The board of directors for E.W. Scripps unanimously voted to reject Sinclair’s Nov. 24 unsolicited purchase offer, said a news release late Tuesday. “The Scripps board determined, following a careful review and evaluation in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, that Sinclair’s offer is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.”
President Donald Trump's $10 billion private lawsuit against the BBC -- filed Monday over a documentary’s portrayal of his Jan. 6, 2021, speech outside the U.S. Capitol -- repeatedly cited letters from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to PBS.
The FCC Wireline Bureau said Tuesday that after further study, the agency has again continued the two remaining Stir/Shaken implementation extensions. They cover providers that can't obtain the service provider code token necessary to participate in the Stir/Shaken framework and small voice service providers that originate calls via satellite using North American Numbering Plan numbers, the bureau said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday delayed the deadline for reply comments on the preliminary eligible-areas map for the Alaska Connect Fund (see 2511190039) from Friday to Jan. 7. The change came after the agency released a revised version of the map to “address concerns and questions from stakeholders,” said a notice in docket 23-328.
The National Sheriffs’ Association asked the FCC to delay the deadline for comments on an NPRM on incarcerated people’s communications services rules (see 2512040036). “The comment deadline falls during one of the most significant holiday periods of the year, spanning Christmas, New Year’s, and the days immediately surrounding them,” the group said this week in docket 12-375. It added that it's surveying its membership and needs more time to get “a statistically significant sample size and to compile and analyze the resulting data.”
Neology, which provides a platform for tolling services that uses the 900 MHz band, filed a technical study at the FCC this week challenging arguments by NextNav in support of its proposal to use the spectrum for a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).
The United Church of Christ's Media Justice Ministry asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the FCC’s recent controversial changes to rules for incarcerated people's communications services, which commissioners approved 2-1 in October (see 2510280045). UCC seeks review on the grounds that the latest order is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise contrary to law within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act.”
911 and 988 can help those suffering from mental health crises during the holidays, said FCC Public Safety Bureau Chief Zenji Nakazawa and Wireline Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “A quick call or message to someone who may be alone or struggling can make a real difference,” they said. “When someone needs more than a friendly voice, help is close at hand through two essential three-digit numbers: 911 and 988.” If holiday pressures “are taking a toll on your mental health -- or you are concerned about someone else -- support is just as accessible through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which offers 24/7 confidential help,” Nakazawa and Calascione added. “No one expects to rely on 911 or 988 during the holidays. But these resources are here."
The FCC clarified Monday that the USF contribution factor for Q1 will be 37.6%, down from 38.1% in Q4. But it's higher than the earlier projection of 30.9% (see 2511100035), analyst Billy Jack Gregg noted in an email Tuesday. That increase came after the Universal Service Administrative Co. revised its estimates for the high-cost and low-income fund by a total of $219.2 million, Gregg said. Neither USAC nor the FCC has explained the reasons for the higher demand projections, he added.
Congress intended for the FCC to retain authority to relax the national TV-ownership cap as market conditions change, said Wiley Rein's Thomas Johnson, a former general counsel at the agency, in an ex parte letter posted in docket 17-318 Tuesday. The FCC “should not be duped” by “false-flag arguments” that the best reading of the text of the statute is that the FCC doesn’t have authority over the cap. Congress repeatedly used phrases allowing the FCC to modify its rules “because it was not mandating that these ownership limits be set in stone,” Johnson wrote. “Rather, these were one-time adjustments that Congress intended the FCC would continually revisit over time -- and indeed, that the FCC would modify or repeal these rules over time as the media marketplace became more competitive.” The national cap “places an anticompetitive thumb on the scale in favor of Big Tech. Relaxing or eliminating it would remove this artificial constraint on broadcasters’ ability to compete with today’s dominant media conglomerates.”