The FCC's North American Numbering Council will meet March 1 at 10 a.m. and June 25 at 2 p.m. at FCC headquarters, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 23-1. The group will vote on a report at the March meeting from the Toll Free: Future Utilization of Numbers working group regarding toll-free numbering resources. In June, the group will vote on an additional report from the T-FUN working group, as well as the Call Authentication Trust Anchor working group concerning regulatory treatment of international cellular roaming traffic and the IoT Numbering Usage working group on the use of North American numbering plan numbers for the routing and addressing of IoT communications. It will also consider a report from the Numbering Administration Oversight working group on the numbering administration performance review, as well as the North American Numbering Plan Fund size projections and contribution factor.
Commerce Department and DOD officials will brief House Commerce Committee members Thursday on the findings of a Pentagon study about how commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band would affect incumbent military systems, as expected (see 2312280044), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, told us Wednesday. Panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and others were pressing for more details about the DOD report as they determine whether its findings justify ruling out an auction of the frequency (see 2311290001). House Commerce advanced its Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) in May with language mandating an auction with an eye to using revenue to pay for other telecom projects (see 2305240069). Rodgers pressed Diane Rinaldo, Open RAN Policy Coalition executive director, during a Wednesday House Communications hearing (see 2401170078) on how the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority, which House Commerce wants to restore via HR-3565, would bolster U.S. development of open radio access networks (ORANs). “If you want more ORAN, you need more spectrum,” said Rinaldo, a former acting NTIA administrator. “My members need consistency. They need an understanding of how their business is going to roll out the next couple of years. Coming to a standstill hurts us all and hurts future innovation.”
Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that NBC and CNN are “crooked, they’re dishonest and, frankly, they should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away” because the networks didn’t carry his victory speech after the Iowa caucuses for the 2024 Republican presidential election. The networks covered the speeches of other Republican presidential hopefuls from Iowa. The FCC didn’t comment, but the agency doesn’t issue licenses to cable channels or networks. “I was surprised that those networks didn’t carry Trump’s victory speech, but their right to choose to carry it or not is within their editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. A station repeatedly refusing to carry a candidate’s speeches while treating other candidates differently could raise an issue of whether the FCC’s reasonable access rules were violated, May said. "The FCC is an independent agency for a reason. It never could and never should bow to such ridiculous threats from a would-be executive,” said Matt Wood, Free Press vice president-policy. “Of course, even his saber-rattling here is dangerous, and designed to chill freedom of the press and editorial discretion.” Last year, Trump promised NBCU’s parent Comcast would be scrutinized for “treason” if he becomes president again (see 2309290042). Trump made similar comments against media companies many times during his presidency. Trump’s FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said then that the agency lacks the authority to rescind broadcast licenses based on their content (see 1809040051). Comcast, CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, NAB, NCTA and all five FCC commissioners didn’t comment Wednesday.
The retransmission consent blackout rebate NPRM that FCC commissioners adopted 3-2 along party lines last week (see 2401100026) asks numerous questions about agency authority and implementation but has few tentative conclusions about how such a rebate regime might work. The approved NPRM was released Wednesday.
Twenty-six attorneys general urged the FCC to use its AI notice of inquiry to clarify that AI-generated calls mimicking human voices are considered “an artificial voice” under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Reply comments on a November notice of inquiry (see 2311160028) were due Tuesday and posted Wednesday in docket 23-362. In initial comments, CTIA and USTelecom urged that the FCC allow flexibility in how providers use AI (see 2312200039).
NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared receptive to industry arguments that the court should overturn, or at least narrow, the Chevron doctrine, which gives agencies like the FCC and FTC deference in interpreting laws that Congress passes. The court heard oral argument Wednesday for more than 3.5 hours in two cases challenging Chevron deference, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Commerce. Both concern fishing regulations and don’t touch directly on communications regulation.
The FCC Enforcement Bureau warned property owners in Newark, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York, of possible forfeitures for allegedly hosting pirate radio stations, said letters Tuesday. Property owners Phalaine Vital in Newark and Royalty Realty in Brooklyn could each face a forfeiture of up to $2.3 million, the letters said. The letters demand proof that the unauthorized transmissions EB field agents found have ceased and that the unauthorized broadcasters be identified. The property owners have 10 business days to respond, the letters said.
The FCC unanimously ordered Cumulus to pay a $26,000 penalty for a late annual equal employment opportunity report, over the objections of the broadcaster and the NAB (see 2203300067), said a forfeiture order Tuesday. “Cumulus’s characterization of the requirement to upload an Annual Report to the station online public inspection file and website as a mere administrative task undermines the Commission’s goal of ensuring meaningful public input via public access to the Annual Report,” said the order. The third-largest U.S. radio group, Cumulus reported a Q3 net revenue of more than $200 million. Cumulus had argued that although the report was filed late, it was completed on time and the FCC should have merely admonished the radio broadcaster. The agency rejected that argument, and said failing to upload a completed annual report analyzing EEO activities on time is the same as failing to conduct the analysis altogether. Cumulus also said the FCC shouldn’t adjust the penalty upward due to Cumulus’s multiple past EEO violations, because those occurred before the company’s bankruptcy reorganization. The FCC rejected those arguments, noting that many of the same executives still lead Cumulus. The company hasn’t provided evidence that bankruptcy proceedings are “intended to absolve licensees of the consequences of pre-bankruptcy violations of the FCC’s rules,” the order said. Unusually for an enforcement proceeding, NAB informally filed comments supporting Cumulus, which the FCC dismissed. “NAB offers no legal or procedural basis for submitting its nonparty filing,” the order said. “More broadly, NAB urges the Commission to apply a more balanced and reasonable approach to proposed forfeitures going forward, claims that are more appropriately raised in a petition for declaratory ruling.” The FCC reduced Cumulus’s forfeiture from the originally proposed $32,000, conceding that in the past the agency hasn’t treated late filed EEO reports the same as failing to prepare one. “Although nothing in our case law suggests that such a failure does not also amount to a violation of our self-assessment rule, Cumulus may not have had the requisite notice” of that policy, the order said. “Going forward, Cumulus and all other licensees are on notice” that the FCC will consider the timeliness of posting EEO reports when it considers if stations are meeting their EEO obligations, the order said. The FCC is considering a draft EEO order that would require additional workforce diversity reporting from broadcasters (see 2312220061).
NTCA and ACA Connects urged the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Tuesday to adopt the FCC's proposal to amend a 2017 rule simplifying the historic preservation review process for communications providers. Streamlining the review process will give providers more flexibility when seeking to deploy federally funded broadband infrastructure, the groups said in a news release. The will ensure providers can "utilize game-changing broadband funding" to "more effectively and efficiently" close the digital divide, ACA Connects President-CEO Grant Spellmeyer said. It's "critical to balance important historic preservation considerations and minimizing burdens and delays in network construction," said NTCA Executive Vice President Mike Romano.