A draft item on allowing broadcasters to fulfill notice requirements with online and on-air listings instead of buying newspaper advertisements is expected to change in response to criticisms from broadcasters, industry and FCC officials told us. The agency is expected to walk back docket 17-264 draft requirements that would have affected broadcaster websites and mobile apps, FCC officials said. The item isn’t expected to get much opposition at the agency, and is slated to be voted before commissioners’ telephonic meeting Wednesday. In the two previous FCC meetings since the COVID-19 shutdown, all items voted on circulation before the meeting were approved unanimously.
A November ballot vote on California consumer privacy might be inevitable despite lukewarm reception from groups that typically back such measures. Industry hasn’t formally opposed the proposed California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and legislative intervention is no sure thing, we were told last week. “That there is no campaign against this initiative” by businesses is “almost as telling” as “no privacy group coming out to support it,” said Corbin and Kaiser lobbying firm CEO Samantha Corbin.
New language in the FCC's draft regulatory fees order on the agenda for when commissioners meet Wednesday (see 2004220048) might provide some rate relief for VHF satellites and foreign satellites that ping U.S. customers but don't have U.S. market access, but still would broadly levy U.S. regulatory fees on foreign-flagged satellites. That's according to satellite experts and an FCC official interviewed last week. Some consider 5-0 commissioner approval likely. Foreign satellite operators resisted the fee (see 2003240047), saying the issue needs more study.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is considering an additional hearing on the FCC’s approval of Ligado’s L-band plan as a follow-up to the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Wednesday panel (see 2005060065). There’s no consensus among Senate Armed Services members on whether to pursue legislation to intervene or reverse the FCC, with several committee members telling us they want feedback from Commerce. Twenty-three House Armed Services Committee members pressed the FCC for further information on its rationale.
If Amazon was untruthful in July when it testified about third-party seller data, a perjury referral would be "appropriate,” said House Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, D-R.I., on Thursday. Last week, Cicilline said he was considering whether a perjury referral is warranted due to discrepancies between a Wall Street Journal report (see 2004300054) and testimony from Amazon Associate General Counsel-Litigation and Regulatory Legal Nate Sutton. “It certainly appears as if the testimony Mr. Sutton gave was contradicted directly by the WSJ report, and so I’m going to review all of that carefully,” Cicilline said during a Politico livestream.
Dish Network doesn’t have a “funding need today” to fulfill its eventual goal of raising and spending $10 billion for building out 5G, said Chairman Charlie Ergen on a Q1 investor call Thursday (hear the call here). “We’re not standing still. That $10 billion now is $9 billion, because we raised a billion dollars of equity.”
The FCC’s 900 MHz order, set for a vote Wednesday, is expected to be approved with the full support of commissioners and few changes, if any, agency and industry officials said. The order would reallocate a 6 MHz swath to broadband while keeping 4 MHz for narrowband. The commissioners’ meeting will be brief, with items approved beforehand and no oral statements, the agency announced Wednesday evening.
Space experts anticipate many of the orbital debris regulatory proposals the FCC moved from April's order to an accompanying Further NPRM (see 2004230040) will be in a future second order. They spoke in interviews this week. Enforcement of the initial order likely wouldn't be until fall, so a draft order before next winter seems unlikely, said Satellite Industry Association Senior Director-Policy Therese Jones.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is eyeing legislation as a potential way to speed the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase I auction, among other actions to improve connectivity amid COVID-19. The committee plans a Wednesday hearing to examine the "state of broadband" during the epidemic and related legislative proposals. Other senators also filed broadband-centric bills Thursday.
A voted on yet unreleased order and consent decree resolving investigations into conduct of Sinclair (see 2005060063) doesn’t conclude it was untruthful with the commission and says the TV broadcaster acted in good faith based on the company’s understanding of precedent during negotiations to buy Tribune, industry and FCC officials told us Thursday. The order and consent decree was approved 3-2, with the Democrats opposed, officials said. The decree includes a compliance plan that requires reporting for four years but doesn’t involve spinoffs or other stiffer requirements beyond the $48 million penalty, and prevents further FCC proceedings on the allegations, the officials said.