The FCC’s media modernization effort should be scrutinized for ignoring “foundational statutory obligations” and bypassing policies “truly in need of modernization,” said new Commissioner Geoffrey Starks in an extended statement at Thursday’s commissioners’ meeting. Starks and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted “concur” on a unanimously approved order eliminating redundant midterm equal employment opportunity reports (see 1901180043). They urged the FCC to restore long-stalled collection of employment data on diversity. The agency will issue an Further NPRM on broad EEO enforcement within 90 days, Chairman Ajit Pai said.
Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen shot down an analyst who questioned Wednesday whether it makes sense for Dish to discuss a joint venture with AT&T’s DirecTV to "share costs" amid subscriber declines for both "core" satellite TV businesses. “If they’re sticking a gun to your head and taking HBO away, you’re probably not having a lot of conversations,” said Ergen of AT&T on a Q4 call (replay here). “We’re not real good at guns at our heads.”
The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee’s Feb. 26 hearing is a starting point for developing “comprehensive privacy legislation,” House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., told reporters Wednesday, the day the hearing was announced. Asked if he has his own privacy bill in the works, Pallone said, “We’re working on it, but we want to have the hearings, and we’re gradually putting something together.”
Donald Trump's administration released its American Broadband Initiative milestones report Wednesday, outlining a strategy for spurring wireless and wireline broadband using federal lands. It includes opening Department of Interior (DOI) towers for communications use and streamlining other buildout. The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on ways to ensure U.S. infrastructure keeps up with economic growth.
FCC officials are discussing tweaking a Connect America Fund Phase I draft order on commissioners' meeting agenda Thursday, we're told. But the agency may not back off very much planned dismissal of a USTelecom proposal for interim ILEC voice service support in currently unsubsidized areas.
The FCC warned staff it lacks reserve funds to stay open in the event of another partial federal shutdown. Trade groups said they're hopeful government stays open, with some concerns if it doesn't. The agency confirmed Wednesday (see 1902130018) it sent memo to all workers saying most FCC operations would shut down at midnight Friday absent a budget agreement.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere and Sprint Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure faced no outright opposition to the carriers' proposed combination during a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing. Many Democrats registered varying degrees of skepticism regarding the executives' claims. Questions tilted toward focus on antitrust aspects of T-Mobile/Sprint, as expected (see 1902120056). Some probed the carriers' claims about the transaction's benefits for deploying 5G. Legere and other executives from the two carriers met FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday, they said in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 18-197.
Universal Service Administrative Co. will do all Lifeline de-enrollments itself, after some providers of the government-subsidized broadband and phone service for the poor and others said they might need to yank recipients whose eligibility wasn't newly verified. The Lifeline administrator's reminder was about a reverification process that has caused provider confusion as an FCC-mandated national verifier (NV) is rolled out in states.
The Mozilla Foundation aligned with the Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance and nine other organizations to petition major retailers to adopt minimum privacy and security guidelines for IoT products they carry. A Tuesday letter to Amazon, Best Buy, Target and Walmart referenced “serious concerns regarding standards of privacy and security” with connected consumer products.
Predictions of ramped-up space launch activity stem from the assumption satellite mega-constellations will get licensed, but “that is not an easy assumption” given heated competition for spectrum, said National Space Council Executive Secretary Scott Pace at a commercial spaceflight conference Tuesday. FCC members in April approved licensing for SpaceX's planned mega-constellation (see 1803300014). The agency didn't comment now.