California policymakers should reconsider what counts as free broadband service as it doles out public housing grants, said the California Broadband and Video Association (CalBroadband) Tuesday. In a petition at the California Public Utilities Commission, the state cable association raised concerns with a December CPUC resolution (T-17775), saying services made free by the federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) aren’t truly free. CalBroadband’s petition should be rejected, two consumer advocates responded Wednesday.
Senate leaders acknowledged they’re beginning to consider using floor time to pass the House-approved bill to renew the FCC’s spectrum auction authority through May 19 (HR-1108) in case they can’t reach a deal with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., that would pave the way for enacting the measure via unanimous consent, but they insisted such a move isn’t their preference. An accord remained elusive Wednesday, with Rounds saying he's still opposed to the May 19 extension and leaders still resistant to his alternate bid to renew the authority through Sept. 30 (S-650). That impasse led to the FCC’s mandate lapsing just under two weeks ago (see 2303090074).
A possible Texas preference for fiber split AT&T and Verizon at a Texas Senate Commerce Committee hearing livestreamed Tuesday. The committee heard testimony on a bill (SB-1238) meant to update Texas laws to prepare for incoming federal dollars from NTIA’s broadband, equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. Also at the hearing, cities clashed with DirecTV and Dish Network over a bill (SB-1117) to ensure satellite and streaming TV services would not have to pay video franchise fees.
The FCC’s September 2018 small-cells declaratory ruling preempting aspects of local and municipal cell tower permit reviews (see 2210070046) is a “substantive rule” that shouldn’t be applied retroactively to the 2017 Roswell, Georgia, decision denying T-Mobile’s application to build a tower in a residential neighborhood, said U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg for Northern Georgia in Atlanta in a signed opinion and order Friday (docket 1:10-cv-01464).
Wireless industry commenters and public safety groups agreed on the need for some flexibility, in reply comments on an FCC proposal that carriers more precisely route wireless 911 calls and texts to public safety answering points through location-based routing (LBR). Disagreements remain on some implementation details (see 2302170044). Comments were posted Monday and Tuesday on an NPRM commissioners approved 4-0 in December (see 2212210047).
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council unanimously approved reports by working groups on 911 services over Wi-Fi and the wireless emergency alert application programming interface. The Tuesday meeting was the first this year for CSRIC and the first with an in-person component in more than three years, though some participants were remote. The December meeting was supposed to be in person, but the FCC made it virtual because of an expected ice storm (see 2212150070).
Broadcasters, MVPDs and public interest groups don’t agree whether sharing arrangements and top-four affiliates hosted on low-power TV multicasts are loopholes in ownership rules or ways for broadcasters to achieve scale and serve needful communities, according to several 2022 quadrennial review replies filed in docket 22-459 for Monday’s deadline (see 2303060070). Other filings urged the FCC to study news quality and broadcaster diversity, or condemned the agency for starting the 2022 QR with the 2018 version still open. That left TV and radio companies “wondering whether the Commission will recognize significant changes in the marketplace,” said Gray Television.
New Jersey’s Assembly Health Committee unanimously passed legislation Monday that would hold social media platforms liable when they engage in activity that causes users under the age of 18 to “become addicted” to their services.
Talks on a broadcasting protection treaty remained stalled after a March 13-17 World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) meeting, stakeholders said. Some "progress towards finding common ground" was made on several issues, according to the chair's summary, but there were no breakthroughs.
Industry groups and ISPs asked the FCC to refrain from adopting significant changes to its broadband consumer labels, in reply comments posted Friday in docket 22-2 (see 2302170046). Some urged the FCC to allow providers to fully implement the labels and analyze their usefulness before considering modifications. Consumer advocates sought additional information about pricing and speed data, with some raising concerns about the use of hyperlinks.