The Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday plans to mark up legislation that would regulate kids’ social media use, Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced Friday.
Expect more Max bundling with other streaming services and partnering with telcos around the world, Warner Bros. Discovery executives said Thursday as the company announced Q1 2024 results. WBD and Disney this week unveiled a Disney+/Max/Hulu streaming bundle that will launch this summer.
AI will play a large role in the telecom network of the future, but finding the right AI model and aligning it with the network will pose big challenges for carriers, experts said during a Senza Fili “Sparring Partners” webcast Thursday.
LTD Broadband asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Wednesday to overturn the FCC's denial of its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase (RDOF) I auction long-form application. It filed a partially redacted petition (docket 24-1017). LTD was the largest RDOF winner, receiving an award of roughly $1.3 billion to deploy broadband to 528,088 locations across more than a dozen states (see 2012070039).
A bipartisan bid aimed at attaching $6 billion in stopgap funding for the FCC’s affordable connectivity program and $3.08 billion for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program to the FAA reauthorization package appeared likely to fail Thursday amid opposition from Senate leaders (see 2405080047). Amendment co-sponsor Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, conceded in an interview Thursday he and other backers appear to lack the necessary votes to hold up consideration of the FAA package. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and amendment co-sponsor Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., separately confirmed to us that chamber leaders still resisted allowing a floor vote on the proposal because they view it as nongermane to the FAA package.
The Universal Service Administrative Co. owes Data Research Corp. (DRC) $9.9 million, plus interest, for broadband services it provided more than 20 years ago to the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDOE) under the federal E-rate program, DRC's complaint Wednesday alleges (docket 3:24-cv-01211) in U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico in San Juan.
Challenges remain as companies implement a voluntary cyber-trust mark program based on National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria, speakers said during an FCBA CLE on Thursday. FCC commissioners approved the program 5-0 in March (see 2403180046), but the order has not appeared in the Federal Register and the program's timeline is unclear. The cyber mark label will appear on consumer IoT products with an accompanying QR code. It's comparable to the ENERGY STAR program, which certifies products as energy efficient.
The California Public Utilities Commission set next steps for foster youth and broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) programs through two 4-0 votes at a livestreamed meeting Thursday. The vote on extending the CPUC’s current foster youth pilot program beyond July came after multiple delays as the agency and stakeholders considered how to ensure a seamless transition. And even with the first volume of California’s BEAD plan done, much work remains to achieve maximum broadband across the state, California commissioners said.
The FCC gave net neutrality supporters some of what they were looking for on 5G network slicing, one of the most contested issues before commissioners, providing further clarity (see 2404190038), a comparison of the order and a draft shows. The FCC posted the order late Tuesday. The commission approved it 3-2 at a contentious meeting last month.
Industry representatives raised concerns about potential negative effects for consumers should the FCC adopt an NPRM Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated among fellow commissioners last month that bans bulk billing arrangements between ISPs and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) owners (see 2403050069). "We built our business around" MDUs because "there was a gap in the marketplace" and a "demand to provide an alternative to the incumbent providers," said Pavlov Media President-MDU Bryan Rader.