Members of the House this week asked FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to send to the Federal Register for publication rules for new multilingual templates for wireless emergency alerts (WEA), which the Public Safety Bureau released in January (see 2501080029).
Efforts by the White House and FCC to chill speech are succeeding, Commissioner Anna Gomez said at an event Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles, hosted by Free Press. It marked the first stop outside Washington, D.C., for Gomez’s “First Amendment Tour.” She said broadcasters have told her that they're warning reporters to tread carefully when covering the current administration. “That’s exactly what I don’t want to see." Using “the raised eyebrow,” the FCC is intimidating the corporate parents of journalistic organizations, she said. “It is so dangerous. We all need to understand what is happening.” The government telling private companies how to moderate their websites doesn’t comport with the First Amendment, she added. Gomez called for the FCC to pivot away from “sham investigations” and focus on actions that can help Americans, noting that Congress hasn’t given the FCC authority over Section 230 of the Communications Act.
Communications Daily is tracking the lawsuits below involving appeals of FCC actions.
NextNav sees signs that the U.S. is moving to allow alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT), said Ed Mortimer, its vice president-government affairs, during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. The U.S. was once the leader in GPS but has “fallen behind” countries like China and Russia, which already have alternatives available for PNT, he said.
Major communications industry trade associations complained about state broadband regulations in a joint filing at the DOJ in response to a request for comments by the department’s new Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force. Like the FCC’s “Delete” proceeding, the initiative is part of the Trump administration’s push to cut regulation.
As the subject of two FCC probes, EchoStar has received backing from various industry groups and others, but it also faces new questions about how well it's complying with the terms of its 5G network buildout. That's according to docket 25-173 and 22-212 comments, which were due Tuesday in a pair of public notices: one on whether EchoStar is using the 2 GHz band for mobile satellite service (MSS), consistent with its authorizations, and the other seeking further comment on VTel Wireless' recon petition regarding an extension of EchoStar's 5G network buildout deadlines (see 2505130003).
The FCC should take “a second look” at reclassifying streaming platforms -- sometimes called virtual MVPDs -- as MVPDs and allow broadcasters more flexibility to consolidate, Commissioner Nathan Simington said Tuesday in a Daily Caller column co-authored with Gavin Wax, his chief of staff. “The Communications Act’s definition of a ‘channel’ must be expanded from covering spectrum to encompass digital distribution,” they wrote. “If it walks and talks like a broadcaster, it should be regulated like one.”
The FCC Wireline Bureau on Tuesday reversed four Universal Service Administrative Co. audit decisions denying reimbursements for Lifeline support that Verizon/Alltel provided to eligible residents of tribal lands in North Dakota and South Dakota in 2007. Verizon Wireless acquired Alltel Wireless in 2008.
Verizon representatives expressed general support for FCC rules covering an AWS-3 reauction (see 2504290007) in a meeting with agency staff, said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 25-117. “We urged the FCC to move swiftly to get the AWS-3 spectrum in its inventory back into the marketplace after lying fallow for too long,” Verizon said. The meeting included personnel from the Office of Economics and Analytics and the Wireless Bureau.
NTIA filed at the FCC on Tuesday an “inventory” discussing the possible alternatives to GPS for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) and GPS modernization. FCC commissioners approved a notice of inquiry in March seeking broad comment on the issue (see 2503270042).