Better submarine cable network security starts with walling off untrusted vendors and adversary nations, trade groups and national security interests told the FCC in docket 24-523 this week. Many criticized the NPRM -- which proposes rules changes aimed at addressing national security and law enforcement threats to cables -- as creating more complexity and burdensome regulations and flying in the face of the FCC's "Delete, Delete, Delete" deregulatory agenda. Commissioners adopted the subsea cable NPRM unanimously in November (see 2411210006). The subsea cable industry has said it hoped the Trump administration would alleviate the particularly onerous regulatory burdens it faces (see 2502260042).

Approved by Congress last year (see 2412180027), the Spectrum and Secure Technology and Innovation Act makes clear that the FCC must auction all AWS-3 licenses remaining in its inventory, CTIA said in reply comments about an auction procedures NPRM. Whether the FCC should create a tribal licensing window (TLW), which could allow tribes to obtain spectrum for some of the least-connected communities in the U.S., remains a contentious issue (see 2504010055). Comments were posted Tuesday in docket 25-70.

The FCC should deny Sinclair Broadcast’s proposed sale of five stations to Rincon Broadcasting because of Sinclair’s sidecar relationships with Deerfield Media and Cunningham Broadcasting, said a petition to deny filed Monday by a newly formed public interest group, Frequency Forward. “In addition to controlling television stations in violation of the Commission’s multiple ownership rules, Sinclair has made material misrepresentations to conceal the extent of its control over these sidecar stations,” the petition said. “Neither Sinclair, nor Cunningham and Deerfield, Sinclair’s alter egos, are qualified to be Commission licensees.” It called for the FCC to hold a hearing into whether Sinclair and its sidecars are qualified to remain broadcast licensees.

The FCC's World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee held its third meeting Tuesday as it prepares for the next WRC in 2027, approving early proposals for U.S. positions. The meeting was the first under the current Trump administration and finished in 20 minutes. The committee last met in August (see 2408050034).

President Donald Trump intends to request that Congress claw back about $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding as part of a broader $9.3 billion funding rescission package, White House OMB Director Russell Vought confirmed Tuesday. Set for later this month, the proposal reportedly targets $535 million in advance annual funding for CPB in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, which Congress allocated as part of an FY 2024 appropriations package (see 2403210067) and March continuing resolution that extended the allocation through Sept. 30. Congressional Republicans have shown growing interest since January in ending federal funding for public broadcasters amid rancor over what they perceive as pro-Democratic bias in news coverage (see 2502030064).

Some space operator interests, including SpaceX and the Commercial Space Federation, are keen on shot clocks for satellite and earth station licensing determinations, according to docket 25-133 filings posted Monday in FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's "Delete" proceeding. Space industry filings also included several companies targeting technical rules and requirements. Other "Delete" proceeding submissions presented deregulatory ideas from telecom, broadcast and cable interests (see 2504140046 and 2504140063).

CTIA offered the FCC a list of programs for streamlining through the commission’s “Delete” proceeding in comments posted Monday in docket 25-133. In addition, USTelecom recommended “eliminating, streamlining, or reforming” some 3,000 rules in the "Code of Federal Regulations." The comments provide commission staff with thousands of suggestions to wade through as they evaluate changes the telecom industry suggested. As of late Monday, the commission has received nearly 900 comments in the proceeding (see 2504140063 and 2504140037).

Broadcasters called for the FCC to “delete” nearly every reporting and filing obligation the agency imposes on them in scores of comments posted in docket 25-133 Monday, but the agency should roll back ownership rules first, NAB said. Multichannel video programming distribution (MVPD) interests and allies repeatedly argued that the highly competitive video distribution marketplace necessitates doing away with rules they claim tip the competitive scales. The docket also received many comments from space interests and the telecom industry (see 2504140037 and 2504140046).

The USF's future is one of the biggest issues for Competitive Carriers Association members, CEO and President Tim Donovan said in an interview. The organization is “cautiously optimistic” following U.S. Supreme Court arguments in the Consumers' Research case (see 2503260061), he said.

The FCC lacks authority to impose new Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (Calm) Act requirements on current licensees or extend the rules to streaming services, said industry commenters in filings in docket 25-72, which were due Thursday. A nonprofit dedicated to fighting noise pollution and the Hearing Loss Association of America wrote in support of tougher FCC Calm Act enforcement, while NAB, NCTA and the Streaming Innovation Alliance (SIA) opposed any further ad loudness rules. “The Commission cannot -- and should not -- alter the CALM Act technical standards or impose new obligations,” NCTA said.