Comments are due Oct. 6, replies Oct. 21, about the transfer of various Cox Communications licenses and authorizations to Charter Communications as part of Charter's proposed $34.5 billion purchase of Cox (see 2505160060), the FCC Wireline Bureau said Friday (docket 25-233).
Since April, NAB has aired “nearly a quarter million” TV and radio spots across 192 media markets pushing for Congress and the FCC to relax broadcast ownership rules, the trade group said in a release Thursday. A campaign spot released last week called on viewers to “keep football free” by texting in support of relaxing the rules. “Supporters have sent more than 174,000 emails and 34,000 tweets directly to members of Congress and FCC commissioners,” NAB said. A national survey of likely voters conducted in August showed that 83% of respondents preferred games on broadcast over streaming, the group said. “The FCC must act quickly to level the playing field, so broadcasters can continue investing in the content communities rely on most,” NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in the release.
The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment by Sept. 17 on Viaero's requested waiver of citizens broadband radio service rules, said a Friday notice in docket 25-274. The company hopes to buy 10 priority access licenses from Citizens Band License Co. in seven counties in Colorado. FCC rules allow a company to own only four such licenses in a market, but with the purchase Viaero would have six in three of the counties and five in the others, the notice said.
A broad group of tech and auto industry associations urged the Trump administration to forgo imposing rules for connected vehicles that are different from those set by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (see 2508290051). The FCC is examining whether to change its rules for its “covered list” of unsecure companies to take into account connected vehicles. The groups addressed their letter, posted Friday in docket 18-89, to Jeffrey Kessler, Commerce undersecretary for industry and security, and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr.
Comments are due Oct. 6, replies Oct. 20, on the business data services NPRM that FCC commissioners approved 3-0 last month (see 2508110054), said a Wireline Bureau notice Friday in dockets 21-17 and 17-144.
The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau has given ClearCaptions the go-ahead to forgo the volume-control reset requirement for wireline phones. People with hearing loss won't have to turn the volume back up on ClearCaptions phones covered by the waiver before using them again, said the order (docket 18-307).
FCC regulatory fees are due Sept. 25, but the Commission Registration System is already open to receive them, said a public notice Friday. “While FY 2025 regulatory fees will not become effective until the Order is published in the Federal Register, regulatees, at their own discretion, may submit payments at any time before the FY 2025 regulatory fees due date.”
AT&T will be able to deploy the 3.45 GHz spectrum that it plans to buy from EchoStar almost immediately after regulators clear the purchase, said Jenifer Robertson, AT&T's general manager of mass markets, at a Citi financial conference Thursday. AT&T CFO Pascal Desroches said at a Bank of America conference that the company was immediately interested in the spectrum when it became clear that EchoStar might sell some of its large portfolio.
Verizon, Frontier and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) reached a settlement that they said protects workers and customers as Verizon seeks approval to acquire Frontier in a $20 billion all-cash deal. They asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to adopt the agreement in a joint motion posted Thursday (docket A-24-10-006).
The FCC will take up proposed rules at its Sept. 30 meeting that would lift federal rules prohibiting correctional officials from jamming signals from contraband cellphones, Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday. Carr announced during a press conference streamed from Arkansas that commissioners would be asked to vote on an NPRM. He said he hopes new rules will be in place next year or “as early as possible.”