There's no longer a need for broadcast-ownership restrictions, said American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling and Aryan Mirchandani in a post Wednesday. Ownership limits intended to promote viewpoint diversity and competition are outdated because of the prevalence of modern media options, they wrote. “There are costs to keeping these rules in place, and if the FCC’s goal is to promote a robust and diverse broadcast market, eliminating these rules can help,” the post said. “By eliminating the restrictions, the FCC could create efficiencies for firms, lowering costs and better allowing broadcasters to compete with digital alternatives.”
Citing FCC restrictions on Dahua products, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Wednesday that he had opened an investigation into whether security camera maker Lorex Technology is selling products that use components sourced from the Chinese video equipment maker. Texans "should never have to worry that the devices protecting their homes could be tied to foreign adversaries," Paxton said.
Comments are due Nov. 26, replies Dec. 26, on the submarine cable Further NPRM that FCC commissioners adopted Aug. 7 (see 2508070037), the agency said Tuesday (docket 24-523). The NPRM proposes that submarine cable applications that meet certain security standards should be exempted from license reviews by the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector. Rules in the subsea cable order that accompanied the FNPRM also take effect Nov. 26, the agency said.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told us he’s still planning to bring in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr for a hearing before year-end, but Democrats are concerned that he’s slow-walking scheduling that panel amid their ongoing airing of grievances about Carr's tenure leading the commission, particularly actions that critics say targeted the media’s free speech rights. As expected (see 2510280053), Senate Commerce Democrats used Wednesday's hearing on the Biden administration's social media censorship to again raise concerns about Carr’s comments last month against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Government speech coercion might be unconstitutional, but companies with business before the government aren't going to push back, panelists said Wednesday during a conference about online speech organized by the Center for Democracy & Technology and Stand Together. Free-speech advocates also criticized the FCC and FTC for increasingly weaponizing their regulatory powers.
The FCC would seek comments on options for the upper C band, including an auction of up to 180 MHz of it, in an NPRM to be voted on at the agency's Nov. 20 meeting. Congress has directed the FCC to auction at least 100 MHz of upper C band by July 2027. "We have no time to spare," agency Chairman Brendan Carr said Wednesday. "So it is now time to start making important decisions on how best to unleash new wireless services quickly in the band."
Comcast should pursue a merger of its NBCUniversal assets with Warner Bros. Discovery and hire Turning Point USA head Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk, to oversee the combined CNN/NBC/MSNBC news unit, LightShed's Rich Greenfield wrote Monday. "At first blush it sounds crazy, but Trump loves a deal, and [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts needs to think big and differently" in light of the company's stock struggles in recent years.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday that he hasn’t made up his mind about how the FCC should handle the national ownership cap or the 2022 quadrennial review, and no application has yet been submitted for the Nexstar/Tegna deal. Carr has said in the past that the FCC has authority to alter the national cap and that broadcasters should no longer be constrained by ownership limits. During Tuesday's news conference, he also said he doubts the FCC will rule on Nexstar/Tegna in 2025, and the shutdown would likely affect the agency’s timeline for addressing the national cap and the QR.
The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy should work with the FCC and NTIA to “remove barriers to global wireless leadership,” CTIA said in comments filed in response to the OSTP's request for information in connection with the White House AI Action Plan. “Spectrum and infrastructure deployment policies present key opportunities for reform to strengthen U.S. leadership” in AI innovation and adoption. OSTP should ensure that NTIA leads efforts to identify federal spectrum for repurposing, CTIA said. “Prior spectrum analyses required multiple agencies to act as ‘co-leads’ on spectrum studies, which led to unnecessarily long timeframes culminating in unusable reports.” OSTP should also coordinate with the FCC to “evaluate what existing laws and regulations are stifling infrastructure builds and innovation,” the filing said, pointing to the agency’s proceeding on streamlining environmental review policies. In addition, OSTP should promote “a uniform deregulatory approach to AI development and deployment.”