VoIP Symmetry and Cable Lineup Change Notifications Are Among FCC's December Items
A declaratory ruling interpreting the so-called VoIP symmetry rule, a modification of licensing for noncommercial educational full-service FM and full-power noncommercial educational (NCE) TV and low-power FM broadcast stations, and a proposal to change the deadline for when cable distributors have to notify subscribers if a channel is going dark, will be among the top items at the Dec. 12 FCC meeting, Chairman Ajit Pai blogged Wednesday. Also on the agenda will be a previously announced NPRM for designating 988 as a national suicide prevention hotline number (see 1911190054) and items on sharing the 5.9 GHz band between auto safety and Wi-Fi and clearing the lower 3.1 GHz band (see 1911200055). The draft item texts are expected to be released Thursday.
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Pai said the VoIP symmetry item is meant to update intercarrier compensation rules to encourage the ongoing transition from legacy voice networks to IP-based ones. An existing rule allows LECs to charge companies that deliver long-distance calls to customers over the LEC's network, he said. But with more calls being carried on both public-switched telephone networks and IP-based ones, "it raises questions about which carriers should be able to collect these charges," he said. In the previous administration, Pai dissented on an interpretation of the VoIP symmetry rule that was ultimately rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (see 1611180011). "This one would take a different tack," he said.
“Tweaks” on licensing for NCE and LPFM stations are likely based on an NPRM that was unanimously approved in February (see 1901110033). The proposed changes “are designed to improve our comparative selection and licensing procedures, expedite the initiation of new service to the public, eliminate unnecessary applicant burdens, and reduce the number of appeals of our NCE comparative licensing decisions,” said Pai.
The NPRM included proposals to require prospective license holders to show evidence they have a viable station location when filing, to eliminate rules requiring NCE governing documents to include diversity pledges, and changes to the procedures for mutually exclusive applications. Commenters responding to the NPRM in docket 19-3 in May (see 1905210069) broadly supported the proposals, though filers including America’s Public Television Stations and Low Power FM Advocacy Group sought changes to some proposed language.
The FCC last year saw multiple programming blackouts coming with claims of cable operators violating the FCC's rule on 30-day notices of cable lineup changes, and a Charter Communications push for clarity on that rule (see 1802160017). With retransmission consent and carriage deals often being signed just before a blackout was to occur, "we don’t want consumers to be inundated by premature and inaccurate notices about channel changes that never come to pass," Pai said. Instead of 30 days, the proposal would change the notice deadline to "as soon as possible" for when carriage negotiations fail during the last 30 days of a contract, he said.