A host of conservative groups urged the FCC to repeal national and local radio and TV ownership limits. “Without reform, valued local broadcast radio and television services could disappear entirely,” the groups told Chairman Brendan Carr in a Wednesday letter, which was circulated by NAB Friday. Signatories to the letter included Heritage Action for America, Americans for Tax Reform, the Digital First Project and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The Center for American Rights, which has filed FCC complaints against the programming of NAB members Paramount, Disney and NBCUniversal, also signed. NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a release Friday that the trade group was “grateful for the wide-ranging support to modernize these outdated broadcast ownership rules and echo the call for the FCC to level the playing field.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Friday asked for comment on a petition filed by GCI to change how Alaska Plan final milestone commitments, which are due at the end of next year, are evaluated. Comments are due May 27, replies June 3, in docket 16-271. GCI wants to use revised methodology in its calculations, the bureau said. While the current model, developed in 2016, “was the best that could be done at the time it was adopted given the then-available data, incorporating the Fabric can further improve the Model’s approximation of where Alaskans are actually located,” GCI said in an April petition. “As such, a modified Model would provide a more accurate assessment of GCI’s compliance with its Alaska Plan mobile commitments,” GCI said.
The Coalition for Emergency Response and Critical Infrastructure (CERCI) and AT&T disagreed sharply on the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ request that the FCC launch an NPRM on rules for the 4.9 GHz band (see 2502070020), including increasing the equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) limits to make the band more attractive for 5G. Reply comments were due Thursday in docket 07-100.
Opponents of T-Mobile’s proposed buy of wireless assets from UScellular met with an aide to FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks about their concerns, which were consistent with those expressed in earlier meetings at the commission (see 2503210032). The Rural Wireless Association, EchoStar, Communications Workers of America, Public Knowledge and New America’s Open Technology Institute participated in the virtual meeting, said a filing posted Friday in docket 24-286.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has ordered voice service provider Flowroute to immediately stop carrying spoofed jury duty scam calls on its network, said a news release and letter Friday. “The company faces a permanent block of all traffic on its network if it does not comply,” the release said. Flowroute allegedly transmitted spoofed calls to Cook County Illinois residents from someone impersonating an employee of the county sheriff’s office. “A law enforcement imposter told residents they had missed jury duty and must send money to the caller via a Coinstar kiosk at a local grocery store,” the release said. “Between July 23 and August 2, 2024, Flowroute originated 240 spoofed calls using the Cook County Sheriff’s Number,” the release said. The FCC’s traceback consortium, the Industry Traceback Group, tracked the calls to Flowroute, and Flowroute told the agency the calls came from “an entity named Llama Soft Pty. located in Sydney, Australia,” the release said. “The apparently illegal calls are the subject of the FCC’s ongoing investigation.”
Alaska Telephone Co. notified the FCC that it plans to drop its wireline broadband internet access service (WBIAS) offerings, including consumer broadband-only loop service, effective July 1. “Upon discontinuance of the tariffed offerings, the Company will provide WBIAS on a permissive detariffed basis,” said a filing Friday in docket 02-33.
The House Budget Committee voted 21-16 Friday against advancing Republicans’ combined “One Big, Beautiful Bill” budget reconciliation measure, which includes Commerce Committee-cleared spectrum language (see 2505140062). House Commerce's measure would restore the FCC's lapsed auction authority through the end of FY 2034 and requires the commission to sell at least 600 MHz of reallocated airwaves within six years (see 2505120058). Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz of Texas and some other Republicans are eyeing alternative spectrum language (see 2505130059).
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said Friday at a policy forum that removing all minority-party commissioners would weaken the agency’s ability to defend its rules in court. “The Communications Act doesn't just require three commissioners for quorum,” she told the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Tech Freedom audience. “It requires that there will be one member of a minority party, and that, in and of itself, could weaken whatever defense that a future FCC may have if there is no such single minority party member.” The agency also wouldn’t be able to present evidence that it had considered dissenting opinions, making it harder for a one-party FCC to present itself as an expert agency, said Gomez and Tech Freedom President Berin Szoka.
Attorneys general from nine states on Friday opposed CTIA’s request for a rulemaking to update regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The proposal faces extensive opposition (see 2505010019), but CTIA said it found broad support for moving forward. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has promised to focus on streamlining regulation and cutting red tape (see 2503030040). Reply comments were posted Friday in RM-12003.
HERSHEY, Pennsylvania -- As the FCC eliminates regulations, it will likely employ the good-cause exception to notice-and-comment rulemaking to do so quickly, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Friday.