The FCC will consider a draft item that would eliminate requirements that cable providers and broadcasters keep publicly accessible hard copy information in their facilities as the sole regular agenda item at their Jan. 31 meeting, as expected, said the sunshine notice Tuesday. The meeting will be the first Ajit Pai will oversee as chairman. The draft item is expected to eliminate broadcasters' correspondence file requirement and cable providers' requirement to keep headend information in their facilities (see 1701170054). Commissioners also will consider four consent agenda items: an appeal of an administrative law judge decision dismissing two parties from a hearing, an appeal of an Enforcement Bureau Freedom of Information Act decision, a reconsideration order on the dismissal of a broadcaster's appeal seeking reinstatement of its license, and an order dismissing a TV license application.

Universal Service Administrative Co. issued a revised National Verifier Plan for the FCC Lifeline low-income broadband/telecom subsidy program. The plan, posted Monday in docket 11-42, updated a draft plan to shift administrative oversight away from Lifeline providers and to a national verifier (see 1612010043). The plan incorporated tweaks addressing comments (see 1612270027 and 1701030035), along with a new section summarizing USAC responses to queries, many of them technical. TracFone filed comments last week saying the draft plan largely met FCC objectives but it asked USAC to make further modifications to facilitate customer enrollments, provide timely responses to application denials and "manage the National Verifier in an efficient and non-discriminatory manner." USAC plans to update the plan further every six months. There were also several filings Monday and last week on the FCC's expansion of Lifeline coverage to broadband service. Sprint made a filing asking the FCC to clarify two aspects of its mobile broadband minimum service requirements: "whether W-Fi can be used to meet the minimum data allotment requirement; and whether the 3G technology standard is met if a Lifeline ETC [eligible telecom carrier] provides the subscriber who is classified as a broadband customer with a feature phone that cannot accommodate such technology." Another TracFone filing asked commission staff to look into a practice involving "abuse by certain Lifeline providers of the 'port freeze' rule in order to 'lock up' for 12 months those Lifeline customers who were enrolled in voice-only Lifeline services and who were provided with standard cellular telephones suitable for voice and text message, but which are unsuitable for use with Broadband Internet Access Service." It said the practice would undermine the FCC's broadband move unless addressed. Assist Wireless, Boomerang Wireless, Free Mobile, Easy Wireless, i-Wireless, Karma Mobility, Red Pocket and Telrite made filings in docket 09-197 contesting Wireline Bureau decisions to remove their Lifeline Broadband Provider (LBP) designation petitions from streamlined processing. They said the LBP process "was in danger of becoming a replica of the dysfunctional federal ETC designation and Lifeline-only compliance processes." The bureau issued an order Wednesday conditionally designating Applied Research Designs, Kajeet, Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Northland Cable Television and Wabash Independent Networks as LBP providers.

President Donald Trump’s initial executive actions include withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a freeze on recent regulations and a federal government hiring freeze except for the military. “We’ve been talking about this one for a long time,” Trump said Monday of the withdrawal from TPP, a trade deal that had been a priority for the Obama administration. Reince Priebus, Trump’s chief of staff, sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies Friday demanding a regulatory freeze pending review. “With respect to regulations that have been sent to the OFR but not published in the Federal Register, immediately withdraw them from the OFR [Office of the Federal Register] for review and approval,” Priebus said. “With respect to regulations that have been published in the OFR but have not taken effect, as permitted by applicable law, temporarily postpone their effective date for 60 days from the date of this memorandum … for the purpose of reviewing questions of fact, law, and policy they raise. Where appropriate and as permitted by applicable law, you should consider proposing for notice and comment a rule to delay the effective date for regulations beyond that 60-day period.” Trump also spoke generally Monday about his plans for taxation and regulation, in a meeting with industry CEOs including those leading Dell and SpaceX. “We are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies,” Trump said, according to a pool report. “A bigger thing … we think we can cut regulations by 75 percent.” Trump "decided to reconvene the group of industry executives in a month and have them meet on a quarterly basis,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Competitive Enterprise Institute Policy Director Clyde Wayne Crews, writing in a Forbes column, said "Trump will fail" if he "does not challenge and uproot the core premises of the unelected administrative state governing human innovations" in the telecom sector, among others.

The government plans to award next-generation 911 grants during fiscal-year 2018, said NTIA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a 911 grant program management plan released Thursday. The 2012 Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act made $115 million available for the grant program from the Public Safety Trust Fund. NTIA and NHTSA are drafting an NPRM to be published this summer and anticipate publishing final regulations in early FY 2018, the agencies said in the plan: “The agencies expect the Final Rule to provide a reasonable period of time for eligible entities to then apply for grants with a goal of making awards during Fiscal Year 2018.” They will advise eligible entities in preparing grant implementation plans, review grant applications and oversee use of grant funds, they said.

The FCC Media Bureau's approval of the renewal of five Entercom stations shortly after Media Action Center sought to include them in the ongoing case against the renewal of Entercom's KDND(FM) Sacramento (see 1701190047) is “rotten," said Media Action Center Director Sue Wilson in an email. “This was a coordinated attempt to help Entercom avoid responsibility, by the Media Bureau, by the Enforcement Bureau, and possibly by Entercom itself,” Wilson said. Entercom and the FCC didn't comment. The Enforcement Bureau argued in an opposition filing posted online Thursday that the Media Action Center's request was “moot.” It's “the abdication of compliance oversight and control endemic to the entire local Sacramento cluster that is now moot,” Wilson said.

Over-the-top services such as DirecTV Now that offer live linear TV are projected to grow to $7 billion in worldwide revenue by 2021, from $1 billion last year, ABI Research reported. The services align with carriers’ efforts to adopt “mobile-first mindsets” as mobile subscriber bases and revenue advance beyond fixed line revenue with per-consumer, vs. per-household, connections, said the research firm. The new model “helps win the battle for exclusive content rights but poses strong technical challenges,” said analyst Sam Rosen, citing the need to develop robust content management systems, video transcoding and storage pipelines and application ecosystems. Cobbling together video distribution networks is “just the beginning,” said Rosen. As mobile video consumption increases, mobile operators are exploring policy-based approaches to meet customer expectations and manage the effects of video services on mobile data caps, said the firm. The formidable technical challenges have led operators to make investments in technology platforms, ABI noted, citing the AT&T's purchase of Quickplay Technologies (see 1605160025) and Disney’s stake in BAMTech (see 1609220053). "Despite the technical challenges, OTT services help pay-TV operators attract cord-cutters with a cheaper pay-TV alternative, as well as next-generation customers who never planned to subscribe to a traditional pay-TV service," said analyst Khin Sandi Lynn, saying live OTT services, especially those with sports packages, are gaining the most traction.

Local number portability administrator Neustar asked the FCC to reverse a staff letter siding with North American Portability Management (NAPM) in a dispute over confidentiality protections in the LNPA transition to iconectiv (see 1701060065). Neustar said the letter from the Wireline and Public Safety bureau chiefs sought to "compel resolution" of its contract talks with NAPM by demanding the company enter into one of two nondisclosure agreements (NDAs). "The Commission should instruct the Bureaus not to interfere in any future disputes between Neustar and the NAPM until the parties have first attempted to resolve their dispute through negotiation or arbitration according to the terms of the MSA" (master services agreement), said the LNPA incumbent's application for review Thursday in docket 09-109. Neustar said the bureaus violated the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) by abrogating an arbitration clause in Neustar's contract with NAPM. "Instead of arbitrating its confidentiality dispute with Neustar, the NAPM apparently sought the Bureaus’ assistance in getting Neustar to agree to the NAPM’s preferred NDA," the company said. "By favoring the NAPM’s position and seeking to compel Neustar to concede, the Bureaus resolved the dispute in the NAPM’s favor, and thereby neutered the MSA’s arbitration clause in violation of the FAA." Neustar also said the bureau intervention "improperly interfered with private contractual negotiations" in conflict with "longstanding" commission policy. With the transition scheduled to last into 2018, the company said, "a Commission ruling is necessary to define the scope of the Bureaus’ delegated authority and to confirm they possess no power to abrogate arbitration clauses and interfere with matters of private contract." Neustar Wednesday said it had delivered a revised draft NDA to NAPM but it said it reserved the right to seek review of the bureau action and blamed iconectiv for any delay in the transition (see 1701180049). An iconectiv spokeswoman said the transition is on track to be completed in May 2018. "Any suggestion to the contrary is false. We have been onboarding vendors, service providers, service bureaus, and providers of telecom-related services for several months," she emailed. "As to Neustar's challenge to the Bureau's letter, Neustar today serves as the Local Number Portability Administrator based on an appointment by the FCC. As such, Neustar is subject to the FCC's regulatory jurisdiction. The FCC, in its order designating Telcordia dba iconectiv as the next LNPA, directed Neustar to cooperate with the transition and certainly has the right to take actions to ensure that Neustar does so." FCC officials and NAPM didn't comment.

Expect President-elect Donald Trump to “talk about infrastructure and education” Friday during his inaugural address, spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday. Trump will lay out “a vision of where he sees the country, the role of government, the role of citizens,” Spicer said. Commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross touted the role broadband would play in a Trump administration infrastructure package earlier this week (see 1701180069), a point also made by House Communications Subcommittee Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., last week. The transition has “made sure that in every department, there’s a key individual ready to go,” Spicer said.

FCC staff cleared Windstream's planned takeover of EarthLink, granting associated communications licenses. The Wireline and International bureaus issued a public notice Thursday in docket 13-393 that noted there had been no opposition to the transaction. Windstream had just asked for quick action. In a filing posted earlier in the day, Windstream counsel Julie Veach of Harris Wiltshire said she spoke Tuesday with Kris Monteith, acting Wireline Bureau chief. "No comments or oppositions had been filed in the ... proceeding, and I encouraged the Bureau to approve the pending application expeditiously," Veach wrote. Windstream and EarthLink expressed confidence they would get federal and state regulatory approvals in the first half of 2017 when they unveiled their $1.1 billion deal (see 1611070032). The deal already has been cleared on antitrust grounds (see 1612210031).

Parks Associates estimates 15 percent of U.S. broadband homes now use only antennas to receive TV and that the portion has “steadily increased” since Q2 2013 when it was under 9 percent, the research firm reported Wednesday. The increase coincides with a drop in pay-TV subscriptions and an increase in internet-only video subscriptions, it said. “Several factors have played a part in this decline,” including growth in over-the-top video services, increasing costs for pay-TV services and “consumer awareness of available online alternatives,” it said. Parks found that in 2016, twice as many pay-TV subscribers downgraded their service as upgraded it.