A court dismissed AT&T's breach of contract and a trade secrets violation complaint against a negotiator handling retransmission consent talks for a group of Sinclair sidecar stations. That prompted speculation by industry lawyers we spoke with Friday on whether the decision will affect broadcasters' appeal of an FCC ruling that they violated good faith rules.
Country of origin cases
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., led filing Tuesday of the Utilizing Strategic Allied Telecommunications Act. They want to encourage investment in U.S. 5G developments and incentivize alternatives to telecom equipment manufactured by Huawei and ZTE. The bill would require the FCC direct at least $750 million, or up to 5 percent in annual spectrum auction proceeds, to create an NTIA-managed open radio access network R&D fund to spur movement to open-architecture, software-based wireless technologies. The measure would also create a $500 million multilateral telecommunications security fund to accelerate global adoption of trusted and secure telecom equipment. It would aim to increase U.S. participation in international standards-setting bodies and require the FCC report to Congress on recommendations. “Every month that the U.S. does nothing, Huawei stands poised to become the cheapest, fastest, most ubiquitous global provider of 5G, while U.S. and Western companies and workers lose out on market share and jobs,” Warner said in a statement. Four senators signed as original co-sponsors: Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Bob Menendez, D-N.J.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Lawmakers are again talking about advancing legislation to help fund U.S. communications providers removing Chinese equipment determined to threaten national security (see 2001080002).
Rep. Jerry McNerney, Calif., and three other Communications Subcommittee members wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday in support of the 5.9 GHz NPRM. The rulemaking, approved in December (see 1912120058), proposes to reallocate the 5.9 GHz band for Wi-Fi and cellular vehicle-to-everything, while potentially preserving a sliver for dedicated short-range communications. The NPRM “will allow this spectrum to continue to be used for its original purposed while supporting the growing demand for Wi-Fi and 5G services across the nation,” the lawmakers said. The other signers were Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; Billy Long, R-Mo.; and John Shimkus, R-Ill. “This proposal will ensure that Americans benefit from unlicensed Wi-Fi technologies and additional connected vehicle safety technologies, both of which cannot operate today in the 5.9 GHz band” under existing rules, they said.
The FCC “placed the interest of a private equity firm ahead of everyday people” by approving Terrier Media’s buy of Cox Enterprises stations (see 1911220069) and Terrier’s plan to comply with newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules by reducing the Dayton Daily News publication schedule, wrote Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley (D) and former FCC Commissioner Mike Copps in USA Today Thursday. “A region of nearly 1 million people will bear the brunt of these devastating cuts to its primary news source.” The deal's OK “with its explicit endorsement of profit over the public interest demonstrates that the FCC has lost its way.” The FCC had done away with the cross-ownership rules when Terrier proposed the purchase, but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ Prometheus IV restored the rule before the agency approved the transaction. Copps is a special adviser to Common Cause, a Prometheus petitioner. “FACT CHECK: The FCC eliminated the stupid and outdated rule that is leading to this outcome, but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, at the urging of your co-author, reinstated it,” tweeted Matthew Berry, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's chief of staff. “I suspect your co-author neglected to inform you that the very restrictions he supports are one of the major elements responsible for the decline in local journalism (in Dayton and elsewhere),” tweeted NAB General Counsel Rick Kaplan to Whaley. In the absence of the Prometheus "ruling we would not have revised the filing this way," emailed a Terrier spokesperson. "From the beginning, we saw our investment to improve services to local communities and this operational change was not our intent nor in our original filing.”
Three Massachusetts-based sex-abuse survivor groups are drafting a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticizing her bill directing a federal study of 2018 anti-sex-trafficking legislation (see 1912170041). Warren introduced the bill with Reps. Ro Khanna and Barbara Lee, both California Democrats, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. It would direct a study of the small percentage of consensual sex workers who claim a 2018 anti-sex trafficking law made their lives less safe and their trade more difficult, Living in Freedom Together (LIFT) CEO Nikki Bell told us. Some 200 survivors signed the draft letter, she said. The House version of the bill is HR-5448.
President Donald Trump signed the Pallone-Thune Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act (S-151) Monday, drawing praise from bill sponsors House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., among others. The compromise S-151, which passed the House and Senate in December (see 1912190068), combines provisions from the original Senate-passed version of the bill and the House-passed Stopping Bad Robocalls Act (HR-3375). The measure allows the FCC to levy civil penalties of up to $10,000 per call when the caller intentionally flouts the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. “This historic legislation will provide American consumers with even greater protection against annoying unsolicited robocalls,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. “American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai lauded “the additional tools and flexibility that this law affords us. Specifically, I am glad that the agency now has a longer statute of limitations during which we can pursue scammers and I welcome the removal of a previously-required warning we had to give to unlawful robocallers before imposing tough penalties." The Traced Act “will put Americans back in control of their phones,” Pallone said. “These calls are not just annoying -- they also are scams targeted at consumers.” The bill puts the federal government “one step closer to closing the books on illegal robocalls,” said House Commerce ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., and House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a news release. “But we are well aware that the bad actors will do all they can to get to consumers, so Congress will need to stay vigilant to protect the American people from illegal calls and scams.” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said "as Americans ring in the New Year, we now know that our phones will soon ring a lot less with annoying robocalls" because Trump signed the Traced Act into law.
Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, welcomed Facebook’s announcement it will remove misleading platform content about the U.S. census (see 1912190059). Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said more needs to be done.
House and Senate Commerce Committee leaders told us they’re aiming to return after the holiday recess to talks on legislation aimed at allocating proceeds from a pending FCC spectrum auction of in the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band. Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., wasn’t able to reach an agreement with Democratic lawmakers (see 1912160061) to attach language from his C-band-centric 5G Spectrum Act (S-2881) to one of two FY 2020 minibus appropriations bills (HR-1158/HR-1865) that President Donald Trump signed last week. Some officials and lobbyists we spoke with are skeptical the lawmakers can reach an agreement that will bridge the divide that prevented a deal on S-2881.
Higher international average revenue per user forecasts in Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East led Pivotal Research Group to raise its year-end 2020 target price for Netflix to $425 from $400. For Q4, it’s forecasting 600,000-plus net new U.S. subscriber additions and more than 8 million internationally, ahead of guidance, wrote analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak in a Thursday investor note.
Enactment of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on free trade would increase federal tariff revenue by $230 million in 2023 and $360 million in 2024, estimated the Congressional Budget Office last week. CBO projects that “certain imports of motor vehicles and parts” that currently enter the U.S. duty-free under North American Free Trade Agreement would no longer be eligible for such treatment under the stricter rules of origin in USMCA. It expects that some of what was made would be replaced by domestic production, but some would be replaced by imports subject to tariffs.