As the FCC looks at revising or doing away with its dual network and local TV rules, MVPDs told us they're likely to object along familiar lines about broadcaster consolidation tipping the balance of power in retransmission consent negotiations. FCC commissioners unanimously approved a 2022 quadrennial review NPRM in September that asks whether the local TV and dual network rules remain necessary (see 2509300062).
The FCC appears unlikely to make any moves to enforce the data privacy rules approved under the Biden administration, which were recently upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, industry experts said Friday. Last week, the panel that decided the case agreed to hold it in abeyance pending the FCC’s review of the 2023 order, as the agency requested. The panel ordered the FCC to file status reports every 60 days, with the first due Dec. 16.
Paramount Skydance taps Jay Askinasi, formerly Roku, as chief revenue officer ... Austin Schlick, ex-FCC and Consumer Product Safety Commission, joins Covington as senior of counsel ... Fletcher Heald adds Ryan McClafferty, formerly FCC Media Bureau, as an associate attorney.
The FCC’s draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 and a recent grant from the Department of Transportation to fund the Broadcast Positioning System pilot program (see 2510070016) show that “momentum is building” for the new standard, NAB said in a blog post Thursday. While the NPRM doesn’t take a side on NAB’s proposals for a mandatory transition starting in 2028 and for a 3.0 tuner mandate for TVs, it does tentatively propose doing away with the FCC’s "substantially similar" and simulcast requirements (see 2510070038). “In an important step forward, the [FCC] has proposed eliminating key barriers that have slowed broadcasters’ ability to bring viewers the full benefits of this cutting-edge technology,” NAB said. There are “more than 125 television stations in 77 markets reaching roughly 75% of viewers [that] are already broadcasting with the ATSC 3.0 standard,” the group noted. “We look forward to working with the Commission as it removes these barriers and establishes dates by which the broadcasting industry and viewers will take this exciting leap into the next generation of television.”
TechFreedom highlighted its support of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviewing en banc an August decision that upheld the FCC’s most recent data breach notification rules (see 2510070007). In doing so, the court panel rejected arguments that the revised rules violated a Congressional Review Act action in 2017 that overturned similar requirements in other privacy rules.
Wisconsin-based cable ISP TDS Telecom said Thursday it has started a multiyear project to upgrade its Kentucky network to fiber-optic cable. Aside from TDS' own financing, the project is also getting support from the FCC's enhanced alternative Connect America cost model program, the company said. That portion of the work will be done by the end of 2028.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said Thursday that he opposes language in the Senate's FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act version (S-2296) that would give the DOD and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman authority to essentially veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands. Hudson said during a Punchbowl News event that his next priority as Communications chair will be to enact legislation aimed at easing broadband permitting rules, despite Democrats’ recent criticism of a mostly GOP-led set of proposals during a Sept. 18 hearing (see 2509180069).
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr this week circulated revised incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) rules that could drive up the price of calls by as much as 80% or more, said industry officials engaged in the proceeding. In interviews Thursday, they also questioned how they can even raise concerns ahead of the Oct. 28 open meeting, given the federal government’s partial shutdown.
DOJ and the FCC asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected a $57 million FCC fine against AT&T for violating the agency's data protection rules. The 5th Circuit ruled in April that the fine was unconstitutional because it denied AT&T's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. The 2nd Circuit later upheld a similar fine against Verizon, while the D.C. Circuit upheld one against T-Mobile (see 2509100056).