The Copyright Office urged Congress not to reauthorize one of three major provisions in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, adding another twist to the burgeoning debate over the law. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., announced they agreed to a “legislative framework” for a coming bill aimed at revamping retransmission consent rules and other “outdated" TV rules. Both announcements came a day before a planned Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing aimed at setting up its STELA debate (see 1905280061).
The two FCC members who addressed the start of Consumer Advisory Committee meeting focused on combating illegal robocalls, with commissioners to vote Thursday on explicitly allowing technology to block such calls (see 1905310061) despite stakeholder requests for more time. "There has been some pushback on this, some folks asking the FCC to delay the vote, or asking the FCC to water down the decision," noted Commissioner Brendan Carr. "I’m absolutely opposed to those steps."
Now that the suite of ATSC 3.0 standards is complete, “our goal is not to stand still, but to march thoughtfully and deliberately into the future,” ATSC President Madeleine Noland told the Next-Gen TV Conference Thursday. In her maiden policy speech before the group since taking over May 15, Noland said ATSC “in the near term” needs to be “laser-focused on the successful commercial deployment of ATSC 3.0 in the U.S.”
So grave would be the "ripple effect" damage to Americans if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce won’t rule out mounting a legal challenge to block the duties, said the business group’s chief policy officer. "We have no choice but to explore every option available to push back,” Executive Vice President Neil Bradley told journalists Friday. To stem the influx of migrants at the southern border, Trump will use authority under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose 5 percent tariffs on Mexican imports starting June 10, the president said. “If the crisis persists,” he would hike the duties to 10 percent July 1, 15 percent Aug. 1, 20 percent Sept. 1, and 25 percent Oct. 1.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is about “midway” through developing recommendations for Congress on U.S. surveillance programs, Chairman Adam Klein told us Friday. NSA is reportedly considering letting the controversial Section 215 phone surveillance program expire (see 1905060048) in December when the USA Freedom Act sunsets.
Industry commenters continued to push for tweaks to proposed competitive bidding rules for the upper 37, 39 and 47 GHz auction, slated to start Dec. 10 (see 1904120058). In initial comments, the Rural Wireless Association and Wireless ISP Association pressed for a more significant change -- smaller license sizes than the partial economic area licenses already agreed to by the FCC (see 1905170014). Replies were posted through Friday in docket 19-59.
Rural telecom carriers stand to gain some and lose some if T-Mobile buys Sprint and the carriers live up to the conditions they offered (see 1905200004) to clear the way for likely FCC OK, insiders say. Many remain skeptical that a new T-Mobile would be willing or able to build a 5G wireless infrastructure covering two-thirds of the rural U.S. population and 99 percent of the country within six years.
A push by 47 House Democrats for a “bipartisan working group” to create a compromise net neutrality bill has dim prospects despite offers of support from Commerce Committee GOP leaders, experts told us. The pro-working group Democrats, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Scott Peters of California, are pushing for a compromise bill. That's given what they view as low odds the House-passed Save the Internet Act net neutrality bill (HR-1644) will clear the Senate or be signed into law by President Donald Trump (see 1905230072).
By a party-line FCC member vote, the regulator began asking about starting an overall USF budget cap, as expected (see 1905240064). "Mindful of our obligation to safeguard the USF funds ultimately paid by ratepayers," and to ensure the money is "spent prudently" and consistently, the NPRM asks a number of questions.
Chairman Ajit Pai told fellow commissioners Friday a Further NPRM on robocalls is being changed to add a proposal that the FCC mandate secure handling of asserted information using tokens (Shaken) and secure telephone identity revisited (Stir) technology if major voice providers don’t comply with demands that it be implemented by year-end, officials said. The change came after the start of the sunshine period on the item, closing off outreach.