Nexstar and Tegna have filed transfer of control applications with the FCC to begin the regulatory review of their proposed $6.2 billion deal, Nexstar said in a news release Tuesday. The deal would put Nexstar over the national TV ownership cap, and the applications include requests for waivers of the cap and other FCC ownership rules, the release said. “The applications address why, if certain of the FCC's rules governing television ownership remain in effect, waiver of the rules would serve the public interest, especially in the local communities Nexstar's stations will serve.” The FCC's authority to waive the cap was disputed in a recent ex parte filing (see 2511180049)
T-Mobile told the FCC on Tuesday that AST SpaceMobile still hasn't fully explained interference issues raised by its proposed supplemental coverage from space (SCS) operations in the 700 and 800 MHz bands (see 2507170030). “AST has failed to demonstrate that its proposed SCS operations will satisfy the Commission’s stated goal to minimize the risk of interference from SCS services to existing terrestrial networks,” said a filing in docket 25-201. AST hasn't filed “vital information” about where its beams will reach and “how those signals will impact existing terrestrial licensees.”
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials supports the Safer Buildings Coalition’s July petition asking the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket RM-12009 (see 2511130025). The commission’s current rules for industrial signal boosters were adopted in 2013 and “would benefit from updates to address gaps that have contributed to inconsistent deployments, instances of harmful interference and diminished confidence among licensees,” APCO said.
The FCC Wireless and Space bureaus temporarily paused the pleading cycle on amended spectrum and earth station license assignment applications filed by SpaceX, Spectrum Business Trust and EchoStar following the submission of new filings (see 2511120048). The bureaus “will announce a revised pleading cycle for the transaction by public notice when the amended applications are accepted for filing,” said a notice in Tuesday’s Daily Digest.
Incompas warned Tuesday that FCC proposals for the business data services (BDS) market could do more harm than good. The commission’s competitive market test “remains a fundamentally flawed measure of competition, inappropriately allows monopolies or duopolies to qualify as competitive markets, and fails to realistically assess barriers to competitive entry,” the group said in comments in docket 21-17.
AARP remains concerned about older adults having an “uninterrupted ability” to reach 911 as the FCC considers proposals to speed up copper retirements and other network changes (see 2509300039), the group said in reply comments Tuesday in docket 25-208. “Because the transition will not occur overnight, it is important to establish a robust consumer-friendly roadmap to guide the nation’s modernization of its telecommunications network such that the transition is seamless for consumers and important consumer protections are retained.”
Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., on Tuesday urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to “reverse course” on his draft order undoing the agency’s response earlier this year to the Salt Typhoon attacks. The agency is set to vote on the proposal Thursday (see 2510300054). The FCC ruled in January that Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) Section 105 requires telecom carriers to secure their networks against cyberattacks (see 2501160041). Carr’s draft would also withdraw an NPRM on cybersecurity requirements that was issued along with the declaratory ruling.
Major trade associations representing state and local governments called on the FCC to keep their interests in mind as the agency follows up on a notice of inquiry about changes to wireline infrastructure rules. Local governments also raised concerns. Comments on the notice, which commissioners approved 3-0 in September (see 2509300063), were due this week in docket 25-253.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency could look at driving “inefficiencies” out of the USF program and NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth clarified the agency’s focus for the BEAD program in separate Q&As onstage Tuesday at NTCA’s Telecom Executive Policy Summit. NTIA rules restricting the broadband funding that BEAD participants can receive are aimed at preventing bids that rely on “speculative, hypothetical funding” to complete their obligations and at avoiding defaults, Roth said. NTIA said Tuesday that it approved 18 state BEAD proposals (see 2511180007).
The House Communications Subcommittee on Tuesday advanced a new version of the American Broadband Deployment Act (HR-2289) that combined language from 22 GOP-led connectivity permitting bills originally slated for the markup session (see 2511170048). However, the subpanel’s party-line 16-12 vote on the package reflected Democrats’ ongoing opposition. The House Commerce Committee during the last Congress similarly divided along party lines on a previous version of the broadband package, which never reached the floor amid strong Democratic resistance (see 2305230067).