T-Mobile agreed to pay $200 million to settle an FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation of waste, fraud and abuse connected with Sprint receiving Lifeline subsidies for 885,000 subscribers who weren’t using the service, said an order and consent decree Wednesday (see 2011040016). T-Mobile bought Sprint earlier this year. The payment “is the largest fixed-amount settlement the Commission has ever secured to resolve an investigation,” said an FCC news release. “While we inherited this issue with our merger, we are glad that it is now resolved,” T-Mobile emailed.
The draft order circulated by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on increasing the Lifeline minimum service standard to 4.5 GB a month has been removed from circulation, said a spokesperson Monday and per the Friday-updated list of circulates. The order was stalled with only two votes to approve (see 2010220056). An industry official said now that the order was withdrawn because Commissioner Mike O’Rielly was prepared to vote no. In combination with expected dissents from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel, that would have meant its defeat.
A proposal on changing FM booster rules to let radio stations geotarget content was circulated to the eighth floor, said FCC officials and a release from Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. The draft NPRM hews closely to an April petition from GeoBroadcast Solutions (see 2006040024) and doesn’t focus on an additional proposal from a group of broadcasters seeking to be allowed to originate content on FM translators, an FCC official told us. Starks has repeatedly praised the proposal and did so again Wednesday: “I am pleased to support this innovative proposal, which could offer a potential lifeline to small, women, and minority broadcasters that are struggling to retain their listening audiences and earn advertising revenue at a time when consumers have multiple options.”
The FCC is seeking comment on proposed rules to require that broadcasters disclose when content is sponsored or provided by foreign governments, said an NPRM voted on Oct. 16 and released Monday (see 2009150059). Commissioner Mike O’Rielly concurred in part and approved in part and didn’t issue a statement. The other commissioners voted to approve. “We take this action in the midst of known attacks on our political processes by foreign governments and their representatives,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “This is about basic transparency and it frankly shouldn’t have taken us so long,” said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. None of the FCC Republicans issued a statement. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has repeatedly written Chairman Ajit Pai calling for disclosure rules. The NPRM would require disclosures if a foreign governmental entity -- as defined by Foreign Agents Registration Act -- pays a station to air material, or provides content free. The NPRM proposed requiring standardized disclosure language and applying requirements similar to those used for sponsored political ads, including a public file requirement.
The FCC is expected to vote on an order on ATSC 3.0 distributed transmission systems (see 2007140047) by year-end, an agency official told us after Commissioner Brendan Carr referenced ongoing work on the item in prerecorded remarks for Monday's virtual NextGen Broadcast Conference. The FCC is working “on a proceeding to expand the use of single-frequency networks, which will ultimately help 3.0 reach its full potential,” Carr said. The proposed changes to the interference rules in the DTS proceeding would allow expanded use of single-frequency networks, which ATSC 3.0 advocates said is important for the new standard's future.
FCC draft orders on expanding video description and allowing voluntary all-digital AM service are expected to be approved unanimously at Tuesday’s open meeting, said FCC and industry officials in interviews. Neither item has substantively changed from the draft versions released earlier this month (see 2010050056), FCC officials said. Ben Downs, vice president for early all-digital AM supporter Bryan Broadcasting, said he’s not surprised by the broad support for the AM radio order: “This is the right thing for everyone.” Items with unanimous support are sometimes voted ahead of open meetings, but that’s unlikely to happen with these, FCC officials said.
Broadcasters see the progress of the ATSC 3.0 rollout as one of several promising signs for the future of broadcast TV, despite the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, said industry officials at the virtual NAB Show New York event Thursday. COVID-19 is “a double-edged sword” because the increase in TV and over-the-top viewing brought by the pandemic plays to 3.0 strengths, said John Taylor, LG Electronics senior vice president-public affairs and communications.
Stalled efforts at the FCC to deal with a looming, automatic increase in data requirements for Lifeline providers, which the agency itself said is “flawed,” could be affected by the ramped-up process to nominate a new FCC commissioner, but probably won’t, FCC and industry officials told us (see 2008240024). “There are broader issues at play” with prospective commissioner and current NTIA official Nathan Simington’s nomination, said United Church of Christ attorney Cheryl Leanza. Other industry officials noted the debate over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the outcome of the presidential election as likely factors in Simington’s prospects (see 2009280038).
The White House coming under the control of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden wouldn’t be a negative for broadcasting, said Sinclair, Graham Media, Entertainment Studios Network and E.W. Scripps CEOs on a virtual panel Wednesday for NAB New York. “The priorities of the FCC under Biden will be in other areas,” Sinclair's Chris Ripley said.
TV viewing has changed in the COVID-19 pandemic, and it isn’t clear which of those changes will persist, said CBS Chief Research and Analytics Officer Radha Subramanyam during a virtual Q&A Tuesday for the NAB Show New York. TV viewing in general and daytime viewing increased as people work from home and generally stay closer to home, Subramanyam said, and there's increased viewing later in the morning as home workers tend to sleep later. Viewership numbers decreased in summer and started to go back up with the cooler weather and the return of sports, she said. “Some things may be cyclical.” Higher than usual news consumption began before the pandemic, and has been fed by racial unrest and the presidential election, she said. With some pollsters predicting the results could drag on past Election Day, heightened news consumption could continue as well, she said.