Matt Daneman

The coming boom in connected IoT devices brings increased cybersecurity concerns, but no consensus about or current push for a regulatory framework to address it, said IoT, cybersecurity and connected medical device experts at an FCBA CLE Wednesday evening. "Hard and fast rules aren't going to work," said NTIA Deputy Associate Administrator Evelyn Remaley.

Video industry groups and others put forth proposals including adding "standstill" rules and eliminating network nonduplication and syndicated exclusivity for video market rules changes as part of FCC preparation of its 19th annual video competition report. Tuesday was the deadline for docket 17-214 comments, with replies due Nov. 9 (see 1708250052). The Ajit Pai FCC is generally expected to avoid further video regulation (see 1703170017).

Opposition to AT&T's proposed $108.7 billion buy of Time Warner is increasingly becoming a conservative cause celebre, with a tide of filings to the FCC in recent days -- an agency not overseeing the deal (see 1701060057). Some say that's not unexpected, even if it's a new flavor for a major deal. Regardless, few see the comments stopping the deal cold.

The increasingly crowded -- and largely unregulated -- field of in-orbit satellite servicing is raising debate about how it should be overseen and by whom. Both the FCC and NOAA have some oversight of such operations -- the FCC due to spectrum use, NOAA for imaging, such as visual inspections of satellites -- and "the $64,000 question" Congress and the White House have struggled with in recent years is whether that's sufficient, said Secure World Foundation Program Planning Director Brian Weeden.

The federal National Space Council will put together a plan to present to the White House for a full review of the nation’s regulatory framework for commercial space operations, with the aim of streamlining and reducing regulatory burdens. That plan should be done in 45 days, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday at the reconstituted council’s first meeting. Representatives of SpaceX, Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corp., speaking before the council about needs of the commercial space industry, cited regulatory reform. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said a council commitment to streamlining launch regulations, which need updating due to new technologies and the increased cadence of launches, would help foster U.S. space innovation. Shotwell said "it requires heroics" to get changes made to FAA-issued launch licenses. Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said traditional rockets fit into existing regulatory categories, but reusable rocket capabilities lead to a duplicative overlap between the FAA and the Air Force. Sierra Nevada CEO Fatih Ozmen backed the equivalent of a free trade zone aboard U.S.-flagged space vehicles or the International Space Station, and said the U.S. should commit to operating the ISS through at least the end of the 2020s because of its potential role as a stepping stone to deep space.

Spectrum harmonization might be a particularly big challenge at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19), said FCC International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan at an FCBA event Thursday. Countries in the past have converged on a particular spectrum segment for particular use, but the focus increasingly is on spectrum slivers for uses that don't always align across different geographies, he said.

The Intelsat/Intel proposal for opening parts of the C-band to terrestrial 5G operations (see 1710020047) raises numerous questions and it's unclear what kind of support it could garner, either from industry or the FCC, experts told us. For many satellite operators using the band, the automatic response might be opposition, but knowing that spectrum sharing is an increased likelihood, some may see the plan as a way to have the ability to control timing and terms, a satellite official said.

Scripps/Tribune "should have been dead on arrival" at the FCC, said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now a special adviser at Common Cause, during a Coalition to Save Local Media news-media call Tuesday. The group strongly opposes Tribune's takeover (see 1708300053). Copps said no one company "should be allowed to wield the power that would be wielded by Sinclair," and it will lead to higher cable bills and local newsroom staffing cuts. He criticized the FCC as accelerating "corporatized media" trends. One America Network CEO Charles Herring said the proposed deal generated "the broadest opposition of any proposed merger ever," with a lot of cable programmers concerned. Sinclair has "unbalanced market powers," for example, forcing the Tennis Channel onto MVPD lineups at unfair rates and carriage terms. He criticized the reinstatement of the UHF discount, saying it "stinks worse than three-day-old fish." Rep. David Price, D-N.C., said the discount is a "consolidation power grab" that would be eliminated by the Local and Independent TV Protective Act he's co-sponsoring (see 1707280001). Copps said the bill needs sizable grass-roots support and organizing to move forward. Sinclair didn't comment.

Puerto Rican telco and media industry groups paint a grim picture of communications on the island after Hurricane Maria, with indications full resumption could be a long way off. Some said the FCC's information collection system continues (see 1709270061) struggling. Chairman Ajit Pai is proposing that carriers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands be allowed quicker use of their USF allocations for network rebuilding.

Intelsat and Intel are proposing satellite operators -- backed by wireless interest incentives -- clear portions of the C-band downlink spectrum in particular metropolitan areas nationwide, freeing it up for terrestrial mobile operations. Such a migration would provide "a lot of certainty and clarity" about the 3700-4200 MHz band, Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler told us Monday. The satellite industry has been concerned about the FCC eyeing that mid-band spectrum for terrestrial operations (see 1708030052).