FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is widely seen as the favorite to become FCC chair in a second Donald Trump presidency, and former FCC staffers and communications industry officials told us they expect a Carr-led FCC would prioritize policies he wrote about in the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. For example, the chapter lays out plans for rolling back Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulating broadband infrastructure and restricting Chinese companies.
Industry lawyers continue to assess the potentially seismic implications of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and the other Chevron case decided last week (see 2406280043). Yet the after-effects are being seen already. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday directed parties in the net neutrality challenge to file not later than July 8 supplemental briefing material addressing the effect of the Chevron decision “on our analysis” of a motion to stay the order (see 2406280060).
Thursday’s 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court decision in SEC v. Jarkesy could have large implications for future FCC enforcement actions, with academics, FCC attorneys and the three dissenting justices saying they expect it to prompt a storm of litigation for federal agencies.
The U.S. needs to move toward a firm date for the end of mandatory simulcast of ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 signals and fully transition to ATSC 3.0, but it's too early to say when that date should be, NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said Thursday at the NextGen Broadcast Conference in Washington. Conference-goers applauded the call for a transition deadline, and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr echoed it, saying he would support a proceeding about the issue. Carr also suggested gauging broadcast and wireless industry interest in an "incentive auction 2.0" for low-band spectrum.
ISPs and industry groups told the FCC that while competition and access remain strong in the broadband marketplace, additional regulation could harm future investment and deployment. Those views were included in feedback the FCC sought about its biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress (see 2404220050). In comments, some wireless groups urged making additional spectrum available. MVPDs and broadcasters said the FCC should recognize the increasing competition they face from streaming video and accordingly relax regulations. Comments were posted Thursday and Friday in docket 24-119.
The NAB Television Board of Directors promised in a policy statement Wednesday to prioritize local broadcasters' interests in NAB’s advocacy, “including on those issues that may be in tension with other NAB member business interests." This was a veiled reference to the networks and their streaming businesses, numerous attorneys and broadcasters told us. The policy statement is widely seen as a reaction to growing conflict between broadcast affiliates and their network partners over content and issues such as virtual MVPD regulation.
Sinclair Broadcast will sell anything in its portfolio -- at “the right price” -- so it can close the gap between its valuation and share price, CEO Chris Ripley told The Media Institute during a luncheon Tuesday. Ripley also predicted that generative AI eventually will create most media, and said asymmetric regulation and increased competition are broadcasting’s biggest obstacles. “Unfortunately, for our industry, we can't seem to get out from underneath some of these old regulations,” Ripley said. “There really isn't any reason for that to be, besides that's the way it always was.”
All three 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges hearing oral argument Wednesday on Gray Television’s appeal of a $518,000 FCC forfeiture order seemed skeptical of the agency’s rationale for the penalty amount but split on Gray’s arguments against the FCC’s authority over deals for TV station network affiliation.
Adell Broadcasting will bring legal action against Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting if Mission doesn’t accept the FCC’s conditions for approving Mission’s proposed $75 million buy of Adell’s WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan (see 2404240070), Adell CEO Kevin Adell told us in an interview Tuesday.
FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington on Monday condemned the agency’s extension of the top-four prohibition in the 2018 quadrennial review order. Instead of “dusting off” older regulations and “breathing new life into them through interpretive maximalism," the FCC should keep them locked in “a curio cabinet,” Simington said in remarks at NAB Show 2024. The rule change makes existing broadcast assets less marketable and hurts independent operators, he said. The FCC's attack on broadcast assets is particularly egregious at a time when “the literal Chinese Communist Party is pulling more eyeballs then broadcasters are,” said Simington, apparently referring to TikTok. Simington also criticized recent enforcement actions against broadcasters, which he said involved disproportionate penalties for violations that were inadvertent or insignificant. Unlike off-shore robocallers that repeatedly violate FCC rules and rarely pay fines, broadcasters seek to follow the rules and reliably pay their penalties, Simington said. He said he looks forward to the day when the FCC is “less adversarial” to broadcasters and ceases treating them like “problem children.”