A reconsideration petition on the FCC's denial of SpaceX participation in the rural development opportunity fund (see 2401040018) doesn't rely on new facts or circumstances that couldn't have been brought up earlier in the proceeding, Viasat said Friday in a docket 19-126 opposition. It said the Virginia petitioner acknowledges he wasn't a party to the underlying proceeding and doesn't try to show a good reason why he couldn't participate. The petition also doesn't cite any finding or conclusion that the petitioner believes to be erroneous or show any error in the underlying reasoning, it said.
The FCC Space Bureau approved Lynk Global's requested extension of its surety bond posting deadline (see 2401050062), according to a notation last week. The company had said damages involving its Tower 5 and Tower 6 satellites delayed their launch, and thus the need for an extension.
The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $150,000 forfeiture for Mission Broadcasting over violations of the good faith retransmission negotiation rules, said a notice of apparent liability released late Friday. The violations stem from Nexstar's negotiations on Mission’s behalf with Comcast for retransmission consent rights for Mission’s station WPIX New York (see 2301180034), the NAL said. Nexstar allegedly conditioned retrans consent on Comcast’s acceptance of contract proposals that “would foreclose the filing of future complaints with the Commission,” which the FCC said is “inconsistent with competitive marketplace considerations.” Nexstar’s negotiating retrans rights for WPIX on Mission’s behalf is the subject of litigation between DirecTV and Nexstar (see 2310040024), and has also been the focus of legal challenges brought by Comcast and Charter (see 2211220061). The NAL doesn’t directly address allegations from the MVPDs that Nexstar and Mission’s relationship violates antitrust laws, but it says the proposed forfeiture was adjusted upward in light of Nexstar’s ability to pay, citing the companies’ SEC filings. “Mission’s revenues and assets are consolidated with Nexstar’s financial accounting and annual reporting,” said the NAL. “Hence, Mission and Nexstar are effectively treated as a single entity for financial purposes in the Nexstar 10-K.” The agency also dismissed arguments from Mission that it wasn’t responsible for Nexstar's actions. Since Mission identified Nexstar as the “approved delegated negotiator” for WPIX, that argument “contravenes basic principles of agency law” and “ignores Commission precedent that licensees are ultimately responsible for the acts of their licensed stations.” The NAL also contains a footnote that appears to leave room for future enforcement actions involving Mission and Nexstar’s relationship. The Comcast complaint that led to the NAL “alleges additional good faith negotiation violations against both Mission and Nexstar Media Group,” but in this NAL “we address only a subset,” the footnote says. “The remaining allegations are under review by the Commission pending the outcome of ongoing investigations.” Nexstar and Mission didn’t immediately comment,Comcast said it was pleased by the FCC's actions.
State and local interests continue to press for repeal of the cable mixed-use rules. According to a filing Friday in docket 05-311 recapping a meeting with FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' office, the state and local interests also advocated for a ruling that cable franchise obligation compensation must be for marginal cost, not fair market value. The local and state interests -- including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Hawaii and the National League of Cities -- this month had a similar meeting with Commissioner Anna Gomez's office (see [Re:2401080032]).
The rule requiring covered 988 service providers and originating service providers to report outages that potentially affect the 988 suicide and crisis Lifeline becomes effective Feb. 15, according to a notice for Tuesday's Federal Register. Notifications must go to the FCC network outage reporting system, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the 988 Lifeline administrator. The FCC approved a 988 outage reporting order 4-0 in July (see 2307200041).
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment on Trace-Tek’s application to provide contraband interdiction system services in correctional facilities. The bureau said Friday it reviewed the application and found it complete. Comments are due Feb. 12 in docket 13-111. In July 2021, the FCC established a two-phase process for authorizing the systems and a “rule-based process” for disabling contraband devices (see 2107130029).
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Friday on a request from Garmin International (see 2310060031) for a waiver of rules concerning certification of the hand-held general mobile radio service (GMRS) devices it manufactures. Comments are due Feb. 12, replies Feb. 27, in docket 24-7. “Garmin alleges that its request builds on, but is narrower than, the recent waiver granted by the Mobility Division to Midland Radio,” the bureau said: Garmin claims “a waiver would serve the public interest by guaranteeing ‘that critical communications and location information are automatically available with sufficient time and information to’ locate individuals both in emergency and non-emergency situations.”
Aeronet representatives met with aides to all FCC commissioners except Commissioner Anna Gomez seeking technical changes to the 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). The company is among the biggest supporters of rules changes (see 2311080055). Aeronet expressed “appreciation for the significant efforts of the FCC staff as well as staff at the federal agencies involved in evaluating the technical issues raised by Aeronet’s proposed use of the 70/80 GHz bands to provide high-speed, ‘in-home’ equivalent broadband experiences to consumers in planes and on ships,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 20-133. Aeronet sought tweaks to provisions on proposed elevation angles for aviation ground and maritime stations and on coordination requirements, among other parts of the draft.
Securus met with FCC staff last week to highlight its pilot subscription programs for incarcerated people’s communication services, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 23-62 (see 2203090035). The provider gave Wireline and Office of Economics and Analytics details about its programs’ “utilization, effective rates, and the extent of usage required to save money compared to making calls rated on a per minute basis.” Securus said its data “demonstrates that consumers achieve savings from the pilot subscription programs at relatively low levels of usage compared to then-existing intrastate rates.”
As the FCC works on rules governing supplemental coverage from space, the agency needs to be sure efforts to provide direct-to-handset service aren't meanwhile delayed, according to T-Mobile. A docket 23-65 filing Friday recapped SCS discussions between company representative and Wireless and Space Bureau staffers. T-Mobile said SCS rules should be based on the idea the service supplements terrestrial coverage, and thus there's no need to modify the terrestrial spectrum allocation that will support SCS. It said making terrestrial operators obtain a license covering subscribers' devices for when those devices are receiving service from satellites is impractical. T-Mobile said there's no regulatory purpose for requiring blanket earth station authorization for mobile handsets and such an authorization would be difficult to enforce. If the commission opts to require a mobile handset authorization, the satellite operator and not the terrestrial licensee should have to obtain that authorization through its satellite license or get a separate user authorization, T-Mobile said.