Telecommunications relay service (TRS) companies and consumer groups are mainly supportive of the FCC’s TRS NPRM, and industry attorneys told us it's expected to receive unanimous approval at the agency’s Nov. 20 open meeting. However, consumer groups told us that any rulemaking stemming from the proceeding needs to take legacy users of analog TRS into account.
Sinclair has purchased 8.2% of E.W. Scripps as part of an effort to purchase the company, Sinclair told the SEC in a filing Monday. Sinclair’s board of directors and management team ”have engaged in constructive discussions” with Scripps “for several months regarding a potential combination of the two companies,” the filing said. In a news release issued after Sinclair’s filing, Scripps said its board “will take all steps appropriate to protect the company and the company’s shareholders from the opportunistic actions of Sinclair or anyone else” but also said it “will continue to evaluate any transactions and other alternatives that would enhance the value of the company.” Sinclair’s SEC filing says it bought 6,275,204 shares of E.W. Scripps. On Friday afternoon, Scripps share price was $3.06, suggesting Sinclair’s outlay was roughly $20 million. On Monday morning, the share price had risen to $3.65. A person familiar with the deal said Sinclair purchased the stock to put cash on the line and move negotiations with Scripps forward. In the SEC filing, Sinclair said combining with Scripps would provide “the ability to compete successfully for advertising share, critical programming, and distribution economics through enhanced local and national scale, coupled with disciplined execution of synergies.” The stock trade doesn’t require Sinclair to file with the FCC, but a full purchase of Scripps would put Sinclair over the current national ownership cap, and so require either waivers or the elimination of the cap. Nexstar’s proposed purchase of Tegna is already in a similar situation. Sinclair told the SEC that “upon reaching a definitive agreement, a transaction could be completed within nine to 12 months.”
Numerous chambers of commerce and free-market advocacy groups have lined up at the FCC behind Charter Communications' proposed purchase of Cox Communications. The $34.5 billion deal was announced in May (see 2505160060). Submissions in docket 25-233 last week filed during the federal government shutdown saw numerous backers arguing for quick FCC approval. Ziply Fiber sought conditions.
Changes at the Rural Wireless Association: Allen Bennion, Strata Networks, becomes president and is reelected to the board; Mike Laskowsky, United Wireless, becomes vice president; and Chris Ruhl, Cross Wireless, becomes secretary and chair of the Public Policy Committee; Mick O’Malley, Nsight & Cellcom, appointed chair of the Education Committee; Stephen Sharbaugh becomes outside assistant general counsel; Brighid Riordon, Cellcom, elected to the board; Scott Paul, Sagebrush Cellular, appointed to the board; and Glenn Ishihara, Cleartalk, is reelected to board ... Nathan Leamer, formerly adviser to ex-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, joins lobbying firm Build American AI as executive director, a newly created position … Satellite provider Lite Coms names retired Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Anderson to board.
Service providers should file comments at the FCC opposing proposals to increase power levels in the citizens broadband radio service band or to reallocate the band, NCTA board member Sandra Howe urged Thursday in a blog post. The future of CBRS is “at risk,” she wrote. “CBRS democratizes mid-band spectrum” and “enables [wireless ISPs,] cable operators, schools, hospitals, utilities, farms, and local governments to build private and localized LTE/5G networks.” With county-level licenses, a three-tier sharing model “and a mature device ecosystem, CBRS has lowered the barrier to entry for operators who’ve historically lacked access to prime spectrum.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Thursday approved Vero Broadband’s proposed purchase of BendTel, a locally owned and operated telecom provider in central Oregon (see 2508290059). In an order in docket 25-188, the bureau noted that it didn’t receive any comments or petitions opposing the deal.
Consumers’ Research and its allies urged the FCC to zero out the proposed USF contribution factor for Q1 (see 2511100035), despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer that the factor is constitutional (see 2506270054). “Several important arguments remain for why the USF, either in whole or in part, is unlawful, including in its application by the Commission,” said a filing Thursday in docket 96-45. The group makes a similar filing each quarter.
Several former FCC chairs, commissioners and staffers of both parties have signed a petition from Tech Freedom and Protect Democracy calling on the agency to rescind its broadcast news distortion policy. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has used the policy to perform “extraordinary intrusions” into editorial decision-making, said the petition, signed by former Republican FCC Chairmen Mark Fowler, Alfred Sikes and Dennis Patrick, former Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, three Republican ex-commissioners, and several past eighth-floor aides.
The Safer Buildings Coalition (SBC) got support for its July petition asking the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters. Comments were due Oct. 16, replies Oct. 31, in docket RM-12009, but that schedule was disrupted by the federal government shutdown (see 2511130050). Many of the filings, which were posted Thursday, raised public safety concerns.
Facing a "space Industrial Revolution," the FCC Space Bureau is trying to improve its throughput, Chief Jay Schwarz said Thursday at a New America event in Washington, D.C. Schwarz warned that some nations and satellite operators are trying to use the regulatory system to forestall competition from U.S. operators.