FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s comments pressuring ABC and broadcast companies to cease airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! were condemned by lawmakers and some conservative publications and groups over the weekend, including the Cato Institute, the National Review and the Free State Foundation. In a Concordia Summit Q&A on Monday, Carr said Kimmel’s show being taken off the air -- just hours after he publicly warned of possible FCC action against ABC and urged broadcasters to preempt it -- was “a business decision” and “not because of anything that’s happening at the federal level.”
Twilio CEO Khozema Shipchandler and others from the company met with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr about ways to target and eliminate unlawful robocalls, said a filing Friday in docket 17-59. They “discussed the Commission’s efforts to strengthen STIR/SHAKEN to combat illegal robocalls and the actions that Twilio has taken to do the same,” the filing said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau ordered Andrew Mart of Naperville, Illinois, to explain within 10 days his operation of an amateur radio that was found to be transmitting at 20.8 MHz, outside permitted bands. No amateur radio license, issued by the U.S. or another country with reciprocal U.S. operating privileges, “allows transmissions on frequencies outside the authorized amateur bands, including the transmissions you admitted making,” the letter said.
The FCC Public Safety Bureau on Friday reminded carriers with supplemental coverage from space “arrangements” that they must file annual reports by Oct. 15. The reports must cover “911 voice calls, text messages and emergency call center data,” said the notice in docket 24-318. The commission “adopted these reporting requirements in 2024 as part of interim 911 requirements for terrestrial providers that use SCS arrangements to extend their coverage service areas.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday scheduled oral argument for Nov. 24 on challenges to the FCC’s 4.9 GHz rules (docket 24-1363). The FCC approved the order during the last administration with support from current Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2411130027).
WTA representatives met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to discuss various concerns, including the USF and the agency's notice of inquiry on the future of Telecom Act Section 706 reports (see 2509090010), said a filing posted Friday in docket 25-233. The group also met with aides to Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Anna Gomez.
While operators of some low earth orbit (LEO) mega constellations are taking steps to reduce their visual clutter of the night sky, astronomers said trends such as more and bigger LEO satellites overshadow those efforts. The astronomers told us they don't expect to see U.S. regulation anytime soon focusing on those satellites' reflectivity and interference with astronomical observations.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and industry disagreed on whether there are any steps that the FCC should take now to spur adoption of next-generation 911. All agreed that regulators should move cautiously, echoing initial comments (see 2508050042). Reply comments were due last week in docket 21-479 on the Further NPRM that commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042).
If the FCC moves forward with sweeping changes to how it enforces National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) rules, it will have to do so over the objections of the tribes, some states and historic preservation interests, based on comments that were due Thursday in docket 25-217. Other comments raised questions about how the regulations apply to satellite projects (see 2509190007).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chastised FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday for comments earlier in the week against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as bringing about the network’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air indefinitely (see 2509180066). Carr threatened ABC in a podcast interview, saying the network should discipline Kimmel for comments about the Make America Great Again movement's reaction to the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk (see 2509170064) or face FCC action.