OMB approved for three years a revised information collection associated with the FCC's rules for the Lifeline program. The approval was announced in a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. The revisions reflect an order adopted in November providing survivors of domestic violence access to safe and affordable communications services under the Safe Connections Act (see 2311150042).
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Faced with increasingly reduced cable franchise fees, local franchise authorities (LFA) must focus on getting broadband providers to enter franchise agreements with them for use of local rights of way (ROW), speakers said Wednesday during NATOA's annual local government conference. But the broadband franchising path must go through statehouses and the FCC, with changes to LFAs' authority needed at the federal and state levels, they noted. In addition, speakers mentioned LFAs' consumer protection role as they addressed the audience of mostly local government officials.
AT&T suffered a wireless outage Tuesday night that apparently started in the Southeast and spread throughout the U.S., based on social media and other reports. A software issue caused the outage, which was resolved, AT&T said Wednesday. The FCC is investigating, a spokesperson emailed.
The FCC approved an order establishing a multi-round reverse auction to pay out up to $9 billion to bring voice and 5G mobile broadband service to rural areas of the U.S. otherwise unlikely to see 5G. The vote was 4-1, with a dissent by Commissioner Brendan Carr. The commission plans a public notice to announce the start date of the auction. It also released a Further NPRM on related tribal issues.
The consortium led by media executive Edgar Bronfman bidding on a takeover of Paramount Global (see 2408220055) has withdrawn its bid, the media company said Monday night. That ends the "go shop" period laid out in the terms of Skydance Media's bid for the company, Paramount said. During the go shop period, Paramount was free to solicit other bids. Charles Phillips, chair of the Paramount board M&A special committee, said the Skydance bid "delivers immediate value and the potential for continued participation in value creation in a rapidly evolving industry landscape." Paramount said the Skydance transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. A Skydance/Paramount deal is not expected to face significant FCC or antitrust headwinds (see 2407080025).
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ precedent and the Communications Act should prevent the court from approving Gray Television’s motion (see 2408140057) that calls for filings on whether U.S. Supreme Court’s SEC v. Jarkesy ruling on agency enforcement actions (see 2407250030) should apply in Gray’s appeal of a $518,000 FCC forfeiture order, the FCC said in a response filing Monday. “That is a wholly new issue in this case,” the FCC said, arguing that Gray could have challenged the FCC’s enforcement authority earlier in the case, when the Jarkesy litigation was ongoing. “Instead, Gray waited until six weeks after the Supreme Court’s decision in Jarkesy—when this case had long been briefed and argued—to seek leave to challenge the FCC’s enforcement procedures for the first time,” the FCC said. “This Court has repeatedly declined to consider new claims in analogous circumstances.” Gray never suggested in prior filings in the case that the FCC’s enforcement proceeding was invalid because Gray was entitled to a jury trial, the FCC said. The Communications Act “forecloses judicial review of issues on which the FCC had no ‘opportunity to pass’ during the administrative proceeding,” the FCC said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the FCC's unopposed motion to stay its ruling in favor of Consumers' Research's USF contributions challenge pending the commission's petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court in an order Monday (docket 22-60008). The stay will expire Oct. 1, the order said. The FCC said in its motion that the Solicitor General "recently authorized the filing of a petition," adding that the decision "threatens to disrupt the operation of a multi-billion-dollar subsidy program."
The Rural Wireless Association supported the Competitive Carriers Association's arguments questioning the FCC’s proposed methodology for a 5G Fund (see 2408050037) in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 20-32. RWA members “are similarly concerned with the 5G Rural Fund framework and see the need for significant rule changes before final adoption,” the group said. “RWA also agrees with CCA that the FCC should: (1) increase the 5G Rural Fund budget to meet its statutory obligations; and (2) define 5G service at a 35/3 Mbps speed threshold for purposes of determining where 5G coverage exists,” the filing said.
NCTA criticized the FCC’s Paperwork Reduction Act analysis in its November order protecting consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud (see 2311150042). In addition, it asked the agency to reissue the notice “with more detailed burden and cost analysis.” NCTA said it “appreciates the important goals” and commission efforts “to protect mobile wireless customers from fraudulent schemes,” in a filing Monday in docket 21-341. NCTA said the agency should “reexamine information and evidence submitted by NCTA and other industry groups demonstrating the much greater burden these new rules place on providers.”