The FCC was right to eliminate programs that provided school bus Wi-Fi and internet hot spots to schools and libraries because they went beyond the agency's authority, wrote Daniel Lyons, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, in a blog post Thursday. Supporters of the programs say that on a practical level, halting the programs puts schools and libraries in a financial bind (see 2510150047).
FCC authority to change the national TV ownership cap remains unclear, and anything the agency does is likely to end up challenged in court, agency Chief of Staff Scott Delacourt said Wednesday at a Media Institute event. He also waved off the idea that the end of Chevron deference significantly changes how the FCC will defend its actions in court. The commissioners will vote on kicking off the 2022 quadrennial review of broadcast-ownership rules at its meeting next week (see 2509090060).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit on Wednesday upheld a $46.9 million fine against Verizon for violating FCC data rules in a decision that could trigger the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, given the current split in the circuits (see 2509100019). In August, the D.C. Circuit upheld a similar fine against T-Mobile (see 2508150044), while the 5th Circuit earlier rejected a fine imposed on AT&T (see 2504180001).
Commenters urged the FCC not to go too far to limit the information it reports in its Telecom Act Section 706 reports to Congress. Commissioners approved a notice of inquiry in August on the preparation of the reports, with an eye on more narrowly focusing them based on statutory language (see 2508050056). Comments were due Monday in docket 25-223.
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an en banc rehearing of the rejection of a $57 million FCC fine against AT&T for violating the agency's data protection rules. The panel modified its April opinion slightly, taking out language that referred to a 2012 5th Circuit decision in U.S. v. Stevens (see 1208210038).
The decision Friday by public interest groups not to challenge the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ narrow decision overturning last year’s net neutrality order appeared to be based on a number of considerations, including avoiding a precedent that could prevent future FCC rules (see 2508080020). Friday was the deadline to file a petition for certiorari seeking U.S. Supreme Court review. Some lawyers saw the 6th Circuit’s decision as badly reasoned and susceptible to further review (see 2507160048).
Broadcasters called for the FCC to save their industry by immediately eliminating the national TV ownership cap in comments filed in docket 17-318 by Monday’s deadline. Meanwhile, MVPD groups, labor unions, public interest groups and conservative entities Newsmax and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) disputed the FCC’s authority to alter the cap and said doing so would hurt localism, retransmission consent rates and journalism.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the FCC’s top-four prohibition and its extension to low-power TV stations and multicast streams but upheld the agency’s other broadcast ownership rules in a unanimous three-judge decision Wednesday on the 2018 quadrennial review.
Lawyers at Cooley warned that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 decision in McLaughlin Chiropractic Associates v. McKesson, a much-watched case about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, will mean increased uncertainty for both sides in future TCPA cases (see 2506200053). SCOTUS ruled that, despite the Hobbs Act, lower courts have authority to examine agencies' decisions, including those of the FCC. The case provides “expanded opportunity to challenge FCC rulings," said Cooley's Tuesday blog post.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC’s USF contribution scheme in a 6-3 opinion Friday in Consumers’ Research v. FCC, but dissenting and concurring opinions from several conservative justices appeared to invite future challenges, attorneys told us.