FCC to Vote on Reimbursement Order at March Meeting, Broadband Report Draft Circulated
The FCC will vote on a repacking reimbursement order for low-power TV, FM stations and TV translators at its March 15 commissioners’ meeting, an FCC official told us. A media modernization item on broadcast satellite stations is also expected to be on the agenda (see 1803220027), the officials said.
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Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft broadband deployment report under Telecom Act Section 706 that would find the digital divide “has narrowed substantially,” said a release Tuesday noting the commission is expected to vote on the report in coming weeks. It’s possible the draft could be put on the March meeting tentative agenda due Friday, said an official. An FCC spokesperson didn’t comment.
The agency has a March 23 statutory deadline to establish a framework for the reimbursement funds, so the meeting vote on the reimbursement order isn’t a surprise, broadcast industry officials said (see 1902110044). Last week, the incentive auction task force said the FCC was on track to meet that deadline.
The draft reimbursement order will lay out plans for the $150 million in repacking reimbursement for non-full-power and class A stations displaced by the repacking. Though the draft's precise details haven’t yet emerged, it's expected to closely resemble the proposals in the August NPRM. NAB and other broadcasters have pushed for fewer restrictions on reimbursement for FM stations, and the National Translator Association has lobbied for an opt-in “fast-track” system that would simplify the process for the smallest broadcasters. T-Mobile has lobbied for LPTV stations that accepted third-party funds to also receive FCC reimbursement funds if they certify no double dipping. A final cost catalog for FM, LPTV and translator expenses is also expected to be released soon, IATF Chair Jean Kiddoo has said.
The media modernization item also expected on the March agenda would involve streamlining the process for reauthorizing satellite TV stations that are transferred. The NPRM proposing the change was unanimously approved in March 2018, though then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly disagreed over how the proposals would treat changes in ownership of the parent station.
Broadcasters are eager for the reimbursement order to be issued, because the bills for repacking costs are beginning to come in, LPTV Spectrum Rights Coalition President Mike Gravino told us, However, it likely will take several weeks or months after the order is approved for it to go into effect, broadcast attorneys said. Since congressional Democrats strongly supported the reimbursement funds, it’s unlikely that the order will draw much controversy at the FCC, Gravino said.
Two telecom items delayed by the government shutdown are also possibilities for votes at the March meeting, said another FCC official. A rural call completion draft order that circulated Friday faces a Feb. 26 statutory deadline but could be slated for a March vote as a backstop, given the time pressure, said the official, who noted another possible agenda item is the Section 706 broadband deployment report, which was due Feb. 5 (see 1902050066).
The 706 draft shows that since the last report the number of Americans lacking access to a 25/3 Mbps broadband benchmark has dropped by more than 25 percent, from 26.1 million at year-end 2016 to 19.4 million at year-end 2017, said the FCC. It said most of those gaining access, 5.6 million, live in rural America, where broadband deployment traditionally lags. The number of Americans with access to 100/10 Mbps fixed broadband rose by almost 20 percent from 244.3 million to 290.9 million, it said. The commission is tackling the digital divide "by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and providing efficient, effective support for rural broadband expansion through our Connect America Fund," Pai said. "This report shows that our approach is working."
The draft finds broadband deployment across the nation is "reasonable and timely," Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted. "I beg to differ. Millions of households -- in rural and urban communities -- have no access to high-speed service. That’s a fact."
The FCC may act in March or April on a court remand of some robocall-related decisions under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, said a telecom attorney. The lawyer said the April 12 meeting appeared to be the more likely target for voting on an item to address the 2018 ACA International partial reversal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, including of a key “autodialer” definition (see 1803160053).