The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee approved the final part of its model code for states Friday, wrapping up two days of discussions that built on July's gathering (see 1812060038). FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he's extending the charter an additional two years and the agency will release a notice seeking to update membership this week.
The FCC can't "rest on our laurels” because the rest of the world is ahead of the U.S., said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel at Thursday's Practising Law Institute's Institute event. The agency must “ruffle feathers” if it's necessary to reallocate more mid-band spectrum, said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly.
Avis Budget is contributing “both our fleet and our addressable audience” to test mobile ATSC 3.0 reception through the Pearl TV-led model-market project in Phoenix, said Chief Information Officer Arthur Orduna on a 3.0 panel at the TV of Tomorrow conference Thursday in Manhattan. Orduna has a history with cable, having worked for the Canoe advertising venture owned by major U.S. operators, and also for ADT.
The House and Senate Commerce committees are likely to make the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization debate and further work on spectrum and broadband-centric legislation some of their top 2019 priorities, said telecom aides during a Thursday Practising Law Institute event. Aides also cited interest in continuing to talk about net neutrality policy next Congress. Lawmakers and communications lobbyists we recently interviewed were skeptical of progress on a net neutrality compromise given the upcoming shift to split partisan control of Congress (see 1811290042). FCC Commissioners Mike O'Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel meanwhile told PLI the commission shouldn't be cautious in pursuing policies to keep the U.S. competitive (see 1812060056).
The basis for an upcoming hearing with Google CEO Sundar Pichai (see 1811280067) -- claims of Silicon Valley’s anti-conservative bias -- is “nonsense,” House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., told us Thursday. The expected chairman has “a lot of different priorities” for when Democrats take control of the House in 2019 and will be releasing “them in due course.” The hearing, originally scheduled for this past Wednesday, was rescheduled to Tuesday at 10 a.m. in Rayburn 2141 due to funeral services for former President George H.W. Bush (see 1812040061).
The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee moved forward Thursday on work left over from its July meeting (see 1807270020), approving more parts of its model code for states. BDAC will meet again Friday, getting the first update from its Disaster Response and Recovery Working Group. Parts of the code OK'd on divided votes remain controversial. BDAC went further than the FCC did in a September infrastructure order in clarifying that absent local action a facility is “deemed approved.”
The FCC without fanfare included its latest Measuring Broadband America reports in draft appendices to a draft communications market report -- mandated by Ray Baum's Act -- slated for a vote at commissioners' meeting Wednesday. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel criticized the "slow" release of MBA reports that she and others said were "buried" in a long document. They generally show the median consumer broadband speeds of ISPs participating in tests continue to rise, with cable companies at the top, followed by telco fiber and satellite, and telco DSL at the bottom.
Challenging DOJ on multiple fronts, the three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel hearing oral argument Thursday on the antitrust challenge to AT&T buying Time Warner showed skepticism. "You have to put in some evidence beyond just an economic theory," Judge Judith Rogers said. A former DOJ antitrust trial lawyer told us that since the decision likely will affirm U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's June decision allowing the merger (see 1806120060), it could come within a month or two.
Commissioners voted to approve Assistant Counsel-General Ethics Jane Hinckley Halprin as the FCC administrative law judge, replacing Judge Richard Sippel, who retired Dec. 1. Thursday's announcement followed mounting speculation on Sippel's fate as a major deal saw no ALJ action. The speed of the appointment suggests the agency is expecting Halprin to act soon on the stalled Sinclair/Tribune proceeding, broadcast attorneys told us. “I'm sure she has a bunch of things to act on,” said one, Jack Goodman. Commissioner Mike O'Rielly this week said Sippel didn't appear to have taken any action on Sinclair/Tribune (see 1812040034).
As more nations and commercial operators enter space, hazy international space norms and rules will start to crystalize, said State Department international space lawyer Gabriel Swiney at an International Institute of Space Law symposium Wednesday. The Outer Space Treaty's Article IX "due regard" provision -- requiring a party to consider the impact of its actions and refrain from behavior that doesn’t give due regard to interests of others -- could become the enforcement teeth for those norms, he said.