WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A California rulemaking on modernizing carrier of last resort rules could inspire similar proceedings elsewhere, state and industry officials signaled at the NARUC conference Monday. The California Public Utilities Commission last month opened a rulemaking that took a fresh look at COLR rules after rejecting regulatory relief for AT&T (see 2406200065).
Expect a Donald Trump White House and FCC to focus on deregulation and undoing the agency's net neutrality and digital discrimination rules, telecom policy experts and FCC watchers tell us. Brendan Carr, one of the two GOP minority commissioners, remains the seeming front-runner to head the agency if Trump wins the White House in November (see 2407120002). Despite repeated comments from Trump as a candidate and president calling for FCC action against companies such as CNN and MSNBC over their news content, many FCC watchers on both sides of the aisle told us they don’t expect the agency to actually act against cable networks or broadcast licenses under a second Trump administration.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel showed no willingness Tuesday to abandon a March Further NPRM that would ban bulk billing arrangements between ISPs and multi-dwelling unit owners (see 2403050069) despite bipartisan criticism during a House Communications Subcommittee hearing. She was similarly unmoved by GOP skepticism about a proposal requiring disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads (see 2405220061). During the hearing, Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr called for the FCC to backtrack on both proposals because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision and other rulings (see 2407080039).
California state senators pushed back on two digital equity bills Tuesday. Multiple Communications Committee members during a livestreamed hearing raised concerns about the Assembly-passed AB-2239, which would ban digital discrimination as the FCC defines it. Also, the committee scaled back the Assembly-approved AB-1588, which had proposed to update the California LifeLine subsidy program to support broadband for low-income households. The committee directed the LifeLine bill’s sponsor to find a compromise with industry opponents and other stakeholders over the summer recess that runs from July 3 to Aug. 5.
A California Senate panel scaled back what the California Public Utilities Commission could require from cable companies under a proposed update of the state’s 2006 video franchise law, known as the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act (DIVCA). At a hearing webcast Monday, the Senate Communications Committee voted 12-4 to approve the Assembly-passed AB-1826 with amendments. The Senate committee delayed receiving testimony on an Assembly-passed equity bill (AB-2239) that would ban digital discrimination as defined by the FCC (see 2405230012).
ISPs and industry groups told the FCC that while competition and access remain strong in the broadband marketplace, additional regulation could harm future investment and deployment. Those views were included in feedback the FCC sought about its biannual State of Competition in the Communications Marketplace report to Congress (see 2404220050). In comments, some wireless groups urged making additional spectrum available. MVPDs and broadcasters said the FCC should recognize the increasing competition they face from streaming video and accordingly relax regulations. Comments were posted Thursday and Friday in docket 24-119.
The California Public Utilities Commission should freeze California LifeLine specific support amounts (SSA) until state regulators and stakeholders can find a better way of calculating them, a consumer group and low-income wireless service providers said in comments Monday. The CPUC is considering freezing the SSA at $19 for wireline and wireless providers (see 2405070050). Meanwhile, consumer advocates defended their petition for temporary bridge funding through LifeLine that would help cover the loss of federal affordable connectivity program (ACP) support.
Despite expectations that the affordable connectivity program (ACP) will run dry in days, telecom companies continued arguing in comments last week that the California Public Utilities Commission should take its time forming its response. However, while larger ISPs slammed consumer advocates' proposal, small local exchange carriers said they would work with the advocates on a compromise that quickly expands California LifeLine support to broadband.
The FCC should issue an NPRM seeking comment on a proposed report about content vendor diversity, Allen Media, the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Black Women’s Roundtable, and attorney David Goodfriend of I Street Advocates said in a meeting with an aide to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks Tuesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 22-209. A petition for rulemaking on the proposal was already the subject of a round of comments in 2022 (see 2207250060). The proposed report “will be effective and not burdensome,” the filing said. The proposal would collect data from FCC regulatees that operate media companies -- such as Disney and Google -- about their vendors. “No vendor, including small vendors, will be required to submit data, but the data that is submitted will add to the publicly available information.” The data would “be consistent, according to FCC-adopted definitions and thus can be compared easily with each other, unlike the anecdotal information available now.” Creating the report would be in line with provisions in the Cable Act authorizing the FCC to adopt rules specifying how regulatees encourage minority and female entrepreneurship, the filing said.
The FCC is proposing to ban most favored nation (MFN) provisions in carriage agreements as part of a resurrected look at challenges independent programmers face in getting carriage. An NPRM adopted Wednesday and released Friday also proposes banning unreasonable alternative distribution methods (ADM) in carriage agreements. The NPRM was approved 3-2 along party lines. A previous look at indie programmer challenges had been championed by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn under Chairman Tom Wheeler (see 1601290047), but no action was taken under Chairman Ajit Pai. The NPRM asks questions about the state of the video marketplace and whether indie programmers have better carriage opportunities on platforms than they did in 2016. Beyond MFNs and ADMs, the NPRM also asks about the prevalence of forced bundling practices and if other practices impede indie programmer market entry or growth. MFN provisions guarantee all multichannel video programming distributors (MVPD) pay a programmer the same. ADMs bar programmers from showing content on an online video distributor for a window of time after it has aired on a linear channel. "The marketplace for video programming continues to evolve and provide consumers with new ways to watch," Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said. "But the laws that govern this marketplace from Congress have not changed. What also has not changed is that independent programmers continue to express concern about the challenges they have getting their programming on the channel line-up of cable and satellite television." Commissioner Brendan Carr in his dissent said the NPRM "proceeds from a dated view of the [video] marketplace that can only further tilt the regulatory playing field in a way that will not serve consumers’ interests." He said it stretches the FCC's authority under Communications Act Section 616 -- prohibiting MVPD discrimination against programmers -- beyond what Congress intended. Commissioner Nathan Simington said in his dissent: "A public notice refreshing the record, or a fresh notice of inquiry, would have been appropriate paths for the Commission to take up the questions posed by the notice of proposed rulemaking here... Instead, we opt to tentatively conclude a great deal about the structure of the video marketplace, and what public interest demands we do, on the basis of a stale record."