Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is open to net neutrality legislation that doesn’t diminish the protections and authority of the FCC 2015 order, he said Friday. He generally has allied himself with Senate Democrats who spurn legislation and was an early backer of the Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband that Republicans widely oppose. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., made another pitch for bipartisan negotiation the same day, part of dueling opinion pieces for Ars Technica. Telecom industry observers told us there seems to be little middle ground offered up in Schumer’s statements, raising doubts about the prospects of real negotiation.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is open to net neutrality legislation that doesn’t diminish the protections and authority of the FCC 2015 order, he said Friday. He generally has allied himself with Senate Democrats who spurn legislation and was an early backer of the Communications Act Title II reclassification of broadband that Republicans widely oppose. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., made another pitch for bipartisan negotiation the same day, part of dueling opinion pieces for Ars Technica. Telecom industry observers told us there seems to be little middle ground offered up in Schumer’s statements, raising doubts about the prospects of real negotiation.

Chairman Ajit Pai employed what some say was a surprisingly aggressive strategy on transparency Thursday when he released the text of all six items up for a vote at the March 23 commissioners' meeting (see 1703020063). Pai is getting generally high marks for making the process more transparent. For the first time, industry officials will be able to see how an order changes from initial draft to the final version, though not the interim drafts. But some industry officials also note that for dedicated FCC watchers, like communications lawyers, having orders available won’t be that much of change. The process reform puts more pressure on key staffers who prepare items to have them ready for public release, rather than merely as documents circulated on the eighth floor at FCC headquarters.

The Federal Aviation Administration is "ready today" to move from ground-based radar to the GPS-based automatic dependent surveillance -- broadcast network and the agency "look[s] forward" to the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast equipment being installed in aircraft, said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta Thursday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit, according to posted remarks. Huerta said as aviation increasingly includes such participants as unmanned aerial vehicles and commercial rocket launchers, the agency "must find a way to balance these often-competing priorities." Huerta said that balancing act "has raised important questions about how our air traffic control system should be operated and who should pay for it" and called for collaboration on answers.

The Federal Aviation Administration is "ready today" to move from ground-based radar to the GPS-based automatic dependent surveillance -- broadcast network and the agency "look[s] forward" to the Jan. 1, 2020, deadline for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast equipment being installed in aircraft, said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta Thursday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit, according to posted remarks. Huerta said as aviation increasingly includes such participants as unmanned aerial vehicles and commercial rocket launchers, the agency "must find a way to balance these often-competing priorities." Huerta said that balancing act "has raised important questions about how our air traffic control system should be operated and who should pay for it" and called for collaboration on answers.

The FCC appears poised to take on contraband cellphones in prisons in an NPRM at the March 23 commissioners’ meeting, industry officials said Wednesday. The focus is in keeping with Chairman Ajit Pai’s complaints last year about the lack of progress on the issue. Wireless industry officials raised concerns that a focus on contraband cellphones could open up a debate on whether to legalize jammers as one solution. Industry officials said they understand Pai wants to make contraband cellphones one of his “signature” issues. The FCC declined to comment.

With Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act due to expire by the end of the year, the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday will hear from witnesses that the intelligence-gathering program is valuable and needed, though transparency needs to be strengthened. Section 702 has been criticized by privacy advocates who say the program incidentally collects U.S. persons' communications even though it's supposed to target only foreign suspects overseas. The first part of the hearing is closed to the public; the second panel is open.

Chairman Ajit Pai pledged to move the FCC toward an era of light-handed regulation. He said in a speech Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that if regulators don’t get the rules right, investors will put their money elsewhere and not in 5G and broadband. Pai said the 2015 net neutrality order was a “mistake” and injected too much uncertainty into the market.

With Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act due to expire by the end of the year, the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday will hear from witnesses that the intelligence-gathering program is valuable and needed, though transparency needs to be strengthened. Section 702 has been criticized by privacy advocates who say the program incidentally collects U.S. persons' communications even though it's supposed to target only foreign suspects overseas. The first part of the hearing is closed to the public; the second panel is open.

The range of auction results announced by stations exemplifies the intent of Congress and the FCC that each licensee in the incentive auction has a range of choices for what to do with its spectrum, Incentive Auction Task Force Chairman Gary Epstein said at America's Public Television Stations conference Tuesday. Though he said the FCC couldn't release details about how specific stations did, such information will become available when the commission issues its channel reassignment public notice in April. At that time, the FCC will "open the tent" to allow industry to see how the auction "played out," Epstein said. In a videotaped message played before the panel, Chairman Ajit Pai said he hoped the funds raised from the auction by public TV stations allow them to "enhance the services they provide."