Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology seeks further comment about 6 GHz rules, specifically whether to allow client-to-client device communications, said a Monday notice in docket 18-295. OET said unlicensed proponents requested the change. “We invite comment on whether the Commission should permit 6 GHz … client devices to directly communicate when they are under the control of or have received an enabling signal from a low-power indoor access point,” OET said. “Commenters should explain how they define an enabling signal, what characteristics it must have, how it is similar or different from signals, such as beacons, that access points already used to connect with client devices, and the degree to which an enabling signal would tether a client device not under the direct control of an access point to that access point,” it said. Dates will be set in a Federal Register notice. Commissioners approved new 6 GHz rules and a Further NPRM 5-0 in April (see 2004230059).

What the FCC does on net neutrality starting Jan. 20 likely depends on whether it’s immediately clear when the agency will have a permanent chair, experts said. If Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is named acting chief, she would likely wait to start an item if it appears a new chair is imminent. Action on two court cases could come more quickly, experts said. The new FCC’s top focus is expected to be building on the 2015 order, largely revoked by Republicans, to reclassify broadband under Communications Act Title II (see 2101060055).

The FCC doesn’t plan to release drafts on the 12 GHz NPRM or the 2.5 GHz auction notice before next week’s commissioners’ meeting, a spokesperson confirmed. Chairman Ajit Pai circulated both (see 2101060061) for a vote at Wednesday’s meeting, as expected (see 2101050053). Pai also circulated a public notice announcing the first round of selections for the $100 million Connected Care pilot program. Not posting drafts is in keeping with past precedent for items not circulated by the chairman three weeks before the meeting. “Because the commission is in the sunshine period, parties are not permitted to communicate with FCC staff," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. "So there is no point in encouraging attempts by making the draft public.” Lobbying focused on Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Jessica Rosenworcel. Public Knowledge and the Open Technology Institute at New America endorsed the 12 GHz NPRM in a call with an aide to Starks, said a filing posted Wednesday in RM-11768. An "NPRM is most appropriate at this time because there has already been considerable comment in response to the [multichannel video and data distribution service] petition and because it is clear that the band is grossly underutilized, particularly in rural areas, and is a near-term candidate for the authorization of at least opportunistic and/or unlicensed access aimed at reducing the digital divide,” they said. Incompas CEO Chip Pickering told a Rosenworcel aide that member companies "potentially could use the 12 GHz Band to deploy broadband and offer competitive alternatives,” the group said. “Move forward with an NPRM to seek comment on ways in which new terrestrial broadband services can be introduced while also allowing existing services to continue to operate and evolve unimpeded,” Federated Wireless executives asked a Starks aide.

Democrats’ apparent victories in runoffs for Georgia’s Senate seats likely smooth the way for the party to gain a majority on the FCC later this year and take Democrats' preferred course of action on net neutrality and other top-tier matters, officials and lobbyists said in interviews. The leads in both the two contests, if they hold, would leave the Senate split 50-50. Democrats would gain a majority after Jan. 20 with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris breaking ties. The FCC will be tied 2-2 once Chairman Ajit Pai leaves, raising questions about what the commission can get done before the Senate confirms President-elect Joe Biden’s eventual nominee to a third Democratic seat (see 2012090063).

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is considered the front-runner to be the next chair of the FCC, but others are also lining up support. Among other top candidates are Wiley’s Anna Gomez, Gigi Sohn of the Georgetown Law Institute for Technology Law & Policy, and DLA Piper’s Smitty Smith, experts said. All potential contenders' fortunes remain in flux pending the outcome of Tuesday's runoff elections for both Georgia Senate seats, lobbyists told us.

Telecom policy observers are awaiting a final decision on House Commerce Committee Republicans’ leadership and membership roster after Democrats selected five members Thursday to join the committee’s ranks next Congress. Selected by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee are: Angie Craig of Minnesota, Lizzie Fletcher of Texas, Kathleen Rice of New York, Kim Schrier of Washington and Lori Trahan of Massachusetts. Four House Commerce Democrats and six Republicans chose not to seek reelection this year, including ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore.

David Fiske, 80, a former longtime FCC public relations head, among other PR roles in Washington, died Tuesday. He had cancer and was in hospice care at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He was surrounded by his family when he died, according to his son Alexander. Though a lawyer by training, Fiske spent most of his decades-long career working in PR in the capital city. He was one of the first Federal Election Commission staffers and also had stints at CBS, as a staffer for then-Sen. Richard Schweiker, R-Pa., and, for a time, at Communications Daily. He began at the agency in 1995, where he worked under FCC chairmen of both political parties and, for much of his time there, headed its Office of Media Relations until retiring in 2011. In retirement, he did freelance writing and editing. Fiske is survived by his wife, Mary Ann, a brother, two sons and a granddaughter. Contributions in his honor can be made to the Food Bank of Delaware. There may be a service in the spring.

The FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai violated administrative procedure requirements when it used the same record as evidence for a 2017 reconsideration order loosening ownership rules that the prior commission had used to justify keeping them, said the public interest group respondents in a brief filed Wednesday in the broadcasters' and FCC's Supreme Court appeal of Prometheus IV (see 2011170057). The FCC “first concluded that largely retaining local rules was necessary for the public interest,” said groups including Prometheus Radio Project, Common Cause and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters. “One year later, upon reconsideration of the same record after a change in Commissioners, the Commission reversed course.” The brief countered broadcaster and FCC arguments that the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ retention of jurisdiction has stalled broadcast deregulation for years. “Any purported ‘freezing’ of ownership rules is the Commission’s doing, not the Third Circuit’s,” the document said. "The Commission itself re-adopted most of its rules in 2008 and 2016. The Commission (until now) declined to repeal the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule entirely, and the Commission took nearly ten years between this 'quadrennial' review and the last one." The respondents’ argument “isn’t so much about diversity as about the basic tenets of administrative law,” said University of Minnesota assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry. He said it’s hard to tell how the justices, some of whom seem focused on the question of judicial deference to federal agencies, will react. "The appellate court reviewed the FCC's work and found it failed the bare minimum for a federal agency,” said United Church of Christ Office of Communication attorney Cheryl Leanza on the office's website: “The lower court should clearly be upheld." The 3rd Circuit “rejected bad FCC media ownership rule changes four times because each time the agency ignored the Court’s demand for evidence and a reasoned explanation,” said former Commissioner Michael Copps, now special adviser to Common Cause, in a release. The FCC didn’t comment. Oral argument is Jan. 19.

President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration should soon nominate an FCC chair willing to rein in costs for inmate calling services, advocates for ICS rate cuts and other changes said in recent interviews. The Biden administration is in a “really good position to get across the finish line” because of a past NPRM on rate caps, said United Church of Christ Office of Communication's Cheryl Leanza. “That puts them ahead of the game.”

Some lawmakers will seek passage of state net neutrality laws, even with President-elect Joe Biden in the White House next year. Federal rules are no sure thing, despite Biden’s support, Democratic state legislators who introduced bills in the past said in recent interviews. Other Democrats said they feel less pressure now.