Matt Daneman

Cable is increasingly employing fiber to the home (FTTH) in its networks, and competition is accelerating that drive, cable industry experts said Thursday during an SCTE webinar. Cable operators' expansions into greenfield areas like converted farmland almost exclusively are fiber, said Jack Burton, Broadband Success Partners principal. Anyone operating a coaxial cable network and not planning to incorporate or add fiber "is in for a rude awakening" from fiber competition, he said.

The FCC gave the go-ahead to EchoStar's request this week for extensions of milestones in its 5G network buildout. In a notation Friday in the FCC's Universal Licensing System, the agency said it granted the extension request contingent on EchoStar fulfilling the conditions it made with its application. EchoStar previously cited issues ranging from the pandemic's impact on supply chains to the cost of moving Boost subscribers from the legacy Sprint CDMA network to the T-Mobile network as reasons for delaying its 5G work. Accordingly, it asked that the FCC extend 2025 milestone deadlines into late 2026.

SpaceX landing United Airlines as an in-flight connectivity customer could signal its domination of that sector, analysts and consultants say. In its announcement Friday, United said it will begin testing the Starlink service early in 2025, with the first passenger flights getting service later that year. United said passengers would receive Starlink connectivity for free.

Much like the accountants and audit standards that safeguard financial systems, the generative AI universe needs an ecosystem of organizations, rules and people to oversee the technology and ensure it works as promised, NTIA Director Alan Davidson said during a talk Thursday at the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Davidson said the federal government is sorely lacking in the technical expertise it needs to wrestle with AI-related policy questions. While the government's technical knowledge is improving, "a huge gap" remains, Davidson said. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Thursday that the U.S. is falling behind other nations in AI policy development (see 2409120035).

The growing pace of launches in the U.S. is stressing launch site capabilities, particularly Florida's Cape Canaveral, launch operators said Wednesday at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce aerospace conference in Washington. Meanwhile, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said SpaceX could pose a monopolistic threat in commercial space and that more competition is needed. In addition, the FAA was criticized for its launch regulatory regime.

The FCC and other parties that Standard General and founder Soohyung Kim accuse of participating in a racist conspiracy to torpedo the company's $8.6 billion purchase of Tegna (see 2404250059) are urging dismissal of Standard's suit. Multiple defendants argued in motions to dismiss Monday that Standard's suit before the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia is in the wrong court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in April denied a Standard/Tegna petition for writ of mandamus aimed at pushing the FCC to move on review and approval of the deal (see 2304210058).

The FCC has rejected proposed caps on or phase-in of increased regulatory fees for space and earth station fee payers for FY 2024. In its FY 2024 regulatory fees order in Monday's Daily Digest, the agency said a cap or phase-in would mean more regulatory fees on all other regulatory fee payers, though they don't get the benefit of additional Space Bureau staff devoted to oversight and regulation of satellites. Members of the satellite industry issued multiple calls for phasing in the fee hikes stemming from establishing the Space Bureau (see 2407300027).

Disney's demand for a "clean slate" provision and a covenant not to sue in its retransmission consent negotiations should be declared bad-faith negotiating, DirecTV told the FCC in a complaint filed Sunday. DirecTV also indicated another complaint, about Disney's bundling demands, could follow.

Faced with increasingly reduced cable franchise fees, local franchise authorities (LFA) must focus on getting broadband providers to enter franchise agreements with them for use of local rights of way (ROW), speakers said Wednesday during NATOA's annual local government conference. But the broadband franchising path must go through statehouses and the FCC, with changes to LFAs' authority needed at the federal and state levels, they noted. In addition, speakers mentioned LFAs' consumer protection role as they addressed the audience of mostly local government officials.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- While some states hope to have enough broadband equity, access and deployment money to also tackle adoption and affordability issues, not just infrastructure, BEAD project costs may dash those hopes, according to Nokia's Lori Adams. Separately Tuesday at NATOA’s annual local government conference, Joanne Hovis, CTC Technology & Energy president, predicted growing concerns when it becomes clear Western states lack enough BEAD money to reach 100% of locations with adequate infrastructure. Speakers also discussed issues local governments face with small cell deployment permitting.