Virgin Island Telephone, formerly known as Viya, asked the FCC to act on the company's request to extend transitional high-cost support that's set to expire at the end of the year under a 2023 order.
House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia of California and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee ranking member Maxwell Frost of Florida on Wednesday expanded panel Democrats’ investigation into ABC's temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! (see 2509180055) to also probe why Nexstar Media Group is continuing to preempt the show following its return to air. The committee Democrats’ investigation already also included Sinclair, which continues to preempt Kimmel as well (see 2509230051). Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and three other Democratic senators pressed Nexstar and Sinclair earlier this week on the matter.
Animated comedy show South Park’s episode Wednesday included segments lampooning FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the controversy over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! In the episode, a caricature of Carr falls down some stairs, gets buried in soiled cat litter and suffers violent diarrhea from eating poisoned soup. He then ends up in a hospital bed with broken bones and toxoplasmosis, which a doctor character says will take away Carr’s “freedom of speech.” The cartoon’s version of Vice President JD Vance then threatens Carr, telling him there's “an easy and a hard way” -- the same words Carr used when demanding that Kimmel be suspended or preempted last week. The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the episode. South Park streams on Paramount Plus, which is owned by Skydance Paramount. The FCC has an open news distortion proceeding against Paramount-owned WCBS-TV New York, and Carr has said the agency will be scrutinizing the conduct of Skydance's broadcast stations (see 2508070027).
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) unanimously approved a report Thursday on “best practices” for the FCC and industry on the ethical and practical use of AI and machine learning (ML). The report, which examines privacy and new risks for telecom networks, wasn’t released Thursday.
Upcoming FCC action to undo its July 2024 order allowing E-rate recipients to use funding for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots is a clear sign that House leaders have lost interest in advancing a Senate-passed Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) against that order, supporters and opponents told us. The FCC is likely to approve next week two proposals to cancel both the off-premises hot spot order and another to fund Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2509030064). The House Commerce Committee's Republican leaders still haven't taken a position on S.J.Res. 7, which the Senate passed more than four months ago. Supporters argue that moving the CRA measure would prevent a future majority-Democratic FCC from resurrecting the Wi-Fi rules for schools and libraries in their current form.
NextNav names Tim Gray, formerly Anterix, CFO, replacing Chris Gates, who becomes executive vice president of corporate development … Verizon adds Merissa Velez, ex-FCC Space Bureau, as director of international spectrum policy and regulatory counsel ... Mediacom promotes Fuad Alnajjar to group vice president of business engineering; Pradeep Kanda to group vice president of network security; Belinda Maldonado to group vice president of human resources; Joseph Michulski to group vice president of corporate finance; Ruben Martino to vice president of finance; and Manvinder Singh to vice president of data warehouse.
Noting its 28-page economic analysis, the International Center for Law & Economics told the FCC that Charter Communications' $34.5 billion purchase of Cox Communications is "pro-competitive." The proposed deal, announced in May (see 2505160060), is "a geographic expansion, not a horizontal consolidation of competitors." The two carriers have almost no footprint overlap, with fewer than 0.1% of their combined broadband serviceable locations served by both companies, the group said in a filing posted Wednesday (docket 25-233). Rather than reducing the number of options available to consumers in local markets, the deal instead lets New Charter reach the scale it needs to better compete against larger national broadband providers and vertically integrated tech platforms, it argued.
The FCC Media Bureau has set comment dates for several of Gray Television's proposed purchases of TV stations (see 2508010047) and indicated that the agency won’t oppose a court decision vacating the top-four Prohibition, according to a public notice Monday. “It is anticipated that the mandate for the vacatur of the Top-Four Prohibition will take effect on October 21,” the notice said. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the rule in July but delayed issuing the mandate to give the FCC additional time to file in opposition. Broadcast attorneys told us the language in Monday's notice suggests that the agency won’t do that. Comments on Gray’s proposed buys of stations from Sagamore Hill Broadcasting, Block Communications and Allen Media are due Oct. 22, the notice said. Opposition filings are due Nov. 6, replies Nov. 17.
Representatives from the Wireless Infrastructure Association urged the FCC this week to approve an NPRM that examines ways to streamline wireless infrastructure rules. According to a filing posted Wednesday in docket 25-276, the group met with a staffer from the Wireless Bureau about the item, which is set for a commissioner vote Tuesday (see 2509090060).
N77 Holdings, which holds the N77 spectrum band license in the U.S., is asking the FCC to sign off on the company's indirect foreign ownership over 25%. In a petition Tuesday, N77 said the ownership changes are due to investment by Columbia Capital-managed investment vehicles. The new investors, including those investing in the Columbia vehicles, will exceed the 25% benchmark in the aggregate, N77 said. The additional capital will support its plans for deployment or potential sale of its licensed spectrum, the company added.