CaptionMate urged the FCC to give smaller providers of IP captioned telephone services a "fair shot at achieving scale" by establishing an emergent rate (see 2406030062). The company said in separate meetings with aides to Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks that the cost of an emergent rate "would be exceedingly small and more than offset by even modest reductions to" the automatic speech recognition-only rate of larger providers. CaptionMate also met with the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics, and the Disability Rights Office, per a filing Thursday in docket 03-123.
The Media Institute released an adaptation of remarks previously given by FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez at a February luncheon (see 2402200066) as a paper on misinformation in media, a news release said Thursday. The paper, part of the institute’s Madison Project series, is called "Misinformation and the Threat to Our Democracy." In the speech and paper, Gomez said, “Concern about dis- or misinformation is one of the top media issues raised to me in my role as commissioner.” She added, “And it is one where, frankly, regulatory options are limited, as they should be.”
Twenty-nine out of 113 cellsites are down and some police departments have rerouted 911 calls owing to wildfires affecting two counties in New Mexico, a disaster information report system update said Thursday. The fires are mainly affecting Lincoln and Otero counties, so the FCC has activated “DIRS-Lite,” which involves the Public Safety Bureau “obtaining more granular situation-specific information through ongoing direct communications with communications providers,” the report said. The agency is using DIRS-Lite “due to the geographically concentrated impact of the New Mexico wildfires, and the need to gain information that is more precise than county-level.” The report also shows 2,877 wireline customers out of service due to a damaged switch, and that a head-end in Lincoln County serving 172 VoIP customers was damaged. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility deployed nine mobile assets to the area, the report said. The Public Safety Bureau also issued a public notice Thursday detailing contact numbers and emergency communications procedures for the disaster.
The ISP petitioners’ consolidated motion to stay the FCC’s net neutrality order (see 2406110073) “attempts to replay the same legal challenges they ran unsuccessfully in 2015,” said the commission's opposition Tuesday in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (dockets 24.7000, 24.3449, 24.3450, 24.3497, 24.3504, 24.3507, 24.3508, 24.3510, 24.3511, 24.3517, 24.3519, 24.3538).
Supporters of the FCC's expired affordable connectivity program acknowledge the Senate Commerce Committee’s impasse (see 2406180067) on the Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) may spur a reexamination of alternatives for addressing broadband pricing. This realization comes amid weakening odds that Congress can address ACP funding via a broader package aimed at restoring the FCC's lapsed airwaves sales authority. Lawmakers continue insisting a legislative solution is possible this year even though Senate Commerce’s cancellation of its planned Tuesday markup of S-4207 (see 2406170066) was its fourth pulling of the measure since early May. Other stakeholders are urging a shift to emphasizing nonlegislative solutions.
Oppositions to a SpaceX petition seeking reconsideration of the aggregate out-of-band power flux density (PFD) limits that the FCC adopted in March's supplemental coverage from space order (see 2405300044) are due July 5 in docket 23-65, according to a notice for Thursday's Federal Register. Replies to the oppositions are due July 15, it said. SpaceX has pushed for band-specific out-of-band PFD limits.
As part of a reorganization of SiriusXM's ownership structure, Liberty Media is asking the FCC Space Bureau for approval of a pro forma transfer of control of Sirius XM and its licenses. In a bureau application posted Tuesday, Liberty said the people who control Liberty Media, which has a controlling interest in Sirius XM, will also run New SiriusXM directly through the transaction. It said the simplified New Sirius XM ownership structure, with a single class of stock shares, should attract a broader investment base. New SiriusXM's formation was announced in December.
Pointing to the FCC's pending pay-TV early termination fee (ETF) proceeding, EchoStar representatives urged that the agency instead adopt the billing practices in Dish Network's 2009 agreement with 46 state attorneys general. That approach would ensure consumers are fully educated about the terms of any pay-TV plan, Dish parent EchoStar representatives told FCC Media Bureau Chief Holly Sauer, according to a docket 23-405 filing Tuesday. EchoStar said the 2009 measure covers such turf as requiring that ads promoting an ETF plan must conspicuously disclose minimum terms of agreement. A split FCC 3-2 adopted the ETF NPRM in December (see 2312050007). EchoStar said the FCC's proposed mandatory rebates in the event of retransmission consent-related programming blackouts would worsen the retrans negotiating power imbalance with broadcasters that spurs blackouts. Instead, the agency should revise the retrans consent regime, EchoStar said. The blackout rebate NPRM also received a 3-2 approval (see 2401100026).
Five broadcasters filed for 21 new FM boosters to use for geotargeted radio, said GeoBroadcast Solutions in reply comments filed Monday (docket 20-401). GBS didn’t name the broadcasters but said the boosters are in geographically diverse markets, including Seattle; Jackson, Mississippi; and Fort Duchesne, Utah. “Our understanding is that more broadcasters will file soon,” GBS said. It told the FCC that interference safeguards for content-originating boosters that NAB and REC Networks proposed are “unnecessary or attempt to reopen technical issues already resolved in the Report and Order.” GBS also said the FCC doesn’t need to require geotargeted radio broadcasters to provide special notifications to the Federal Emergency Management Agency or other emergency alert participants. FCC rules requiring reporting to the emergency test reporting and state emergency alert systems already make that information available to FEMA and other EAS participants, GBS said. REC Networks said it remained skeptical about geotargeted radio technology and warned that it will hurt the radio industry. Content-originating FM boosters are “merely a way for GBS to take advantage of small minority broadcasters through their ‘zero up front’ method of financing the project” taking “minority station revenues off the top,” REC said. “Our bigger concern is to address the fact that FM Boosters provide absolutely no co-channel protection to incumbent facilities.” Minority-owned Roberts Radio told the FCC that the technology will create revenue for similar companies, but said the agency should eliminate EAS equipment requirements for FM boosters and allow more geotargeted content per hour. Increasing the three-minute-limit per hour to six would “double the effect of this opportunity, and still represent less than half the advertising time available on most commercial FM stations,” Roberts said. FM boosters used in geotargeted radio don’t need their own EAS equipment because they can repeat the signal from their main station, Roberts said. “Requiring program originating booster operators to install EAS equipment will impose significant and wholly unnecessary financial and technical burdens on the broadcasters that employ them.”
The FCC Enforcement Bureau denied a petition for reconsideration of a $25,000 forfeiture against Jupiter Community Radio, operator of WJUP-LP Jupiter, Florida, an order in Tuesday’s Daily Digest said. The original forfeiture order was issued for violations including failure to make the station available for FCC inspection and to maintain emergency alert system equipment. Jupiter appealed that order in 2022 seeking a reduction in the fine, saying that it was unable to pay and that it had addressed the issues with its EAS equipment. In April 2024, Enforcement Bureau agents tried to inspect the station but found it off the air, the order said. “An agent contacted Jupiter’s president to arrange an inspection of the Station’s facilities, but the president was uncooperative at the time and did not return the agent’s follow-up calls seeking access to the Station’s facilities to conduct an inspection,” Tuesday’s order said. Jupiter didn’t submit sufficient documentation to demonstrate an inability to pay, the EB said. “Coupled with Jupiter’s continued unwillingness to permit Bureau agents to inspect the Station, we find that the public interest does not favor granting the relief that Jupiter seeks.”