Shelby Broadcast must pay a $16,500 forfeiture for operating a translator station outside the parameters of its FCC authorization and not disclosing it, according to an order in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The forfeiture concerns translator W252BE Tarrant, Alabama, which for years after a cable was severed in 2015 Shelby allegedly operated at a different height and power level than authorized, according to the original notice of apparent liability (see 2401170066). Though the penalty represents a significant percentage of the station’s gross income, the Media Bureau declined to reduce the forfeiture amount because the station is slated to be sold for $184,000. “Further, due to Licensee’s history of noncompliance, including unauthorized operations, and the extended duration of the violations, we find no basis to reduce or cancel the proposed forfeiture,” the order said.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned property owners in Beacon, New York, and San Francisco of possible forfeitures over pirate radio stations allegedly emanating from their buildings, according to letters in Wednesday’s Daily Digest. Property owners The Cesar Ascarrunz Living Trust in San Francisco and Donald and Theresa Bell in Beacon could see forfeitures of up to $2.3 million, the letters said. The property owners have 10 business days to respond and must submit proof that broadcasts have ceased, the letters said.
The FCC should enforce public interest requirements on broadcasters if it wants to encourage local programming, said Common Frequency and Pacifica Network in a joint reply to comments filed in docket 24-14 on an agency NPRM on prioritizing application processing for broadcast stations that offer local content (see 2403120071). The FCC’s proposal is likely insufficient to encourage local programming on its own and the agency hasn’t denied a license renewal on public interest grounds in 30 years, the joint filing said. “Is there even a definition regarding a station ‘not operating in the public interest’ nowadays?” said Common Frequency and Pacifica. “Respondents believe this question needs to be answered as a precursor to even approaching the subject matter of the NPRM.” NAB and NPR reiterated that the FCC’s proposal would be ineffective. “As to public radio, the incentive offered in the NPRM is weak,” NPR said. The “lack of connection” between the goal of promoting local journalism and prioritizing review of “a very small subset” of applications shows “the expanding disconnect” between the FCC’s actions and the forces motivating broadcasters, NAB said. The three hours per week of local programming requirement proposed in the NPRM is a “very low bar,” but incentivizing any local content is positive, said MusicFirst Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition in a joint filing. The groups “would be thrilled to see a local DJ spinning records for a few hours per week at any station that would otherwise fail to air” local programming, the filing said.
The Enterprise Wireless Alliance supported a request by utility company Exelon for a waiver of FCC rules to grant two additional 800 MHz channel pairs allowing use of mobile-to-mobile communications on the subsidiaries’ 800 MHz land mobile radio systems. The Wireless Bureau sought comment on the request, due Wednesday, in docket 24-80 (see 2403120039). “It is not practical or safe for Exelon employees engaged in dangerous activities or working below ground to have to use a different radio for direct communications,” EWA said: “The better solution is the one proposed in the Waiver Requests: 800 MHz channels used only in specific, typically brief instances for mobile-to-mobile transmissions on a secondary basis.” EWA said because of the “very limited, intermittent use” of the channels the interference risks are minimal. EWA filed the only comment so far.
CTA discussed unanswered questions about the FCC’s voluntary cyber trust mark program, which commissioners approved last month (see 2403140034) during a meeting with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff. CTA raised questions in six areas, according to a filing posted Thursday in docket 23-239. Among them was “whether and how portions of data submitted to Cybersecurity Labeling Administrators can or should be treated confidentially” and who “will host the registry website" to access "the manufacturers’ Application Programming Interface.” CTA asked about the treatment of drones and whether manufacturers are “responsible for the security of certain types of pre-installed third-party applications.”
Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky met with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on Apple’s alleged blocking of messaging app Beeper Mini (see 2402280076). “Interoperability and interconnection are core [Communications Act] Title II requirements with a long pedigree,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 08-7. “The first enumerated power of the Commission obligates common carriers to interconnect with each other,” Beeper said. Public Knowledge and Reset.tech representatives also attended the meeting.
Blue Stream Fiber raised questions about the "timing and need" of the FCC's proposed ban on bulk billing arrangements for broadband in apartment buildings in meetings with Wireline Bureau staff, with an aide to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and with an aide to Commissioner Anna Gomez (see 2403050069). The company said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-142 that bulk billing "only works to provide high quality internet services at affordable prices where all residents in a community share the cost associated with providing the service." Blue Stream Fiber also asked the FCC to seek comment on "the benefits of bulk billing arrangements" rather than "tentatively conclude that they should be broadly banned."
The Bank Policy Institute raised "serious concerns" about the FCC's use of the Weiss Bank's safety rating for programs that require support recipients to obtain a letter of credit. "By relying on Weiss ratings in its regulations, the FCC effectively deputizes the organization to determine which banks may and may not provide letters of credit to carriers that participate in FCC programs," the group said, but Weiss "does not demonstrate the qualifications necessary for this responsibility." The group said in a letter posted Thursday in docket 17-182 that the Weiss rating system's methodology is "opaque" and the organization "appears to lack sufficient resources to adequately assess all of the institutions it purports to rate." It asked the FCC to eliminate the requirement, noting Weiss "regularly promotes crypto assets as an alternative to traditional banks on its official website."
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr on Thursday slammed the agency's draft order that would restore net neutrality regulations (see 2404040064). In a new statement, Carr said reclassifying broadband as a Communications Act Title II telecom service is "a solution that doesn't work to a problem that doesn't exist." He also pushed back on claims that Title II reclassification is necessary for public safety. The 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire in Santa Clara County, California, which Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has cited as justification for net neutrality, "has nothing to do with the FCC's Title II net neutrality rules," Carr said, noting the fire department "purchased a data-limited plan that cost less than an unlimited data plan" and experienced a speed reduction "as outlined in its plan" when the department reached its plan limit (see 2404080068). The federal government "already has ample authority to advance its law enforcement goals without Title II" and the FCC has "identified no gap in national security that Title II is necessary to fill," Carr said.
Some Democrats warned they might join Republicans opposing a California digital equity bill when it reaches the Assembly floor. At a livestreamed hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Communications Committee voted 7-3, with one member not voting, to advance AB-2239 to the Judiciary Committee. The bill would codify in state law the FCC’s definition of digital discrimination (see 2402080068).