SpaceX is lobbying the FCC over concerns about the orbital debris draft order, which is on reconsideration on January's agenda (see 2401040064). In a docket 18-313 filing Thursday, SpaceX recapped meetings held with offices of the five commissioners. During those meetings, it said the draft wrongly maintains a case-by-case approach to orbital debris mitigation and preserves the foreign-operator loophole of licensing systems overseas to circumvent U.S. oversight. Moreover, It said the case-by-case approach sets an inconsistent baseline for assessing debris risk. SpaceX said the FCC should clarify that it wants consistent orbital debris mitigation information from all operators regardless of foreign or domestic status or constellation size. The company also renewed its call that conditions put on its second-generation Starlinks be applied equally to all operators in the name of clear expectations and space sustainability promotion (see 2301180049).
ESPN should continue to be exempted from the FCC's audio description rules applicable to the largest national nonbroadcast networks because it provides less than 50 hours per quarter of prime-time programming that is not live or near-live, parent Disney said Thursday in a docket 11-43 exemption request.
Connecticut low-power TV broadcaster Radio Communications wants the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn an FCC order creating a window for certain LPTV stations to upgrade to Class A status. “Review is required” because the FCC’s implementation of the Low-Power Protection Act “fails to protect, in a very substantial manner," LPTV stations and licenses, and the newly created Class A stations, as Congress required, said a petition for review filed with the D.C. Circuit Jan. 10 and posted Thursday (docket 24-1004). The order, parts of which will take effect Feb. 9, would open a one-year window only for LPTV stations that broadcast a minimum of 18 hours a day, carry three hours per week of local programming and are located in markets of 95,000 households or fewer -- and that already met those requirements 90 days prior to the LPPA's Jan. 5, 2023, approval by Congress. LPTV groups were critical of the LPPA and the subsequent FCC order for allowing only a few stations to convert to Class A (see 2312080043). The petition asks the court to review the order on an expedited basis, stay it, find it unlawful and rule that RCC isn’t precluded from applying for the window, that program content can’t be used to deny Class A licenses and that Class A stations can assert must-carry in their markets. Radio Communications CEO Robert Knapp told us the company plans to ask the court for summary judgment against the FCC.
USCellular representatives met virtually with staff for FCC Commissioners Anna Gomez and Nathan Simington, completing a cycle of meetings with commissioner aides on the carrier’s proposed changes to the proposal for a 5G Fund (see 2401170034). Among the carrier’s suggestions is harmonizing the fund with broadband equity, access and deployment program-deployed fiber “to reduce the costs of building 5G and thus allow 5G Fund support to cover a greater geographic area,” said a filing Thursday in docket 20-32.
National Emergency Number Association representatives met with staff for FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on the group’s i3 standard and an ATIS standard for IP multimedia subsystems. “All known” next-generation 911 systems in the U.S. and Canada are “operating under the i3 specification,” said a filing Wednesday in docket 21-479.
CTIA supports the FCC’s draft 70 and 80 GHz band order revising rules for the spectrum, set for a vote at the FCC’s Jan. 25 meeting (see 2401040064), but it opposes some of the changes Aeronet sought (see 2401120048), said a filing Thursday in docket 20-133. The commission “should maintain the protection for existing services from interference caused by new point-to-point links to endpoints in motion communications, as proposed in the Draft Order, and reject Aeronet’s eleventh hour request that non-federal fixed service receivers alone be left without protection,” CTIA said.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign a continuing resolution (HR-2872) that would fund the FCC, FTC, NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the DOJ Antitrust Division through March 8. Congress passed the measure Thursday. The House voted 314-108 for HR-2872, which would fund the Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service through March 1. The Senate earlier voted 77-18 to approve the measure. The CR, if signed, would avert a partial government shutdown that would otherwise begin late Friday night. The previous CR Congress passed in November funded the FCC, FTC, Commerce and DOJ through Feb. 2, while USDA's appropriation would have expired Friday night (see 2311160070).
Industry opposition to an FCC proposal reclassifying broadband as a Title II service under the Communications Act continued in reply comments posted through Thursday in docket 23-320 (see 2312150020). Most groups warned reclassification would stifle competition. Some consumer groups disagreed, urging the FCC to reinstate its net neutrality rules without preempting state and local governments.
An FCC proposal prioritizing application processing for broadcasters that originate local programming may not offer enough incentive to change behaviors and would likely favor the largest broadcasters that already create their content, said broadcast attorneys and academics in interviews Thursday. Since the proposal would apply only to applications facing holds or petitions to deny, it also may not have a wide reach, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Anne Crump. “Ultimately, it won't really make that much difference because the vast majority of applications just run a normal course.”
Groups representing wireless carriers and cable operators urged the FCC to take a cautious approach as it responds to a November Further NPRM on protecting consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud (see 2311150042). Additional rules beyond those approved in an accompanying order aren’t warranted, industry groups said. However, the Electronic Privacy Information Center urged the agency to go further in protecting consumers. Comments were posted on Wednesday and Thursday in docket 21-341.