conditional forbearance from the obligation to offer Lifeline-supported voice service. The forbearance applies only to the Lifeline voice obligation of eligible telecommunications carriers receiving high-cost and Lifeline support and not to Lifeline-only ETCs, the notice said. A 2016 Lifeline order established conditional forbearance from Lifeline voice obligations where specific competitive conditions are met (see 1807230027). For a county to be eligible, at least 51% of Lifeline subscribers must have broadband internet access.
Tropical Storm Ernesto left 7.1% of Puerto Rican and U.S. Virgin Island cellsites out of service, an improvement from Thursday’s 12.9%, the FCC said in Friday's disaster information reporting system report (see 2408130047). Cable and wireline companies reported 226,861 subscribers without service, down from 290,424 Thursday. No TV or radio stations were reported down. Ernesto has become a category 2 hurricane and is headed to Bermuda.
Comments are due to the FCC Sept. 5, replies Sept. 16, on satellite operations' possible expanded use of the 18 GHz band. According to a Space and Wireless bureaus, Office of International Affairs, and Office of Engineering and Technology public notice Friday (docket 24-248), the comments are meant to inform a report that the national spectrum strategy mandated and is due in May. The PN said expanded satellite use of the band would be consistent with the U.S.' position at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, which backed added inter-satellite link allocations to the band. It said fixed satellite service downlinks are authorized now in the band, while nonfederal fixed service is authorized in the 18.1-18.3 GHz segment.
Verizon is looking to build grassroots support for its position on the 4.9 GHz band, opposing control of the spectrum by the FirstNet Authority and Verizon rival AT&T, as the fight over 4.9 GHz heats up (see 2408130035), with near daily filings for and against FirstNet use of the band.
FCC commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM on further changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated two months ago. The Biden administration has focused on sharing models based on CBRS as part of its assessment of the future of spectrum. The agency posted the NPRM on Friday. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.
California appropriators last week halted multiple telecom-related bills meant to help vulnerable communities. Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D) blamed the broadband industry after the Senate Appropriations Committee held back her bill that would have banned digital discrimination as the FCC defines it (AB-2239). However, that committee and its Assembly counterpart advanced several other telecom and privacy bills to final floor votes.
SpaceX is working its way across the FCC's 10th floor discussing how the agency should assess short-term interference among non-geostationary orbit satellite systems. In a docket 21-456 filing Thursday, it recapped meetings with the offices of FCC Commissioners Nathan Simington, Geoffrey Starks and Brendan Carr, where it argued its technical study of spectrum sharing among NGSO systems (see 2407220021) justified using an absolute change in link availability as the right interference metric.
Cable operators should be able to charge canceling subscribers for the full final month of service if the service, including local programming, is accessible for the full month using the cabler's streaming video application, the cable industry is urging the FCC. In a docket 23-405 filing Thursday recapping a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office and Media Bureau Chief Holly Sauer, NCTA and cable operators said charging for the full month also should be permitted if the subscriber cancels within the first month of service after the expiration of the required 24-hour cancellation period. In the meeting, the cablers reiterated arguments that an agency ban on early termination fees should be limited to "unjust or unreasonable" ones (see 2406200031). Joining NCTA at the meeting were representatives of Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications.
The FCC’s proposed disclosure rules for political ads that use AI-created content “are a natural and common-sense extension” of its mandates for ensuring transparency in broadcasting and political ads, Public Citizen, Campaign Legal Center, the National Organization for Women and 39 other public interest groups said in a letter to the Media Bureau Thursday. “The proposed rules are especially important because broadcasters interpret the FCC’s current rules as prohibiting them from requiring disclosure of AI-generated content,” the letter said. “We urge the FCC to adopt these rules promptly.” NAB didn’t comment.