Verizon wasn’t interested in the spectrum that AT&T is buying from EchoStar, Sowmyanarayan Sampath, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, said at a Bank of America financial conference Wednesday. Verizon is very happy with its spectrum position, he said. AT&T announced last week an agreement to buy EchoStar spectrum for $23 billion (see 2508260005).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
The cable ISP industry has assembled a coalition of senior executives to combat vandalism and other damage to communications networks. Chairing the Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange (STRIKE) is Comcast Chief Network Officer Elad Nafshi. Tom Monaghan, Charter Communications' executive vice president of field operations, is vice chairman. NCTA and CableLabs subsidiary SCTE, which are spearheading STRIKE, said members also include Altice USA, Cable One, Cox, Mediacom, Rogers and GCI.
The House Appropriations Committee was debating at our deadline Wednesday afternoon the Financial Services Subcommittee’s FY 2026 funding bill, which proposes to maintain the FCC’s annual allocation at $390.2 million (see 2507210064). Meanwhile, House Appropriations’ Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee voted 11-7 Tuesday to advance its FY26 funding bill, as expected, without language to restore the $1.1 billion for CPB that Congress clawed back in July via the 2025 Rescissions Act (see 2508290060).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday circulated two items targeting programs created under the Biden administration to fund Wi-Fi hot spots and Wi-Fi on school buses. Commissioner Anna Gomez immediately indicated she opposed cutting the programs, which have long been lightning rods for Republican objections.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr signaled his support for the ATSC 3.0 transition in a release Tuesday on a Media Bureau public notice clarifying 3.0 application procedures. “Americans across the country will benefit from Next Gen TV and the improved viewing experience that it enables,” Carr said in the release. “That is why the FCC is working to support and encourage a timely transition. As the broadcast industry continues to evolve, we want to be sure that they can do so while maintaining their core public interest obligations.”
Comments are due Oct. 3, replies Oct. 20, on whether the FCC Wireline Bureau should make changes to its rules for granting extensions to providers unable to implement Stir/Shaken requirements (see 2508280040), said the notice for Wednesday’s Federal Register.
Representatives of Intrado and Communication Service for the Deaf spoke with FCC staff about how direct video calling (DVC) could improve emergency response. The two entities are working together on a pilot project “to see how DVC might be incorporated into 911 emergency response,” and “several Public Safety Answering Points have expressed interest in participating,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-479. They also discussed how the FCC could fund the pilot through the telecommunications relay services fund. “Staff requested additional information to demonstrate call flow options for incorporating DVC into 911, which CSD and Intrado committed to provide,” the filing said.
Puerto Rico Telephone Co. is seeking to reaffirm that its indirect foreign ownership is acceptable to the FCC. In a petition filed last week, PRTC said it's complying with the 2019 declaratory ruling that allows potential increases in telecom magnate Carlos Slim's family's ownership of its parent company, America Movil. The petition aims "to provide more granular information" about Slim family interests in America Movil, PRTC said. In addition, it said granting the petition won't change its ultimate control, with PRTC being indirectly controlled by America Movil, as well as Slim and members of his family, who are controlling shareholders of America Movil. PRTC said the FCC previously indicated it would allow up to 100% indirect foreign ownership investment in the company by Mexico's America Movil.
Odds are that EchoStar will continue pursuing its direct-to-device constellation plans in light of the $23 billion spectrum sale to AT&T, which was announced last week (see 2508260052), satellite and spectrum consultant Tim Farrar wrote Sunday. He said it seems likely that EchoStar is looking at other spectrum deals, and available options include AT&T swapping the 600 MHz spectrum it's buying from EchoStar with T-Mobile for that company's C-band spectrum, or Verizon buying EchoStar's AWS-3 spectrum and leasing its AWS-4 in urban areas. It's also possible that no wireless carrier ends up interested in EchoStar's spectrum at the prices it's asking, he noted. EchoStar's D2D constellation plans become moot only if T-Mobile buys all of EchoStar's midband spectrum, with some to be shared with SpaceX, Farrar said. As long as the FCC signs off on the EchoStar/AT&T deal, it "seems more likely than not that at least the first stage of EchoStar’s constellation will be built."