FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Monday called for communications providers and power companies to work together in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters. Other speakers at the FCC's hurricane resiliency roundtable noted that communications between the domains have improved, highlighted by the work of the Cross-Sector Resiliency Forum (see 2504250050), which launched after Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Broadcasters urged the FCC to issue an NPRM on NAB’s proposal to allow them to use virtual, software-based emergency alert system equipment instead of physical devices, according to an ex parte filing recapping a meeting with an aide to Chairman Brendan Carr. “Certain changes in the EAS marketplace increase the need for prompt attention to this proposal,” said representatives of iHeartMedia, Beasley Media, Cox Media, New York Public Radio and NAB in the filing, posted Thursday in docket 15-94.

The elimination of federal funding for PBS stations would be a blow to the ATSC 3.0 transition, said commercial and noncommercial broadcasters and advocates for public TV stations and 3.0. The transition would survive the loss of PBS station participation, but removing it from the equation would affect the reach of 3.0 datacasting, emergency communications and the broadcast positioning system (BPS), commercial broadcasters told us.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, appeared highly skeptical during a Wednesday hearing about President Donald Trump’s proposal that Congress rescind $1.1 billion of CPB’s advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 (see 2506030065). Panel member Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., also voiced concerns about parts of the CPB rescission plan but told White House OMB Director Russell Vought he wants to find a compromise. The House passed its 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) earlier this month with the CPB funding clawback intact, despite some Republicans’ misgivings (see 2506130025). Rounds is among a handful of Senate Republicans who have raised questions about defunding CPB (see 2506050063).

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is reviewing a proposed FCC rule titled “Modernization of the Nation's Alerting Systems,” which could be related to NAB’s proposal to allow software-based emergency alerting equipment, according to the OIRA website and industry officials. Since April 21, all agency regulations have been required to undergo OIRA review, but it has been unclear how that process would interact with the FCC’s procedures (see 2505090004). The alerting item posted by OIRA doesn’t appear to correspond to any item listed as having been circulated to the FCC’s 10th floor as of Friday. The OIRA website listing contains almost no details about the item, only that it was submitted for review May 30, a few days after the final reply comment date on NAB’s proposal (see 2505230056). The FCC didn’t respond to queries about the OIRA listing. OIRA’s webpage shows that a number of FCC and NAB officials met about the item via teleconference June 13.

Former FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told broadcasters Thursday that Chairman Brendan Carr has chosen not to take steps to ease the ATSC 3.0 transition. Carr could have long ago had the agency issue guidance to speed the approval of ATSC 3.0 channel-sharing applications, even without a Republican majority, Simington said in a speech at the ATSC NextGen Broadcast Conference.

Allowing broadcasters to replace physical emergency alerting equipment with a software-based system won’t require the FCC to create an entirely new regulatory regime, said NAB and broadcast executives in a meeting with Public Safety Bureau staff last week, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 15-94. Emergency alert system (EAS) equipment maker Digital Alert Systems has said NAB’s proposal would raise a host of regulatory issues (see 2505230056), but NAB and executives from iHeart, Beasley and Capitol Broadcasting told the FCC that such concerns are “overblown,” the filing said.

The House Rules Committee was still considering Tuesday whether to allow floor votes on a pair of Democratic amendments to the 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that would strip out its proposed clawback of $1.1 billion of CPB’s advance funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027 (see 2506090036). Panel Republicans and Democrats sparred over CPB funding during the hearing, reflecting growing GOP interest in revoking federal support for public broadcasters over claims that their content has a predominantly pro-Democratic bias (see 2503210040). Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us he's still undecided about supporting a CPB funding rollback once the upper chamber considers HR-4.

Conservative groups and the Consumer Technology Association argued in reply comments filed by Friday’s deadline that a mandatory transition to ATSC 3.0, as NAB proposed, would fly in the face of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s deregulatory agenda. In its own comments, NAB argued that a mandate is necessary for broadcast competition, saying it's no different from the DTV transition.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a Senate hearing Wednesday that NTIA will issue a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for its $42.5 billion BEAD program and will require all states to resubmit their applications. But the agency would still be able to dole out much of the money before year-end, he told the Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., expressed reservations about President Donald Trump’s proposal to claw back $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding as part of a rescission package that congressional GOP leaders want expedited (see 2506030065).