The full FCC -- with Commissioner Brendan Carr concurring in part -- proposed a $612,395 forfeiture against Nexstar for violating the 39% national ownership cap and taking de facto control of Mission Broadcast’s WPIX New York station without agency permission, said a notice of apparent liability issued late Thursday. The NAL also proposes requiring Mission within 12 months to either divest WPIX to a third party or apply to the FCC to sell it to Nexstar, which in turn would have to divest stations to come in under the national cap. The FCC “is prohibited from allowing a company to own or control broadcast stations that in total reach more than 39 percent of the national television audience,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a brief statement released with the NAL. “The record here reflects a situation where a company exceeds this threshold. Unless and until Congress changes this law, it is the responsibility of this agency to enforce it.” Nexstar is a client of Wiley, Commissioner Anna Gomez's former law firm. Late last month, she received an ethics waiver that allows her to vote on enforcement items involving Wiley clients (see 2403150055). Nexstar’s relationship with Mission and WPIX was the focus of multiple court and FCC proceedings (see 2402130023), one of which was recently decided in Nexstar’s favor (see 2403210027). “NALs are not final decisions on the merits,” said Carr’s concurrence, in which he objected to the NAL citing aspects of Nexstar's relationship with Mission, which past FCCs approved, as part of the company's violations. “And I will keep an open mind as the FCC reviews the record in response to this document. Part of that will require the FCC to ensure that any remedies the agency finds necessary are ones that are appropriate given the procedural posture of this enforcement action.” Nexstar is “extremely disappointed in today’s action by the Federal Communication Commission regarding our relationship with WPIX-TV and we intend to dispute it vigorously,” said CEO Perry Sook in a release. “We believe the FCC has been misled by the often distracting noise in the media ecosphere and that it has completely misjudged the facts.”
A new study by the Phoenix Center found "no material change" in broadband availability under the FCC's updated 100/20 Mbps speed threshold. The study, released Thursday, estimated a decrease of "no more than about 3%" in availability. In addition, it found that providers were most likely to be affected, with an estimated 11% decrease in the number of fixed providers that can meet the new threshold. Availability rates would remain "somewhat stable, as cable and fiber are widely deployed and easily meet the new 100/20 Mbps threshold in nearly all cases," the study said.
Maine lawmakers passed a telemarketing bill this week that would require telephone solicitors, before calling a consumer, to use the FCC’s reassigned numbers database to verify that the consumer’s number wasn't reassigned. The House passed LD-2234 Tuesday and the Senate did so Wednesday. Gov. Chris Sununu (R) will next consider the measure.
The FCC confirmed Thursday it’s investigating Amazon and other online retailers for allegedly selling wireless signal jammers in violation of FCC rules. “We have several ongoing investigations into retailers, including Amazon, for potential violations of Commission rules related to the marketing and sale of equipment without proper FCC authorization,” an FCC spokesperson emailed. The FCC has long policed signal jammers. In one of the most high-profile cases, in 2016, the agency fined C.T.S. Technology of China $34.9 million for allegedly marketing 285 models of signal jamming devices to U.S. consumers (see 1605250071).
Dish Network executives laid out the company’s positions on mostly wireless issues during a meeting Monday with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and staff, said a filing posted Thursday in 20-443 and other dockets. “An updated spectrum screen that is consistently enforced will promote competition, especially toward the goal of at least four nationwide wireless carriers,” Dish said (see 240104004), urging action on the lower 12 GHz band (see 2312270045). “Substantial evidence in the record shows that fixed 5G services can provide broadband to tens of millions of Americans, while fully protecting existing non-geostationary orbit Fixed-Satellite Service and Direct Broadcast Satellite customers,” Dish said. The company also touched on 5G Fund rules, addressed in an order circulated Wednesday by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2403200071). “Give greater weight” to 5G Fund projects that use open radio access network technology, Dish urged: “By doing so, not only can the Commission ensure that federal funds are being used to close the digital divide, but it can facilitate deployments that will connect communities well into the future.”
Competitive Carriers Association members are counting on “a strong and effective 5G Fund” to provide service in rural areas, said President Tim Donovan in an emailed statement. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated a 5G Fund order Wednesday (see 2403200071). “We look forward to understanding the details of the draft Order and working with the FCC to make sure that the 5G Fund is a success,” he said. “Details such as eligibility, accurate mobile map data with a robust challenge process, and the timing of a 5G Fund auction are key to avoiding harmful 5G gaps and ensuring the most rural customers are able to share in the benefits of 5G.”
Verizon said the FCC doesn’t need a usage rule for Wi-Fi hot spots that the E-rate program funds (see 2401300063). E-rate rules “will require schools and libraries to pay part of the cost of Wi-Fi hotspots, which will discourage" them "from subscribing to unused services,” the carrier told Wireline Bureau staff, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 21-31. The commission “has found it necessary to apply a usage rule only when the support amount covers the entire cost of a service” including services offered under the emergency connectivity fund, Lifeline and the affordable connectivity program, Verizon said: “If the Commission adopts a usage rule in this proceeding, the rule should be flexible and simple for schools and libraries to apply, and focus primarily on guarding against large-scale warehousing.”
Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser and point person on the national spectrum strategy, has left the agency, he said on social media Thursday. The departure was expected (see 2403050048) and comes a week after NTIA released the strategy's implementation plan (see 2403120056). Harris posted photos from his farewell party, at which NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson and others wore socks emblazoned with an image of Harris’ face. Harris was the former chief of the FCC International Bureau and founder of the law firm now known as HWG.
Hamilton Relay, a telecommunications relay service (TRS) provider, seeks to intervene in support of the Ohio Telecom Association’s petition for review challenging the FCC’s Dec. 21 order modifying and expanding the commission’s data breach notification rules on telecom carriers, VoIP providers and TRS providers (see 2402210026), said its unopposed motion Wednesday (docket 24-3133) in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hamilton provides TRS to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind or have difficulty speaking, said its motion. The company provides intrastate and interstate text telephone, speech-to-speech and captioned telephone services in numerous states through individual state TRS contracts, nationwide relay service through its internet protocol captioned telephone service, which is regulated by the FCC, it said. Hamilton is entitled to intervene because it was a “party in interest” in the proceeding leading to the adoption of the order and the order’s changes to the FCC’s data breach notification rules adversely affect its interests, said the motion. Hamilton submitted comments in February 2023 in the FCC’s NPRM in the run-up to the order, it said. The order expands reporting obligations to the FCC and law enforcement agencies and imposes certain other duties on TRS providers pertaining to unauthorized access to or disclosure of customer proprietary network information and personally identifiable information, it said. In its February 2023 comments, Hamilton urged the FCC to consider how TRS providers are different from common carriers in the services they provide and the information they collect from their customers. The commission should ensure that any reporting obligations imposed on TRS providers “allow for the necessary flexibility to report relevant and actionable information to the appropriate law enforcement agencies and to customers,” it said then. It also urged the commission “to consider how its proposed rules will align, or potentially conflict, with existing state and federal privacy regimes,” it said.
The FCC should ensure that connected technologies keep pace with other industries in transitioning to clean energy, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in remarks Thursday at the 2024 U.S. Tech for Climate Action Conference. “We have to make sure that next-generation standards -- 6G and beyond -- double-down on energy efficiency,” Starks said. “As work on 6G standards-setting continues, now is exactly the right time to throw your weight behind sustainability.” Starks also said that the tech industry should bring clean energy “capabilities we know are possible to market three, five, or seven years earlier than they would have been otherwise.” Tech companies “have to be a backer, not a bottleneck,” Starks said.