The FCC's October agenda will see commissioners tackling issues ranging from an NPRM on accelerating the ATSC 3.0 transition to loopholes in its covered equipment list, Chairman Brendan Carr wrote Monday. The agenda is particularly space-centric, he noted, saying in a speech Monday that the FCC remains "riddled with backwards-looking regulations" regarding space. Carr's blog also said the commission plans to vote at the Oct. 28 meeting on revisions to incarcerated people’s communications services rules, as expected (see 2510030047).
The FCC’s decision to shut down immediately after federal appropriations lapsed -- rather than continue operations, as it did during past shutdowns -- has created uncertainty for broadcasters, wrote Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorneys David Oxenford, David O’Connor and Keenan Adamchak in a blog post Friday. “In recent years, there was at least some time for broadcasters and others regulated by the FCC to get ready for the shutdown and get further guidance as to what would happen with respect to particular filing deadlines.” That isn’t so this time, the attorneys wrote. Although the agency has issued public notices on extending some deadlines, it's unclear how broadcasters should handle equal employment opportunity audit responses or major change applications, the blog post said. The FCC’s License Management System is offline during the shutdown, which means broadcasters also won’t be able to meet quarterly issues/programs list filing deadlines. “But will the FCC’s systems be able to handle a crush of filings due the first business day after the day that the government reopens?” the attorneys asked. “These are all questions that broadcasters should consider with their counsel.”
An FCC NPRM looking at ways to speed up wireless deployments saw few changes from the draft version, while a wireline notice of inquiry had no notable changes. Both were approved by commissioners 3-0 on Tuesday (see 2509300063).
Consumers’ Research and its allies renewed their attack on the legality of the USF contribution factor, filing a petition with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week challenging it for Q4. Last month, the group withdrew an earlier challenge at the 5th Circuit, but industry observers predicted at the time that it would file a new one (see 2509170072). In August, Consumers’ Research asked the FCC to zero out the factor for Q4 (see 2506130016).
CTIA, wireless carriers and representatives of the airline industry briefed aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and other agency staff about their work on opening the upper C band to licensed use while protecting air safety systems, said a filing posted Friday by CTIA. They updated the commission “on the efforts of the wireless and aviation industries to work together to define a consensus analytical framework for evaluating potential coexistence parameters between wireless operations above 3.98 GHz and altimeters operating in the 4.2-4.4 GHz band.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday that he will seek a vote at the Oct. 28 open meeting on revisions to incarcerated people’s communications services (IPCS) rules, which were approved with his vote during the Biden administration. Last month, the FCC said commissioners would vote at the meeting in a filing at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is reviewing challenges to the 2024 order (see 2509080034).
The government shutdown that has largely suspended FCC activity (see 2510010065) continues at least through Monday, after the Senate gaveled out for the weekend without reaching the 60-vote cloture threshold on dueling GOP and Democratic continuing resolutions to temporarily restore appropriations. The chamber voted 54-44 on Republicans’ House-passed measure (HR-5371) to reopen the government through Nov. 21, with only three Democrats in support. It voted 46-52 on Democrats’ version (S-2882), which would restore federal appropriations through Oct. 31 and bring back CPB’s rescinded $535 million funding for FY 2026. The Senate will vote on both resolutions again Monday night.
The Senate Commerce Committee isn’t looking to bring in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr as a potential additional witness at Wednesday's planned hearing to examine what Republicans call government agencies’ actions to pressure major social media platforms to engage in “jawboning” (see 2510020041), a spokesperson told us Thursday night. Panel Democrats had been pushing for the hearing to include Carr because they want him to answer questions about his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509220059). A Senate Commerce aide confirmed that Carr “will be coming to testify,” but the panel hasn’t set a date yet, and it won’t happen “before November.”
The FCC "has become a convenient political tool [that] too often abandons its independence," and Chairman Brendan Carr should front efforts to dismantle it, wrote Mark Jamison, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. The reasons it was created in 1934 "have disappeared," he said Friday, including regulation of the old Bell telephone monopoly and oversight of public airwaves. The agency's increased politicization is hurting investment, Jamison argued. Meanwhile, the Bell monopoly no longer exists, and many of the commission's consumer protection and equipment authorization functions could be done by other agencies, he said, adding that many of its jobs already overlap with other federal departments.
The FCC added a section to its Further NPRM seeking comment on whether correctional facilities should be allowed to jam cell signals, with an eye to preventing the use of contraband phones. Commissioners approved the NPRM Tuesday 3-0, with questions on a potential pilot program added at the request of Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2509300063).