The FCC is going to be sued anyway for February's C-band clearing order (see 2002280044), so why bother offering up to $9.7 billion in incentives to incumbent satellite operators, because they won't prevent lawsuits, argued Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., repeatedly Tuesday. He spoke at a subcommittee hearing ostensibly about the FCC FY 2021 budget request, challenging agency Chairman Ajit Pai to justify the amount. Lawmakers pressed the agency about fixing its broadband mapping and tackling contraband phones. Kennedy said there will be another such hearing on the issues and the agency's budget request.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly hopes for a decision on the reallocation of the 5.9 GHz band this summer, he told us at the Free State Foundation conference Tuesday. Chairman Ajit Pai didn’t speak live but sent a recorded address (see 2003100027). Commissioner Brendan Carr canceled an appearance.
The House Communications Subcommittee advanced the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and 10 other measures Tuesday on voice votes, as expected (see 2003090070). The timeline for the House Commerce Committee to mark up any of those measures remains uncertain, because of negotiations aimed at reaching a bipartisan deal on HR-4855 and other measures that have gotten GOP pushback and broader questions about Congress’ schedule given the spread of coronavirus.
FCC staffers expect to handle more meetings over the phone and fewer in person over the next weeks due to the coronavirus. The FCC hasn't made a decision yet, but industry and agency officials said in interviews this week the March 31 commissioners’ meeting may not be in-person. Chairman Ajit Pai spoke to the Free State Foundation conference Tuesday via video and Commissioner Brendan Carr canceled an appearance. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly spoke. See that news: 2003100047 and 2003100061.
Questions about ICANN's role in vetting the Public Interest Registry's sale to private equity firm Ethos Capital and how public interest commitments for .org should be enforced predominated Monday at ICANN's first entirely virtual public forum. ICANN board members were in listening-mode only as they try to decide whether to approve PIR's sale by the Internet Society. They were pressed for more detail about how they plan to settle the controversial issue. The March 7-12 meeting was scheduled to be in Cancun, Mexico, but is taking place remotely due to the coronavirus (See 2002270028).
"As of now," NAB Show organizers "are moving forward" with the April 18-22 event at the Las Vegas Convention Center, "while continuing to evaluate the national and international situation carefully," they said late Monday. It was somewhat less aggressive than the messaging they used for days, that the event was "“proceeding as planned."
Technology stakeholders will take on Google and other major tech companies at a Tuesday hearing, according to written testimony we got in advance. Google’s self-serving search results give consumers objectively lower quality information, especially in the local search market, Yelp Senior Vice President-Public Policy Luther Lowe plans to tell the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee Tuesday (see 2003020068). Google defended itself.
Don’t expect to see other nations to follow the FCC’s lead on how it’s repurposing part of the C band for terrestrial use, especially on satellite operator compensation, satellite experts said Monday at Satellite 2020. Morgan Lewis satellite and wireless lawyer Tim Bransford said other nations often can take a more unilateral approach, such as sunsetting the use of some spectrum, and compensation is typically less part of the process. Organizers of the trade show/conference said it was little harmed by COVID-19 worries.
As disagreement continues on enforcement and other sticky issues, Washington state’s privacy and facial recognition bills appeared to be headed to House-Senate conference Monday, with three days to work out differences. The privacy bill's fate is uncertain but odds for agreement might be better than last year, said some observers. The legislative session concludes Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
Negotiations continued Monday between House Communications Subcommittee Democrats and Republicans to see if they can reach a deal to smooth advancement of the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-Band) Act (HR-4855) and the Reinforcing and Evaluating Service Integrity, Local Infrastructure and Emergency Notification for Today’s (Resilient) Networks Act (HR-5926), communications sector lobbyists told us. The two bills, which got pushback from Republican leaders, are among 11 measures House Communications plans to mark up Tuesday. The session begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.