Comments are due April 15, replies April 25 in docket 12-108 on a joint proposal for closed caption display settings accessibility, an FCC Media Bureau public notice said in Tuesday’s Daily Digest (see 24031900). A joint effort of NCTA, the National Association of the Deaf, the Hearing Loss Association of America and TDIforAccess, the proposal represents a consensus from those groups on how to make the settings usable through a button, key or icon in a specific section of a set-top device settings menu.
Six radio broadcasters seek leave to intervene in support of the four petitions for review consolidated in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that challenge the FCC’s Dec. 26 quadrennial review order for allegedly violating Section 202(h) of the Telecommunications Act (see 2403050075), said their unopposed joint motion Monday. The consolidated petitions pending in the 8th Circuit are from Zimmer Radio (docket 24-1380), Beasley Media Group (docket 24-1480), NAB (docket 24-1493) and Nexstar Media Group (docket 24-1516). The radio broadcasters seeking to intervene in support of those petitions are Connoisseur Media, Mid-West Management, Midwest Communications, Sun Valley Radio, Eagle Communications and Legend Communications of Wyoming. The radio broadcasters, owners and licensees collectively of nearly 200 stations across the U.S., would see their interests “adversely affected” by the implementation of the FCC’s order, said their motion to intervene. It would harm them “by arbitrarily restricting their ability to compete in their markets against larger, less regulated digital content providers and advertising platforms,” they said. The platforms, including those owned by some of the largest U.S. companies, have been “siphoning away” listeners and advertising revenue from traditional radio, it said. The ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates associations sought leave Friday to intervene in support of the four petitions, arguing that the FCC’s order “refused to loosen” the commission’s “decades-old regulation of local television ownership to reflect today’s increasingly competitive media landscape (see 2403220041). NCTA on Monday came to the defense of the order, arguing that it rightfully retained the commission's local television ownership rule, which generally limits the number of full-power television stations an entity may own within the same local market (see 2403250064).
The Information Technology Industry Council called on the FCC to expand parts of the 6 GHz band where new very-low power (VLP) devices can operate beyond the 850 MHz of the band in which commissioners voted last year to allow operations (see 2310190054). Comments are due Wednesday on a Further NPRM that the commissioners also approved last year. “The Commission’s decision to authorize VLP operations provides innovators with an important new capability to provide very high-speed connections for some of the most advanced applications, such as augmented and virtual reality, that will help businesses, enhance learning opportunities, advance healthcare opportunities, and bring new entertainment experiences,” the group said in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 18-295.
The FCC Wireless Bureau on Tuesday approved a waiver for Vertical Bridge, finding that use of a self-diagnostic monitoring system from Drake Services obviates the need for the company to make quarterly inspections of its more than 9,000 towers. The bureau also said it would offer expedited review of waiver requests from other tower companies using the technology. It “is similar to that exhibited by other monitoring systems that we have previously found to be sufficiently robust to support waivers based on the efficacy of their system and backup procedures,” the bureau said: “Our actions today should encourage other tower owners to invest in state-of-the-art technologies so that they, too, will become capable of continuous monitoring of both their lighting systems and control devices.”
The Edison Electric Institute and other groups representing incumbent users of the 6 GHz band asked the FCC to delegate the Wireless Innovation Forum or another inter-industry body to develop “standardized implementations” for automated frequency coordination system propagation models. The groups said they appreciate “that the AFCs are collaborating to develop a single interference reporting process rather than each developing its own -- or not having a defined process at all.” But collaboration shouldn’t mean just AFCs, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-352: “It should include representatives of the incumbents whose systems are entitled to interference protection under FCC rules.” Also signing the filing were the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the Utilities Technology Council.
The National Consumer Law Center and Electronic Privacy Information Center raised concerns about callers "rotating outbound numbers that allows them to circumvent" the FCC's Stir/Shaken caller ID authentication rules. Meeting with Wireline Bureau staff, the groups asked the FCC to "explicitly say that providers are prohibited from offering any service that obfuscates the real caller’s name, location, and telephone number, including but not limited to rotating through numbers for this purpose." The groups also asked the commission to "resume and target its auditing of the use of numbers" to "curtail improper use of numbering resources."
The Coalition of Concerned Utilities defended its petition of certain parts of the FCC's December order revising pole attachment rules in a filing Tuesday in docket 17-84 (see 2312130044). The group sought elimination of "the requirement that utilities submit a copy of periodic pole inspection reports to attaching entities." Utility pole owners "should not be placed at odds with broadband providers," the coalition said, and electric utilities "should not be subject to a pole inspection report requirement that will provide no legitimate benefit to attachers." The requirement "may potentially divert time and scarce resources away from processing applications and ... much of the information in the pole inspection reports is unlikely to promote broadband deployment," UTC warned. The Utilities Technology Council also backed the petition.
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone (N.J.), Communications Subcommittee ranking member Doris Matsui (Calif.) and 10 other subpanel Democrats urged NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson Tuesday "to continue to prioritize affordability in your administration of" the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program as the agency reviews states' plans for the money. The Democrats wrote Davidson days after Congress approved the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act FY 2024 minibus spending package without hoped-for stopgap money for the FCC's affordable connectivity program or Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program (see 2403210067). "Access to internet service is meaningless to consumers if the cost of signing up is a barrier,” the lawmakers said in their letter. “Studies show that nearly half of all broadband non-adopters cited cost as the primary reason they did not have home internet service." The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which created ACP and BEAD, "includes separate affordability provisions that are specific to the BEAD program," the lawmakers said: "Congress decided to allocate BEAD funds to states and territories since they are best situated to determine the needs of their communities, but it did not change any existing authority to oversee broadband or pricing." NTIA has "administrative oversight and programmatic support responsibilities to ensure the funds would be spent consistent with Congressional intent, including the review and approval of proposals after significant consultation between the state or territory and NTIA," the Democrats said. "These are critical procedures for NTIA to follow in determining whether low-cost plans are in fact affordable for the areas and markets where they are proposed." It "would be a significant missed opportunity in the administration of BEAD if these affordability provisions are not exercised to their fullest to help middle-class and low-income Americans afford the cost of internet service, consistent with the statute," the lawmakers said. Congressional Republicans have criticized NTIA's reviews of state plans' affordability provisions as a form of rate regulation (see 2312180063).
The FCC announced the membership of the rechartered Communications Equity and Diversity Council ahead of the group’s first meeting Wednesday. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announced in May that she would recharter the advisory committee, and the group’s new charter began in June (see 2305250058). “Currently, across the federal government, including here at the Commission, there is a focus on ensuring equity for all, including under-served communities,” Rosenworcel said in a news release Tuesday. “The CEDC exists to help level the playing field.” Wednesday’s meeting will open with an address from Rosenworcel, and otherwise involve introducing the advisory committee’s members, announcing working groups and receiving guidance on federal advisory committee best practices. Many members are returning from the previous charter, including the group’s chair and vice chairs (see 2403150059), Neptuno CEO Leticia Latino-van Splunteren, Multicultural Media Telecom and Internet Council President Robert Branson and former FCC Commissioner Henry Rivera. New members include University of Minnesota journalism professor Christopher Terry.
The FCC said Tuesday it has “more than doubled” the number of employees assigned to privacy and data protection since the launch last year of the Privacy and Data Protection Task Force (see 2306140075). The commission has “integrated technologists, software and hardware engineers, and other subject-matter experts into its enforcement matters, adding to the FCC’s deep technical expertise in rulemaking and licensing matters," and “convened technical experts” to focus on AI, machine learning and other emerging technologies through its Technological Advisory Council, it said in a news release. The announcement was part of a broader administration push (see 2403260029). “This ongoing work will allow us to maximize our efforts to address risks arising from the misuse or mishandling of sensitive data we entrust with service providers and the continued threats posed by cybercriminals and foreign adversaries,” said Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal, chair of the task force.