TRENTON -- New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) should end state 911 fee diversion that keeps local 911 agencies from receiving any money, said FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and New Jersey county and wireless officials at a Thursday news conference. With lawmakers in the thick of budget season, “they may not see the light yet,” O’Rielly said in an interview later. The FCC in February identified the state as the nation’s biggest diverter, saying it used about 89 percent ($108.1 million) of the revenue for other purposes in 2016.
The FCC released draft items for commissioners' July 12 meeting (see 1806200058), including an NPRM on C-Band spectrum at 3.7-4.2 GHz. Also on the tentative agenda for the meeting are drafts on wireless emergency alerts (WEA) and the emergency alert system (EAS), changes to cellular, children's TV programming (see 1806210021), nationwide number portability and enforcement proceeding rules for complaints.
The FCC should reject Sinclair/Tribune’s divestiture plans as a sham, wait for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule on the UHF discount and block the transaction, said petitions to deny in FCC docket 17-179 by a host of anti-media-consolidation groups, MVPD entities, state attorneys general, Newsmax, the Parents Television Council and American Civil Liberties Union. “This proposed merger, which would create the largest television broadcasting company in history, is anticompetitive to its core,” said the ACLU. NCTA and three state attorneys general had concerns.
Commissioner Mike O'Rielly took to multiple media outlets to plug a coming kidvid deregulatory plan, as the FCC issued the draft NPRM and opened a docket on the proceeding. Also Thursday, a self-described "coalition of 23 center-right consumer advocates" supported the effort. O'Rielly hopes to complete the kidvid proceeding "by the end of the year," he told a TechFreedom podcast. An NPRM seeking comment on relaxing the rules, spearheaded by O’Rielly, is set for the July 12 commissioners’ meeting (see 1806200058). A tentative meeting agenda was just released (see 1806210063).
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Thursday in South Dakota v. Wayfair that states can collect sales tax from out-of-state retailers, effectively reversing its earlier 1992 precedent in Quill v. North Dakota. Justice Anthony Kennedy led the opinion in favor of South Dakota, joined by Justices Samuel Alito, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented along with Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. Several tech sector stakeholders told us they now believe it's critical for Congress to pass legislation to mitigate the effects. Oral argument was in April (see 1804170062).
Many media and telecom interests concerned about consolidation tell us Disney and Comcast's duel for Fox's non-broadcast assets (see 1806130036) presents equally unappealing options. Programmers, especially small ones, have concerns about either deal, Public Knowledge Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said. Disney/Fox would be "absolutely horrible," Comcast/Fox even worse, said American Cable Association President Matt Polka. Comcast rejected such assertions. Wednesday, Disney upped its bid, topping a competing one from Comcast (see 1806200015).
NTIA has made no big decisions on a spectrum strategy favoring federal incumbents or industry, Administrator David Redl said at a Telecommunications Industry Association event Thursday. More than anything, the agency is seeking balance, he said. Redl said it's looking closely at bidirectional sharing, in which federal agencies could also share commercial bands. Some in industry fear early signals are federal agencies largely won in their push for sharing versus exclusive-use licenses (see 1806200067).
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said women should hold more positions in telecom, media and tech. "I hate when people say it's a pipeline problem" because it "absolves" managers of responsibility, she said at an FCBA event Wednesday. She largely stuck to familiar themes in Q&A with FCBA President Julie Kearney of CTA. Rosenworcel backed a "spectrum calendar" and closing the "homework gap," suggested T-Mobile's proposed buy of Sprint has a difficult case to make, and decried the spread of unjustified claims of "fake news." She voiced hope for "distributed ledger" technology as a possible spectrum-sharing solution.
An EU plan to require major content-sharing platforms to monitor users' uploads moved forward Wednesday. By 14-9, the European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) approved a report responding to a 2016 European Commission proposal for a directive on copyright in the digital single market. The report, by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Axel Voss, of Germany and the European People's Party, supports the EC's controversial calls for a new right (Article 11, the "neighboring" right, also called the "snippet tax") for online news publishers, and for large platforms to filter users' uploads to prevent copyright breaches (Article 13).
FirstNet is getting widespread use, from the deadly Memorial Day weekend flood in Ellicott City, Maryland, to wildfires in Texas, to planning for big events like the Boston Marathon, CEO Mike Poth said at the quarterly board meeting Wednesday. FirstNet said it passed a milestone in April, receiving its first payment from network partner AT&T.