The path forward on House work on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization remained murky Monday, before a Tuesday Commerce Committee markup of its Television Viewer Protection Act (HR-5035) and the Judiciary Committee's circulation of the related Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act (see 1911180014). The House Communications Subcommittee advanced HR-5035 last week on a voice vote, though House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and others raised concerns (see 1911140056). The Senate Commerce Committee postponed consideration (see 1911130055) of the similar Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) amid committee members' revolt.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will circulate an order seeking approval of a public auction of 280 MHz of C-band spectrum in 2020, for a vote early in the new year, FCC officials said Monday. The order won't be on the agenda for the Dec. 12 commissioners’ meeting. The decision is considered a huge loss for the C-Band Alliance, which pressed for a private auction (see 1911150046). President Donald Trump called Pai Oct. 30 to find out more about the C band but didn’t express a view the FCC should hold a public auction, FCC officials said. Pai unveiled the decision in a letter Monday to leaders in Congress.
Facebook supports industry setting content moderation standards, said Public Policy Manager Lori Moylan Friday. Speaking at a George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School event, she said companies should collaboratively define terms like manipulated media and deepfake.
State and federal officials vote this week on policies to advance IP captioned telephone services that offer speech captioning through internet-based communications for use by the deaf or hard of hearing. NARUC members at their conference in San Antonio will consider a resolution that would ask the FCC to adopt service quality standards for all IP CTS providers before migrating to exclusively automated speech recognition (ASR) services (see 1911050040).
A draft FCC Lifeline action would partly grant some industry and other requests for delaying the full impact of changes due Dec. 1 to the program, agency and industry officials told us Friday. The move could be released as state telecom commissioners are meeting in San Antonio, after they asked their federal counterparts at their last meeting to delay such changes. Various industry and other groups made their own requests.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai may be pivoting to a public auction for the C band and may plan to make completing an auction of 300 MHz of C-band spectrum a top priority for 2020, industry and commission officials said Friday. An order may not be ready for the Dec. 12 commissioners' meeting, but Pai will pull out all the stops to get an auction completed next year, they said. Some are hearing Pai may push the meeting to Dec. 19, to provide extra time to work on the item.
Huawei is winning the battle on 5G worldwide, Rivada Networks CEO Declan Ganley said at a Hudson Institute lunch Thursday. Ganley said cheap financing backed by the Chinese government has led to Huawei success. China’s goal is “dominating the cyber domain by 2025,” he said. Rivada backed a push for a national, wholesale 5G network, which got early support from the White House (see 1904120065).
The FCC isn't expected to provide clarity over authority to include or require broadband services as part of its Lifeline program anytime soon, said speakers at an FCBA workshop Thursday on what last month's Mozilla v. FCC net neutrality ruling means.
Federal legislation on privacy and net neutrality could be the common ground that helps break the balkanization and incivility endemic in politics, Comcast Chief Diversity Officer David Cohen told a Media Institute event Thursday. The rapid pace of technological and societal change needs to be met with a return of civility in political discourse and universal connectivity to facilitate training people to hold down post-artificial intelligence jobs and an embracing of diversity, he said. He argued public spending on broadband connectivity for underserved areas is likely being wasted.
Lobbying continues for and against proposed rules requiring carriers to identify the vertical location of indoor wireless calls to 911. APCO questions whether the requirement will help first responders locate callers (see 1911130030). Officials in the office of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai say the preponderance of public safety groups support the order, set for a commissioner vote at the Nov. 22 meeting.