Fifty state-level broadcasters’ groups urged congressional leaders Thursday to move forward on the Broadcast Varied Ownership Incentives for Community Expanded Service Act (HR-8072/S-4158), which would restore the minority ownership tax certificate (see 2404230057). HR-8072/S-4158, like previous iterations (see 2108120054), would also direct that the FCC make recommendations on improving ownership diversity. Broadcasters’ “strength is in our ability to cover diverse community experiences and tell stories from an authentic perspective,” the broadcasters said in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the chambers’ minority leaders. “The tax certificate program will help us build a local media landscape that reflects our communities on the air, both in the control booth and boardroom.” HR-8072/S-4158 will also “help with building a pipeline for a new generation of broadcast station owners that is inclusive of women, people of color and other underrepresented individuals,” the group said.
The FCC Wireline Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics released a summary of data associated with the affordable connectivity program (see 2405200010). A Thursday public notice in docket 21-450 included data on the "price, subscription rates, and plan characteristics" of the service offerings of ACP providers. The data released was a "snapshot" of the services nearly 20 million households were receiving as of Aug. 1. The bureaus said that 1,600 providers submitted plan and subscription data at the ZIP code level. The FCC made the data available at the nationwide level on "plan characteristics across all ACP households." State level data shows the average base monthly prices of plans for households "enrolled within designated download speed tiers and data on the number of subscribers of plans within those tiers." County and ZIP code level data included the average base monthly price and subscription rates for fixed and mobile service.
The FCC will host a private celebration of the agency’s 90th anniversary Tuesday, an agency spokesperson confirmed. The event will involve staff and guests but is closed to the public and media, the spokesperson said. The agency was formed June 19, 1934.
The costs of complying with the FCC’s updated data breach notification rule “detract from the core work” of five trade associations' small-business members “to connect existing and new customers in hard-to-serve areas and close the digital divide,” said those trade groups in an amicus brief Wednesday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court. Joining the brief were ACA Connects, the Competitive Carriers Association, NTCA, the Wireless ISP Association and WTA.
Any spectrum allocation for in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) operations won't happen without a fight. Numerous space operators and other spectrum interests pushed back in docket 22-271 reply comments this week against any ISAM-specific spectrum allocation. Space operators also disagreed on how far the FCC's authority reaches when it comes to ISAM regulations that don't deal with radiofrequency issues. The FCC's authority was also questioned in initial comments in the ISAM licensing NPRM (see 2404290039).
A coalition of industry groups on Friday challenged the FCC's net neutrality order and declaratory ruling reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service.
T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular’s wireless operations, including about 30% of its spectrum, has already seen opposition (see 2405280047), with more expected. In addition, the deal will likely face heavy scrutiny from DOJ and the FCC, industry experts agree. Handicapping whether the transaction will receive approval is difficult, especially headed into a presidential election in November, industry officials say. Some of the 21 states where UScellular has a presence could play at least limited roles reviewing the deal, state and other officials said. T-Mobile’s buy of Mint and other assets from Ka’ena, a smaller deal that didn’t involve spectrum, took regulators more than a year to approve.
The FCC is proposing that it cap the probability that a satellite applicant suffers a debris-generating accidental explosion at less than 1 in 1,000 per satellite. Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday that an orbital debris probability draft order had been circulated among the regular commissioners. "We can no longer afford to launch new satellites into our skies without being thoughtful about space sustainability," she said. The FCC said the 0.001 probability metric lines up with the federal government's orbital debris mitigation standard practices. It said the requirement would be phased in a year after Federal Register publication. The agency also is considering adoption of a 100 object-years metric -- the number of years each failed satellite remains in orbit, added across all the satellites -- for assessing the risk of derelict satellites in orbit from a constellation (see 2405240005).
Broadcast applications filed after Aug.1 will need to use 2020 U.S. Census data in any interference analyses, said the FCC Media Bureau in a public notice in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. “Failure to do so will require amendment and may result in dismissal of applications as defective,” the PN said. The TVStudy software the agency uses to calculate interference and allot channels will make use of the 2020 census data, the PN said. TVStudy has also been updated to version 2.3.0, said a separate PN listing the updates.
The FCC Media Bureau will allow low-power TV stations to apply to change their channels starting Aug. 20, after a 14-year freeze, said a public notice Tuesday. The freeze on major modification applications for LPTV was put in place in 2010 in anticipation of the broadcast incentive auction. The freeze will be lifted Aug. 20 only for channel change applications. “No other changes will be permitted,” the PN said, but added that allowing channel changes is the “first step” in doing away with the freeze altogether. The channel change applications will be processed “on a first-come, first-serve basis.” Mutually exclusive applications will be handled through a settlement window to be announced by the MB in a later PN. Lee Miller, Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance executive director, told us many LPTV stations have long been waiting for the chance to change channels to improve reception or change their market. The announcement is “a step forward for our industry,” he said.