The FCC hasn’t experienced a large-scale workforce reduction and can still operate despite a roughly 6% decrease in staff between October and May, Chairman Brendan Carr said in letters to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Sent at the beginning of May, the letters were posted Thursday by the FCC. Carr was replying to March letters from Cantwell and Hoyer expressing concern about the effects of staff cuts and the involvement of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the FCC.
Groups representing prisoners and their families on Thursday asked the FCC to rescind a Wireline Bureau order delaying some incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027. The prisoner advocates told us previously that they were weighing their options following the bureau order (see 2507030024).
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) adopted two resolutions at its Summer Policy Summit in Boston this week, calling for enhanced federal-state collaboration on telecom policy, particularly in phone number management and universal service funding. NARUC’s telecom committee passed both Monday, and the full board of directors adopted them Wednesday.
Opponents of T-Mobile’s purchase of wireless assets from UScellular, including spectrum, filed a challenge to an FCC bureau order approving the deal (see 2507110045). They asked the agency to review the decision before it closes, which is expected Friday. Commissioner Anna Gomez said in an email she agreed that commissioners should have been asked to vote on the transaction.
Comments are due Aug. 29 on a proposed swap of seven stations between Gray Television and E.W. Scripps, said a public notice Wednesday. The no-cash deal involves swapping Gray stations in Colorado and Idaho for Scripps stations in Michigan and Louisiana, creating top-four duopolies in multiple markets (see 2507070028). The companies initially anticipated receiving waivers of the top-four prohibition to allow the deal to proceed, but last week the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the rule (see 2507230063). After that ruling, which doesn’t take effect for 90 days, the broadcasters asked the FCC to either wait for the court’s mandate, grant the applications using the anticipated waiver process, or approve the deals without waiting for the court using a temporary waiver. Opposition filings are due Sept. 15, replies Sept. 25.
The FCC Media Bureau has waived the requirement that broadcasters file biennial ownership reports for 18 months, in apparent anticipation of that requirement being eliminated, said a public notice late Tuesday. Multiple commenters in the agency's "Delete" proceeding “urged the Commission to revisit the current biennial ownership filing requirement, which they maintain is a costly and burdensome requirement without a sufficient offsetting public benefit,” the notice said. “With the next filing window approaching, we find there is good cause to waive the biennial ownership report filing requirement.”
CTIA generally supports the rule changes proposed for the disaster information reporting system (DIRS) and other emergency alert systems, it told the FCC in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 21-346. The NPRM is set for a vote at the agency's Aug. 7 open meeting (see 2507170048). “CTIA and its member companies support the FCC’s efforts to ensure that public safety stakeholders have actionable information to maintain critical services, including 911 and 988,” the group said. In deciding which information is most usable, “the Commission should consider that there is a growing consensus among industry and public safety stakeholders that the current framework for outage notifications, including those notifications to 911 and 988 special facilities in areas where DIRS has been activated, is leading to outage notification fatigue."
The draft submarine cable order on the FCC's Aug. 7 agenda (see 2507170048) needs to clear up potentially confusing language about the scope of the security risk management plan certification requirements, CTIA said in a filing posted Wednesday (docket 24-523). It called for the draft order's requirements to apply only to submarine cable systems, not all an operator's systems.
The FCC has logged more than 3,000 comments complaining about a Wireline Bureau decision to delay some deadlines for incarcerated people’s communications service until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068). “The FCC's sudden reversal" on regulations that passed unanimously last year is "plainly shameful,” said a filing by Caitlin Bambery posted Wednesday in docket 23-62. “It delays more than four decades of necessary relief for those who need it most, families with incarcerated loved ones.”
EchoStar is again making previously delayed interest payments to holders of company notes as it said it continues to try to address issues with the FCC. In an SEC filing Wednesday, EchoStar said it was paying the interest originally due July 1 on 2026 and 2028 notes. Beyond its talks with the FCC, the company said it's engaged in "wide-ranging efforts to explore alternative or complementary pathways that could, if successfully implemented, resolve the FCC’s stated concerns in a manner acceptable to the Company."