A broadcast tower owned by noncommercial KOZK Springfield, Missouri, collapsed while being worked on Thursday, killing one worker, local fire and rescue officials told us. Six people were working on the 1,980-foot tower, near Fordland, when it collapsed, said a spokesman for the Logan-Rogersville Fire Protection District. The workers, identified by the spokesman as contractors, were about 105 feet off the ground when the tower collapsed, the spokesman said. Three were transported to the hospital with minor injuries, he said. The work was taking place to comply with “FCC regulations,” the spokesman said. Fire and rescue officials were unsure which agency will handle an investigation of the cause of the incident. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigated a 2017 tower collapse in Miami that killed three workers and eventually proposed a $13,000 fine to the contractor (see 1803270044). KOZK, OSHA and the Webster County Sheriff’s Office didn’t comment.

The FCC released draft versions of two broadcast NPRMs slotted for its May meeting, plus a wireless item. The draft on FM translator interference proposes allowing translators to relocate freely with minor modification applications and a six-complaint minimum to bump a translator from its signal, as expected (see 1804180068). The other media NPRM concerns eliminating a rule requiring the physical display of broadcast licenses. The agency also released a draft NPRM seeking comment on allowing more flexible use in the 2.5 GHz band.

A court consolidated challenges to FCC Lifeline tribal limits and set a briefing schedule. The National Lifeline Association and resellers filed a January petition (in Pacer) seeking relief from the commission's late 2017 order, which restricted enhanced Tribal Lifeline USF support by targeting it to "facilities-based" service and newly defined "rural" areas (see 1801290020). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had established a briefing schedule for that case, but this week it granted (in Pacer) a motion to consolidate the case with Crow Creek Sioux Tribe's March petition (in Pacer). Crow Creek challenges the same decisions and alleges "the commission did not meaningfully consult with Tribal authorities about the impact of these changes on native communities as required by law." Both petitioner opening briefs are now due May 9, the government's response brief June 25 and petitioner reply briefs July 16 in National Lifeline Association v. FCC, No. 18-1026, consolidated.

Disney's proposed buy of Fox's nonbroadcast assets got a DOJ second request for information March 5, the companies said in a draft proxy vote filing to the SEC Wednesday. The companies said Disney might have to pay a termination fee of $2.5 billion if the deal isn't consummated because it doesn't receive regulatory approvals or is blocked on antitrust grounds. They said completion is conditioned on FCC consent "if required," plus regulatory approvals from the EU, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.K. "if required." The deal would boost the buyer's ability to do direct-to-consumer (DTC) offerings and its IP portfolio and output capability, Disney's board said. The board said the transaction would speed up its DTC strategy via Fox's content and capabilities and as a result of having a controlling stake in Hulu. Disney said Fox received an unsolicited offer from an unnamed second company after news of Disney/Fox deal broke in November, but Fox's board decided a deal with that company posed "a qualitatively higher level of regulatory risk, including the possibility of an outright prohibition, than such a transaction with Disney." Disney/Fox is seen facing an uncertain reception from DOJ but the FCC likely won't play a role (see 1712130010). Comcast bid for Sky, which 21st Century Fox owns much of, and the cable operator has been named as a possible buyer of all of Fox (see 1802270011).

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is to testify April 26 at a House Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee hearing on the agency's FY 2019 budget request, a committee GOP aide told us. House Appropriations hadn't officially noticed the hearing. The commission didn't comment. The proposed budget for FY 2019 was about $322 million, down more than $21 million from the $343 million allocated in FY 2018 continuing appropriations but the same as the Trump administration’s proposed budget for the agency for that year. The Office of Inspector General’s budget would remain largely steady at $11 million (see 1802120037). The FCC reauthorization and spectrum legislative package (HR-4986), which Congress enacted as part of the $1.3 trillion FY 2018 omnibus spending bill (HR-1625), allocates the same combined amount to the FCC and OIG for FY 2019 and increases their combined budget by about $6.5 million for FY 2020 (see 1803210068, 1803220048 and 1803230038).

FCC efforts to mitigate storm damage to communications networks in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are inadequate and lacked transparency, commented Free Press and the National Hispanic Media Coalition in Wednesday in docket 17-344. Closing of public comments on FCC hurricane response before basic utilities were restored to storm victims prevented “those with the most at stake from participating in this proceeding,” the filing said. Free Press and NHMC unsuccessfully asked to extend the comment period (see 1802200042). "Barriers to participation in this proceeding have been far too high,” they said. The FCC didn’t do “proper outreach” in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the groups said. “Surprisingly, the Commission failed to publish its request for public comment in Spanish, Puerto Rico’s dominant language.” The regulator should “deeply analyze” the effects of the storms, as it did by holding field hearings after Hurricane Katrina, the filing said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeatedly says the agency should hold field hearings in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. “These events should be easy for those impacted by the storm to attend and participate in, in terms of language, location, accessibility and other necessary accommodations,” the filing said: The agency should also create a story collection tool and do outreach to make victims aware of it, increase transparency about the Hurricane Recovery Task Force, publish a report on its findings, and re-open the San Juan, Puerto Rico, field office. Free Press and NHMC criticized FCC proposed cuts to the Lifeline program. The cuts would “disconnect the Lifeline services of hundreds of thousands of hurricane victims,” they said.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai invited Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's ideas and proposals on the USF budget and rural telco funding. Pai responded Wednesday to our questions after speaking at a rural broadband event at the Department of Agriculture (see 1804180023), including about O'Rielly's recent suggestions at an NTCA conference that rural telco high-cost USF support could be increased somewhat (see 1804160043). While Pai said he hadn't read about O'Rielly's comments, he looks forward to hearing more about his colleague's ideas and any specific proposals. O’Rielly’s office didn’t comment Wednesday but noted he's scheduled to speak at the American Enterprise Institute Thursday. In a statement on a recent rural USF order and notice, O'Rielly voiced interest in setting an overall USF budget and concern about aspects of the notice, particularly the possible removal of capital and operating expense limits (see 1803230025).

Citing Comcast/NBCUniversal using NBC content as a competitive cudgel to whack broadband competition, RCN CEO Jim Holanda testified in U.S. v. AT&T and Time Warner that he fears New AT&T doing likewise. Turner content is "significantly viewed" by RCN subscribers, with three of its networks among the 10 most watched, judging by set-top box data, he said. A DOJ attorney asked Holanda about an RCN offering that pairs broadband with a video tier of only TV stations and public access, and how his company can't offer that to its entire subscriber base because Comcast contracts prohibit it in some areas without selling the entire cable giant's bundle of content due to penetration requirements. He said those limits came up after Comcast bought NBCU, and the operator has since come into some RCN markets with a roughly analogous offering. He worries New AT&T would similarly use Turner programming as competitive leverage against RCN when competing for double- and triple-play customers in markets where it overlaps with AT&T. RCN programming costs have been going up five to eight times the rate of inflation over the past five years, Holanda said. He said major MVPDs have a 25 to 40 percent price advantage for programming due to their size, which puts RCN at a $10 to $15 a month cost disadvantage. Also Tuesday, DOJ's lawyer and an AT&T/TW expert witness -- UCLA economics professor Peter Rossi -- locked horns repeatedly as Justice challenged Rossi's criticisms of research that played a big role in the government's model (see 1804160030). DirecTV filed a docket 17-2511 motion (in Pacer) Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asking that it be dismissed from the DOJ suit, as expected (see 1803190023). It said government failed to state a claim against it, since it's not a party to the challenged deal.

Google Fiber further criticized NCTA's make-ready pole-attachment proposal, calling it "not very different from the status quo." NCTA's defense of its "Accelerated and Safe Access to Poles plan" (see 1804050056) "raises numerous points that are essentially red herrings, and distract from the core issues," Google filed, posted Friday in docket 17-84. It noted the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee's "one-touch, make-ready" recommendation to improve the pole-attachment process. "What NCTA’s proposal does is double-down on the existing, multi-party process," the company said. "Stakeholders agree that the current make-ready process is untenable. ... Proposals that do nothing more than reduce timeframes without changing the fundamental approach to preparing poles for new deployments do almost nothing to resolve those problems. One-touch make-ready, on the other hand, represents an efficient use of resources speeds deployment, makes costs lower and more predictable, and reduces the opportunity for injury and property damage." NCTA emailed that its "proposal accelerates the timeline for all parties to attach while still preserving the rights of existing attachers. Unfortunately Google continues to pursue an extreme agenda that would deprive existing providers of control over their facilities while failing to hold new providers accountable for any harm that they cause.” The Fiber Broadband Association (here) and AT&T (here and here) discussed their proposals last week.

The latest FCC media deregulation got a 5-0 vote, and Friday was taken off the agenda (see 1803270052) for Tuesday's commissioners' meeting. Members without issuing their own written public comment changed rules to require only DTV stations that sold fee-based or provided supplementary services to file Form 2100, Schedule G. The order may be the only media-related item for the meeting to get a vote on circulation, said agency officials. Still on the agenda is a draft NPRM to no longer make cable operators keep at local offices listings of the pay-TV channels each system delivers. That item might also get a 5-0 vote, said officials. A Media Bureau representative declined to comment. "In conjunction with our Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, parties have urged us to amend this provision because it imposes pointless burdens on a substantial number of broadcasters," said the DTV form order. "This action advances our efforts to modernize our regulations and eliminate outdated or unnecessary rules." Commissioners at last week's NAB Show sought further media deregulation (see 1804100028).