An ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate and a set date for the switch to the new standard are necessary for TV broadcasting to survive and compete with streaming, said Sinclair, Scripps, Gray and others in comments filed in response to NAB’s 3.0 petition in docket 16-142 by Wednesday’s deadline. The Consumer Technology Association, public interest organizations and multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) groups disagreed, arguing that a mandatory transition would increase costs for consumers and MVPDs, all to provide broadcasters with a new revenue stream.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in an interview Thursday that “we are going to have [a restoration of the FCC’s lapsed] auction authority and a spectrum pipeline” in the coming budget reconciliation package, as talks appeared to be moving closer to a compromise headed into the weekend. Meanwhile, House GOP leaders are coalescing around a deal that would pair a 10-year renewal of the FCC’s auction mandate with a 450 MHz pipeline of airwaves that the commission can repurpose for 5G use, said several communications sector lobbyists who are closely monitoring negotiations.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Monday night called House Commerce Committee Republicans’ budget reconciliation proposal “encouraging” but stopped short of backing the measure. House Commerce’s proposal, which the panel will mark up Tuesday, would restore the FCC’s lapsed auction authority through the end of FY 2034 and tee up 600 MHz of bandwidth for sale within six years of enactment.
The outlook on what happens next on the Digital Equity Act (DEA) is uncertain after President Donald Trump said his administration won’t fund the program. Congress approved DEA in 2021 as part of a $1 trillion infrastructure package under former President Joe Biden. In a Truth Social post late Thursday, Trump said he's canceling DEA, which industry officials predicted will lead to inevitable legal challenges and months if not years of uncertainty.
As part of its plan to launch a space-to-space and space-to-ground quantum key distribution network, quantum computing company IonQ said Wednesday it would buy synthetic aperture radar satellite Capella Space. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2025, pending regulatory approvals, it said. Capella holds multiple FCC licenses. IonQ said Capella's top-secret signals capabilities will help it build global quantum-secure networks. Financial details weren't released.
SpaceX provided false equivalencies about EchoStar's challenge to the out-of-band emissions limit waiver granted to SpaceX, EchoStar said Thursday (docket 23-135). EchoStar said the FCC Space Bureau failed in the waiver to determine that waiving the aggregate out-of-band power limit for supplemental coverage from space service was unlikely to cause harmful interference. It added that the waivers that were granted to EchoStar and SpaceX cites in its application for review (see 2504230021) included a bureau finding that harmful interference was unlikely. EchoStar said SpaceX's citations help prove EchoStar's point.
The New York office of the FCC Enforcement Bureau sent a warning to North Shore Financial in Tarrytown about pirate radio broadcasts emanating from its property in Springfield Gardens, said an agency notice issued Thursday. EB agents found unauthorized radio broadcasts coming from the property in January, the notice said. Unlike in recent similar notices, the precise address of the property was redacted. The FCC didn’t provide a reason for the redaction, but a footnote in the notice said the information is “confidential.” The notice warned that the landowners could face up to a $2.4 million penalty for hosting unauthorized broadcasts, but the FCC’s authority to issue monetary forfeitures is currently under legal challenge (see 2504180021).
Spectrum for the Future went on the attack Thursday against new CTIA President Ajit Pai over his calls for more spectrum for high-power licensed use. Pai has had a big week, contributing an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal (see 2505050033) and hosting CTIA’s 5G Summit (see 2505060036). Spectrum for the Future is funded by cable companies and other sharing advocates. CTIA didn't comment Thursday.
The 50 MHz guard band between 28.35 and 28.4 GHz to protect upper microwave flexible use service (UMFUS) receivers from non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) earth stations in motion (ESIM) interference is wasteful and unnecessary, satellite interests said. In a docket 17-95 posting Thursday, the Satellite Industry Association recapped a meeting with FCC staff at which it and satellite company representatives argued that the 28 GHz UMFUS band is underused. SIA said the potential interference from NGSO ESIMs is no different from the potential interference from NGSO fixed terminals or from geostationary orbit fixed terminals or ESIMs, which can operate in the 28.35-28.4 GHz band. Satellite operators have demonstrated the interference risk is minuscule, the group said. A nationwide guard band to safeguard localized, limited UMFUS deployments that are already protected unduly limits NGSO ESIM services. Meeting with the FCC Space and Wireline Bureau staffers were representatives of Amazon, SES and Telesat.
The National Consumer Law Center and others representing the interests of prisoners and their families filed in support of the FCC’s July order implementing the Martha Wright-Reed Act of 2022 in an amicus brief filed Thursday at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (24-8028).