The FCC commissioners were booed and hissed by prisoner advocates at the agency’s open meeting Tuesday as they voted 2-1 to approve an order that will increase rates for incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) on an interim basis.
WideOpenWest shareholders will vote Dec. 3 on its proposed acquisition by Digital Bridge and Crestview Partners, according to the cable company's proxy statement filed Monday with the SEC. The $1.5 billion deal was announced in August and is expected to close by early 2026 (see 2508120031). The transaction needs FCC approval, the proxy statement said.
The FCC's draft incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) order, which is set for a vote Tuesday, will vastly increase costs for the families of inmates, is based on questionable evidence, and doesn’t address legal questions about the Wireline Bureau’s June suspension of the agency’s existing IPCS deadlines and requirements (see 2506300068), said Worth Rises and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Office during a press call Monday. By raising rate caps and incorporating facility security costs into the price of calls, the draft item would force the families of incarcerated people to “pay for their own surveillance,” said UCC attorney Cheryl Leanza.
House Assistant Democratic Leader Joe Neguse and Sen. Michael Bennet, both D-Colo., are urging FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to reject Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna (see 2508190042) because it will violate the current 39% national broadcast-ownership cap and “could have devastating consequences for” their state. Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said in September that he expected the FCC to act on the cap before year-end to allow the Tegna purchase to proceed (see 2509050058).
The Consumer Technology Association acknowledges “the seriousness of the strategic challenge posed by China” and is aware of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s concerns about Chinese tech and national security, the trade group said in an ex parte filing documenting a meeting Wednesday between CTA CEO Gary Shapiro and Carr. “For decades, [Shapiro] has highlighted the potential negative impact of America’s reliance on imported Chinese goods and inputs,” it said. CTA urged the FCC to take “a measured approach that safeguards security while preserving innovation,” the filing added. “CTA shares Chairman Carr’s concerns about the impact of the ongoing government shutdown on device certifications and looks forward to working with him to find a solution to benefit manufacturers and consumers.”
The FCC's proposed changes to its revoke-all robocall rule show that the agency sees the problems with the regulation, Klein Moynihan telecommunications lawyer David Klein blogged last week. The caller ID further NPRM on the FCC's October agenda proposes dialing back the rule, which lets consumers revoke consent using any "reasonable means." The NPRM would drop that ambiguous standard from the regulation, Klein said.
More than 1 million locations could remain unserved once BEAD is completed, even as states and territories are likely spending only about $21 billion of the $42 billion they have been allocated, New York Law School's Advanced Communications Law and Policy Institute (ACLP) said in a pair of reports last week.
The FCC is moving forward on proceedings to withdraw accredited test lab recognition for labs that the agency says the Chinese government has some ownership or control over. It started proceedings in September to remove the recognition (see 2509080058), and a number of the labs argued against loss of accreditation, saying their operations were independent or adhered to testing lab quality standards (see 2510170024). However, the commission's Office of Engineering and Technology rejected those arguments in a series of orders Friday, saying the People's Republic of China is a prohibited entity, and FCC rules are clear that it will withdraw recognition of any lab owned by or subject to the direction of a prohibited entity.
Much of the opposition to a 5G-based terrestrial positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) system as a complement to GPS has "troubling connections" to Chinese entities, conservative group the Bull Moose Project said Thursday (docket 18-89). Substantial opposition from groups like the LoRa Alliance, RAIN Alliance, Security Industry Association, Wi-Sun Alliance and Z-Wave Alliance seems "designed to stall progress rather than solve a major national security threat," the Bull Moose Project said. It said those groups count Chinese companies such as ZTE, Shenzhen Makerfabs, Zhejiang Chint Electrics, Ningbo Dooya Mechanic & Electronic Technology and Taixin Semiconductor as members, and representatives of the groups have been vocal in the FCC’s PNT proceeding. The groups' opposition sometimes seems "less concerned about interference and more about stalling competition, favoring alternative approaches, or protecting China’s strategic edge and keeping America vulnerable to a single point of failure," Bull Moose Project added.
The Senate passed the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act (S-259) on Thursday night by unanimous consent. That measure and the very similar, House-passed HR-906 (see 2504290032) would require the FCC to publish a list of communications companies with FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China or other foreign adversaries’ governments hold at least a 10% ownership stake. Congressional leaders included an earlier version of the measure in a scuttled December 2024 continuing resolution (see 2412180033).