NARUC draft resolutions on FCC spectrum auction authority and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) got support from some industry and other groups ahead of this week’s state utilities regulators’ meeting in Washington, D.C. In an interview last week, Nebraska Public Service Commissioner Tim Schram (R) said it’s critical to use auction revenue to fully fund the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program, which repays federally funded carriers required to “rip and replace” equipment from Chinese vendors that may pose a security risk.
NAB’s call for an FCC task force on ATSC 3.0 appears to have broad support and is aimed at both the FCC and the consumer electronics industry, said both supporters and critics of ATSC 3.0 in interviews (see 2301260049). “A ‘NextGen Broadcast Acceleration Task Force’ is a good first step along with a firm signal to the marketplace that 1.0 service will end on a date certain,” emailed One Media Executive Vice President-Strategic and Legal Affairs Jerald Fritz. An FCC 3.0 task force could gather more information on the transition and where 3.0 and broadcast TV are going, said frequent 3.0 opponent Michael Calabrese, of New America’s Open Technology Institute.
The Wireless ISP Association released a paper Thursday arguing that NTIA’s notice of funding opportunity for its broadband, equity, access and deployment program is biased against WISPs and wireless, and promotes “bad policy.” WISPA is working to overcome NTIA resistance to funding projects that rely partly on using unlicensed spectrum (see 2301230052). By designating fiber as a “priority broadband project” for deployments, NTIA will drive up the cost of closing the digital divide by as much as $60 billion, the paper said.
The major questions doctrine, as laid out in July’s Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA (see 2206300066), is likely to play an increasingly important role in future decisions on actions by federal agencies like the FCC, experts said Wednesday during an FCBA webinar. In a 6-3 decision, justices didn’t overrule the Chevron doctrine but appeared to further clamp down on agencies' ability to regulate without clear direction from Congress.
Lower orbits are going to become increasingly in demand, Viasat Chairman/CEO Mark Dankberg said Wednesday at the Smallsat Symposium. Some of that is due to the FCC's five-year post-mission disposal rule and because satellites in lower orbits will deorbit faster than in higher ones, he said. A challenge is that pretty much every altitude between 375 and 575 km has some traffic in it already, except for the band around the International Space Station, he said.
The Senate Commerce Committee set its third hearing on FCC nominee Gigi Sohn for Tuesday, in line with Democrats’ plans to move the candidate swiftly through the committee (see 2302030073) in hopes of avoiding a repeat of the Senate’s 2022 confirmation stall. President Joe Biden renominated Sohn in January after the new Congress convened (see 2301030060). The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in 253 Russell. The American Accountability Foundation, among the most vocal groups opposing Sohn urged four Democratic senators Wednesday to recuse themselves from voting on her confirmation because the nominee donated to their campaigns. Sohn supporters called AAF’s donation claims overblown.
House Communications Subcommittee leaders voiced optimism Wednesday that there will be bipartisan agreement soon on an updated version of the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act, the refiled Secure Space Act (HR-675) and other satellite legislation, but indicated after a hearing the subpanel may wait until March to advance the measures. Witnesses praised the bills, as expected (see 2302070066), but noted the need for some tweaks. Also on the docket: the Leveraging American Understanding of Next-Generation Challenges Exploring Space Act (HR-682), draft Advanced, Local Emergency Response Telecommunications Parity Act and draft Precision Agriculture Satellite Connectivity Act.
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said Wednesday she believes lawmakers need to “reach an agreement as soon as possible” on spectrum legislative items currently tied up with renewing the FCC’s auction authority. Congress extended the FCC’s auction authority through March 9 as part of the FY 2023 appropriations omnibus package, but leaders on the House and Senate Commerce committees hope they can agree on a broader spectrum bill, after a legislative deal they hoped to attach to the omnibus fell through in December (see 2212280044).
Nebraska senators debated shifting broadband responsibilities to the state’s department of transportation (DOT) from the Public Service Commission. Some senators at Tuesday's livestreamed hearing questioned the need to change who handles mapping and distributing federal support from NTIA’s broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program. Nebraska PSC Chairman Dan Watermeier (R), officially testifying as neutral on the bill, cautioned that the BEAD program has strict deadlines the state must move quickly to meet. Any proposed transition may require NTIA approval, he said.
Local government interests urged Missouri lawmakers Tuesday that before adopting any legislation protecting streaming services from video service provider franchise fees, they should follow through on the promise to create a task force to look at the contentious issue of how rights of way are used and who should pay for their use. SB 152, which would amend state law so provision of streaming content is excluded from being considered a video service provider and thus liable for such fees, is premature before that task force can do its work, said Missouri Municipal League Executive Director Richard Sheets at a state Senate Commerce Consumer Protection Committee hearing.