The FCC on Thursday advised the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral argument last month on a challenge to the 2024 incarcerated people's communications services (IPCS) order, that the rules have changed. FCC commissioners significantly revised calling rates in an order approved 2-1 at the October open meeting (see 2510280045). The agency also released the final version of the order Thursday with some changes from the draft that was previously circulated by Chairman Brendan Carr, mostly benefiting IPCS providers.

Gray Media executives said in a Q3 earnings call Friday that the recent Democratic electoral wins will increase broadcasters' political ad revenue and that the company is waiting on the outcomes of FCC proceedings on ownership rules and pending Gray transactions to provide a clearer picture of the options for mergers and acquisitions. “Things are changing faster than I've ever, ever seen it, and for the first time in the history of our business, we are really operating in the wild, wild West,” said co-CEO Hilton Howell. “No one knows what the rules actually are.”

Europe’s history of protectionist activity in areas like Big Tech and its General Data Protection Regulation is potentially now edging into space, such as through the EU Space Act, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday at a Federalist Society event in Washington. The U.S. and EU should instead be working together on space activity in the face of Chinese space ambitions, Carr added.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Indian Affairs Committee Vice Chairman Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, pressed top Commerce Department officials late Thursday to explain why the Trump administration has frozen $980 million in unobligated Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) funding and halted an additional $294 million allocated in December 2024. Meanwhile, Senate Small Business Committee Chair Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, is circulating a draft bill, called the Recovering Excess Communications Appropriations While Protecting Telecommunications Upgrades, Reinvestment and Expansion (Recapture) Act, in a bid to claw back states’ non-deployment BEAD funding.

EchoStar will put the billions of dollars it gets in proceeds from its spectrum sales into a new division that will focus on merger and acquisition opportunities, as well as other investments in the company's future, it said Thursday as it reported quarterly results. Those sales include one announced Thursday that will transfer its unpaired AWS-3 wireless spectrum to SpaceX for $2.6 billion in stock.

The broadcast industry is ripe for consolidation and could eventually resolve into just two groups, each the size of the combined Nexstar/Tegna, suggested TV group CEOs from Nexstar and Sinclair on their respective Q3 earnings calls this week. “This level of consolidation would strengthen the industry's financial footing and position broadcasters as more capable competitors to big media and big tech” while preserving news coverage, said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley Wednesday. “I think a good, strong industry needs to have good, strong companies comprising it,” said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook Thursday. “We can't do it all by ourselves.”

States' hopes to use BEAD funds not spent on last-mile deployment for other connectivity-related needs seem likely to go unfulfilled, as broadband policy experts expect the Commerce Department will likely claw back much if not all the money not spent on deployment. "It's hard to be hopeful" that non-deployment funds will be made available to states, said Drew Garner, director of policy engagement, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

The FCC signed an agreement Thursday to continue to work with regulators from traditional U.S. allies to strengthen cooperation “in response to evolving threats and challenges in the telecommunications sector." Regulators from the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand also signed the agreement. Industry experts told us that the pact shows that despite tariff fights and other disagreements with the nations under President Donald Trump, cooperation on security continues.

Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.

Democrats won Tuesday night in special elections for two Georgia Public Service Commission seats, marking the first time party members have earned spots on the regulatory body since 2006. Those victories were part of the Democratic Party’s broader rout in the elections, including selection of its candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. Ex-U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who won the Virginia gubernatorial race, and Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who won in New Jersey, both raised internet issues during the campaign.