The federal shutdown is keeping the FCC from processing transfer-of-control applications, but broadcasters are expecting a wave of station deal approvals when it ends, they told us in interviews. Being unable to file paperwork doesn’t delay negotiations, broadcasters told us. “We can’t file anything because nothing’s open right now,” said Circle City Broadcasting CEO DuJuan McCoy, who announced an $83 million deal Tuesday to purchase WRTV Indianapolis (ABC) from E.W. Scripps. “When you're doing deals, you worry about what you can control, and that's signing a deal, negotiating a deal and locking it up.”
The way the U.S. licenses satellites is often "slow, bespoke, and overly burdensome," and it should instead use shot clocks and presume that non-geostationary orbit systems that follow the FCC's rules are in the public interest, the LEO Policy Working Group (LPWG) urged Thursday. Composed of satellite industry and regulatory experts, the group issued a report and series of recommendations aimed at better spectrum sharing and coexistence, helping foster competition and better employing low earth orbit (LEO) connectivity in federal broadband programs to aid in closing the digital divide.
The FCC shouldn’t grant SpaceX’s application to buy EchoStar’s spectrum licenses (see 2509080052) until SpaceX majority shareholder Elon Musk’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party is investigated, said public interest group Frequency Forward in a petition to deny filed Thursday. “Musk and the companies he controls have extensive, ongoing business arrangements with China,” the petition said. “These business dealings give China the power to influence and control the operations of his companies, including Starlink.”
LiveVideo.AI Corp. is "wasting the Court’s time and the Defendants’ money" with its frivolous motion for reconsideration on Skydance Media's purchase of Paramount Global, National Amusements told the U.S. District Court for Southern New York on Wednesday.
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty told attendees at a free speech event Wednesday that the agency has “an obligation” to regulate broadcasters based on their content and compared broadcaster expression to a person standing on a frozen lake that could crack at any time. “You can’t always see how thick the ice is beneath your feet or whether it will hold if you take that next step,” Trusty said in remarks at the Media Institute’s Free Speech America Gala. “Yes, the First Amendment still applies -- both by its own terms, and as confirmed by Section 326 of the Communications Act,” she said. “But in broadcasting, content-based regulation that would be unthinkable in other contexts is indeed permitted under longstanding doctrine.”
Several public interest groups are seeking to intervene in Consumers' Research’s 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenge to the constitutionality of the USF, according to court filings. Motions to intervene have been filed by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and jointly by the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance and the Center for Media Justice. Consumers’ Research is expected to oppose the motions to intervene, though such motions from the same groups have been granted in previous cases that Consumers’ Research brought against the USF, the filings said.
The U.S. is entering international spectrum coordination discussions focused on pushing for flexible use policies, supporting spectrum harmonization where it “benefits consumers and global scale,” and “defending the principle that technological progress should not stop at regulatory borders,” FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said Thursday in remarks at the 14th Americas Spectrum Management Conference. The Americas “must speak with a strong, coordinated voice” in preparation for the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference, “one that emphasizes openness, reciprocity, and innovation over protectionism or fragmentation.”
The FCC released the draft items for its Nov. 20 open meeting Thursday, including an NPRM on clearing the upper C band, an order undoing the last FCC’s response to the Salt Typhoon attacks, and an NPRM seeking comment on updating telecommunications relay services.
NTIA is unfairly emphasizing use of low earth orbit satellite connectivity in BEAD, sometimes in cases where LEO doesn't make sense, some state broadband officials said Thursday. Speaking at the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition's annual conference, Christine Hallquist, executive director of the Vermont Community Broadband Board, said many BEAD locations being awarded to LEO bids won't actually get service due to geographic issues like dense foliage and mountains. Hallquist said that of the state's roughly 15,000 BEAD locations, about 1,300 are being awarded to LEO.
Top Senate Commerce Committee leaders told us they aren’t yet completely ruling out proposals to make the USF subject to Congress’ annual appropriations process as part of a legislative revamp of the program. However, some panel Democrats are dubious because of flaws in the funding system, amplified by the ongoing government shutdown (see 2510230049). In comments submitted to Congress' bipartisan USF working group, some stakeholders also strongly advocated for shifting to an appropriations-based funding model (see 2509160064). Meanwhile, panelists at a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition event Wednesday said they see appropriations as a largely unappealing option to give USF more sustainable long-term funding.