The American Cable Association and NCTA sought to intervene in initial challenges to FCC net neutrality repeal order. ACA and NCTA filed protective motions for leave to intervene in the cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, 1st Circuit and 9th Circuit. The commission has asked the courts to dismiss as premature the petitions for review filed by state attorneys general, consumer advocates, Mozilla and Santa Clara County, California (see 1802130004)

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai should recuse himself from Sinclair buying Tribune after The New York Times reported the Inspector General is investigating his actions on rulemakings that have benefited the buyer. The FCC didn’t confirm such an inquiry is occurring. Legislators asked for a probe in November (see 1711130038). “This investigation makes it crystal clear: Pai must recuse himself from review of the proposed Sinclair-Tribune,” said Demand Progress Campaign Director Kurt Walters. “To ensure the integrity of the FCC’s review process, the commission should take no action on this mega-merger until the conclusion of the inspector general’s investigation." If the IG finds that “Pai or any other FCC staff did indeed let their own bias and favoritism shape decisions related to the deal, they must not be permitted to vote on this matter and they should be subject to other appropriate ethics-review processes,” said Free Press Senior Counsel Jessica Gonzalez. “The publicly available evidence suggests a pattern of abuse where Sinclair forces its local stations to air pro-[President Donald] Trump messages in exchange for policy favors from the Trump administration and its FCC chairman.” Given the agency under Pai "recently proposed a $13 million fine against Sinclair (see 1712210042) the largest fine in history for a violation of the Commission’s sponsorship identification rules, the accusation that he has shown favoritism toward the company is absurd," emailed an FCC spokesman. Pai has long sought updates to media ownership rules, and his actions "have been consistent with his long-held views," the spokesman said. "Considering the strong case for modernizing these rules, it's not surprising that those who disagree with him would prefer to do whatever they can to distract from the merits of the reforms that the FCC has adopted.”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai highlighted a "call to action" to improve tribal communications, noting the agency last week revamped a Native Nations Communications Task Force and sought member nominations by March 31. "This latest renewal recognizes the importance of tribal input on commission matters that impact Americans living on tribal lands," Pai told the National Congress of American Indians Thursday. He said the task force will consist of 20 tribal members and 11 senior FCC staffers. He said improving rural broadband, including in tribal areas, is one of his top priorities. "Americans living on tribal lands who lack access to high-speed broadband has been cut in half since I arrived at the commission in 2012," from 68 percent to 35 percent, he said. "The bad news is that that percentage is still over four times higher than for the overall U.S. population," only 8 percent of which lacks "internet access." He noted he called for a "tribal broadband factor" in high-cost USF support to boost tribal funding, as part of a draft NPRM and order, which would give over $500 million more to rural carriers (see 1801160040 and 1802150018). Separately, the Oglala Sioux Tribe said the FCC's Lifeline eligibility re-certification process "does not comport with tribal culture" and subscriber abilities, and tribal programs should be used as proxies, in a docket 11-42 filing Wednesday on a meeting representatives had with a Pai aide.

Abigail Slater, general counsel of the Internet Association, is replacing Grace Koh as special assistant to the president for technology, telecommunications and cybersecurity policy at the National Economic Council, industry officials said. They predicted the choice could be controversial since as a IA top official, Slater lobbied the FCC to keep in place the 2015 net neutrality rules, which included reclassification of broadband as a common-carrier service. Slater previously worked for the FTC, including as an aide to then-Democratic Commissioner Julie Brill. Koh has been widely seen as a top White House adviser on communications issues (see 1711140051). "The administration is hiring one of the best people in tech policy,” said Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet Association. “Gail knows internet and telecom policy from top to bottom, and while we are sad to see her go, her expertise will benefit our country and the administration as they look to foster one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy.” The White House didn't comment.

FCC efforts at opening up spectrum toward enabling 5G aren't singularly focused on enabling mobile technologies, with it trying to clear the route for continued and expanded satellite operations, said International Bureau Chief Tom Sullivan at the European 5G Conference, in prepared remarks posted Wednesday. "We do not see this as a zero-sum game." He said the FCC has used flexible sharing that promotes coexistence, citing the spectrum frontiers order allowing more flexible earth station siting in the 28 GHz band. He said the U.S. experience shows such flexible approaches should get attention at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference. A successful WRC-19 would flow from such approaches to harmonized spectrum and a recognition that identifying bands for global use "does not have to be the zero-sum game it once was," he said. Sullivan said technology such as radio tuning ranges means global harmonization isn't limited to all regions having identical spectrum allocations.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's championing U.S. market access for SpaceX's planned broadband constellation probably reflects him wanting to elevate forward-looking satellite related items, an FCC official told us. Several said the SpaceX item circulated Wednesday doesn't seem to raise any obvious red flags that might result in eighth-floor opposition. Pai, announcing Wednesday the draft was circulated, said SpaceX and other non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite operators seeking licenses or U.S. market access are one potential way to bridge the digital divide. Satellite technology can reach rural or unserved areas that fiber and cell towers don't reach and provide more competition in areas that have terrestrial Internet access, he said. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement said, “The next generation of satellites will multiply the number of stations in our skies, creating extraordinary new opportunities for connectivity. The FCC will need to move quickly to facilitate these services and at the same time address new challenges with coordination and debris.” The FCC, Pai's office and SpaceX didn't comment. The commissioners at their June meeting approved OneWeb's application for U.S. market access for its 720-satellite NGSO constellation (see 1706220039). Space Norway and Telesat Canada NGSO applications were approved on circulation (see 1711030063). In a letter to the Office of Engineering and Technology earlier this month, SpaceX said it's planning for an upcoming launch of two test NGSOs, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b.

From ensuring localism to redefining media markets amid shifting industry dynamics, the FCC's eighth floor has a variety of media priorities, media aides to the five commissioners said at a FCBA panel Tuesday. Mike O'Rielly aide Brooke Ericson said with the 2018 quadrennial review of ownership rules this year (see 1801080059), her boss hopes for a redefinition of media markets that better reflects the market. Chairman Ajit Pai aide Alison Nemeth said he has been clear about his goals of either modernizing or eliminating regulations, especially given how media rules often have gone long without any review. Mignon Clyburn aide David Grossman said she continues to push her independent programming NPRM, though the issue hasn't moved since its 3-2 approval in 2016 (see 1609290036). She also remains focused on localism and diversity, he said. While the media market has changed, that doesn't necessarily translate into greater accessibility, since many over-the-top services are out of reach to some consumers due to broadband unavailability or finances, he added. Asked about the effect of publicly releasing items in advance of monthly meetings, Jessica Rosenworcel aide Kate Black said it gives more time for finding compromise on items. Aides said it also reduces the amount of guesswork in ex parte meetings on what's in items, making for more-focused meetings. Nemeth said along with front loading bureaus' work, leaving less time for last-minute tweaks, it resulted in people increasingly skipping meetings with bureaus and trying to set up meetings with the eighth floor, "a bad move." Commissioner Brendan Carr aide Evan Swarztrauber said parties shouldn't skip meeting offices they think will disagree with then, since eighth-floor offices want to hear an array of viewpoints. Asked about the broadcast TV repacking time frame and financing, Nemeth said Pai's office has no reason to think it will go beyond 39 months, but the $1.75 billion fund is likely insufficient. She and Ericson said neither commissioner is interested in revisiting the OTT-as-MVPD proceeding. Asked about last month's false missile alert in Hawaii, Ericson said O'Rielly was happy with how the emergency alert system worked in distribution, and problems came in the alert generation.

The FCC asked federal courts to dismiss initial challenges to its net neutrality repeal, and said it won't forward them to a Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation for a venue lottery. The petitions for review are "incurably premature" because the repeal order and declaratory ruling haven't been published in the Federal Register, said similar commission motions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (here), the 1st Circuit (here) and the 9th Circuit (here) posted Monday. Seeking to protect their legal rights due to lingering uncertainty about a filing window, state attorneys general, Public Knowledge, Mozilla and New America's Open Technology Institute filed petitions in the D.C. Circuit, Free Press filed in the 1st and California's Santa Clara County filed in the 9th (see 1801160055). But parties also asked the FCC not to trigger the court lottery until the order is published (see 1801170049). The commission said such petitions aren't ripe until FR publication because the order resulted from a rulemaking and a declaratory ruling had "general applicability," not "particularly applicability," which is a form of informal adjudication subject to a quicker judicial timetable. Its motions recognized that in 2015, the agency forwarded "premature" petitions challenging its net neutrality order to the multidistrict panel, which held a lottery anyway. Given that outcome and the agency's clear-cut procedural views this time, the FCC "determined that the best course here is to await timely-filed petitions before referring any such petitions to the Judicial Panel." Petitioners can refile after publication, the commission motions said.

Chairman Ajit Pai asked Commissioner Mike O’Rielly to lead an FCC review of kidvid rules, O’Rielly said Tuesday. “My goal in reviewing the kidvid rules is to understand whether the rules the Commission imposed on broadcasters to carry out the Children’s Television Act -- in many cases more than two decades ago -- still make sense in today’s media marketplace.” Broadcasters support a change, but alterations to the children's TV rules could face strong public opposition (see 1802090051). No language or proposals on kidvid rules have been circulated, but O’Rielly’s aide Brooke Ericson told us Pai’s office had been getting a lot of questions on kidvid since O’Rielly’s recent blog post on the subject. Pai “appears to be supportive of this effort,” she said. O’Rielly would like to see the rules relaxed this year, which would mean a proposal would need to be issued by the summer, Ericson said. O’Rielly has had “good dialogue” with “family group representatives and evangelical organizations,” he said. Ericson, at an FCBA panel Tuesday (see 1802130042), said the commissioner is interested in making the children’s programming rules more flexible, not in doing away with them – particularly since that’s not possible under the statute. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn aide David Grossman said the availability of high-quality children’s programming on multiple platforms doesn’t automatically mean more accessibility because sizable minorities of low-income and Hispanic households get only over-the-air programming.

The FCC processed 846,574 applications and complaints in FY 2017, said the agency performance report, released at around the time of budget documents (see 1802120037). The agency met its goals for processing filings quickly, called speed of disposal (SOD), 98 percent of the time, the report said. “In six of the last seven years, the FCC met the SOD metrics for at least 96% of applications and complaints.” The exception was in 2013, when SOD was 92 percent. In all of the years covered by the report, International Bureau SOD numbers lag behind the other bureaus, and in 2017 it was the slowest bureau at 88 percent. Most other bureaus achieved 97 percent or 98 percent in FY 2017. “The International Bureau’s SOD goals are significantly affected by the process of consultation with the Executive Branch on foreign ownership issues,” said a footnote. The Media Bureau had the next lowest SOD number, 95.9 percent. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau had the highest SOD number in 2017, 99.7 percent.