Mass FCC Docket Deletion Gets a Few Calls for Preserving Certain Proceedings
The FCC's plan to delete dormant dockets saw support from many commenters, though with scattered calls to keep several alive. Comments regarding the dormant dockets were due Wednesday in docket 25-165. The agency is looking to shutter more than 2,000 dormant dockets, the largest number it has sought to eliminate at one time (see 2505020063). Comments also included suggestions for other dockets to add to the chopping block.
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Free State Foundation backed closing legions of dockets, barring anyone having good arguments for why any should remain open. The group called it “administratively responsible and efficient” to close dormant proceedings, saying there’s no reason that parties overseen by the FCC should continually monitor inactive proceedings.
Among those arguing to keep proceedings open, Disney, Fox and Comcast -- the parents of ABC, Fox and NBC affiliates in Chicago, respectively -- highlighted docket 16-306, which is related to the incentive auction’s TV broadcaster relocation fund. Terminating the docket before the Chicago broadcasters are reimbursed for all their relocation costs could jeopardize future reimbursement requests, the companies said.
Rather than closing docket 17-317, which is related to giving MVPDs greater leeway in providing electronic notice to subscribers, the FCC should revise its rules on the issue, NCTA said. Allowing communications with subscribers via texts or apps would help ensure that agency rules "do not freeze cable operators’ communications with subscribers in time.”
Docket 15-99 -- about allocating the 4400-4940 MHz band to aeronautical mobile radio service for aeronautical mobile telemetry (AMT) in support of flight testing -- isn’t dormant, said the Aerospace and Flight Test Radio Coordinating Council and Lockheed Martin. The council said the FCC committed to addressing that allocation, and the need for it has grown. Lockheed argued that adding the C-band spectrum “to the already heavily leveraged L- and S-bands [for flight testing AMT] is a priority.”
Radio operators in the expanded AM band -- 1605-1705 kHz -- told the FCC they support ending proceedings related to the band (dockets 13-349 and 07-294) if it means the agency supports their stations' use of it. Given the license renewals that the FCC has granted, it seems to have acknowledged that the expanded AM band station operations are permissible, said Bryan Broadcasting, Mid-West Management, Multicultural Radio and Way Broadcasting.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation urged the FCC to add to the list of proceedings by closing its docket 22-238 Further NPRM, which seeks input on ways of implementing the Safe Connections Act to address the effect of connected car services on domestic violence survivors. The group suggested that the agency instead back the Safe Vehicle Access for Survivors Act.
The National Multifamily Housing Council, National Apartment Association and Real Estate Technology & Transformation Center pushed for including docket 17-142 on the list of proceedings to close out. Broadband subscribers clearly "would not benefit from further regulatory action” on multi-tenant environments, the apartment industry groups said. They also urged ending docket 19-71, which deals with an update of rules on over-the-air reception devices. There aren't pending issues to tackle, they said, adding that the U.S. Supreme Court's repeal of the Chevron doctrine raises questions about whether the FCC even has the authority to expand the rules' scope.