The FCC is adopting, 3-2 along party lines today, an NPRM on circulation seeking comment on a requirement MVPDs refund subscribers affected by programming blackouts due to retransmission consent negotiations, a 10th-floor official tells us. Commissioners in December adopted, 4-0, a companion NPRM requiring MVPDs to notify the agency of blackouts due to failed retrans talks. Commissioner Nathan Simington expressed skepticism at the legal basis cited for the reporting requirement.
Urging clarity in FCC rules governing cable operators' compensation for franchise obligations, counsel for state and local interests met with aides to Commissioner Anna Gomez seeking a proceeding that clarifies compensation must be at marginal cost, not fair market value. In docket 05-311 filed Monday, the localities said the agency also should clarify that franchise authorities must pay the marginal cost of using institutional networks, not the construction cost of an institutional network that serves others, such as small businesses and other nonresidential consumers. In addition, they urged repeal of the mixed-use rule as part of proceedings clarifying franchise obligations. Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles County, Hawaii and the National League of Cities were among the interests represented.
The Communications Act is clear, and Dish Network responses to CNZ Communications' must-carry complaint are effectively asking the FCC Media Bureau "to stand on one foot, put on a pair of oversized sunglasses, and spin around five times, to try to find a different meaning," CNZ said Monday in docket 12-1. In its December complaint, CNZ, the licensee of WGBP-TV Opelika, Alabama, urged the agency to compel carriage in the Columbus-Opelika and the Atlanta designated market areas. In its answer last week, Dish said the rules give WGBP the power to elect mandatory carriage in the entire Columbus DMA -- the DMA containing its community of license -- or in the Atlanta DMA plus the county in the Columbus DMA incorporating WGBP's community of license, but that Dish isn't obligated to carry the station through two entire DMAs. Nielsen assigns the station to the Atlanta DMA. Mandatory carriage requirements have never extended to full DMAs, Dish said. In its response Monday, CNZ said the bureau in a must-carry complaint brought against DirecTV made clear that the station could assert mandatory carriage rights in the Atlanta and Columbus markets. It termed meritless Dish's concerns that a requirement for the station to be carried through the Columbus DMA would result in a deluge of similar requests from other stations. The Media Bureau denied the DirecTV must-carry complaint (see 2201050031).
NAB Deputy General Counsel Patrick McFadden has joined Sinclair as senior vice president-global public policy and communications, according to a news release from Sinclair Monday. McFadden "will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of Sinclair’s comprehensive legislative and regulatory strategy" and "oversee Sinclair’s strategic communications and messaging," said the release. McFadden was with NAB for 10 years, and among his most recent duties was overseeing the Future of TV Initiative, the public/private ATSC 3.0 task force that includes FCC participation. Although Sinclair participates in the task force, NAB told us NAB staff will continue to oversee the group's administration. Prior to NAB, McFadden practiced telecommunications law for Drinker Biddle.
Audacy entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and will undergo restructuring, the radio broadcaster announced in a news release Sunday. The restructuring will reduce Audacy’s funded debt from approximately $1.9 billion to around $350 million, it said. Audacy said it doesn’t expect operational impact from the restructuring, and debt holders will receive equity in the reorganized company. “The perfect storm of sustained macroeconomic challenges over the past four years facing the traditional advertising market has led to a sharp reduction of several billion dollars in cumulative radio ad spending,” Audacy CEO David Field said in the release. “These market factors have severely impacted our financial condition and necessitated our balance sheet restructuring.” Audacy’s Chapter 11 proceedings will be held in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (docket No. 24-90004), and the company now has a restructuring website. Audacy expects the court to hold a hearing on the bankruptcy plan in February and the company to emerge from bankruptcy after receiving FCC regulatory approval, the release said.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance urged that the FCC ensure providers and households in the affordable connectivity program are prepared when it ends. In a letter posted Monday in docket 21-450, the group asked for a requirement that ISPs notify participating households 90, 60 and 30 days prior to ACP's end. Moreover, it asked that the FCC create a public list of consumer protections and lead an awareness campaign about the wind-down. NDIA suggested that ACP outreach grant recipients help conduct outreach about affordable plans. "Without the ability to reach impacted households, grantees risk losing the trust of those they enrolled in the program, which undermines the successful implementation of future broadband benefit programs the commission may administer," the group said.
One of the big wireless questions for 2024 is whether Dish Network will succeed as a fourth national wireless provider, New Street’s Blair Levin said in a weekend note to investors. Another is whether another carrier will buy USCellular, he wrote. He added: “There is a question about whether any potential buyers would face a risk of a government rejection, particularly given the views of Democratic antitrust authorities and the results of the last major acquisition to face an FCC review (T-Mobile/Sprint)." Any buyer other than AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon would likely see easy approval, he noted. “Lots of studies are in the pipeline” in the aftermath of the national spectrum strategy, but “these won’t lead to more spectrum coming online before 2025,” Levin said. No resolution appears likely soon on the lower 3 GHz band, but 12 GHz “is the one place” the FCC could authorize a new band for terrestrial use, he said: "Depending on if and how the FCC does it, it could be a boost for DISH.” Levin also predicted Congress could authorize the FCC to sell returned AWS 3 licenses. Congress could authorize a “targeted reauction” without addressing broader DOD concerns “that are blocking efforts to reauthorize spectrum auctions.”
Samsung Electronics America made a technical argument at the FCC in favor of approval of a waiver for a 5G base-station radio that works across citizens broadband radio service and C-band spectrum (see 2309130041). The proposed multiband radio “will not materially increase emissions” in the CBRS band, “or materially increase the CBRS noise floor, compared to two collocated standalone C-Band and CBRS radios; and it will have emissions that are lower than those permitted by the FCC’s rules,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-93. Key parts of the filing were redacted, including a table on measured noise levels from the composite radio. The multiband radio “will always have less emissions than a C-band radio or collocated C-band and CBRS radios operating in compliance with the FCC rules,” Samsung said.
Just five telecom providers in the FCC's Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program filed a final certification, which indicates the "recipient has 'permanently removed from its communications network, replaced, and disposed of (or is in the process of permanently removing, replacing, and disposing of)'" all suspect Huawei and ZTE equipment, the commission told Congress Friday. Lawmakers have eyed legislative vehicles that could allocate an additional $3.1 billion, ensuring full reimbursement of rip-and-replace participants' costs, but haven't reached a deal yet (see 2311070050). Rip-and-replace participants "are continuing to work toward permanently removing, replacing, and disposing of the covered communications equipment and services in their networks," the FCC said in a report. "Recipients continue to indicate, however, that they are facing certain challenges that may hinder their ability to complete that work, both in general and within the time allowed by the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act" and related FCC rules. "Roughly 47% of recipients indicated in their most recent status updates that lack of funding continues to be an obstacle to completing the permanent removal, replacement, and disposal of the covered communications equipment and services in their networks in their entirety, an increase from the 39% that had reported this when" the FCC communicated to Congress in July, the commission said: "Approximately 19% of recipients reported that they will be unable to finish the removal, replacement, and disposal process unless additional funding is provided." About 26% of recipients "contend that an extended period of time needed by the Fund Administrator to review Reimbursement Claims is also a challenge," the FCC said. Review times "have expanded primarily as a result of an increase in the number of claims submitted and the insufficiency of the information included in the claim." In addition, recipients cited supply chain issues and labor shortages as delay factors, the FCC said. By the end of December, the FCC received 12,983 reimbursement claims “across 122 of the 126 applications approved for a funding allocation.” The FCC said it has approved $396.5 million in disbursements to recipients and "granted eleven recipients’ requests for an extension of the one-year deadline to complete" the rip-and-replace process. "The deadlines now range from October 10, 2023 to November 16, 2024," the FCC said.
The five-year satellite disposal requirement that just went into effect won't trigger a faster pace of low earth orbit satellite launches as operators won't try to put vehicles in orbit under the regulatory wire, space experts tell us. In addition, the new rule shouldn't propel LEO missions to seek licensing in nations outside the U.S., they believe. The five-year deorbit rule adopted in 2022 (see 2209290017) covers all launches after Sept. 29.