Several former FCC chairs, commissioners and staffers of both parties have signed a petition from Tech Freedom and Protect Democracy calling on the agency to rescind its broadcast news distortion policy. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has used the policy to perform “extraordinary intrusions” into editorial decision-making, said the petition, signed by former Republican FCC Chairmen Mark Fowler, Alfred Sikes and Dennis Patrick, former Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, three Republican ex-commissioners, and several past eighth-floor aides.
The Safer Buildings Coalition (SBC) got support for its July petition asking the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters. Comments were due Oct. 16, replies Oct. 31, in docket RM-12009, but that schedule was disrupted by the federal government shutdown (see 2511130050). Many of the filings, which were posted Thursday, raised public safety concerns.
Facing a "space Industrial Revolution," the FCC Space Bureau is trying to improve its throughput, Chief Jay Schwarz said Thursday at a New America event in Washington, D.C. Schwarz warned that some nations and satellite operators are trying to use the regulatory system to forestall competition from U.S. operators.
The FCC began to restart operations Thursday that were suspended during the government shutdown (see 2509300060) but immediately extended most post-shutdown deadlines in a bid to control the anticipated avalanche of filings. The agency furloughed 81% of its staff when the shutdown began Oct. 1 (see 2510010065). FCC staff and industry attorneys had raised alarms about what they saw as unclear filing requirements (see 2510160044). The 42-day shutdown, the longest in modern U.S. history, ended late Wednesday night when President Donald Trump signed a legislative package that restored federal appropriations at FY 2025 levels through Jan. 30.
The lower court hearing Ligado's complaint against the federal government erred in not finding that the Communications Act displaced the trial court's jurisdiction over Ligado's takings claims, DOJ said this week in a reply brief (docket 25-1792). The U.S. has an interlocutory appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit regarding a lower court's partial rejection of the government's motion to dismiss the Ligado suit (see 2411180023). Ligado alleged that the DOD is infringing on the company's L-band spectrum rights (see 2310130003).
Representatives for the Association of American Railroads raised concerns during a meeting with FCC Wireless Bureau staff about a proposed voluntary, negotiation-based process to transition 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band to broadband, with 5/5 MHz channels. In 2020, the FCC approved use of 3/3 MHz channels in the band for broadband while retaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
SpaceX and EchoStar on Wednesday submitted to the FCC updated license purchase agreements and public interest statements regarding SpaceX's proposed spectrum license purchases from EchoStar. The original public interest statements in docket 25-302 covered SpaceX's planned purchase of AWS-4 and AWS-H block spectrum and of EchoStar's authorizations for U.S. market access for 2 GHz mobile satellite service. The updated EchoStar and SpaceX filings also incorporate SpaceX's purchase of EchoStar's unpaired AWS-3 spectrum, a deal that was announced last week (see 2511060004).
CTIA representatives supported an NPRM on an upper C-band auction, which was proposed for the Nov. 20 FCC meeting (see 2510290047), in discussions with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty. Other groups have raised concerns.
The telecom industry will see further consolidation of smaller carriers, similar to what happened 20 years ago, Recon Analytics’ Roger Entner said Wednesday during a webinar hosted by Georgetown University's Center for Business and Public Policy. There are still about 1,300 ISPs left in the U.S., which is “a staggering” number, Entner said. He cited examples of the deals being made, including T-Mobile’s purchase of stakes in fiber-based providers like Metronet and Lumos (see 2507090034). There’s a “tremendous amount of activity here underneath the surface" that only sometimes makes headlines.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a post on X Wednesday that the agency will soon be issuing more information on post-shutdown filing deadlines. “Particularly since the shutdown has stretched on for an unprecedented length of time, the agency will be putting additional guidance out at an appropriate time on the reopening process,” Carr said. “FCC staff is going to work in good faith with stakeholders to address the range of questions that will arise and the potential high volume of filings that folks will be seeking to make.”