The satellite industry is urging the FCC Space Bureau to establish that routine earth station applications will go on public notice within 30 days of the filing fee and be deemed granted if no objection comes within 45 days of the public notice date. In a docket 22-411 filing Thursday recapping a meeting with bureau Chief Jay Schwarz and other staffers, the Satellite Industry Association said it also urged that any FCC streamlining of satellite and earth station application reviews should automatically grant earth station and satellite special temporary authority renewals until staff acts on the first renewal or the underlying modification application. SIA said the agency should clarify and publicize requirements for RF safety studies. SIA also pitched a process for coordinating commercial space station and earth station applications with NTIA. Satellite operators have been at odds over some shot clock issues in the streamlining proceeding (see 2401090051). Joining SIA in the meeting with the Space Bureau were representatives of Eutelsat/OneWeb, Telesat, Iridium, Planet Labs and Intelsat.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has shot down financier BIU's challenge of the FCC allowing satellite operator Spectrum Five (S5) to withdraw a complaint against Inmarsat. In a four-page judgment Thursday (docket 24-1189), the three-judge panel said the FCC wasn't being arbitrary and capricious when it found that the reinstatement request was a private contractual dispute, and BIU has the ability to go back to the FCC if it prevails in that contract dispute. In oral argument Jan. 10, the judges seemed satisfied with the idea that BIU could bring its fraud-related claims back to the agency after a state court rules on its rights as a stakeholder in S5 (see 2501100010). Deciding were Judges Sri Srinivasan, Harry Edwards and Michelle Childs.
A consortium seeking to buy Paramount Global is raising red flags regarding rival Skydance Media's proposed Paramount deal. In a docket 24-275 filing posted Thursday, Project Rise Partners (PRP) said the FCC should examine the risks that the Skydance/Paramount deal raises about perpetuating practices of bundling networks in a way that inhibits the creation of programming content and about the influence of the Chinese government over one of the major national broadcast networks. The FCC also should consider the dangers the Skydance deal raises of higher consumer prices and undermined integrity of broadcast news, PRP said. It said it wants to create "a greenhouse for new content, including conservative, progressive, niche voices, and unrestrained freedom of expression" and "is intent on modernizing, diversifying, and expanding brands like BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Showtime rather than eliminating them." Pointing to Chinese company Tencent Holdings' investment in Skydance, PRP said the FCC should look into how Tencent is operating in the U.S. directly or indirectly, adding that Tencent could be operating through Skydance. House China Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., has called for a Committee on Foreign Investment investigation of the Skydance deal because of Tencent's investment (see 2501160055). The co-chairs of PRP are Daphna Edwards Ziman, head of independent network Cinemoi, and Moses Gross, managing trustee of Malka Investment Trust.
Today's video distribution marketplace is working efficiently, with multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) lacking undue market power and facing growing competition, Free State Foundation Senior Fellow Andrew Long wrote Thursday. The idea of rules applying exclusively to traditional MVPDs "cannot withstand even the slightest scrutiny," he added. Virtual MVPDs aren't subject to the FCC's proposed programming blackout rebate requirement and are outside the scope of the Stop Sports Blackouts Act. If that bill (see 2501310062) becomes law, it would hasten MVPD subscriber losses and "further tilt the regulatory status quo toward ascendant streaming options, and lead to less competition overall," Long said. He added that the FCC's proposed blackout rebate would also make distributors the automatic responsible party and incentivize programmers to ramp up their demands more than they would otherwise.
The FCC Wireless Bureau approved 28 more licenses in the 900 MHz broadband segment for PDV Spectrum. All are in Texas. The FCC approved an order in 2020 reallocating a 6 MHz swath in the band for broadband while maintaining 4 MHz for narrowband operations (see 2005130057).
NCTA filed at the FCC results of recent tests that it said justify concerns about proposals to relax in-band emissions limits in the citizens broadband radio service band. The tests by Charter Communications “show up to 60-plus percent degradation in service” from the change, said a filing posted Thursday in docket 17-258. “NCTA’s previously submitted simulation studies and the February … Lab Test Results provide consistent and complementary views of the frequency with which different interference scenarios resulting from elevated, undesired emissions limits will occur in real-world deployments, thus harming the CBRS operating environment,” NCTA said.
Garmin International filed a petition for rulemaking at the FCC asking for a review of technical limitations on the frequency and duration of automated digital data transmissions by handheld general mobile radio service (GMRS) devices. Garmin noted in an undocketed filing that it was required to file the petition as a condition of a January waiver allowing Garmin to offer handheld GMRS devices that transmit digital data communications as often as every five seconds. Current rules allow one transmission during every 30-second period. The proposed modifications to Section 95.1787 of FCC rules “will allow manufacturers to market hand-held GMRS devices that increase public safety by enabling the automatic transmission of digital data, such as GPS data and text messages, utilizing a new protocol,” said the petition, filed Wednesday. “The existing protocol for data transmissions set forth in the Commission’s rules should be maintained as an alternative to Garmin’s proposed new protocol.”
The FCC’s July order reducing call rates for people in prison while establishing interim rate caps for video calls (see 2407180039) is effectively the law of the land, and prisons must follow it, said Bianca Tylek, executive director of Worth Rises, which represents the interests of prisoners. Tylek noted Thursday at a press conference that the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing challenges to the order (see 2407180039), hasn’t granted a stay. “It is very normal for an industry to litigate and sue a federal agency when it gets regulated,” she said. “That happens in every single industry … The rules are in effect right now.”
The Senate Commerce Committee was eyeing a March 13 confirmation hearing for NTIA nominee Arielle Roth and potentially also FCC nominee Olivia Trusty, but that panel wasn’t final as of Thursday afternoon, several communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. President Donald Trump nominated Roth, Senate Commerce Republicans’ telecom policy director, in early February (see 2502040056). Trump picked Trusty, a Senate Armed Services Committee Republican staffer, for the FCC seat that former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel vacated Jan. 20 (see 2501160077).
The FCC on Thursday released drafts of the three items that Chairman Brendan Carr teed up for a vote at the commission’s March 27 open meeting. The GPS notice of inquiry asks about a wide range of possible alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), including terrestrial-based and space-based solutions. The FCC also released drafts of two 911 items (see 2503050062).