Broadcaster ideas for the future of the 39 percent national ownership cap range from getting rid of it completely to applying the 50 percent discount currently reserved for UHF stations to all TV stations, said comments filed Monday in docket 17-318 responding to an FCC NPRM on modifying or eliminating the cap and discount. “The traditional competition and diversity justifications for a broadcast-only national TV ownership rule have significantly eroded,” said NAB. Anti-media consolidation groups and MVPDs argued the cap should be preserved and the UHF discount should be eliminated. The proposals in the NPRM would “overrule Congress” to “suit the interests of Donald Trump’s cronies” at Sinclair and Fox, commented Free Press.
With the FCC facing one apparent unauthorized satellite constellation put into orbit, it's unclear whether others follow. Satellite experts we talked to were split on whether the agency will need a strong response or if the launches by Swarm Technologies are clearly a mistake unlikely to be replicated. Satellite IoT connectivity startup Swarm had the first unauthorized commercial satellite launch, and there are likely few if any amateur radio service or research satellites that have gone up without authorization, said telecom tech regulatory lawyer Mitchell Lazarus of Fletcher Heald. He said it's unlikely other satellite operators will follow: "Nobody does this on purpose."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., plans to mark up a music copyright package the week of April 9, a committee aide told us Tuesday (see 1803140061). Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., lead sponsor of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) (HR-4706), said he’s looking forward to movement on the bill. Asked during an event hosted by the Technology Policy Institute when Goodlatte plans to unveil the package, Collins said, “That’s up to Chairman Goodlatte, and I think the Classics Act’s always been discussed, the AMP [Allocation for Music Producers HR-881] Act’s always been discussed. We always said that having a good collaborative process, those are things that we could look at.”
China is intent on leading the world on 5G and doesn’t plan to play by the same rules as the U.S., warned Carolyn Bartholomew, vice chairman, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, on a Hudson Institute panel Tuesday. China is already the world’s largest manufacturer of devices for the IoT and a global in network equipment manufacturing, she said.
Commissioner Brendan Carr defended the FCC Tuesday against claims the agency hasn’t done enough outreach to tribes as it prepared the wireless infrastructure proposal, set for a vote Thursday. Carr spoke at an event sponsored by the U.S. Black Chambers, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and the Hispanic Technology and Telecommunications Partnership (HTTP), which support the draft order, though with some concerns.
DOJ is trying to fit AT&T's buy of Time Warner, a vertical merger, into a horizontal merger hole and put the burden on the defendants to prove the case for why the deal is good, when it's up to the government to prove why it's bad, AT&T/TW outside counsel Dan Petrocelli of O'Melveny said Tuesday during evidentiary hearings on the trial's second day. He said the sides have a fundamental legal disagreement on the issue. DOJ attorney Craig Conrath said New AT&T has both positive and negative competitive effects, but the positive effects are quite small, and AT&T has to show those benefits will reach consumers.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) welcomed legislation to end state 911 fee diversion -- after condemnations of the practice by FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly as well as a state representative and a mayor challenging Raimondo in this November’s election. The Republicans spoke Monday against the practice at a 911 summit (video) hosted by state Rep. Robert Lancia (R) in Cranston. Raimondo staff met with O’Rielly during a visit to a Providence call center.
Lawmakers are seeking hearings, potentially with executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter, after reports a political data analytics firm connected to the 2016 Trump campaign allegedly misused private information of more than 50 million Americans. Facebook suspended the accounts of Strategic Communication Laboratories and its data firm Cambridge Analytica Friday, citing violations of guidelines for user data collection. The announcement followed reports from The New York Times and The Guardian about the organization’s alleged misrepresentation and harvesting of user data.
Charter Communications may have to forfeit $1 million to New York state and could lose its franchise agreement in New York City, the state’s telecom regulator said Monday. New York Public Service Commission Chairman John Rhodes said Charter overcounted new connections, which would mean the company missed a December broadband buildout target that was a condition of its 2016 buy of Time Warner Cable. The PSC said it may launch a probe into whether the New York City agreement should be terminated for alleged underpayments and failure to meet cable deployment obligations. A company spokesman denied the allegations, saying it's "in full compliance with our merger order and the New York City franchise, and we will fight these baseless and legally suspect actions vigorously.”
NOAA needs to do a better job letting launch companies know that any camera in space, except for handhelds and astronomy-related cameras, require approval, Tahara Dawkins, director-Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office, told us. A commercial space industry consultant said commercial launcher use of streaming video -- like SpaceX's February launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket with a payload including a Tesla car, livestreamed by SpaceX with David Bowie's "Starman" as soundtrack -- conflicts with NOAA regulations and such conflicts are likely to become more common with growth of commercial space launchers.