Representatives from ISPs, trade groups and state governments agreed that the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund reverse auction process was flawed but disagreed about whether or how the agency should grant amnesty to some RDOF participants. “You should not be penalized for circumstances you could not have foreseen,” said Philip Macres of Klein Law Group, representing a coalition of RDOF participants calling for amnesty during a Broadband Breakfast panel Wednesday. Entities seeking amnesty after failing to meet RDOF obligations are just trying “to game the process,” said Republican Missouri state Representative Louis Riggs. “They treated us like a colony, you know-- extract wealth from us, give us nothing in return.”
The FCC Media Bureau granted Mission Broadcasting’s application to buy WADL Detroit Michigan from Adell Broadcasting for $75 million, but with a number of conditions that would bar Nexstar from financing the deal, negotiating retransmission consent for WADL and limiting how much programming Nexstar could provide. If Mission doesn’t accept the conditions, the order says, the deal will be designated for a hearing, traditionally seen as a death sentence for transactions. The Media Bureau is “taking the application the FCC received and substituting it for a new one drafted by the agency,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement: “That’s not the FCC’s job or role.”
AT&T added 349,000 net postpaid phone customers, which was far better than Wall Street expectations, and saw record low churn in Q1, CEO John Stankey said Wednesday as the carrier reported quarterly results. Stankey apologized for the nationwide wireless outage that hit customers Feb. 22 (see 2402220058). Compared to Verizon, whose shares sunk after it reported results Monday (see 2404220042), AT&T was up 1.88%, closing the day at $16.82.
Republican members of the House and Senate Commerce committees echoed arguments from opponents of the FCC’s draft net neutrality order in a letter to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel ahead of the commission’s expected adoption of the new rules (see 2404190038). The panels’ Republicans are eying a range of potential actions countering the net neutrality bid (see 2404180058). Meanwhile, House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta (Ohio) and 11 other Republicans urged Rosenworcel last Thursday to “leverage all resources at its disposal for a successful 5G Fund that maximizes the reach and effectiveness of the program.”
The anticipated end of the Affordable Connectivity Program will bring big competition among broadband internet access service providers for low-income subscribers, according to telecommunications and wireless industry analysts. Multiple BIAS providers are already rolling out new low-cost offerings or pledging to temporarily subsidize ACP subscribers as they seek to capture or keep them. More providers will follow suit, we're told. With the last of its funding, ACP will provide a $14 reimbursement in May rather than the usual $30 (see 2404100082).
The FCC Space Bureau signed off on the Amazon Kuiper request for a waiver of the requirement that it gets a positive ITU finding regarding equivalent power flux density limits before it commences operations (see 2305240064). In an order and authorization in Tuesday's Daily Digest, the bureau said a delayed deployment until after it has received an ITU finding on its filings "will only delay the provision of competitive broadband service even further." It said the condition that Kuiper provide to any interested party the data used as input to the ITU validation software and the results from running the software will provide more assurance to geostationary orbit operators that they won't see harmful interference pending an ITU finding.
EchoStar is giving fair warning about SpaceX's experimental license request to do supplemental coverage from space (SCS) operations testing in Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. In an informal objection Monday with the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology, EchoStar said the application doesn't refer to coordinating with potentially affected operators. Moreover, it doesn't propose many of the conditions that are standard for similar experimental licenses or those from the FCC's February SCS order. EchoStar listed a set of suggested conditions for all SCS licensees, including specific out-of-band emission limits and mandatory coordination with potentially affected operators before commencing. In its special temporary authority request, SpaceX said it hopes to start testing on May 1 and continue until it receives commercial authority to deliver SCS from the FCC and relevant local administrations. It said beyond Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand, testing markets could include Chile, Peru and Switzerland, where it also has SCS partnerships.
While the "all-in" video pricing order has appeared in the Federal Register and is now effective (see 2404180008), compliance will be phased in, the FCC Media Bureau said in a public notice in Tuesday's Daily Digest. It said compliance for mid-sized and large cable and direct broadcast satellite operators won't be required until either Dec. 19 or when the Office of Management and Budget completes its Paperwork Reduction Act review, whichever comes later. Compliance for cable operators with annual receipts of $47 million or less won't be required until March 19, 2025, or Paperwork Reduction Act review, whichever comes later.
The FCC should deny radio station transfers of control associated with broadcaster Audacy’s bankruptcy reorganization because the company has asked for a temporary waiver of the agency's foreign ownership requirements, the Media Research Center, a "media watchdog," said in a petition filed Monday. MRC's website describes it as leading "the conservative movement in combatting the left’s efforts to manipulate the electoral process, silence opposing voices online, and undermine American values." The petition highlights the involvement of billionaire George Soros's involvement in Audacy. The Soros-associated Fund for Policy Reform would have an attributable ownership interest in Audacy after the bankruptcy. In addition, MCR said Soros Fund Management took steps to become Audacy’s largest shareholder. Widely seen as funding progressive causes and politicians, Soros is a frequent target of right-wing ire. “The Communications Act does not contain a special Soros shortcut,” said MRC’s petition. “And the FCC should not countenance this request for one.” Audacy’s application says the reorganized company will exceed the FCC’s 25 percent foreign ownership limit. It seeks a waiver allowing it to either use a “special warrant” stock issuance process to avoid exceeding the threshold or petition for a declaratory ruling permitting foreign ownership over the limit after it emerges from bankruptcy. “The Soros filings fail to demonstrate that in this case any interest in the reasonably efficient emergence from bankruptcy cannot be accommodated while also assessing the foreign ownership interests at the same time,” MCR said. Though MCR says the waiver of foreign ownership requirements would be “special treatment,” the FCC has granted similar waivers to other large broadcasters emerging from bankruptcy, such as Alpha Media (see 2309280073) and iHeartRadio (see 2103290057). Broadcast attorneys told us they aren’t aware of a request from any broadcaster to be foreign-owned over 25% that the FCC has denied since the process was streamlined in 2016. But, said MCR, “The Soros group’s interest in expediency does not give the FCC a basis for ignoring the legally required process." Audacy and the Fund for Policy Reform didn’t comment.
The Open Technology Institute at New America refuted arguments that CTIA made last week about the treatment of 5G slicing under draft FCC net neutrality rules (see 2404170032). CTIA claims the group wants to limit slicing, OTI said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 23-320. “We strongly support innovative data services made possible by 5G mobile network slicing techniques” and “application-level services for enterprise use could be presumptively considered to be” non-broadband internet access service, the group said: “However, we do seek clarification that with respect to consumer-facing (retail) services offered to BIAS customers, mobile BIAS providers must not be allowed to evade the open internet rules by using network ‘slicing’ to engage in application-specific or content-specific discrimination.” OTI notes it’s seeking an addition to the language in the rules clarifying when the FCC is “likely to find” that an offering violates the rules.