With the UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP) to expire in October (see 2006150056), FAA officials stressed Tuesday that drones are moving to a new stage with long-awaited rules almost ready for release, during a virtual conference sponsored by the agency and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). The much-watched annual conference went virtual because of COVID-19, with sessions in July and this week, continuing Wednesday (see 2007080059).
Q2 smartphone imports to the U.S. increased by double digits sequentially from Q1, amid China's supply chain recovery to pre-COVID-19 levels after the pandemic brought factories to a halt in much of February into March. The quarter-to-quarter increase masked subdued smartphone demand attributable to the decline in consumer spending. Year-over-year smartphone imports fell by double digits in Q2, consistent with IDC reporting a 12.6% decrease in second-quarter U.S. handset shipments.
Antitrust Chief Makan Delrahim is more likely to act to change the ASCAP and BMI music licensing degrees than Congress is, and any move DOJ makes in that direction is likely to be an uneasy process and complicated by the presidential election, broadcast and music licensing attorneys said in interviews this and last week. DOJ held a workshop on the possibility last month (see 2007290068). “It remains apparent from the continuing attention that the Antitrust Division is paying to the issue of consent decree reform that the DOJ may act” to modify the decrees, said Weil Gotshal intellectual property attorney Benjamin Marks, who represented the TV Music Licensing Committee. “I don’t think Congress is likely to take up the issue before the election or in the short term."
All Applied Materials factories and R&D labs “are running smoothly at pre-COVID levels of productivity,” said CEO Gary Dickerson on a fiscal Q3 call Thursday. “We remain mindful of global economic concerns and that consumer spending is a potential headwind for many sectors, including the electronics industry.” The company supplies vapor-deposition equipment and services to Chinese panel makers and can be a bellwether of display industry health.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit's 2-1 ruling Friday knocking down two FCC conditions on Charter Communications' buying Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks didn’t get to the merits (see 2008140018). It nonetheless could have implications for future consumer challenges of regulations, said cable attorneys and appellant the Competitive Enterprise Institute in interviews. Industry and public interest lawyers disagree how the ruling will affect a parallel FCC proceeding on sunsetting Charter/TWC/BHN conditions (see 2007230015).
The FTC should investigate TikTok’s “consumer data collection and processing practices,” Senate Majority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., wrote FTC Chairman Joe Simons Thursday.
The FCC might not be as aggressive on pirate radio enforcement and curbing cable local franchise authorities (LFAs) after Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's expected departure from his seat Jan. 3 at the latest, experts and insiders told us. Some wonder if O'Rielly will be a quieter presence on the commission in his remaining weeks; he issued no statements at its August meeting though he did for the C-band auction rules approved on circulation (see 2008060069). O'Rielly's office and the FCC didn't comment.
President Donald Trump’s administration is believed nearly ready to name NTIA senior adviser Carolyn Roddy as President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, potentially as soon as the next few days, communications sector officials and lobbyists told us. Behind-the scenes wrangling between the Trump administration and Senate GOP leaders over O'Rielly's revoked renomination continued this week, with prospects for a resolution uncertain, officials and lobbyists said. Trump withdrew the renomination last week (see 2008030072). Senate Majority Whip John Thune of South Dakota and other Republicans have pressed Trump to reinstate O'Rielly (see 2008060062).
Broadband satellite interest in the coldest parts of the Northern Hemisphere is heating up, with a variety of constellations targeting Alaska and other markets north of 55 degrees latitude expected to come online as soon as 2021. Consumer broadband and the digital divide for rural Alaskans is part of what's driving demand but so is a maritime marketplace opening up due to climate change, we were told.
The FCC lacks authority to act on NTIA’s petition for a rulemaking on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (see 2008030025), Vimeo said in comments to the agency in RM-11862. The FCC received 177 comments by Wednesday afternoon, almost all from individuals. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, NetChoice and Engine told us they plan to comment in opposition to NTIA’s petition.