FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn decried an "assault on pro-consumer policies" by the majority, which she said "will continue down its destructive path" at Thursday's monthly meeting. “They will make it more difficult for low-income Americans to access affordable communications services" and "will shred consumer and competition protections," she said Wednesday, referring to Lifeline and wireline broadband deployment items. She also slammed expected FCC actions on a new broadcast TV standard and allowing "massive media consolidation" (see 1711150054).
The FCC move to ax the domestic geographic coverage requirement for non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) fixed satellite service systems, if it faces any opposition at all, might see resistance from Alaska interests. It's unclear how much sentiment there is among satellite operators for keeping the requirement, industry lawyers said. At least some operators argued in favor of maintaining the rule when another company sought a waiver of that requirement.
More claims are flying about alleged FirstNet efforts to dissuade states from opting out, as the Dec. 28 deadline nears. An executive from Verizon, planning to provide an alternative core network and services to public safety (see 1708170040), claimed at the NARUC conference this week that FirstNet told some states that opting out may prevent them from buying competitors’ services. FirstNet and Rivada disputed that, though a Colorado official said FirstNet caused confusion when it put AT&T in charge of the core network. Rivada CEO Declan Ganley raised concerns about a report claiming the network authority sent 24 pages of “opposition research” on his firm to New Hampshire. That report was then corrected.
A draft FCC order on changes to rules for wireless infrastructure, slated for a vote by commissioners Thursday (see 1710260038), appears headed to a 5-0 vote, though parts were still in flux Wednesday, officials said. The biggest likely change is the elimination of the “same hole” requirement, which would have mandated that to get relief from historic preservation review requirements, a new utility pole had to be placed in the same hole as a pole it was replacing, officials said. Wireless facilities are commonly attached to utility poles.
The House Communications Subcommittee's Thursday hearing on 5G is aimed mainly at educating members on potential benefits of and barriers to 5G deployments, but it also could feature debate about related proposals to pre-empt state, local and tribal siting rules and exempt projects from some existing review requirements, lawmakers, House aides and lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce is evaluating the Streamlining Permitting to Enable Efficient Deployment of Broadband Infrastructure Act (S-1988) and a draft bill from committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, both geared toward easing siting requirements (see 1710200047 and 1710310057). The hearing begins at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The FCC is expected to eliminate or relax numerous media ownership rules Thursday on a party-line 3-2 vote, industry and agency officials told us. That's despite calls Wednesday by Democratic senators for the Inspector General (IG) to investigate Chairman Ajit Pai for a possible quid pro quo relationship with Sinclair Broadcast and for Pai to recuse himself from both the media ownership and ATSC 3.0 items (see 1711140053) since they would benefit Sinclair. The FCC’s impartiality in review of Sinclair buying Tribune “may be tainted,” said 12 senators, including Tom Udall, D-N.M., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Maria Cantwell, D-Wash, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Richard Durbin, D-Ill., and Ed Markey, D-Mass.
BALTIMORE -- State and territory commissioners differed on how involved they should be in responding to major hurricanes and other disasters, speaking on network resilience panels this week at NARUC's meeting. A Georgia commissioner advocated a hands-off approach, but a U.S. Virgin Islands commissioner said his agency’s involvement was critical in responding to hurricanes Irma and Maria. “In a catastrophic event, you actually have to represent the utilities, and they can’t do it without you,” said Virgin Islands Public Services Commissioner Johann Clendenin.
Though consumer privacy advocates like Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., raised concerns last week about privacy implications of ATSC 3.0 audience measurement tools (see 1711080052), there’s little to fear because “data analytics” from 3.0 receivers will be “anonymized,” so as not to identify individual viewers, Mark Aitken, Sinclair vice president-advanced technology, told us. Chipset scarcity also will delay commercialization of 3.0 audience measurement tools for “some time,” said Aitken. FCC members are expected to OK 3.0's voluntary deployment Thursday in a 3-2 party-line vote (see 1711140053).
BALTIMORE -- Many broadband deployment questions went unanswered at last week’s meeting of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee because members couldn’t reach consensus, said state commissioners’ lone BDAC member Karen Charles Peterson. On a Tuesday panel at the NARUC annual meeting (see 1711140028), the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable commissioner repeatedly urged attendees to file comments in FCC docket 17-83 responding to Thursday’s meeting (see 1711090054). The BDAC debates on infrastructure seem to focus on urban areas, but it’s important not to forget that many rural areas don’t have any broadband, said Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Wendy Moser.
DOJ staff “actively” lobbied the House Judiciary Committee to change legislation updating Section 702 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act authority, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., complained to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a Tuesday oversight hearing. Lawmakers also quizzed Sessions on DOJ's review of AT&T's proposed acquisition of Time Warner, with him maintaining there was no White House or partisan interference.