In what some called an unusual move, FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly used the agency's blog Friday to defend each of the commission's media regulations under Chairman Ajit Pai against criticism that such actions are benefiting Sinclair. Recounting a trip last week to the Pearl TV-led ATSC 3.0 model-market project in Phoenix (see 1805090082), O'Rielly fleshed out his view that the Pai-led commission isn't trying to help only Sinclair, but broadcasters overall when circumstances dictate.
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn remains at the FCC a month after she announced she was leaving (see 1804170056), in a move some FCC watchers said is unusual for departing members. She has stopped participating in monthly open meetings and wasn’t at the May 10 meeting. Yet she remains a commissioner and has continued to vote on some items on circulation, FCC officials said. Clyburn had an FCC goodbye party (see 1805070036) yet she continues making other public appearances.
The FCC would further streamline telecom service discontinuances and network changes under a draft wireline infrastructure order circulated by Chairman Ajit Pai for consideration at the June 7 commissioners' meeting (see 1805160051). Pai also plans votes on draft telecom items on rural telco broadband USF contribution relief, intercarrier compensation arbitrage in general, toll-free number arbitrage and fraud, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) rates and use, and telephone slamming and cramming.
PMCM was peppered with questions from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit during oral argument Thursday over the broadcaster’s contention the FCC should allow its WJLP Middletown Township, New Jersey, to broadcast on virtual channel 3 (see 1805140068). When PMCM attorney Donald Evans of Fletcher Heald said there was “ambiguity” in rules on channel assignment to a station relocated to a new market as WJLP did, Judge Thomas Griffith interrupted. “What do we do with ambiguities in this court?” Griffith asked. In such cases, the court generally “defers to an administrative agency,” Evans conceded. “That’s what the law tells us to do,” said Griffith, nodding.
Chairman Ajit Pai defended the FCC December order to rescind 2015 net neutrality rules amid criticism Thursday from Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Democrats, a day after the Senate voted 52-47 to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution aimed at repealing the rescission order (see 1805160064). FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, in his first Capitol Hill appearance since becoming the head earlier this month (see 1805010026), faced questions on his vision of the trade commission's policy role on net neutrality, privacy and data security issues.
BOSTON -- Massachusetts Senate leaders presented a bipartisan case for net neutrality and ISP privacy rules Thursday in a closed-door bipartisan informational caucus, a day after the U.S. Senate disapproved of the FCC repealing net neutrality rules (see 1805160064). Against heavy industry lobbying, Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (D) and Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R) aim to educate members about a proposal of their Special Senate Committee on Net Neutrality and Consumer Protection, Creem said in a Wednesday interview at the State House. Meanwhile, in Vermont, a state senator urged industry to bring lawsuits against a net neutrality bill passed Saturday.
The 5G item set for commissioners' June 7 meeting proposes to undo some restrictions on spectrum holdings and tie up other loose ends. The FCC released its draft order and Further NPRM Thursday, providing details beyond what Chairman Ajit Pai discussed in a Wednesday blog post (see 1805160051).
The pair of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite applications on the June 7 commissioners' meeting agenda (see 1805160051) will likely get 4-0 approval and point to the FCC clustering future approvals, with others likely later this year, experts told us.
The FTC’s recently named Consumer Protection Bureau Director Andrew Smith told us Thursday his new job shouldn’t differ much from the compliance work he did for Equifax and Facebook, though he understands concern from the two Democratic commissioners who voted against his appointment.
Facebook has developed a platform that encourages misuse of user data, and Cambridge Analytica likely improperly supplied data to Russian groups and the Trump campaign (see 1803190056), former Cambridge Analytica Research Director Christopher Wylie told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday during a hearing on data privacy. Cambridge University scholar Aleksandr Kogan, the lead researcher Cambridge Analytica allegedly used to harvest the data, collaborated on physiological profiling campaigns for pro-Russian groups in St. Petersburg and likely allowed access to Facebook data, Wylie said. Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, requested Cambridge Analytica appear at the hearing, but the company declined, citing bankruptcy proceedings (see 1805020042).