Senate Communications Subcommittee members alternated Tuesday between debating the FCC’s rollback last month of its January response to the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks and making bipartisan calls to renew the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr led the push for the agency to reverse January's declaratory ruling from the closing days of former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s administration, which said the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act Section 105 requires telecom carriers to secure their networks against cyberattacks (see 2501160041). The FCC in November also withdrew an NPRM on cybersecurity requirements that the commission issued along with the declaratory ruling (see 2511200047).
The FCC’s audio description rules will apply to MVPDs and TV broadcasters in 10 additional markets starting Jan. 1, said the Media Bureau in a public notice Monday in docket 11-43. The change stems from a 2023 order (see 2310160038) that expands the rules to 10 additional designated market areas every year until all DMAs are included, which is expected to happen by 2035. The new markets affected include Youngstown, Pennsylvania; Fargo, North Dakota; and Lansing, Michigan.
The FCC Media Bureau has kicked off the pleading cycle for Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna, said a public notice Monday. Petitions to deny the transaction are due Dec. 31, opposition filings Jan. 15, and replies Jan. 26. Under FCC rules, the combined company would reach 54.5% of U.S. households, so Nexstar has asked the agency to waive the 39% national ownership cap (see 2511190056).
NAB Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan said on an NAB podcast released Monday that he expects a relaxation of FCC broadcast-ownership rules “sometime in the next year or so” and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and his staff “understand” the problems that broadcasters face. Kaplan predicted that the FCC will relax local radio and TV ownership limits, as well as the national TV ownership cap. “It's the only thing that makes sense. It's in line with what the chairman has talked about repeatedly, both when he was a commissioner and now as chair."
China’s CVC Testing Technology told the FCC that it welcomes the chance to speak with agency staff and answer questions as the commission examines revoking CVC's status as a certified testing lab (see 2509080058). “We note the positive momentum in U.S.-China relations, which has created an environment conducive to pragmatic dialogue and problem-solving,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 25-273.
A Michigan judge sentenced John Burkman and Jacob Wohl to one year of probation after they pleaded no contest to charges that they orchestrated a series of robocalls aimed at suppressing turnout from predominantly Black voters in Detroit in the 2020 general election. Judge Margaret Van Houten of the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County imposed the sentences, said a news release Monday.
REC Networks asked the FCC not to eliminate rules covering the use of unlicensed consumer-grade cordless phones in the 43.71-44.49, 46.60-46.98, 48.75-49.51 and 49.66-50.00 MHz bands as part of the agency’s “Delete” proceeding. The commission “provides absolutely no data that there are positively zero of these old phones, including the ‘46/49’ cordless phones marketed primarily in the 1980s and early 1990s in circulation,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 25-133. Some handsets for those phones “may use batteries that are still available to this day, including standard batteries that are not exclusively used by cordless telephone handsets.”
The U.S. will meet its spectrum goals only if DOD is forced to come to the table to give up spectrum, former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said Monday in an opinion piece. “For historical reasons, [DOD] is sitting on some of the most desirable spectrum bands in the entire nation … based on decisions made half a century or more ago.” As policymakers push for the reallocation of federal spectrum, the DOD holds an estimated 80% of the government spectrum portfolio, O’Rielly wrote. “It’s as if the Interior Department was previously awarded almost all of Manhattan two centuries ago, then said no commercial development.”
The FCC's proposal to license submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE) owners and operators is facing strong opposition from the industry, according to comments posted Friday in docket 24-523. The commission in August adopted a submarine cable licensing further NPRM that proposed SLTE blanket licensing (see 2508070037).
In what is seen as the final word, the ITU announced Monday that the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) and Radiocommunication Assembly will take place in Shanghai from Oct. 11 to Nov. 12, 2027. U.S. interests had tried to reverse that decision (see 2507010062). More than 4,000 delegates are expected to attend the meetings, ITU said.