Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC approved elimination of the main studio rule 3-2 Tuesday over the expected objections of Democratic Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1710130054). Rosenworcel also voted against a plan to tweak broadband-service spectrum rules (see 1710240050). This main studio deregulation will “hollow out the unique role broadcasters play in local communities,” said Rosenworcel. Broadcasters can help communities in times of crisis, but “they can only do so when they have a real presence in their area of license,” she said. “Why would an industry that repeatedly extols the virtues of its local roots want to eliminate their only real connection to that very same community?” Clyburn said.

Parts of an FCC March 24 order on contraband cellphones in correctional facilities took effect Friday, after Office of Management and Budget approval, said a notice in Friday's Federal Register. Other parts take effect Feb. 12. "In the Report and Order, the Commission streamlined the process of deploying contraband wireless device interdiction systems -- systems that use radio communications signals requiring Commission authorization -- in correctional facilities," the notice said. "The action will reduce the cost of deploying solutions and ensure that they can be deployed more quickly and efficiently." Commissioners approved rules and a Further NPRM on contraband devices in March designed to speed permitting of contraband interdiction systems (see 1703230056).

Broadcasters in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands estimate their industry sustained between $20 million and $30 million in damage from hurricanes Irma and Maria, and without financial help, some will be forced to leave the industry. That's according to Reuben Jusino, former Puerto Rico FCC resident agent, and Eduardo Rivero, task force chair and vice president of the Puerto Rico Radio Broadcasters Association. They spoke during a seminar Thursday conducted by a task force of Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands broadcasters seeking to get stations back on-air. “There are broadcasters that it's going to be difficult to come back,” said Rivero.

Verizon urged the FCC to ensure a "national, light touch" broadband framework that promotes investment and innovation, and that isn't undermined by a "patchwork of contrary state or local regulation." Regulation of broadband access services should "recognize that these services are inherently interstate" in nature, said the telco, backing an "open Internet" and voicing concern about Communications Act Title II classification. "State-specific rules relating to these services simply don’t work when we are talking about services that freely cross state boundaries: a user may be in one state, but accessing content from a host in another state, while using a provider from yet a third," said a Verizon filing posted Thursday in docket 17-108 on meetings Monday with outgoing acting General Counsel Nick Degani (see personals section in this issue), Special Counsel Kristine Fargotstein and aides to Chairman Ajit Pai. The company said courts "consistently recognized" FCC authority to pre-empt state or local laws obstructing or conflicting with federal objectives. New America's Open Technology Institute and Free Press backed Title II and detailed the "flaws in the arguments offered by carriers, and adopted" in the recent NPRM proposing to reclassify broadband as Title I and revisit net neutrality regulation. Meeting with Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and aides, OTI and Free Press cited "seeming irregularities in the commenting process and the Commission's approach," including regarding consumer complaints not included in the record. The FCC's Title II net neutrality order is popular and support is growing, but public support could make little difference, former Commissioner Michael Copps said in a speech at the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Copps is now at Common Cause, which provided a copy of his remarks. Copps warned against what he sees as the danger of increased broadcast consolidation, conceding mergers were also approved under the Obama administration. The FCC has launched “an assault” on the internet, he said. “On this issue, as on so many others, opinions inside the fabled Washington Beltway bear little resemblance to what most citizens are thinking,” Copps said. “Special interests and discredited ideology trump what citizens clearly want their communications ecosystem to look like. You know, net neutrality is such a no-brainer. I don’t believe it would even be an issue without the big money interests and the power they wield in our nation’s capital. But they have that power, so the future of net neutrality in the United States is under dire threat, from our FCC and possibly Congress, too.”

White House Thursday confirmation that President Donald Trump intends to fill the three vacant FTC commissioner seats, including to make Paul Weiss antitrust lawyer Joseph Simons permanent chairman (see 1710190001), likely means the FTC can move forward with its long-expected shift toward GOP-sought policy goals in tech and telecom, industry officials and lobbyists told us. The commission has faced a 1-1 deadlock since January under Republican acting Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen and Democratic Commissioner Terrell McSweeny.

It's time online platforms follow advertising disclosure rules long imposed on TV and radio, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a news conference announcing bipartisan, bicameral legislation, as expected (see 1710180027). Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., supports the bill, which would require identification of ad purchases higher than $500 on platforms with at least 50 million monthly users. The Honest Ads Act “would prevent foreign actors from influencing our elections,” a McCain statement said. Reps. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., and Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., introduced companion House legislation.

A Wednesday House Rural Broadband Caucus briefing for Capitol Hill staffers focused on changes to the FCC Mobility Fund II (MFII), the Competitive Carriers Association said. “As demand for spectrum to power internet-connected devices skyrockets and the need to extend broadband service in rural areas emerges as a national priority, both the Federal Communications Commission and Congress are looking for competitive ways to distribute limited federal funds and resources based on reliable data to preserve and expand mobile broadband services,” said an invitation to the briefing, which wasn't open to the media or public. CCA Senior Vice President-Legislative Affairs Tim Donovan, Cellcom Associate Legal Counsel Larry Lueck, Mosaik Vice President-Products and Technology Chip Strange and U.S. Cellular Vice President-Federal Affairs Grant Spellmeyer spoke, according to CCA. “Many competitive carriers serve the most-difficult-to-reach areas of the country and will rely on important programs like MFII to provide, preserve and expand service to close the digital divide,” said CCA President Steven Berry in a news release. “Ensuring areas in-need have access to critical MFII funding will help achieve the bipartisan goal of closing the digital divide in rural America, and eligible areas must be based on reliable data to reflect what consumers experience,” Donovan said in the news release.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit ruled Tuesday that FCC policy of collecting information on multilingual emergency alert system notices without requiring such alerts is reasonable, denying (in Pacer) a petition for review from public interest groups including the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (see 1705110061). “If Congress intended to require multi-lingual communications in general, and multi-lingual emergency alerts in particular, we would expect Congress to have spoken far more clearly than it has done” said the majority opinion by Judge Brett Kavanaugh joined by Judge Karen Henderson. Judge Patricia Millett agreed with the majority in ruling the FCC hadn’t violated anti-discrimination provisions of the Communications Act, but said in a dissent the agency’s 11-year delay in deciding on multilingual EAS messages was arbitrary and capricious. “The problem of ensuring effective communication to the public during crises is too grave to be ensnared in seemingly interminable bureaucratic limbo,” Millett said. Despite ruling in the FCC’s favor, Kavanaugh needled the agency for operating on “bureaucracy standard time.” Communications Act provisions against discrimination don’t specifically compel the FCC to require emergency alerting in languages other than English, Kavanaugh said. The commission isn’t being arbitrary in not acting on multilingual alerts because there are legal and technical issues with enacting them, such as the lack of FCC authority over alert originators such as local governments, the majority said. It “would be reasonable for the FCC to flatly say that the alert originators (the federal, state, and local government entities) are the parties responsible for deciding whether and when to issue emergency alerts in languages in addition to English,” Kavanaugh said. The FCC plan to seek more information from EAS entities is a repeat of its previous information requests, and the court shouldn’t allow the agency to use it as a delaying tactic any longer, Millett said. “Choosing to repeat an inquiry that has twice been asked and answered, the Commission identified no reason to believe that round three of reporting would reveal new ways to address the multilingual problem.” The majority opinion suggested the agency cease delays. “The FCC should move expeditiously in finally deciding whether to impose a multi-lingual requirement on broadcasters, or instead to leave the issue with alert originators and others,” the opinion said. “At some point, the FCC must fish or cut bait on this question.” The League of United Latin American Citizens and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council said the decision wasn’t a total loss. “One point of agreement by all three judges is that the FCC has taken far too long to act,” the groups said in a news release. “Calling the FCC’s delay ‘bureaucracy standard time,’ the panel majority called on the FCC to ‘move expeditiously.’”

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai reassured the Disability Advisory Committee the agency is paying close attention to the communications needs and problems of those with disabilities. “The commission takes seriously its commitment to accessibility,” Pai told the group. DAC also got a briefing on communications for people with disabilities in the areas affected by the recent hurricanes.

A tweet from President Donald Trump Wednesday condemning “NBC and the Networks” for airing “Fake News” and questioning whether it would be appropriate to “challenge their License” was seen as a possible threat to freedom of the news-media yet extremely unlikely to lead to any actual action, media scholars and communications attorneys told us.