FCC Approves NPRMs on Robocalls, Spectrum Sharing, Foreign Ownership

As expected, commissioners approved a proposed robocall NPRM, which seeks to close a gap in the commission’s Stir/Shaken authentication rules, making it harder for scammers to hide their identities (see 2504250051).

The FCC made one change of note to the item based on ex parte filings, said Trent Harkrader, acting chief of the Wireline Bureau. It now provides additional clarification that the authentication requirement applies to all “intermediate” carriers, he said. “We just wanted to make sure that when we were seeking comment that our obligations were going to apply to intermediate carriers.”

Over the years, commission efforts to “crack down on illegal robocalls have often been described as a game of Whac-a-Mole,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said. “We tackle one challenge, and then another one pops up.” Carr noted the work also done under former FCC leaders Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, and Ajit Pai, a Republican.

“While Stir/Shaken is one of our most effective tools for combating illegal robocalls, it only applies to calls that travel exclusively over modern [IP] networks,” Carr said. “If non-IP technology is used at any point in the call path, Stir/Shaken won’t catch those robocalls, which bad actors can and have taken advantage of.”

An NPRM on updating foreign-ownership rules for broadcasters and common carriers is aimed at codifying long-standing FCC processes. “Having unwritten -- or at least unmodified -- rules is not very efficient,” Carr said Monday. “This only makes it harder for entities to understand and navigate our requirements. And it risks inconsistent outcomes, needlessly raises costs, and wastes staff resources.” The item is “an excellent example of a thoughtful and targeted effort to reduce burdens while protecting important public interests," said Commissioner Anna Gomez.

The NPRM proposes codifying existing practices into the rules, such as the FCC’s procedure for designating a controlling U.S. parent company. It also proposes requiring companies seeking permission for foreign ownership to identify trusts and trustees and asks for comment on allowing private companies to calculate foreign ownership as public companies do. The item also seeks comment on alleviating regulatory burdens in the foreign-ownership process and on FCC procedures related to noncommercial stations and low-power FM stations. The final version of the item isn’t substantively different from the draft iteration, the Office of International Affairs told us.

Given technological changes in the satellite industry, the FCC’s decades-old equivalent power flux density (EPFD) limits on non-geostationary orbit satellites (NGSO) “are definitely worth a fresh look,” Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said as the commissioners unanimously adopted a draft NPRM proposing a fresh look at the GSO/NGSO spectrum-sharing regime in the 10.7-12.7, 17.3-18.6 and 19.7-20.2 GHz bands. Commissioner Nathan Simington made a similar statement.

Gomez applauded the U.S. push to update the ITU’s spectrum-sharing rules, saying it would be good to have standardized EPFD limits.

Carr said existing power limits hurt satellite broadband through degraded signal quality, reduced coverage and limited capacity, and they make it harder to share spectrum with other satellite systems.

Michael Calabrese, director of New America’s Wireless Future Program, emailed that the FCC should move quickly to an order on the GSO/NGSO spectrum-sharing regime “since the agency’s proposal to update the decades-old ITU interference standard is entirely consistent with the U.S. position at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference and with the FCC’s new framework for sharing spectrum among [low earth orbit] satellite constellations that was finalized last year. ... Moving ahead of the world on this modernization will benefit both American consumers and further widen the U.S. lead in LEO satellite innovation and spectrum efficiency."

Internal DOGE

The FCC is cutting spending on contractors through an internal team in the mode of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, said Carr during his post-meeting news conference Monday. The “internal DOGE effort” has “already reduced hundreds of millions of dollars of long-term spend” by cutting contracts. “We’ve been working hard to do a top-to-bottom review of all the contracts that we have.” As an example, Carr said he had ended a contract for trapping wild hogs on an FCC property, saving thousands per year.

The agency is scrutinizing IT contracts in particular. “For years, we had these individual, siloed, bespoke systems that are getting pretty old and clunky, and I think we can hopefully drive a lot of long-term efficiencies there as well,” Carr said. The agency will likely identify more cuts as part of efforts later this week to tout the FCC’s accomplishments during President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, he added.

'60 Minutes'

A 60 Minutes correspondent said on-air Sunday that the pending Skydance/Paramount deal led to Paramount scrutinizing the news program’s reporting, which resulted in the resignation of longtime producer Bill Owens. Paramount “began to supervise our content in new ways,” Scott Pelley said in an address to viewers at the end of Sunday’s show. Carr had initiated an investigation of the program's journalistic practices, the subject of a civil suit by Trump. Pelley said no stories were blocked, but Owens resigned because he felt “that he lost the independence that honest journalism requires.”

Asked about the pending transaction Monday, Carr said the FCC would consider the deal based on the record, not on Trump’s lawsuit or comments against the network. He said the agency is nearing the end of the informal 180-day merger review shot clock for the deal. It's “a pretty high bar” to pursue license revocation against CBS stations as a result of the news distortion proceeding against the network, but it's still on the table, Carr said. Enforcement proceedings against ABC and Comcast based on their diversity programs remain possible, he added. Trump has also frequently attacked those companies' news coverage.

Affiliation Attribution?

The FCC is considering increasing the pressure on broadcast networks by examining network affiliation agreements through the lens of the agency’s ownership attribution rules, Carr said during Monday’s news conference. “Affiliation agreements are being used to exercise potentially too much control over local broadcasters, which could ultimately become an attribution issue we need to look at.” The attribution rules govern how much control one entity can exert over a broadcast station before the FCC considers it an owner. Referencing a letter he sent to ABC last year, Carr distinguished local stations from networks and said he wants “strong local broadcasters that feel empowered to serve their local communities.”

Enforcement Authority

Carr reiterated Monday that the FCC disagreed with a recent 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against the constitutionality of the agency’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures. “Our position continues to be that the FCC can impose fines, impose license revocations, the full sweep of potential remedies,” he said. The agency asserted as much in a recent letter to the 2nd Circuit over Verizon’s challenge to an enforcement proceeding similar to the AT&T case that led to the 5th Circuit opinion (see 2504250062). Oral argument in the 2nd Circuit case is set for Tuesday.

5G Fund

Carr told reporters he wouldn't provide an update on the proposed 5G Fund but remains concerned that the money awarded is complementary to other funding, including that of the BEAD program. The “timing wasn’t clear” when the order was approved, “and that’s what I expressed my concerns about,” he said. Commissioners approved an order 4-1 in August, with Carr dissenting, establishing a multi-round reverse auction to pay up to $9 billion to bring voice and 5G mobile broadband service to rural areas of the U.S. otherwise unlikely to see 5G (see 2408290022). “You want to make sure that things are moving efficiently” and “that we have sort of technology-neutral ways forward across the board.”