Broadcasters and satellite carriers clashed with wireless carriers and Dish Network on what positions the U.S. should take on spectrum use at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019, in comments posted Thursday and Friday in FCC docket 16-185. Broadcasters want to have language removed from ITU table of frequency allocations they said would leave spectrum dedicated to broadcasters open for wireless use, and most satellite carriers are seeking power constraints on terrestrial international mobile telecom (IMT) and protection for satellite incumbents. Carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile don’t want changes to the language on the use of the broadcast spectrum, do want 37.0-43.5 GHz identified for IMT, and with Dish oppose power limits. To “most effectively promote" 5G, the FCC should adopt recommendations “that promote flexible spectrum use,” T-Mobile said.
The net neutrality fight lost a giant liberal voice with the resignation of Eric Schneiderman as New York attorney general (see the personals section of this publication's May 9 issue). Some observers said his exit last week shouldn’t affect New York’s lawsuit against the FCC with 22 other Democratic state AGs at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. “What can get lost in the scandal,” said State and Local Legal Center Executive Director Lisa Soronen, “is the value that this guy added -- or from the other side’s perspective, the detriment that this guy added.” But NARUC General Counsel Brad Ramsay said it’s “hard to see how the departure of one attorney in a case with so many appellants could be crucial to either organization efforts or advocacy,” especially so early in the process.
The Senate Judiciary Committee appears poised to advance a package of music copyright legislation recently passed with unprecedented consensus in the House (see 1805100072, 1804250078 and 1804200052), Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and industry stakeholders told us. Six months ago, sponsors Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., came to Grassley with a stand-alone bill that drew deep skepticism. Despite the addition of two more controversial bills, Grassley said the majority of players remain in support. “I think it’s going to go fairly smooth, and I don’t think you’re going to find a lot of opposition. You’re going to find a lot of people praising" the package, he said.
The Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly (Browser) Act (HR-2520) is back in the public debate over privacy legislation amid the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data privacy controversy (see 1804100054 and 1804130057). Lawmakers and industry stakeholders remained divided in interviews on how influential HR-2520 should be in shaping the legislative process this year and into the next Congress, especially in the context of other bills being explored post-Cambridge Analytica. Capitol Hill has been grappling with whether and how to legislate in response to claims that Cambridge Analytica bought private data of some 87 million Facebook users in support of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign (see 1804110065, 1804300048 and 1805100038).
AT&T apparent ousting of Senior Executive Vice President Bob Quinn after controversy over the company's hiring of Donald Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen (see 1805090080) isn't going to change how lobbying is practiced in Washington or by AT&T, experts said. Unless other related issues come up, there's no long-term damage to AT&T and "people move on," said professor David Rehr, who teaches legislative advocacy at George Mason University's Scalia Law School and used to be NAB head. He said government relations offices or corporate personnel might be more careful in vetting who interacts with the administration. "Everyone is going to go 'better double-check that person,'" Rehr said.
The White House established a select committee on artificial intelligence under the National Science and Technology Council to advise the president on interagency AI efforts, White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios told about 40 industry representatives, 25 government officials and 10 academics Thursday (see 1805090048). The “most senior” R&D officials will be members, he said. The panel will consider federal partnerships with industry and academia and leverage federal data to promote the national AI ecosystem, he said.
The FCC fined telemarketer Adrian Abramovich $120 million for "malicious spoofing" in a "massive robocalling operation aimed at selling timeshares and other travel packages," which the agency said was the largest "forfeiture" in its history. The commission found Abramovich, of Miami, or his companies spoofed 96 million calls over three months in 2016 "to trick" consumers into listening to advertising pitches, violating a Truth in Caller ID Act prohibition against callers "deliberately falsifying caller ID information with the intent to harm or defraud consumers or unlawfully obtain something of value," said a release. Commissioners approved a forfeiture order at Thursday's meeting, with Commissioner Michael O'Rielly partially dissenting.
Carriers and their associations urged the FCC to move forward on scheduling auctions for high-band spectrum beyond 28 and 24 GHz. The comments came on a public notice on rules for the auctions, scheduled to get underway in November, starting with 28 GHz. “By bringing millimeter wave bands to market this year, the Commission will help facilitate the development and deployment of 5G technologies and services across the country to the benefit of the nation’s economy, businesses, and consumers,” CTIA said. The FCC needs a schedule for making more bands available, but it warned against extending anti-collusion rules across both auctions.
Pearl TV and its partners in the Phoenix ATSC 3.0 model-market project are “collaborating” with the Spectrum Co. consortium that Sinclair shares with American Tower, Cunningham Broadcasting, Nexstar and Univision to fashion a “transition model that we could offer to the industry as a way to move multiple markets, so that we’re all operating on the same sheet of paper,” Pearl Managing Director Anne Schelle told us Wednesday. The ultimate goal is to blanket the U.S. with coverage in a "rapid build" over three years, said Schelle.
The FCC unanimously approved an NPRM on changing the way the agency handles interference complaints involving FM translators and full-power FM stations, as expected (see 1805030043). The approved version of the NPRM in docket 18-119 is little changed from the draft and proposes allowing translators facing interference to relocate to nearly any free frequency. “Our current process for resolving such interference complaints can be nasty, brutish and long,” Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday. ”That’s why we aim to streamline and expedite it.”