An order approving Audacy’s request for a temporary exemption from the foreign-ownership rules was adopted but isn’t expected to be released before next week, FCC officials told us. The waiver would allow Audacy to complete foreign-ownership review after it finishes a bankruptcy restructuring that involves control of the broadcaster passing to a fund affiliated with George Soros' family. FCC Republicans hadn’t submitted dissenting statements Wednesday afternoon but indicated they plan to do so, the agency officials said. Broadcast industry officials, attorneys and others told us the Audacy transaction wouldn’t attract as much attention without Soros’ name attached, and that radio broadcasters have long sought increased private equity investment in their industry. “They’re making it a political ax,” said Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota media law professor. “The radio industry has been cash-strapped for 20 years.”
Dish Network and its CEO Charles Ergen want Standard General (SGCI) and its attorneys to be sanctioned over the broadcaster’s lawsuit against Dish, Byron Allen, the FCC and several unions and public interest groups (see 2409100008), said a motion for sanctions Tuesday. The Standard filing is “frivolous,” violates federal rules of civil procedure and infringes on Dish’s First Amendment rights, the filing said. Dish wants the court to sanction SGCI and its attorneys to cover all of Dish’s expenses from the case and dismiss the complaint. “Frustrated that SGCI’s transaction financing expired and the merger agreement terminated, Plaintiffs have concocted a false narrative that the FCC’s actions must have been caused by a vast racist conspiracy against Mr. Kim,” said the Dish filing, referring to Standard founder Soohyung Kim. The Standard complaint doesn’t show any evidence of a conspiracy but rather disparate parties that disliked the Standard/Tegna deal for different reasons, Dish said. “There is absolutely nothing actionable about a desire to see a deal fail, especially a deal that was artificially engineered to raise DISH’s costs,” Dish said. Standard’s conspiracy claims “rest on the mere fact” that attorney David Goodfriend, who represented unions against the Standard deal, has also worked for Ergen and Allen, Dish said. “This ‘conspiracy’ theory offends the First Amendment’s right to association,” Dish said. “This action was commenced in retaliation, as a rich man’s manifestation of a temper tantrum, in order to harass the parties that Plaintiffs hold responsible for the failure of their merger deal.” Standard didn't comment.
The FCC’s latest next-generation 911 order, approved 5-0 by commissioners in July (see 2407180037), is effective Nov. 25, said a Tuesday notice in the Federal Register. The order is intended to “facilitate the NG911 transition,” the notice said.
A Cox complaint about the state’s handling of NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program is “misleading and unsupported by facts,” the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation said Tuesday. In a lawsuit Monday at Rhode Island Superior Court in Providence, Cox said that Commerce’s flawed mapping and challenge process will lead to the state overbuilding wealthy communities with its $108.7 million BEAD allocation. Cox's complaint seeks declaratory judgment and an injunction to stop the state “from using flawed internet speed data that the Commerce Corporation refuses to make public to build taxpayer-subsidized and duplicative high-speed broadband internet in affluent areas of Rhode Island like the Breakers Mansion in Newport and affluent areas of Westerly.” The FCC’s broadband map shows 99.3% of Rhode Island residents have high-speed internet, Cox said. But Rhode Island Commerce reclassified 30,000 homes as underserved, including several mansions, which can receive at least 1 Gbps download and 35 Mbps upload speeds from Cox, the cable ISP said: Additionally, Rhode Island “devised a process to challenge its flawed data … that exists nowhere else in the 18 states where Cox offers service and that is impossible for Cox to meet.” Rhode Island Commerce noted that NTIA reviewed and approved its initial BEAD plan, which was “a proposal built on fairness, transparency, and a commitment to maximizing the impact of this historic federal investment.” However, Cox, the state’s biggest ISP, “declined to engage in the robust, months-long public planning process on how the Corporation would deploy Rhode Island’s BEAD funds.” The lawsuit “is an attempt to prevent the investment of $108.7 million dollars in broadband infrastructure in Rhode Island, likely because ... [Cox] realizes that some, or even all, of that money may be awarded through a competitive process to other internet service providers,” added Commerce. It said Rhode Island has unserved or underserved areas even in wealthier areas. “Whether an area is affluent or not has no bearing on the type of broadband service that is -- or is not -- available in that area.”
Cost remains an obstacle for 1.7 million New York state households to get broadband, said a New York Department of Public Service staff report Tuesday. And the end of the federal affordable connectivity program and litigation over the FCC’s reclassification of broadband and New York’s Affordable Broadband Act (see 2409160031) have complicated efforts to connect them, staff said. “To alleviate that uncertainty,” the department included in the report a list of low-cost plans available from ISPs.
The FCC’s Broadband Data Task Force will host a webinar on Oct. 24, 3 p.m. EDT, to provide guidance about how to challenge the mobile coverage data reflected in the national broadband map. “Challenges submitted by consumers and other stakeholders play an important role in the FCC’s ongoing effort to provide accurate and precise information regarding mobile service availability across the country,” said a Tuesday notice. The FCC will also host several virtual office hours sessions later this fall to answer questions about the challenge process and on submitting bulk mobile challenges, the FCC said.
Ligado urged the FCC to move forward on an order reallocating the 1675-1680 MHz band for shared commercial use licensed on a nationwide basis but limited to uplink-only use. The company noted that a NOAA report found that it's feasible to open the band to sharing with commercial uplink-only operations. The FCC sought comment on the band five years ago (see 2006010057). “In the years since the release of the NPRM, the record in this proceeding has come to reflect the substantial commercial potential of the band,” said Ligado's filing posted Monday in docket 19-116: “The record contains ample evidence for the viability of this approach.”
CTIA asked on Tuesday for an additional 10 days to finalize an application to serve as a cybersecurity labeling administrator (CLA) under the FCC’s voluntary cyber-trust mark program (see 2409100052). Applications are due Oct. 1. “Given the number and complexity of demonstrations, commitments, and certifications that the Bureau asks applicants to make, it will be a significant challenge to prepare a comprehensive and complete application in the 20 days allotted by the Public Notice,” said a filing in docket 23-239. The notice “acknowledges this reality” and notes that “applicants requiring additional time may … request an extension of time for up to 10 additional calendar days to complete their applications,” CTIA said.
Sorenson sought "minor changes" to the FCC's draft order and Further NPRM on accessibility in videoconferencing during meetings with aides to all commissioners and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff. Commissioners will consider the item during an agency meeting Thursday (see 2409040053). The provider asked that video interpreters be allowed to change their display name before entering an interoperable videoconferencing service (IVCS) call to maintain some privacy. It also sought clarification that a communications assistant (CA) may satisfy the requirement that they must identify themselves as an interpreter by indicating this in their display name. "To the extent that the current language would require another method, such as requiring the CA to identify herself verbally, that would be intrusive to the call," Sorenson said in an ex parte filing Monday in docket 23-61. Sorenson asked that the commission reconsider its proposed rule to provide a five-minute compensable period for CAs to remain on a call if another video relay service user requests a CA, raising concerns about the potential for duplication of CAs on a call. "We think the better approach is to allow the CA to remain on the call provided there remains someone who is actively using [American Sign Language] and who appears to be deaf," Sorenson said. The provider also asked the FCC to consider moving its decision on the use of specially trained CAs from the draft order to the FNPRM to develop a record on whether "allowing providers to route requests for VRS for IVCS calls to specially trained CAs will provide a more functionally equivalent experience for the users."
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, raised concerns Tuesday about reports that the FCC was on track to approve radio group Audacy’s request for a temporary waiver of FCC foreign-ownership rules. This would allow Audacy to complete a bankruptcy restructuring that includes George Soros-affiliated entities purchasing its stock. An FCC official confirmed that all three FCC Democrats have voted for the item, while Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington are expected to dissent (see 2409170015). The FCC’s “must-vote” clock on Audacy’s request expired last week, but the agency hadn’t announced a final decision as of Tuesday afternoon. “No decision is final until the Commission releases it, which we have not,” a spokesperson said. Lee nonetheless reacted to a New York Post report that the FCC formally adopted the request. “Soros buys 200 radio stations weeks before the election,” Lee said on X. “FCC bypasses [the] review process to approve the purchase. What could go wrong?” The order would delay the foreign-ownership rules review until after the proposed bankruptcy restructuring rather than fully bypass it, as Lee claims. FCC’s consideration of the Audacy request came up briefly during a Thursday House Oversight Committee hearing (see 2409190063). Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., told Carr during the hearing he’s “extremely alarmed” that the FCC potentially could approve the request. It would give Soros, “a major donor” to Democrats, “a free pass to take control of hundreds of local radio stations, flooding the airwaves with leftist propaganda,” Langworthy said.