The FCC will consider an NPRM seeking comment on adding a new alert code to the emergency alert system focused on missing and endangered people during a commissioners' March 14 open meeting, said a news release Wednesday. The Missing and Endangered Persons (MEP) code would alert the public about missing people who don’t meet the criteria for Amber Alerts, which are primarily for missing children. The March agenda also includes draft supplemental coverage from space rules and a cybersecurity labeling program for wireless IoT devices (see 2402210057).
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said Wednesday he and other supporters of the FCC’s affordable connectivity program are seeking stopgap funding for an FY 2024 omnibus appropriations package in a bid to keep the endangered initiative running. Meanwhile, ex-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and eight other former commission heads said congressional leaders should “act swiftly” and appropriate up to $15 billion for next-generation 911 tech upgrades. President Joe Biden last year sought $6 billion in stopgap ACP money and $3.08 billion to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program as part of a supplemental appropriations request but didn’t mention NG-911 (see 2310250075).
The FCC approved, 3-2, an order reinstating the collection of broadcaster workforce demographic data, with both Republican commissioners dissenting and issuing multipage statements. "We must get our arms around this issue,” said Commissioner Geoffrey Starks, who has long pushed for the policy. “As always with good government, we start with data. And data is most effective when it is available to everyone.” By requiring that the data is publicly posted in broadcaster online files, the order will create “a race and gender scorecard for each and every TV and radio broadcast station in the country,” and violate the Constitution, said Commissioner Brendan Carr in his dissent. The order isn't "a radical break outside of this agency’s authority," said Starks. “Reinstatement of the Form 395-B data collection in a publicly available manner is wholly consistent with the equal protection guarantee contained in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” said the order. Collection of data in a publicly available format “remains the best approach” for accurately analyzing workforce trends in broadcasting, the order said. “We will summarily dismiss any petition filed by a third party based on Form 395-B employment data” and “will not use this data as a basis for conducting audits or inquiries,” the order said. Both Carr and Commissioner Nathan Simington said they wouldn’t have opposed an order that kept the data anonymized. If the data collection is purely to inform policy, why does the FCC need to publicly disclose it? Simington asked. “Because the public disclosure of attributable demographic employment data this Order implements predictably serves to increase pressure on broadcast licensees to engage in racially conscious hiring,” he said. Prior to the order's release, NAB President Curtis LeGeyt told us broadcasters “are committed to ensuring our newsrooms reflect the diversity of the communities we serve." Broadcasters "encourage the Commission to partner with us on this important work to truly move the ball forward, rather than to assume that reporting alone somehow meets the moment," LeGeyt said.
Salt Point Strategies, public affairs consulting firm, promotes Jerry Leverich, ex-House staffer, to partner … Nexstar Media moves Chris Pruitt to vice president-general manager, Springfield, Missouri, broadcast and digital operations … Deeplocal, Carnegie Mellon University engineering, design and creative strategy spinoff, promotes Jakob Marsico to chief technology officer and Lauren Kardos to chief financial officer ... Jumio, identity verification platform, hires Igor Beckerman, ex-Newsela and ex-Symantec, as CFO.
Before getting a full license from the FCC, any proposed supplemental coverage from space (SCS) system should conduct a demonstration letting interested parties monitor for harmful interference, said Lynk. Meeting with FCC Space Bureau Chief Julie Kearney and Wireless Bureau Chief Joel Taubenblatt, Lynk also urged that SCS providers be allowed to apply for a Part 25 license before having a lease agreement with a mobile network operator, though it would have to show an executed business agreement before it could start service pursuant to that license. In a docket 23-65 posting Tuesday, Lynk said it also advocated that proposed geographical limits to SCS service be eliminated, as technology and business relationships can address interference concerns for SCS deployment.
Opening the 12 GHz band to a high-power, two-way fixed service would "eviscerate [the] carefully crafted spectrum sharing regime" between direct broadcast satellite and multichannel video distribution and data service, DirecTV said. In a docket 20-443 filing posted Tuesday, it recapped a meeting with FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel's office where it asserted advocates for the new terrestrial service haven't met the burden of showing it wouldn't harm incumbent DBS satellite subscribers and services. DirecTV reiterated its criticisms of a Dish Network-commissioned analysis by RKF Engineering (see 2312270045).
The FCC should reinstate the FM portion of the radio nonduplication rule, said REC Networks, the Future of Music Coalition and musicFIRST Coalition in an ex parte meeting last week with an aide to Commissioner Nathan Simington, according to a filing in docket 19-310. The FCC in 2020 eliminated the rule barring AM and FM stations serving the same area from offering duplicate content, under then-Chairman Ajit Pai. At the time, current Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was critical of the rule change, (see 2008060072) calling it “another decision that rushes ahead without doing the due diligence needed to consider the impact on localism, competition and diversity.” An order on reconsideration of the FM dupe rule was circulated to the 10th floor, according to the agency’s online circulation list. The rule change harms “intramodal competition” for FM stations and waivers were readily available before the change, the groups said. “This rule change was also entirely unnecessary,” the filing said.
Former APCO CEO Derek Poarch launched a consultancy targeting public safety clients. A former FCC Public Safety Bureau chief, Poarch became APCO CEO in 2011 and left the group last year (see 2306300039).
Wireless industry concerns about a Nebraska 911 outage reporting bill irked some state senators during a hearing Tuesday. LB-1256 would add to carriers’ compliance costs, said CTIA Director-State Legislative Affairs Jake Lestock. Also, disclosing confidential wireless outage information to the state could pose privacy and national security risks, he said. The FCC has a good outage reporting system with strong security protection -- and the Nebraska Public Service Commission may access it now, he said. Considering the importance of 911 and several recent Nebraska outages (see 2401230048), Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D) finds CTIA’s opposition “flummoxing and unsettling.” Sponsor Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) said she hadn’t heard prior to the hearing that industry opposed her bill. “I will continue to work on this and make sure we have all the safeguards we need, but this is important,” she said. Nebraska PSC Chair Dan Watermeier (R) supported LB-1256 as an “important accountability and transparency measure.”
The FCC Public Safety Bureau approved a request by the Huron County, Ohio, Emergency Management Agency for a wireless emergency alert test March 19. The agency notes in its waiver requests the county has suffered train derailments and incidents of bad weather and wants to ensure it can “alert the large number of tourists” expected for the April 8 “Great North American Eclipse,” the bureau said Tuesday. “We are persuaded it is in the public interest to allow Huron County to conduct a test of its WEA capabilities,” the bureau said in docket 15-91: “Such testing will not only provide needed training, it will help Huron County to gain confidence in using its WEA capabilities.”