Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., filed cloture Thursday night on commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, setting up a potential confirmation vote this week. The Senate divided 52-46, along party lines, on an initial procedural vote to proceed on Lutnick. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, the only Senate Commerce Committee Democrat who backed advancing Lutnick during a meeting last week (see 2502050052), didn’t participate in the procedural vote.

Jones Day’s Yaakov Roth, husband of NTIA nominee Arielle Roth (see 2502040056), also represents Maurine and Matthew Molak in their challenge in the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals of a 2023 FCC declaratory ruling (docket 23-60641) clarifying that Wi-Fi on school buses is an educational purpose eligible for E-rate funding (see 2411040061).

NAB pushed back Tuesday night against claims from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., that broadcasters are using demands for free concerts to circumvent the FCC’s sponsorship identification rules ban on payola. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Monday he asked the Enforcement Bureau to “examine” Blackburn’s claims (see 2502040062). NAB is “not aware of any specific complaint against any station or stations along” the lines of what Blackburn is describing, a spokesperson told us. “Those complaints are what trigger enforcement investigations. If anything, the most notable aspect of [Blackburn’s] letter is that it confirms the enduring promotional value of local radio, which listeners value greatly. We look forward to working with the Senator should any concrete issues arise.”

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Monday night that he has asked the Enforcement Bureau to “examine” claims made by Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week about broadcasters circumventing the commission’s sponsorship identification rules ban on payola. Blackburn wrote Carr that “we have learned” broadcasters are pressuring musical artists to “perform ‘free radio shows’ -- also referred to as ‘listener appreciation shows’ or ‘charitable concert events’” in exchange for airtime. “There is often an implicit suggestion that declining to perform could result in reduced airplay,” Blackburn said. “This forced quid pro quo applies to essentially all artists,” and some “have told me that it is not unusual for them to perform anywhere from 10 to 50 such shows in any given year.” That “practice is exploitative and should not be tolerated,” she said: “Artists should not be extorted into providing free labor in exchange for airplay.” Carr said this “conduct hurts America’s songwriters [and] musicians,” and he plans to “provide an update” on the probe this week.

Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., filed the Stop Sports Blackouts Act on Friday in a bid to force cable companies to make refunds to “customers who aren’t able to watch the channels they already pay for during television blackouts,” Ryan’s office said. The measure would direct the FCC to require cable distributors to provide rebates to subscribers for blackouts that occur as a result of carriage disputes. The lawmakers cited MSG Network's recent blackout, which left more than a million subscribers in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey unable to watch local sporting events. Altice USA and some Republican lawmakers previously proposed refunds from MSG (see 2501160072). “On behalf of fans across the country, we’re putting down a marker: everyone will get their money back when a blackout stops them from watching TV, no questions asked,” Ryan said. “That means dollars back in your pockets, and, equally importantly, it provides a hell of an incentive to these billion dollar corporations to make sure these blackouts don’t happen in the future.” It’s “ridiculous the rest of us get stuck in the crossfire of negotiations between cable and broadcast companies,” he said. “Our bill is simple: if cable companies can’t provide the service you’re paying for, they owe you a refund.” ACA Connects CEO Grant Spellmeyer criticized the Stop Sports Blackouts Act, saying Friday that it “gives billion-dollar broadcast corporations a complete free pass. If we don’t address the root of the problem [with] reforms to the retrans consent regime, insatiable broadcasters will continue to abuse market power to extract higher fees, jack up prices [and] force blackouts.”

Former House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said Friday that he and Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., refiled the Removing Our Unsecure Technologies to Ensure Reliability and Security (Routers) Act. The measure would require the Commerce Department to “specify what transactions involving routers, modems, or devices that combine a modem and a router are prohibited” under President Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order (see 1905150066), which bars transactions involving information and communications technologies that pose an “undue risk of sabotage to or subversion of” U.S.-based communications services. The House approved the measure last year, and it was part of a package of telecom measures in a scuttled December version of the continuing resolution that extended appropriations through March 14 (see 2412170081). Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and likely Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., recently filed a Senate companion version of the bill (S-244). “We are going to continue our efforts to make sure communist China cannot surveil, manipulate, and undermine the American people,” Latta said. The Routers Act “is a good step toward that worthwhile goal.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is “encouraged” that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has asked the Enforcement and Media bureaus for an investigation of PBS and NPR member stations over possible underwriting violations (see 2501300065), a spokesperson emailed us Thursday night. Cruz’s “rigorous oversight” last year of NPR’s funding sources (see 2407230038) “has inspired continued attention to this matter,” the spokesperson said: He “has led the fight to end liberal bias in taxpayer-funded media” and “remains committed to conducting thorough investigations of taxpayer dollars being misused to fund liberal propaganda on public airwaves.”

The Senate Commerce Committee said Wednesday night it plans to vote Feb. 5 on commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (S-315) and three other tech and telecom bills. Lutnick drew criticism from several Senate Commerce Democrats during his Wednesday confirmation hearing after he wouldn’t commit to maintaining NTIA’s approval of some states’ BEAD plans or defy orders by President Donald Trump to withhold program funding (see 2501290047). Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also criticized Lutnick in a Wednesday night statement, though for unrelated reasons. Senate Commerce’s planned vote on S-315 would come a week after Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled it. The bill, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate AM radio's inclusion in future automobiles (see 2409180047), mostly affecting electric vehicles. Also on Senate Commerce’s agenda: the Rural Broadband Protection Act (S-98), Insure Cybersecurity Act (S-245) and Kids Off Social Media Act (S-278). The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., refiled their AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act Wednesday, as expected (see 2412180033). The measure, which the House Commerce Committee advanced last year, would require the Department of Transportation to mandate inclusion of AM radio in future automobiles, a rule expected to mostly affect electric vehicles (see 2409180047). Cruz and other bill backers unsuccessfully attempted in December to attach it to a continuing resolution that extended federal appropriations through March 14. House Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee Chairman Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., told us he plans to refile a House companion. Cruz said AM radio “is consistently the most reliable form of communication and is critical to keep millions of Texans safe.” Markey added that millions “of listeners across the country have made clear that they want AM radio to remain in their vehicles." NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and National Religious Broadcasters CEO Troy Miller praised Cruz and Markey for refiling the measure. “Time and again, AM radio has proven itself as an irreplaceable resource in emergencies, keeping families safe and communities informed when every second counts,” LeGeyt said. In Miller's statement, he said: “Further, its diversity of programming and reach remain unique amongst all audio media.” AM radio “uplifts, entertains, and informs listeners all over the country,” he said.

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., led refiling Monday of the Foreign Adversary Communications Transparency Act. The measure, which the House passed last year (see 2409100039), would require the FCC to publish a list of communications companies holding FCC licenses or other authorizations in which China and other foreign adversaries’ governments possess 10% or more ownership. House leaders also included the measure’s language in an unsuccessful December continuing resolution (see 2412180033). Rep. Thomas Kean, R-N.J., and three other lawmakers plan to bow a House companion, Fischer’s office said. “Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia are actively working to undermine the security of our domestic communications,” Fischer said in a statement. “My bill will better position the FCC to evaluate the risks foreign ties pose to America’s national security so that we can respond to these network infrastructure threats.”