The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded NAB a $744,000 contract to field test the Broadcast Positioning System (BPS) with Dominion Energy, NAB said in a news release Monday. BPS is based on ATSC 3.0 broadcasts' creation of a precise timestamp for the emission of each broadcast frame, which, along with the location of multiple ATSC 3.0 transmitters in a given area, can be used to calculate a position comparable in accuracy to GPS. “This first-of-its-kind field test is part of the federal government’s broader effort to develop resilient alternatives to GPS for position, navigation and timing services,” NAB's release said. The field test will take place in the Washington/Baltimore area, an industry official told us.
The government shutdown that has largely suspended FCC activity (see 2510010065) continued into Tuesday with no clear consensus in sight. The Senate failed again Monday to reach the 60-vote cloture threshold on dueling GOP and Democratic continuing resolutions to temporarily restore federal appropriations. It voted 52-42 on Republicans’ House-passed CR (HR-5371) to reopen the government through Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support. The Senate also voted 45-50 on Democrats’ CR (S-2882), which would restore federal appropriations through Oct. 31 and bring back CPB’s rescinded $535 million funding for FY 2026.
Given the growing problem of deliberate attacks on and damage to communications networks, Congress needs to close the loophole that excludes privately owned networks from federal protection, FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty said Tuesday at a California event convened by the telecom industry to discuss the issue. She also said industry needs to do more to harden the targets of such attacks.
The FCC wants to adopt what it's calling a "licensing assembly line" approach to speeding up its review of satellite and earth station applications, according to a 201-page draft NPRM on space licensing reform. The item, which is on the FCC's Oct. 28 meeting agenda, would also extend the license terms for most satellites and earth stations to 20 years, move largely to a nationwide blanket license approach for earth stations, and require that satellite operators share space situational awareness data. The draft agenda items were released Tuesday.
A coalition of 24 members of Congress, led by Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., urged the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear en banc an August decision that upheld the FCC’s data breach notification rules, despite a Congressional Review Act action in 2017 that overturned similar requirements in other privacy rules (see 2508140052). Right-leaning interest groups also asked for rehearing, as sought by ISPs (see 2509290066). Briefs were filed Monday in case 24-3133.
Providers of incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) insisted Tuesday at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the court shouldn’t even be hearing the case challenging a 2024 FCC order -- the 5th Circuit should. Oral argument in the case came the same day that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr circulated a draft order and Further NPRM that would make sweeping changes to IPCS rules approved last year.
A tug-of-war is continuing in the Senate over language from the FY 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2296) that Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last month would give the DOD and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman excessive authority to veto commercial use of the 3.1-3.45 and 7.4-8.4 GHz bands (see 2509100064). The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the spectrum language in Section 1564, but Cruz filed an amendment in September to remove the proposal. He's also negotiating to remove it as part of a manager's amendment (see 2509110073). The House-passed FY26 NDAA (HR-3838) doesn't include similar language.
Petitioners Maurine and Matthew Molak asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court on Friday to dismiss their challenge to an FCC decision that let schools use E-rate support for Wi-Fi on school buses (case 23-60641), since the agency voted to end the program. The 5th Circuit earlier agreed to hold the challenge in abeyance, with further FCC action expected. Last week, over dissents from Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s Republican majority eliminated two Biden-era programs designed to make broadband connections more readily available to students and their families (see 2509300051).
NBC's Saturday Night Live roasted FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on its latest episode, with cast member Mikey Day portraying the commission head. The sketch showed President Donald Trump, played by James Austin Johnson, summoning Day's Carr, who danced on screen to the 1983 pop song "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell. When Day's Carr corrected the president that his first name is Brendan, not Brandon, Johnson's Trump replied that "it's crazy you think I care." Johnson's Trump also admonished Day's Carr for hugging him: "You gotta stop."
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is proving to be “a very consequential chairman,” New Street’s Blair Levin said in a new webcast with former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, part of a series for the Free State Foundation. Levin also said he doesn’t view President Donald Trump as a true advocate of free markets.