The FCC Space Bureau has approved Vast Space's request to operate a non-geostationary orbit demo spacecraft, Haven-Demo, which is intended to demonstrate the functionality of some components and systems that will be used in Vast's forthcoming Haven-1 habitable space station. The Haven-1 is being designed for a three-year mission, the company said.
The Streaming Innovation Alliance and NAB went back and forth over sports rights in dueling online posts last week. In a blog post Monday, NAB said Thanksgiving TV traditions such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and NFL games are threatened by tech companies. “As Big Tech giants try to rewrite the rules of media, they are pulling cherished cultural moments off the public airwaves and locking them behind digital paywalls,” the broadcast group said. The FCC should roll back broadcast-ownership rules to prevent “the very events that once brought us together” from becoming “increasingly fragmented across streaming platforms like Amazon, Netflix and Apple.”
The Democracy Forward Foundation has asked a federal court to compel the FCC to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests for emails and messages from Chairman Brendan Carr and his staff related to the agency's actions against media companies. “DFF filed FOIA requests to shed light on the actions and priorities of FCC leadership, particularly given the agency’s use of its authority to restrain protected speech and expression,” said the complaint, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
PBS didn’t air the BBC documentary that was the focus of recent letters from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a PBS spokesperson told us Friday. Carr sent letters last week to PBS, NPR and the BBC seeking information about whether a BBC documentary on the Jan. 6 riot aired in the U.S. and warning of possible FCC enforcement action (see 2511200061). President Donald Trump threatened legal action over the documentary, and the BBC apologized for misleading edits in it. “We did not air any of the video in question and have replied to the FCC with that information,” the PBS spokesperson said.
The California Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to start a rulemaking to update the state's Lifeline program. CPUC had been scheduled to vote that day on submitting the state's final BEAD proposal to NTIA (see 2511180007), but that was delayed until the agency's Dec. 18 meeting.
Grandfathered fixed satellite service earth station licensees that qualify for protection from citizens broadband radio service operations need to renew their registrations by Dec. 1 for it to be valid in 2026, according to an FCC public notice Thursday (docket 17-258).
The FCC sought comment Friday on a revised application from Airspan for a waiver to offer dual-band radios that operate across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2511170043). Comments are due Dec. 22, replies Jan. 5, in docket 25-234.
The Ecommerce Innovation Alliance updated the FCC last week on its request for a declaratory ruling that people who provide prior express written consent to receive text messages can't claim damages under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for those received outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (see 2503030036).
The fight continues at the FCC over a NextNav proposal asking the regulator to reconfigure the 902-928 MHz band to enable a “terrestrial complement” to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and a Pericle study on potential interference filed by the Security Industry Association (see 2510230041).
The FCC on Friday released the text of an order overturning a January ruling and NPRM addressing the Salt Typhoon cyberattacks, which were approved during the final days of the Biden administration. The reversal order was approved 2-1 Thursday, with Commissioner Anna Gomez dissenting (see 2511200047). It found that the January ruling was “an unlawful and ineffective attempt to show that the agency was taking some type of action on cybersecurity issues.”