Matt Daneman

Friday heading into the three-day Labor Day weekend saw the FCC issue a slew of announcements, including one after business hours. Similar moves in the past drew fire as seemingly aimed at avoiding attention. Now, the actions raised the eyebrows of one open governance expert. Others defended the agency.

Cable franchise rules and cable system definitions seem increasingly irrelevant with growing numbers of broadband-centric MVPDs, but it likely would take petitioning from MVPDs before the FCC tried to address the disconnect, experts and industry officials tell us. An overbuilder to Service Electric Cable not having to follow franchise rules points to a flaw in those rules, said Director-Public Affairs Tim Himmelwright. A programming industry expert said Layer3's offering of cable service, while apparently not paying franchise fees in those markets, could lead to complaints. Layer3 didn't comment.

While the FCC's move to lessen regulations on earth stations in motion is seeing general support from satellite and terrestrial mobile interests, disagreements remain over ESIM operations in certain parts of the 29.25-30 GHz band. Wednesday was the deadline for replies in docket 17-95. The rules harmonization and consolidation NPRM wasn't expected to see notable pushback (see 1705090018).

The numbers of cell sites and radio stations knocked out by Tropical Storm Harvey and of cable and wireline customers without service (see 1708290029) is dropping, though the number of TV stations off air has ticked up, the FCC said Wednesday in its latest status report. The agency is receiving some kudos for its storm-related response and some criticism for its wireless emergency upgrade proceeding. Companies are stepping up aid.

Harvey has generated more than 300 emergency alert system messages and wireless emergency alerts since Thursday, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Texas broadcasters -- generally sparing in putting out EAS alerts -- likely won't change that policy in the hurricane's aftermath. Harvey came ashore as a hurricane (see 1708280049) and later was downgraded to a tropical storm.

Dish Network designated entities SNR and Northstar and the FCC should be able to reach mutually agreeable terms over Dish's de facto control of the companies regarding the AWS-3 spectrum, after Tuesday's appellate court ruling (see 1708290012), insiders told us. "We believe an agreement can be reached and that the FCC will act in good faith," a person involved with the DEs said.

The FCC, with an increasingly aging workforce, could see lost institutional knowledge challenges with which many American workplaces are dealing, workforce experts told us. Some FCC trends stand out among other agencies, with older workers and fewer junior hires to decrease the average age of commission personnel, our review found. "People have always retired, but it's been onesies and twosies, smaller," said RTI International Workforce and Organizational Effectiveness Senior Program Director Jerry Hedge. "Now with the baby boom wave, it's larger numbers and that can be a scary thing."

While launch companies pursue a new generation of super-sized launchers aimed at everything from military to non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) markets, there's no clear idea how interested the commercial satellite industry might be. But launch and satellite industry experts generally agree bigger launchers shouldn't translate into bigger or new regulatory hurdles.

To change his mind on the need for a rollback of FCC Communications Act Title II regulation of the internet, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly would need to see evidence of real, not hypothetical, harm to consumers, substantive data evincing the need, or a showing of precedential or statutory obligations, he said in an interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators set to be televised starting Saturday. Once the agency is done later this month with receiving comments (see 1708170039) on the proposed rollback, "I'll wait to see if anyone makes a compelling case," he said.

Putting limits on legal blocking of calls and making voice providers offer free caller ID authentication by the end of 2018 were among filers' suggestions in comments in docket 17-97 on a call authentication notice on inquiry. There also was broad, but not universal, opposition to mandating any approach. Commissioners adopted the NOI at the July meeting (see 1707130054), with comments due Monday and replies Sept. 13.