Jobs remain an issue in T-Mobile's buying Sprint, stakeholders agreed. They differ on whether the deal would lead to more employment or hurt unionization. At the Capitol Forum Thursday and in Q&A with us, those for and against the deal expanded on existing policy positions. Topics included rollout of attorneys general backing the transaction after reaching pacts for the combined company to locate jobs in their states.

Lobbying continues for and against proposed rules requiring carriers to identify the vertical location of indoor wireless calls to 911. APCO questions whether the requirement will help first responders locate callers (see 1911130030). Officials in the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai say the preponderance of public safety groups support the order, set for a commissioner vote at the Nov. 22 meeting.

Jobs remain an issue in T-Mobile's buying Sprint, stakeholders agreed. They differ on whether the deal would lead to more employment or hurt unionization. At the Capitol Forum Thursday and in Q&A with us, those for and against the deal expanded on existing policy positions. Topics included rollout of attorneys general backing the transaction after reaching pacts for the combined company to locate jobs in their states.

The House Communications Subcommittee advanced the Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) and eight other bills on voice votes Thursday, as expected (see 1911130001). The subcommittee's debate over HR-5035, which would renew parts of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, signals that measure faces a rockier path at a House Commerce Committee markup. The vote happened a day after the Senate Commerce Committee postponed a markup (see 1911130055) of the similar Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) amid a committee members' revolt led by ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. STELA is set to expire Dec. 31.

House and Senate Commerce committee efforts to advance Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization legislation appeared to be going in different directions Wednesday. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., pulled his STELA bill, the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789), from a committee markup. Several lobbyists cited a revolt by some Democratic and Republican members as the reason for the postponement. House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., appeared on the verge of advancing his renewal measure, the Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035), during a planned Thursday markup. STELA is currently set to expire Dec. 31.

Senate Commerce Committee members teed up at least 11 amendments to the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) for committee consideration during its Wednesday executive session, amid some lawmakers’ displeasure with the existing measure. S-2789 would extend the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act through 2024 (see 1911060043). The deadline for senators to submit amendments expired Friday. Communications lobbyists told us they continue hearing chatter about additional language. Some expect Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to agree to a compromise manager's amendment Tuesday night that would include text from other senators' proposals. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., filed his Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) Wednesday to renew the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, as expected (see 1911050028). The committee confirmed Wednesday night it will mark up the bill during a Nov. 13 executive session, also as expected. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 216 Hart.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai responded to concerns raised by Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy of Louisiana and other Hill Republicans about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. The response came in letters sent before two recent congressional hearings on the issue (see 1910290037). Pai's expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at the commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052). Kennedy has been particularly vocal on the issue and spoke with President Donald Trump about it last week (see 1911010052). Kennedy has been working to retain Senate Appropriations Committee-backed pro-public auction language (see 1909190079) in the chamber's version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC budget bill (S-2524) despite opposition from Senate Commerce Committee GOP leaders. The FCC will need to “balance a variety of interests” in its final decision on the C band, Pai wrote Kennedy in an Oct. 15 letter released Monday. “I am optimistic that the Commission will be able to adopt” a C-band “in the near future.” Pai wrote Kennedy in response to the senator’s July letter to Trump about his C-band concerns (see 1907190051). Pai outlined four goals for an eventual auction, which he repeated during the panel days later (see 1910170038), including that a final plan should “quickly” make a “significant” amount of spectrum available for 5G. It should also “generate revenue for the federal government” and must ensure current C-band incumbents' services, including cable and broadcast programming, “will continue to be delivered” to consumers, Pai said. He made the same points in letters, released Friday, responding to concerns (see 1907290061) from Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte, both R-Mont. Gianforte is a co-sponsor of the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855), which would require a public FCC auction of 200-300 MHz of “contiguous” spectrum in the swath by Sept. 30, 2022 (see 1910240046).

A letter from President Donald Trump to ITU helped rather than complicated U.S. outreach at the 2019 World Radicommunication Conference, Grace Koh, U.S. ambassador to WRC-19, told reporters Friday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he was at WRC with a broad focus to advocate for U.S. positions. Also on the call was Douglas Kinkoph, acting NTIA deputy administrator. Friday was day five of the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

A fight over states seeking to regulate interconnected VoIP could return to the Supreme Court if it reviews the 2017 FCC net neutrality repeal, some experts told us. The court last month denied certiori to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which appealed an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' decision that VoIP is an information service exempt from state regulation (see 1910210059). Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence said their court should address in an “appropriate” case an underlying question about if federal nonregulation can pre-empt state regulation. That's seen opening a new path of attack for states.