President Joe Biden signed the Launch Communications Act (S-1648) Thursday night, the White House said. The measure, which the House passed earlier this month (see 2409180049), will require that the FCC streamline the authorization process for commercial launches’ access to spectrum. The Senate approved S-1648 last year. Lead sponsors Sens. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., hailed its enactment Friday. It's “a win for American innovation,” Hickenlooper said. Now “we can lead the next era of space exploration.” The U.S. “must maintain its edge in the 21st century space race against China, and this legislation is a necessary step in maintaining American space dominance,” said Schmitt, who is Senate Commerce Space Subcommittee ranking member.
Consumers' Research asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the FCC's Universal Service Fund contribution factor for Q4 of FY 2024 (see 2409130054). In a filing posted Thursday (docket 24-60494), the group repeated its claim that USF contributions are illegal taxes that the Universal Service Administrative Co. collects and "should be rejected."
Emergency 911 networks appear largely to have withstood the powerful Hurricane Helene, officials said Friday. Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday at 11 p.m. in Taylor County, part of Florida’s Big Bend region, with maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Friday. After preparing for the massive storm (see 2409250048), telecom companies reported some damage to network infrastructure and said they are responding to problems that flooding and power outages caused.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr again took aim at how the Biden administration and NTIA have implemented the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program, a concern Republicans on Capitol Hill have amplified (see 2409190063). BEAD is “a program worth fighting for,” but it must change, Carr said Friday during an American Enterprise Institute webinar.
House Oversight Committee GOP leaders said Thursday night they launched an investigation into the FCC’s handling of radio group Audacy’s request for a temporary waiver of FCC foreign-ownership rules to complete a bankruptcy restructuring that includes George Soros-affiliated entities purchasing its stock. Panel Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., claim the FCC’s expected approval of Audacy’s request (see 2409170015) represents a politicization of the review process just more than one month before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Langworthy briefly raised the issue during a House Oversight hearing earlier this month (see 2409190063).
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council on Friday heard initial reports from its three working groups, which are just starting. Speakers warned that the assigned topics are challenging. Focusing on AI and 6G, CSRIC held its initial meeting in June (see 2406280050). Friday's was the first meeting of substance under the new cycle.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel acknowledged Friday that the agency’s definition of AI may need fine-tuning and rejected the idea of a dedicated AI regulatory agency. Speaking at the 7th Annual Berkeley Law AI Institute, she also discussed the end of Chevron deference.
FCC announcements: Wireless Bureau’s Jeffrey Tignor moves to Office of Communication and Business Opportunities as acting director and Commissioner Anna Gomez hires Cierra Nokes as executive assistant; also, Frederick Giroux, Enforcement Bureau; Thomas Horan, Media Bureau; Kathleen Campbell, Space Bureau; and Ron Repasi, Office of Engineering and Tech, are retiring … FCC announces winners of agency awards: Robert Pavlak and Kamran Etemad for Excellence in Engineering and Steven Kauffman, Jeffrey Ocker, Alexander Simmons and Paul LaFontaine for Excellence in Economic Analysis … Squirro SaaS platform for generative AI appoints Growth Analytics’ Gary Kearns as board chairman.
A proposed Charter Communications/Liberty Broadband combination would fix tax issues stemming from the requirement that Liberty -- the single largest shareholder of Charter -- sell into Charter's share repurchase program, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett noted Wednesday. The note recapped a conversation with Liberty Chairman John Malone. On Monday, Liberty Broadband said Charter had made an offer and that it had counter-offered. Liberty said the proposed deal has a closing date of June 30, 2027. According to Malone, Charter proposed a transaction that would exclude GCI, which Liberty owns, but Liberty's counteroffer includes GCI. A GCI transaction would require FCC approval, according to Malone.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said Thursday that his objection to granting broadcaster Audacy a temporary exception to the FCC’s foreign-ownership requirements in connection with a bankruptcy restructuring involving a George Soros-affiliated fund (see 2409250051) doesn’t conflict with denunciations he's made in the past against involving partisan politics in FCC decisions. “My position is straightforward in all of those cases, which is that we should apply the law in the books consistent with the First Amendment,” Carr told reporters following the commissioners' open meeting. The Media Bureau granted similar exceptions to Cumulus, iHeart, Alpha and other broadcasters under multiple administrations during Carr's tenure as a commissioner, though he did not raise objections. Carr said Thursday he was unaware of those grants at the time. “This is the first time that this issue has been raised to my attention,” he said, adding that bureau-level decisions aren’t precedent for the commission. “As a commissioner, for better or worse, there are a lot of things that the bureaus do that, as commissioner -- particularly a non-chair commissioner -- that you're not read in on.” Carr also defended his repeated statements that the Audacy matter is unprecedented, pointing out that this is the first time the full commission has voted on such a petition. Initially, the Audacy item was set as a bureau-level decision but was circulated to the full commission after pressure from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas (see 2408150047). Carr said that he doesn’t object to Cruz forcing the matter before the full FCC and that the senator's action reflects lawmakers' concerns about big decisions getting made at the bureau level, such as the designation of the Standard General/Tegna deal for hearing. “I think what Senator Cruz was saying, [is that] this is the type of decision that the people that sit on this dais, who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate should make,” Carr said. Audacy and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office didn’t comment on Carr’s remarks.