T-Mobile is turning up the heat on the FCC to issue licenses bought in last year’s 2.5 GHz auction, linking the failure to do so to the agency’s focus on closing the digital divide. Neville Ray, T-Mobile president-technology, argued for issuing the licenses in a Thursday blog. Lawyers active in the proceeding said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel continues to believe the FCC doesn’t have the authority to issue the licenses after expiration of its auction authority, though the Office of General Counsel is studying the issue.
The receiver policy statement circulated by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel (see 2303300070) likely won’t be too controversial and is at least a small step forward on one of the thorniest spectrum issues, experts told us. It builds on a 2015 paper by the FCC’s Technological Advisory Council, picking up some of the same themes starting with “interference realities.” The FCC document lays out nine principles, as TAC did, and in almost the same order. Commissioners approved 4-0 a broad receiver performance notice of inquiry last year (see 2204210049).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the Standard/Tegna broadcasters' appeal of the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), but expedited their petition for mandamus relief. It also ordered the FCC to respond to the petition by April 11, said an order Monday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the Standard/Tegna broadcasters' appeal of the FCC’s hearing designation order (HDO), but expedited their petition for mandamus relief. It also ordered the FCC to respond to the petition by April 11, said an order Monday.
More than 17 million households have enrolled in the FCC's affordable connectivity program to date, the agency announced Monday. The FCC partnered with the U.S. Digital Service to develop "a series of enhancements to the online consumer application system," said a news release. Among the changes included "providing clear instructions, to decrease steps and to simplify language while continuing to protect against waste, fraud and abuse and guarding the integrity of the program." The rollout is "part of our ongoing work to improve the consumer experience with the program," said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. U.S. Digital Service Deputy Administrator Cori Zarek said the changes will "streamline the process" to ensure "as little friction as possible" during the application process. The enhancements were "developed in consultation with digital navigators, digital equity advocates, and [ISPs]."
Online video distributors don’t fit the statutory definition of an MVPD, and it would require changes to the Communications Act and copyright policies to change that, said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a letter posted Friday replying to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley wrote Rosenworcel in February, amplifying calls from broadcasters for the FCC to refresh the record on a 2014 proceeding on classifying streaming services as virtual MVPDs (see 2301260057). As subscribers increasingly move from regular MVPDs to streaming, broadcaster retransmission consent revenue is falling, and under the current system streaming services such as Hulu negotiate compensation for programming with networks rather than individual broadcasters, said Grassley. In the 2014 proceeding, “the record revealed significant concerns with the agency asserting jurisdiction over MVPDs,” Rosenworcel responded. The FCC “lacks the power to change these unambiguous provisions on its own but can do so if Congress changes the underlying law,” she said. If the FCC proceeded anyway, it’s not clear if the U.S. Copyright Office would allow the current statutory programming license used by current MVPDs to apply to virtual MVPDs, she said. The license allows MVPDs to negotiate for broadcast programming without having to negotiate with every entity that holds rights to each program. Without the license, “those distributors would be obligated to black out programming for which they are not able to negotiate copyright licenses, she said. The FCC is monitoring the matter of networks negotiating streaming contracts for broadcasters and the FCC Media Bureau “is carefully reviewing the record as it assesses appropriate next steps,” the letter said. “In light of the decades-old legal framework governing these matters, please know I would be happy to work with you to update underlying law to better reflect the current marketplace,” Rosenworcel said.
The FCC is taking next steps on receivers, proposing a policy statement with "high-level principles" rather than rules or standards, which some industry observers had expected (see 2301180046), at commissioners' April 20 open meeting, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Wednesday. The meeting is another busy one for the agency. The agenda includes a draft order on spectrum sharing rules among non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service (FSS) systems, which has gotten little consensus among satellite operators (see 2204270015). Commissioners will also take on additional rules to get tough on Chinese carriers still operating in the U.S.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., and 31 other caucus members urged President Joe Biden Wednesday to nominate “a qualified Latino” to the vacant fifth FCC seat after Gigi Sohn’s recent withdrawal from consideration as nominee (see 2303070082). CHC members didn’t mention any preferred candidates, despite communications sector lobbyists’ chatter that former acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez, ex-Wiley, and National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts President Felix Sanchez were under consideration for an endorsement (see 2303130001). CHC member and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-Calif., told us he plans to recommend some potential contenders to the White House amid thus-far unfulfilled hopes the Biden administration will pivot quickly to name a candidate to replace Sohn.
Officials from the Open Technology Institute at New America and Public Knowledge asked about the status of two unlicensed bands, in calls with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 18-295. On 5.9 GHz, “we encouraged the Commission to move rapidly to authorize outdoor use at full Part 15 power levels just as soon as NTIA reports that it has resolved any remaining federal agency coordination issues,” the groups said: On 6 GHz “we encouraged rapid resolution of the critical issues in the [Further] NPRM, of which the authorization of Very Low Power devices and higher power for indoor-only use are particularly crucial for consumers and U.S. leadership in innovative next generation Wi-Fi.”
The FCC clamped down, for the first time, on robotexts and closed what it called a loophole in Stir/Shaken rules. Both items were approved, as expected (see 2303130049 and 2303140062), by unanimous votes Thursday with minor tweaks. Neither item has been posted.