Ligado’s L-band license modification OK should have gone through a spectrum reallocation notice-and-comment process, with the final decision coming in an open commission meeting, some said in the petitions for reconsideration this week in docket 11-109. Others said any problems the FCC had with analyses raising red flags about possible interference should have been brought up before the perfunctory dismissal of them. The commission hasn't resolved concerns about GPS interference.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that would remove liability protections for online platforms that censure or edit content (see 2005270016). There would be a role for antitrust agencies and the FCC, whose commissioners reacted along party lines to the EO. “We’re here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers,” Trump said, claiming tech monopolies have “unchecked power” to censor and restrict human interaction.
The long-awaited launch of AT&T’s HBO Max subscription VOD service drew some early frustration on Twitter Wednesday from apparent cord cutters upset that the $14.99 monthly offering isn’t available on popular streaming platforms. WarnerMedia is offering the subscription directly and through many MVPDs and vMVPDs, not over Amazon Fire TV or Roku. Early Wednesday afternoon Comcast emailed that it reached an agreement to give Xfinity X1 and Flex customers access to HBO Max at no extra cost “via the HBO Max app and website while the companies work to quickly bring the HBO Max app” to the X1 platform and 4K Flex streaming device included with Xfinity Internet.
Congress should require radio stations pay artists for broadcasting their music, SoundExchange and music performance rights holders told the Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Wednesday. Such a drastic change would upend the free radio broadcast model, said NAB and National Religious Broadcasters.
Non-geostationary orbit constellation operators put proposals for more than 80,000 satellites before the FCC International Bureau, in NGSO fixed satellite service processing round applications submitted Tuesday (see 2003240059). It was driven by OneWeb, Kuiper and New Spectrum Satellite applications outside past rounds. The vast bulk of the proposed additional satellite traffic came from SpaceX and OneWeb. Numerous applications noted satellite's role in closing the digital divide.
Legislatures took up broadband bills in California and other states this week. Bills address grants or change state policies including for electric cooperatives. “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the acute need to expand broadband access across the country,” and “some states have recognized -- and are responding to -- that need in their legislative responses to the public health crisis,” said Anna Read, Pew Charitable Trusts broadband researcher.
Petitions for reconsideration, and possibly a legal appeal, are expected to the FCC’s 6 GHz order. APCO appears the most likely to file a recon petition and maybe take the agency to court, industry officials said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said during a Lincoln webinar he expects some to challenge.
Prospects for advancing legislation on allocating proceeds from the FCC’s coming auction involving of spectrum in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band have become increasingly doubtful after more than two months in which negotiations were largely in stasis due to Capitol Hill's shift in priority to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers and communications sector officials said in interviews. Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., and Democratic backers of C band remain interested in pressing forward. Republicans on the House and Senate Commerce committees believe the time for pursuing legislation has largely passed given FCC moves to advance the auction. Wireless and satellite interests cited concerns with the FCC's order in petitions for reconsideration filed Wednesday (see 2005270031).
Intelsat, SES and Telesat committed to clear the C band on the FCC's incentivized accelerated timeline days before the deadline. SES said it's also filing a petition for review and notice of appeal in federal court to protect itself if the accelerated payments regime falls through. Other C-band satellite operators are expected to do likewise. The elections deadline is Friday.
Municipal broadband networks see a spike in subscribers and users upgrading speeds amid the coronavirus, said executives in recent interviews. The pandemic supports allowing muni broadband, they and other local advocates said. Skeptics countered that a short-term boom doesn’t set aside questionable economics. A North Carolina bill allowing public-private partnerships but keeping other limits has bipartisan support, but ISPs remain staunchly opposed, said state Rep. Josh Dobson (R).