The FCC deactivated the disaster information reporting system and mandatory disaster response initiative for Hurricane Milton on Monday, said a public notice Monday. The agency is still taking outage reports on nine counties in North Carolina and seven counties in Tennessee. Tuesday’s update showed 10.6% of cellsites in the affected area without service, and 40,963 cable and wireline subscribers without service.
Three judges that Republican presidents appointed will handle the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ review of the FCC’s net neutrality order. The panel includes Judges Richard Griffin and Raymond Kethledge, who are appointees of President George W. Bush, and John Bush, one of six 6th Circuit judges that President Donald Trump appointed. Oral argument is scheduled for Oct. 31 in Cincinnati in the 6th Floor West Courtroom, starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT (docket 24-7000). Each side was allocated 20 minutes for argument. Some legal experts say it seems likely the 6th Circuit will reject the order as raising major questions that should be left to Congress and the panel's makeup may not prove critical (see 2409030030). Ten of the 6th Circuit's 16 full-time judges are Republican appointees.
Maine should harmonize its Chapter 880 pole-attachment rules with recent FCC rules changes, Comcast and Charter Communications commented last week at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. However, the cable companies disagreed with various Maine Connectivity Authority (MCA) recommendations contained in a recent report. Versant Power, an electric utility that owns poles, said Maine needn’t make more regulatory or legislative changes.
Broadcasters, MVPDs and network programmers want the FCC to shelve plans that require disclosures about the use of AI in political ads because they’re unworkably burdensome, exceed agency authority and won’t affect digital platforms, said reply filings in docket 24-211.
Having received FCC approval for 7,500 of its second-generation satellites in 2022 (see 2212010052), SpaceX is now asking the FCC to green-light 22,488 satellites the agency deferred on. Those additional satellites, plus "several small-but-meaningful updates" to the orbital configuration of the already-approved second-gen low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, would "improve space sustainability, better respond to evolving demand, and more efficiently share spectrum with other spectrum users," it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Tuesday.
The FCC in a 3-2 vote adopted a notice of inquiry seeking comment on the impact of data caps on consumers and competition in the broadband marketplace. The NOI "launches a formal proceeding through which the agency can hear from those impacted by data caps," said a news release Tuesday. Comments are due by Nov. 14, replies Dec. 2, in docket 23-199. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented.
AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan discussed the company's satellite system and its interest in the 5G Rural America Fund with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, said a filing Friday in docket 20-32. Avellan has met with all the regular commissioners in recent days (see 2410080045 and 2410030025).
The Media Bureau will open a filing window for applications for new noncommercial educational TV stations from Dec. 4 to Dec. 11, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest. Effective Friday, the FCC won’t accept petitions to amend the Table of Allotments for new NCE channels, the PN said. Additionally, during the NCE window, there will be a freeze on petitions from full-power and Class A TV stations seeking to change channels or make minor and major changes, the PN said.
The FCC’s order allowing geotargeted radio broadcasts let broadcasters “go after new revenue streams” and is “the dawn of new possibility for radio,” said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in remarks at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters Black Media Summit and Power of Urban Radio Forum. The order is “a game changer,” especially for “small and singleton owners that are working hard to stay on the air,” said Starks. Both the commissioner and NABOB were vocal supporters of the radio geotargeting order before it was approved unanimously in April. REC Networks and Press Communications targeted the order with petitions for reconsideration (see 2406210054). The FCC is working to wrap up the 2022 quadrennial review “as soon as we can,” said David Strickland, media adviser to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, in a panel discussion Thursday. Strickland declined to comment on the timing of the 2022 QR or say whether ongoing litigation over the 2018 QR could influence it.
The FCC’s February Telephone Consumer Protection Act consent order (see 2402160048) is effective April 11, said a notice in Friday’s Federal Register. The commission adopted rules “making it simpler for consumers to revoke consent to receive unwanted robocalls and robotexts,” said a Friday notice from the FCC: “Callers and texters must honor these optout requests in a timely manner.”