FCC Touts Freeing Up Spectrum, Warning Companies in First 100 Days
The FCC listed freeing spectrum, facilitating the space application review process and sending warning letters to broadcast networks and tech companies as accomplishments in a news release Tuesday touting its work during the first 100 days of the Trump administration.
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The bullet-point list includes nearly every FCC action that has taken place under Chairman Brendan Carr, including robocall enforcement efforts, seeking comment on the ATSC 3.0 transition, and ending the FCC’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs. “Holding broadcasters accountable to their public interest obligations and empowering them to serve the interests of local communities” appears to refer to activities such as Carr’s warning letters to networks and the CBS news distortion proceeding.
The FCC also “called on U.S. technology companies to embrace America’s free speech tradition and reject calls by European regulators to censor speech on a global scale through the” EU’s Digital Services Act, the release said. The FCC “is off to a fast start, and I want to express my thanks and appreciation to the agency’s talented staff for the great and efficient results that they have already delivered,” Carr said in the release.
The agency has processed 85 space station and 904 earth station applications since Jan. 20, it said. In broadcasting, it has granted 94 construction permits for noncommercial TV, FM and low-power radio stations and “processed over 2,100 broadcast licensing matters, including 228 license assignments and transfers plus 300 license renewals.” The FCC has also cut $463 million in “wasteful agency contracts,” it said. Carr announced the contract-cutting program during a news conference Monday but didn’t provide a precise dollar figure (see 2504280038).