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.
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.