The FCC should eliminate USF silos to more efficiently target support, ex-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Monday at a livestreamed Next Century Cities broadband summit in Pittsburgh. Policymakers must balance broadband support for rural and urban areas, she and other current and former government officials said. Broadband issues shouldn’t divide political parties, they said, but Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Blair Levin noted the subject frequently ignites fights between Democrats and Republicans.
The expected unraveling of Sinclair buying Tribune isn’t likely to deter future deals, said broadcast executives, brokers, analysts and attorneys in interviews (see 1807190060). Sinclair’s deal included circumstances that are unlikely to apply to other transactions, even those with sidecar companies, industry officials said. But continued uncertainty about the ownership cap and a lack of buyers still means dealmaking will be slow, said analysts. With the future of the UHF discount and the cap unclear, companies “can’t be sure what they’re buying,” said Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker.
With the imminent departure of Paige Atkins, NTIA associate administrator-spectrum (see 1806130080), agency Administrator David Redl has a big job to fill as it works on the administration’s spectrum policy and industry moves closer to the launch of 5G. Atkins will make her last spectrum report to the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (CSMAC) Tuesday. Industry officials said Redl is likely to look outside NTIA to fill the key spectrum position, though one of Atkins' two deputies -- Peter Tenhula or Steve Molina -- is expected to fill in on an interim basis.
From lowered barriers to cross-border data flows to opposition of extraterritorial application of other nations' privacy laws, NTIA saw a slew of recommendations in response to its notice of inquiry on what should be its international internet priorities. Comments due Tuesday were posted Friday. Many saw no need to unwind the moving of IANA functions from NTIA to global stakeholders. The unwinding would signal that governments alone should govern the internet -- "a dangerous proposition that incentivizes those who fear the internet's transformative power" and could lead to countries building closed networks operating independently of ICANN, Google said.
The intelligence community provides classified information to social media companies to help counter malicious foreign actors on platforms, said Department of Homeland Security National Protection and Programs Directorate Undersecretary Christopher Krebs Friday. Krebs didn’t specify what information is provided at the Washington Post-Hewlett Packard event on Russian interference. Representatives from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube confirmed to the House Judiciary Committee last week that each of the platforms removed Russian-linked accounts and content related to election interference (see 1807170043).
Sinclair told FCC Chairman Ajit Pai it didn’t have the time or authority to withdraw the deal to buy Tribune after a hearing designation order (HDO) circulated, said an email from General Counsel Barry Faber to Pai Wednesday. It was filed the next day and posted Friday in docket 17-179 as an ex parte by Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel’s office. The email mentions a Tuesday call between Faber and Pai. The draft HDO was announced July 16 (see 1807190060) and released Thursday.
It's "extremely troubling" the FCC proposed a 15-year telco separations freeze "without any consideration of the recommendation" from federal-state joint board members, emailed Colorado Public Utilities Commissioner Wendy Moser, the state member who sponsored a NARUC-passed resolution backing a two-year freeze (see 1807180018). “Given that the majority of the Joint Board rests with the state members, and all that is needed for a recommended decision is a majority, the FCC should take the Joint Board recommended decision as submitted by the states. The FCC can then decide whether to adopt it or explain why not. ... Given the simplicity of the process, one has to wonder what the FCC is trying to accomplish in acting contrary to Congress' intent of having a Joint Board in the first place.”
The proposed auction of the upper 37 GHz band, to be looked at in a Further NPRM teed up for a vote at the Aug. 2 commissioners' meeting, would be the first in which the FCC would sell spectrum that licensees would hold on a co-primary basis with federal agencies. The FNPRM, primarily focused on the 39 GHz band, doesn’t fully address how this would work, though the issue was raised in an earlier proceeding. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly and some industry officials told us the auction raises potentially troubling issues on what exactly companies would be buying if they aren’t by themselves the primary licensee.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., is on the cusp of refiling his Next Generation Television Marketplace Act, expected to help shape Capitol Hill’s upcoming debate on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization, lawmakers and lobbyists said in interviews. The recertification process is unlikely to start in earnest until the 116th Congress convenes in 2019, but media industries affected by STELA in recent months began discussing factors that could shape debate (see 1804030061). The 2014 STELA recertification extended the statute through 2019 (see 1411200036 and 1412040067).
Congressional Black Caucus members Reps. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., and Barbara Lee, D-Calif., emphasized during a Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council event they intend to continue pressuring companies at all levels in the tech sector to increase hiring of racial minorities. Butterfield launched the CBC's Tech 2020 initiative more than three years ago to improve diversity in the industry, including setting clear, public goals to measurably increase the number of African-Americans at all levels within tech companies (see 1505200007). Others from Capitol Hill and state legislatures also emphasized the importance of increasing diversity in tech, highlighting interest in Hill work on net neutrality and privacy. MMTC also heard about FCC issues (see 1807190055).