The FCC Media Bureau is seeking comment on Kansas Public Telecommunications Service’s request to substitute channels for its station KPTS Hutchinson, Kansas, an NPRM said Tuesday. KPTS is currently on Channel *8 and seeks to switch to Channel *33. The FCC designates noncommercial channels with an asterisk. Comments will be due in docket 25-287 30 days after the NPRM is published in the Federal Register and replies 15 days later. The Media Bureau also granted a substitution request for theDove Media, which wanted to substitute Channel *24 for Channel *4 for a future noncommercial station in Jacksonville, Oregon.
Consumers’ Research and its allies made additional arguments at the FCC for why the agency should zero out the USF contribution factor for Q4 (see 2508110021), despite the U.S. Supreme Court decision that the factor is constitutional (see 2506270054).
The FCC sought comment Tuesday on a July petition by the Safer Buildings Coalition (SBC) urging the FCC to launch a rulemaking on guidelines for getting consent from licensees to install signal boosters (see 2507210025). Comments are due Oct. 16, replies Oct. 31, said a Public Safety Bureau notice in docket RM-12009.
California, New York and other “blue” states supported an application for review asking the FCC to rescind a Wireline Bureau order delaying some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2507310049). Other groups also supported the review in filings posted Tuesday in docket 23-62.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr thanked EchoStar and Chairman Charlie Ergen on Tuesday for addressing the FCC’s concerns in a series of spectrum deals announced in recent weeks. EchoStar officials said Monday that selling the spectrum wasn’t their first choice (see 2509150003). “There were a lot of questions raised, including by us in May, about whether they met their buildout obligations,” Carr said at a Politico event (see 2509160040). “We had a lot of good discussions with them.”
Groups opposed to the order giving the FirstNet Authority, and indirectly AT&T, control of the 4.9 GHz band through a nationwide license (see 2410220027) and the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA), which had only a few quibbles with the order, clashed in briefs filed this week at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Oral argument has yet to be scheduled in the case (docket 24-1363). The FCC approved the order during the last administration with support from current Chairman Brendan Carr (see 2411130027).
A handful of right-leaning groups are pressing strongly for a bipartisan congressional working group to recommend funding USF via the appropriations process as part of a potential legislative revamp of the program, but other stakeholders said they still they favor various expansions of the initiative’s contributions base. Comments to the working group were due late Monday night as part of its recently relaunched bill consultations (see 2508010051). The right-leaning groups also called for the most far-reaching changes to the program’s governance and structure, in some cases seeking to ax the high-cost fund.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday that he’s generally satisfied with how Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is playing out and raised doubts about whether the agency will plow further into the issue. The debate over Section 230 “is still alive,” but given changes by social media companies, Carr is in a “trust-but-verify posture,” he said at a Politico summit focused on AI.
Amazon's Kuiper is pressing the FCC to revise its five-year deorbit rule for low earth orbit satellites. The current rule, which requires LEO operators to dispose of their satellites within five years of completing their missions, "imposes an artificial and rigid timeline that does not clearly and meaningfully increase space safety for diverse technologies and mission profiles," company representatives told FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz, according to a filing posted Monday (docket 25-133). Satellite operators can be unfairly penalized for a satellite failure beyond their control, Kuiper said. It urged the agency to instead require satellite operators to design and operate their systems to achieve post-mission disposal within five years under nominal conditions. "This approach would better account for the practical realities of the space environment while incentivizing safe satellite and constellation design and operation." The agency adopted the five-year deorbit rule in September 2022 (see 2209290017).
Consensus is emerging among public safety groups on some issues as the FCC considers rules for next-generation 911, the National Emergency Number Association said in reply comments Monday in docket 21-479. Replies are due Wednesday on a Further NPRM that commissioners approved 4-0 in March (see 2503270042).