Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday she’s considering filing an amendment to the House-passed 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that would strike its proposed clawback of $1.1 billion in advance FY 2026 and FY 2027 funding for CPB. Public broadcasting supporters and opponents were gearing up Thursday for a showdown over the rescissions bid ahead of a potential Tuesday initial vote to begin work on an expected revised version of the measure. Meanwhile, a pair of Senate Commerce Republicans who are also on the Appropriations Committee indicated that they're still negotiating to address their concerns about how CPB defunding could affect rural public broadcasters.

Hundreds of family members who have loved ones in prison filed comments at the FCC in recent days asking the agency not to delay some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068). Meanwhile, public interest groups asked the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals not to delay its consideration of the prison-calling order, as requested by the FCC, which told the court it needed time to review the rules approved during the Biden administration.

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.

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions. New cases are marked with a *.

Hyperscaler buildouts offer a growing opportunity for fiber operators, but the market is still evolving, and providers should proceed with caution, executives said during an Incompas webinar Wednesday.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., emphasized Wednesday that rescinding CPB’s advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 could result in “nearly 13 million Americans [being] left without access to their public media stations and the life-saving emergency alerts or information they need.”

There was mixed reaction to Verizon's request for the FCC to waive the handset-unlocking requirement that the carrier agreed to as a provision of its acquisition of Tracfone and its purchase of 700 MHz C-block licenses in a 2008 auction (see 2505200051). Verizon has said the unlocking mandate raises the risk that handsets will be used in crimes, an argument supported by law enforcement commenters. Comments on Verizon’s waiver request were due this week in docket 06-150.

Wireless carriers urged the FCC to move with caution in response to a Further NPRM on wireless location accuracy, which commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042). The FNPRM probes ways to improve accuracy and whether providers should be required to deliver vertical location information to 911 call centers measured in height above ground level (AGL), instead of height above ellipsoid (HAE). The notice also asks about ways to ensure that more public safety answering points receive dispatchable location (DL) as part of calls to 911. Reply comments were due Monday and mostly posted Tuesday in docket 07-114.

The FCC should expand the payor base of regulatory fees, said NAB and Telesat in comments filed in docket 25-190 by Monday’s comment deadline. NAB and satellite industry commenters were broadly supportive of the agency’s proposal to reclassify 61 indirect full-time equivalents (FTEs) as direct FTEs and collect $390,192,000 in fees, but some said industries that benefit from FCC processes should bear part of the fee burden.

As humans head to the moon and Mars, they're on the verge of being able to launch an interplanetary internet, raising policy questions about that network's architecture and governance, space and internet experts said Tuesday at the Internet Society's Interplanetary Networking Special Interest Group seminar. The group's founder, internet pioneer Vint Cerf, said there needs to be thought and planning now about those policy issues and the agreements and institutions to tackle them.