Republican leadership added two tech-minded lawmakers to the Senate Judiciary Committee in Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., according to a GOP roster circulating around the Hill. Republicans also doubled down on adding female representation with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa (see 1812140044).
The FCC plans to vote on an order to drive down Connect America Fund Phase I support in price-cap telco areas where CAF Phase II auction winners will receive support and in the areas that weren't eligible for the auction, said the tentative agenda for the Jan. 30 commissioners' meeting. Commissioners will consider a caller-ID spoofing NPRM, an IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) order and Further NPRM, an NPRM proposing changes to the rules on applications for noncommercial education stations and low-power FM stations, and a media modernization order to eliminate requirements for broadcaster midterm equal employment opportunity reports.
Amid a federal shutdown, the Senate established some stability at the FCC Wednesday night, confirming Brendan Carr to another term as commissioner and Geoffrey Starks to the open slot vacated by Mignon Clyburn (see 1901020056). Absent Senate confirmation, both nominations would have expired, and President Donald Trump would have had to renominate both.
A $495,000 settlement with NBC/Telemundo-owned stations over years-old, repeated violations of the FCC children’s TV rules doesn’t make clear the exact extent of the transgressions and may be a prelude to expected action to relax kidvid rules, said broadcast and children’s advocacy attorneys in interviews Wednesday. The consent decree and license renewal order were released early afternoon on New Year’s Eve -- the same day it was adopted, said a spokesperson. The item was also in Wednesday's Daily Digest.
States are looking into the CenturyLink outage that disrupted 911 systems across the country, with more formal investigations possible, said utility commissions we surveyed Wednesday. State-level probes are important and complement the federal probe announced last week by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1812280033), said NARUC and the National Association of State 911 Administrators (NASNA).
The court panel that will review the FCC net neutrality rollback includes two Democratic appointees and one Republican appointee. That cheered net neutrality advocates, but they and others cautioned against reading too much into the selection, and some suggested the commission is likely to be upheld.
The FCC will continue to make key systems available to the public, even as staff are sent home starting mid-day Thursday, said a detailed announcement (see 1901020043). Many, including staff, feared systems would be taken offline as they were in 2013 (see 1812280021). Staff held an all-hands meeting Wednesday afternoon to be briefed on the details before release of the public notice, agency and industry officials said.
Democrats' capture of control of the House hasn't made the potential outcome of the looming Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization debate any easier to predict, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. Media policy stakeholders said before the election that uncertainty about which party would have the House majority in the 116th Congress made it harder to forecast the direction of recertification discussions (see 1804030061 and 1810230051). STELA is expected to be a top 2019 telecom policy priority for the House and Senate Commerce committees (see 1812060050). The Judiciary committees also are expected to play an active role in deciding whether and how to reauthorize the law.
Political stars look aligned to pass a Colorado net neutrality bill in 2019, after Democrats gained a power trifecta in November’s election and flipped the attorney general’s office (see 1811070043), Democratic state lawmakers formulating such legislation told us. Incoming Attorney General Phil Weiser (D) stands ready to defend such a Colorado law, he said in another interview. Also, the Democrats said they want to increase support for broadband through additional funding and changes to state law.
The FCC’s first high-band spectrum auction, for the 28 GHz band, had $690 million in provisionally winning bids when it closed for the holidays. It was still unclear whether it will reopen Thursday, an issue expected to be addressed in the FCC’s Wednesday shutdown public notice. Industry analysts said the numbers so far, though far lower than some previous spectrum auctions, aren’t surprising. The AWS-3 auction ended in 2015 at a record $44.9 billion and the 600 MHz TV incentive auction two years later at $20 billion.