States that support the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 (see 2501280053) defended it in a brief at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “Amici States operate correctional facilities covered by the Order and seek to maintain security within those facilities while enhancing broader public safety,” said the brief filed this week in docket 24-8028. It was signed by the District of Columbia, New York, California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
Several industry and consumer advocacy groups asked the California Public Utilities Commission to establish streamlined rules and ensure consumer protection as it considers revisions to technical regulations concerning the commission's facilities for interconnected VoIP service providers. In comments posted Tuesday (docket R2208008), some said they intend to participate in the CPUC's May 28 workshop to further discuss definitions of such facilities. Some also raised concerns about the commission's apparent direction toward providers operating in small independent local exchange carrier (ILEC) territories.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases since the last update are marked with a *.
Danielle Thumann, senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, indicated on Tuesday that the commission is looking closely at changing its rules for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a step sought by CTIA (see 2503270059), as well as cutting regulations approved during the last administration. NEPA was the first issue Thumann raised while speaking at a Federalist Society 5G webinar.
Communications Daily is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions.
The FCC’s pressure campaign against corporate diversity initiatives lacks a clear basis in the rules and isn’t likely to fare well if it is tested in the courts, said panelists during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday.
The FCC Media Bureau has approved another TV deal that involves a top-four duopoly, according to an order in Friday’s Daily Digest. The deal involves Marquee Broadcasting’s proposed purchase from Imagicomm of KIEM-TV Eureka, California (NBC), and low-power KVIQ-LD Eureka (CBS). “The evidence in the record demonstrates that splitting up the two top-four network affiliations would likely lead to a reduction in network programming and local news in the Eureka [designated market area], which would not serve the public interest,” the order said. Although the top-four prohibition historically hasn’t applied to LPTV stations, the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review order extended it to those stations and multicast streams. Oral argument in the broadcaster legal challenge of that order was held in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month (see 2503190064). The bureau approved another top-four deal by Gray Media earlier this year (see 2503120066), and media brokers told us they expect to see an increase in such deals being proposed since the agency now seems more open to them.
Lumen's Global Crossing subsidiary plans to end voice service in California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee and Texas by Sept. 16, it told the FCC on Wednesday. It said its voice services operate "on aging, legacy network equipment, the majority of which is no longer supported by underlying vendors," so repairs and replacements have "become challenging, if not impossible." The company needs to decommission the network to head off an irreparable failure later, it said. The nondominant carrier said affected customers have already been notified and thus have time to arrange substitute services from other providers.
The last seven months of 2024 saw 5,770 reports of theft or intentional vandalism targeting communications infrastructure nationwide -- 27 a day -- said NCTA, CTIA, USTelecom and NTCA in a white paper Wednesday. It was an update of a November 2024 report in which the groups also called for updated state laws and harsher penalties (see 2411190058). The latest version said 10 states accounted for 93% of such reports during that seven-month span, with 51% occurring in California and Texas. Cuts into copper or fiber cables made up the single biggest category of reports, with 1,915, while there were an additional 1,300 reports of aerial damage, it said. As of this month, 20 states have pending legislation aimed at the issue. It said Kentucky became the first state in the 2025 legislative session to increase penalties for such tampering, with a bill signed into law in March by Gov. Andy Beshear (D) that designates communications equipment as critical infrastructure and imposes felony penalties for damage or tampering. "A wave of vandalism and theft threatens vital communications networks and other critical infrastructure," NCTA said.