The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology modified a 2021 waiver allowing Zebra Technologies to market its Dart system for precision tracking in NFL and other sports venues, operating at 7125-8500 MHz (see 2104260041). In June, Zebra asked to add seven locations to the list of approved sports venues where the Dart system can operate. “The modifications represent the type of routine adjustments that one would expect from a 32-team professional sports league, including changes to training camp and practice facility locations,” said an order in Friday’s Daily Digest. “In two cases, the construction of new stadiums adjacent to existing facilities are prompting a slight change to the coordinates associated with those sites,” OET said.
Hamilton Relay told the FCC in a required annual report that it remains in compliance with FCC rules. Earlier this year, the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau extended until Dec. 31 Hamilton Relay's conditional certification to provide fully automatic IP-captioned telephone service pending further review (see 2404120035). Posted Friday in docket 10-51, the report noted the company is still waiting for an FCC decision. Some data in the report was redacted.
CEO April Feng and others from Ameelio spoke with FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff about the nonprofit’s incarcerated persons communications services offering. Ameelio “provides video and voice IPCS at no charge to incarcerated persons or their families, but rather charges a subscription fee to prisons, jails, and other facilities to provide the services in those institutions,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 23-62. Ameelio discussed "its successes in Iowa’s Department of Corrections and various prison, jail, and juvenile facilities across the country.” An Iowa study found “a substantial decrease in prison misconduct overall, and more significant decrease in violent prison misconduct as a result of the introduction of Ameelio’s services, which allow incarcerated people to contact their family and loved ones more frequently than [through] a pay-per-minute provider,” the filing said.
Insurance Marketing Coalition Limited v. FCC, which the 11th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court will hear Dec. 18 (see 2312130019), may prove significant, TroutmanAmin’s John Henson blogged Friday. “Part of the decision making will be how much deference does the FCC get in its rulemaking authority,” Henson said, noting the case (24-10277) examines agency authority under the Hobbs Act. “The Hobbs Act is having a moment and especially in the Eleventh Circuit,” he said. Approved 3-1 a year ago, the order adopted a one-to-one robotext consent policy (see 2312130019). Commissioner Nathan Simington dissented, citing the FCC's “factually thin record.” Henson noted the three judges hearing the case were appointed by President-elect Donald Trump during his first term -- Elizabeth Branch, Britt Grant and Robert Luck. They seem aligned with 11th Circuit precedent on limiting the reach of regulatory agencies, Henson said. “It would not stretch the limits of reason to think that the FCC’s 1:1 consent order was not properly enacted,” he said: “If that’s the case, then the Eleventh Circuit, might once again have an opportunity to strike a blow against Hobbs deference.” This term the U.S. Supreme Court will hear McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a Telephone Consumer Protection Act case from the 9th Circuit, examining the extent to which lower courts must defer to FCC decisions, which also has Hobbs Act implications (see 2410170015). The Hobbs Act gives the appeals courts exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend or determine the validity of some agency orders, including most FCC orders.
FCC Communications Equity and Diversity Council members are concerned the advisory committee won’t be allowed to continue its work once Commissioner Brendan Carr takes over the agency, and the group used its final 2024 in-person meeting Friday to present arguments for its continued operation.
AT&T and CTIA urged that the FCC rethink citizens broadband radio service rules and questioned the band's success, filing reply comments to an August NPRM (see 2411070032). But most commenters said the FCC should only tweak the band. CBRS advocates largely defended the model as a sharing success story. Interest in the proceeding was strong, with more than two dozen reply comments posted as of Friday.
The House and Senate Armed Services committees released a compromise version of the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (HR-5009) Saturday night with language allocating $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, as expected. The measure also provides up to $500 million through 2033 to the Commerce Department for regional tech hubs. The language in HR-5009, originating from the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act (S-4207), would give the FCC $3.08 billion in Treasury Department borrowing authority for rip and replace reimbursements.
Spire Global is aiming for a constellation of as many as 175 non-geostationary orbit satellites, including its legacy Lemur-2 class satellites and its Lemur-4 class satellites, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Thursday. It said that while it has a patchwork of authorizations -- such as for its previously authorized Lemur-2s -- it was seeking through the application to create a "new, more efficient, unified authorization for its next decade and beyond." Spire said it intends to replace any old Lemur-2s with other Lemur-2s or Lemur-4 satellites.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau has reached a $1.1 million settlement with Charter Communications over the company's temporary deactivation of several emergency alert system devices for upgrades to comply with new EAS requirements, said an order and consent decree Thursday. Charter took the devices out of service to meet a December 2023 deadline for the upgrades and notified the FCC Public Safety Bureau that EAS devices at three dozen cable headends, covering 1 million Charter viewers, would go out of service for the Oct. 4, 2023, nationwide EAS test. Charter “believed in good faith” that it was in compliance because of FCC rules that give a 60-day period for replacing defective equipment, the order and consent decree said. The Public Safety Bureau maintained that Charter’s devices didn't fall under the defective equipment rules because they weren’t defective, the order and consent decree said. Along with the forfeiture, the decree requires that Charter create a compliance training program and file regular reports with the FCC for one year.
Quote Velocity reported on a series of meetings this week at the FCC raising concerns about the agency’s December 2023 robocall and robotext order, which clamps down on the lead generator loophole (see 2312130019). The company filed a petition seeking clarity last month. “We urged the Commission to clarify uncertainty arising” from the order “and its applicability to Quote Velocity’s business model,” said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-402. The order “expressly concludes that where a third-party agent is added to a live call with a customer (i.e., rather than a robocall or robotext)” the restriction “is not relevant to the transaction,” the filing said. But Quote Velocity said it’s fielding numerous questions about the order and its implications: “Quote Velocity is seeking clarification from the Commission given the company’s concern that, absent such a clarification, its business model will be threatened at the time the revised rules go into effect.” CEO Manny Zuccarelli met with staff from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks, Nathan Simington and Anna Gomez.