While the FCC received support for moving forward on a November proposal permitting schools and libraries to get E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2311090028) many commenters raised questions. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissented on an NPRM, questioning the proposal's legal underpinnings, and several comments agreed. The comments were filed the same week as the U.S. Supreme Court considered the Chevron doctrine's future and how strictly regulators must adhere to statutory language (see 2401170074).
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $16,500 forfeiture for Shelby Broadcast for operating a translator station at variance from its FCC authorization and for not disclosing the unauthorized operation, according to an order and notice of apparent liability in Wednesday's Daily Digest. The proposed penalty concerns translator W252BE Tarrant, Alabama, which Shelby allegedly operated at a different height and power level than authorized since a cable was severed in 2015, the order said. Shelby didn’t renew a grant of special temporary authority for the translator, and the matter was brought to the FCC’s attention by repeated filings and interference complaints from broadcaster Marble City Media. Marble City also petitioned against the renewal of Shelby’s license, but the order authorizes the station’s renewal. “We find no evidence of violations that, when considered together, evidence a pattern of abuse,” the filing said.
The FCC approved an NPRM on a 3-2 party line vote that prioritizes evaluation of applications from broadcasters that originate local programming. “Here, we propose to sweeten the incentives for locally-originated news and content,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement released with the item. “Without it, stations can just pump in programming from the largest metropolitan areas and miss opportunities for content creation in their own backyard.” The NPRM proposes to use station quarterly programming lists to evaluate whether a station originates local programming, and prioritizing review of applications from those stations. The priority review would apply only to applications that aren’t going through a “simple” review process, such as those with holds or petitions to deny, the NPRM said. The item positions the proposal as a correction of the 2017 removal of the main studio rule. In it, the agency questions “whether the Main Studio Elimination Order’s predictive judgment -- that the Commission’s action there would foster creation of more and better local content -- has actually come to pass." The order’s criticism of the elimination of the main studio rule is the basis for Commissioner Brendan Carr’s dissent, he said: “There is no basis for asserting that conclusion here, but more fundamentally there is no reason to get into that rule at all in this Notice.” Carr said the majority declined to remove the language. “How can the FCC ground its localism proposal in the FCC’s record-less conclusion that the 2017 main studio repeal was an error while simultaneously not proposing to reinstate that rule?” Carr said, adding that he hoped the disagreement was “an isolated hiccup in our otherwise good working relationship.” Commissioner Nathan Simington was similarly critical of the NPRM: “This is a collateral attack on the Commission’s elimination of the Main Studio Rule, and the item all but says so.”
The National Alliance on Mental Illness continues to lobby the FCC on routing calls to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. In a docket 18-336 filing Wednesday, NAMI recapped a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office at which it urged the agency to require 988 calls to be routed to the call center closest to the call's physical location and not based on area code. It also pushed for the agency to convene relevant stakeholders to discuss solutions to outstanding issues. It has repeatedly pressed the FCC on these items (see 2301180030 and 2304280046).
The FCC's precision ag task force will convene Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. EST in person for its first meeting of its rechartered term, said a public notice Wednesday in docket 19-329. The task force will meet to introduce members, review the group's duties, and begin discussing strategies to advance broadband deployment on agricultural lands and promote precision ag. The notice also announced task force membership. Michael Adelaine, South Dakota State University chief information officer emeritus, was appointed chair. The previous chair was Teddy Bekele, Land O'Lakes chief technology officer.
USCellular urged revisions to the FCC’s proposed approach to a 5G Fund during a series of meetings at the FCC. The agency should “reconsider its proposal to begin the phase down of legacy support with the auction winners’ public notice, and instead begin the phase down when the public notice announcing the commencement of 5G Fund support is released,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-32. The FCC is considering rules for launching the long-awaited fund (see 2311220060). USCellular representatives spoke with staff from Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's, Commissioners Brendan Carr's and Geoffrey Starks' offices, the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics.
CTA representatives met with FCC Public Safety Bureau staff on the agency’s proposed cyber trust mark program for smart devices (see 2311130034). CTA updated the agency on “the progress in its working groups” working “to help operationalize” National Institute of Standards and Technology guidance and on a registry of devices “that have achieved the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark as contemplated” in an FCC NPRM, said the filing posted Wednesday in docket 23-239.
CTIA defended the FCC’s disaster information reporting system as working, as the agency looks at mandatory reporting rules, set for a vote Jan. 25 (see 2401040064). “Based on information provided by wireless providers, DIRS reports provide a daily snapshot of the status of network services, including the number of cell site outages, the cause of such outages (i.e., due to damage, loss of transport, or loss of power), and the number of cell sites operating on backup power,” CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-346 (see 2401040064). While cellsite outage reporting doesn’t account for overlapping coverage “that increasingly maintains coverage even where a site is down, overall DIRS reports provide critical information regarding each disaster event, including efforts to overcome power or transport issues to restore service to impacted areas,” CTIA said.
The FCC should treat as confidential some of the information submitted by providers as part of proposed reporting requirements in a draft location-based routing (LBR) order set for a commissioner vote Jan. 25 (see 2401040064), CTIA said. The FCC “has established a presumption of confidentiality from disclosure of detailed network information such as that required” by the draft order, said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-64. The commission “should allow providers to submit their certifications of compliance in the public docket … while separately allowing providers to submit the required network information and live call data directly to Commission staff consistent with existing reporting and confidentiality procedures,” CTIA said.
The California Office of Emergency Services opposed a proposal by the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance urging the FCC to effectively give control of the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet for its national public safety network (see 2401020050). Awarding the license to FirstNet “will promote commercial influence over the band by AT&T and creates potential for interference with existing and planned uses by the state and local public safety community,” said a filing posted Wednesday in docket 07-100: Such action “would undermine the Commission’s goal for the band.”