House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle, D-Pa., saw positive signs for moving forward on legislation to mandate an FCC-led public auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band after all subcommittee Democrats and several Republicans showed a clear preference for such a plan during a Tuesday hearing. The panel also was a forum for castigating the C-Band Alliance's proposal for a private auction of the bandwidth, as expected (see 1910280040). All sides continued to meet with the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai is expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an order Monday for the Nov. 19 commissioners’ meeting that would bar providers from using USF support to buy from suppliers deemed a threat to national security. Pai mentioned Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1910280021). FCC officials said the order singles out those two. Pai proposes to seek comment on rules requiring eligible telecom carriers remove from their networks existing equipment from the suppliers and on how to provide financial assistance to carriers to help them transition to a trusted supplier.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is crafting alternative legislation to a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House and would create a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office (see 1910230025), a Wyden aide told us. He and frequent partner here Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., recently placed holds on the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-2426/S-1273), according to aides.

Domain Name System (DNS) abuse is a growing threat given the cost of cybercrime, Laureen Kapin, FTC counsel for international affairs for consumer protection, said at an Oct. 15 ICANN policy webinar. The law enforcement community is pressing registries and registrars to take action. Those "contracted parties" say they want to help, but they face a lack of clarity on how to define the abuse and how far they can go to address it. This issue, along with continuing work on compliance with EU's general data protection regulation, possible new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and a more effective multistakeholder governance model, is teed up for ICANN's Nov. 2-7 meeting in Montreal.

Democratic FCC members joined the majority Friday, begrudgingly approving Charter Communications’ effective competition petition based on the existence of vMVPD AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now). Both they and the Republican majority said the Cable Act clearly justifies grant of Charter’s petition. Democrats concurred in their votes, citing the near-certitude customers in parts of Massachusetts and Hawaii will face big jumps in the cost of basic cable.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is crafting alternative legislation to a bill that overwhelmingly passed the House and would create a voluntary small claims board within the Copyright Office (see 1910230025), a Wyden aide told us. He and frequent partner here Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., recently placed holds on the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-2426/S-1273), according to aides.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., urged the FCC to not grant Charter Communications' effective competition petition, saying it “risks opening the door to increased prices for consumers.” The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable argues DirecTV Now's rebranding makes Charter's petition moot (see 1910210040). The company says that claim is erroneous, since the service itself remains the same (see 1910230037). Charter would no longer be subject to rate regulations and would be able to raise rates for basic cable service and equipment in 32 Massachusetts communities, including Worcester, Markey wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Thursday. “Research shows that basic service tier cable rates are 50% higher in unregulated communities than they are in regulated communities, and Charter has explicitly stated that if the Commission grants its petition, the company plans to almost double the rate paid by consumers that subscribe to the basic service tier in some communities.” Charter didn't comment. Friday, commissioners are to vote on the matter. Markey's Truth-in-Billing, Remedies and User Empowerment over Fees (True Fees) Act (S-510/HR-1220) would require telecom, cable and broadband providers include all charges in advertised prices (see 1902140045).

Some media-focused officials testified in favor of a shorter-term Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization during a Wednesday Senate Commerce Committee hearing. The possibility has come into increasing focus as the law's Dec. 31 expiration nears (see 1910220058). Witnesses otherwise adhered to their existing STELA stances. Several Senate Commerce members later told us they're no closer to deciding what direction to go on the issue.

SpaceX is showing "utter disregard" of FCC process for reviewing applications by asking for special temporary authority to modify orbital planes of its planned constellation while it has a pending modification application to do that, OneWeb said in an International Bureau filing Thursday. It said the record shows non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) operators raising concerns about STA approval. SpaceX didn't comment Friday. OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel also met with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to urge approval of its modification application that has been pending 19 months, said a posting Friday. OneWeb said regulatory treatment of competitors should be equal, noting SpaceX's first modification application was acted on after six months (see 1904260071) and the FCC is considering a second. OneWeb also raised concerns about Amazon's proposed NGSO Kuiper constellation coming more than 2.5 years after the Ku-/Ka-band NGSO processing round. It argued against opening the 12 GHz band to two-way wireless service, as sought by the MVDDS 5G Coalition (see 1604260068), given the band's importance to NGSO.

SpaceX is showing "utter disregard" of FCC process for reviewing applications by asking for special temporary authority to modify orbital planes of its planned constellation while it has a pending modification application to do that, OneWeb said in an International Bureau filing Thursday. It said the record shows non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) operators raising concerns about STA approval. SpaceX didn't comment Friday. OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel also met with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks to urge approval of its modification application that has been pending 19 months, said a posting Friday. OneWeb said regulatory treatment of competitors should be equal, noting SpaceX's first modification application was acted on after six months (see 1904260071) and the FCC is considering a second. OneWeb also raised concerns about Amazon's proposed NGSO Kuiper constellation coming more than 2.5 years after the Ku-/Ka-band NGSO processing round. It argued against opening the 12 GHz band to two-way wireless service, as sought by the MVDDS 5G Coalition (see 1604260068), given the band's importance to NGSO.