FCC Chairman Ajit Pai could be close to gaining majority support for his proposals to provide additional USF support to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in response to last year's hurricanes. Commissioner Brendan Carr said this week he voted for an order, and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly's office told us Thursday he's optimistic his concerns will be resolved and he will soon be able to vote on the item. Pai circulated a draft order and NPRM in March seeking to provide $256 million in additional USF support and repurpose another $698 million to help restore and upgrade storm-damaged communications networks, with $750 million for Puerto Rico and $204 million for the U.S. Virgin Islands (see 1803060039 and 1803160051).
The FCC draft NPRM on reforming rules for interference complaints between FM translators and full-power FM stations is expected to be unanimously approved, industry and agency officials told us. The other media item set for commissioners' May 10 meeting, a media deregulation NPRM seeking comment on removing rules requiring broadcasters to physically post copies of their licenses, is also likely to pass with no objections, industry and agency officials said.
T-Mobile, CTIA and tech players led by CTA filed initial comments in the FCC’s spectrum horizons proceeding. Commissioners approved an NPRM in February on spectrum above 95 GHz for new services and technologies (see 1802220048), though in the buildup industry showed little interest (see 1802200058). The earlier concern was that carriers, bent on deploying 5G this year, would largely ignore spectrum unlikely to see broad use anytime soon. Comments were due Wednesday.
The judge overseeing DOJ's lawsuit seeking to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner has a variety of options other than simply blocking or allowing the transaction, and it's not clear what he will do. Multiple trial watchers told us they believe Justice failed to prove the deal would harm competition. There was no consensus on whether U.S. District Judge Richard Leon's opinion -- whatever it is -- will be appealed.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Jobs are “an issue that is at the forefront of every single discussion that we have” on the subject of artificial intelligence, Michael Hayes, CTA senior manager-government affairs, told a workshop Tuesday at the CTA Technology and Standards Forum on the legislative implications of AI. CTA recently hired a vice president-U.S. jobs (see 1710110002) “to tackle this issue specifically,” said Hayes.
If the latest statistics on slowing smartphone sales weren’t enough, LG underscored the demise of the two- to three-year smartphone life cycle Tuesday with worldwide introduction of its latest flagship handset, the G7 ThinQ. IDC reported Wednesday that smartphone vendors shipped 334.3 million units in Q1, a 2.9 percent drop from the year-ago quarter, fueled by declines in the China market to sub-100-million shipment volumes, a level not seen since Q3 2013.
Electronics manufacturers would have to include “reasonable” security measures on internet-connected devices under a California bill advanced by the Assembly Privacy Committee. At Tuesday's hearing, members also OK’d a bill to penalize social media companies that don’t adequately prevent sale to minors of guns and other age-restricted items. Manufacturers opposed the security bill, while internet companies resisted the parental-consent bill.
With anti-sex trafficking legislation signed into law, tech groups are ready to oppose further legislative efforts that might weaken liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, an industry representative told us. Proponents of the recently passed bill said this is the start of a larger conversation about online platforms’ responsibilities to the public on privacy, propaganda and criminal behavior.
The FCC directed the Universal Service Administrative Co. not to reject E-rate requests for fiber USF support in funding year 2018 (starting July 1) because of discrepancies caused by "apparent confusion" over USAC changes to its online menu for submitting a form to solicit competitive service bids. "While USAC's efforts in August 2017 were intended to simplify the application and competitive bidding process for stakeholders, it now appears that a significant number of applicants were unclear about how to navigate the FCC Form 470 drop-down menu consistent with USAC's guidance," said a letter to USAC from Wireline Bureau Chief Kris Monteith and Managing Director Mark Stephens posted Tuesday. The letter also directed USAC to add clarifying language to the dropdown menu for FY 2019. USAC didn't comment Wednesday but it takes orders from the FCC.
Allowing broadcasters to satisfy the requirements of kidvid rules with content aired only on multicast channels is one of the ideas Commissioner Mike O’Rielly’s office is interested in as part of the upcoming review of those rules, an aide to the commissioner told us. That change or something similar would allow the agency to ensure that households dependent only on over-the-air TV would have access to children’s TV but also allow the FCC to make the rules less burdensome for broadcasters, which O’Rielly referenced when he told the American Enterprise Institute (see 1804190045) the agency should focus on over-the-air only households, the aide said. Advocates for the children’s TV rules told us they’re concerned that O’Rielly appears to be starting from the position that the rules are too burdensome. The review shouldn’t begin with any presumptions, said Parents Television Council President Tim Winter. “The process should be genuine,” Winter said. O’Rielly has said an NPRM on kidvid should be issued this summer.