FCC commissioners announce staff changes: Sanford Williams moves from special adviser to deputy chief of staff in Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s office; Arpan Sura, from Wireless Bureau, becomes legal adviser to Commissioner Brendan Carr; Milla Anderson, from office of Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., named policy adviser to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks; and acting staffers in Commissioner Anna Gomez’s office taking permanent spots are Deena Shetler as chief of staff-legal adviser for media and international, Edyael Casaperalt as legal adviser for wireless, public safety and consumer protection, Hayley Steffen as legal adviser for wireline and space, Harsha Mudaliar as policy adviser for media and tech and Anna Holland, as executive assistant.

Longtime First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams is supporting the campaign against a license renewal for Fox station WTXF Philadelphia (see 2310100068). Abrams is known for defending newspapers and broadcasters against the government in high-profile cases such as the New York Times' litigation over the Pentagon Papers. “Broadcasters do have considerable First Amendment rights -- a good deal of my career has been devoted to seeking to establish just that -- but ... repeated distortion of information that is broadcast about a forthcoming election is precisely what a broadcaster may not do and that the Commission may consider in determining whether license renewal is appropriate,” said Abrams in informal comments filed with the FCC. Former FCC Chairman Alfred Sikes and former Weekly Standard editor William Kristol are also part of the campaign, which the Media and Democracy Project and former Fox and Disney executive Preston Padden are spearheading. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, denounced the effort, and the FCC has received letters supporting WTXF from public officials and organizations, including former Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy, the African-American Chamber of Commerce for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and the Democratic chairwoman of the city’s delegation to the state House. Padden Thursday also filed comments calling on the agency to include in its record a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling denying Fox’s motion to dismiss a defamation claim from voting machine company Smartmatic. “The Media and Democracy Project petition to deny the license renewal of WTXF-TV is frivolous, completely without merit and asks the FCC to upend the First Amendment and long-standing FCC precedent,” said Fox. “WTXF-TV / FOX 29 News Philadelphia is one of the finest local news stations in the country, broadcasting over 60 hours of local news and locally produced programming every week, and has tremendous broad political and community support.”

Public Knowledge hires Stephen Bennett, ex-Institute for Palestine Studies-USA, as director-development and external affairs; Alisa Valentin, ex-National Urban League and ex-FCC, as broadband policy director; Nat Purser, former Center for Economic and Policy Research, as government affairs policy advocate; and Georgetown Law Communications and Technology Law Clinic’s Lauren Harriman as fellow … Free State Foundation announces former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly as adjunct senior fellow, launching video podcast, TMT With Mike O’Rielly.

Industry officials are concerned about uncertainty surrounding the FCC's affordable connectivity program following the agency's recent announcement that ACP wind-down procedures were beginning and the ACP Extension Act was introduced (see 2401100056). Some warned about challenges associated with keeping the more than 22 million enrolled households online should the program end before additional funding is available. Even if the ACP Extension Act is successful, some observers predicted recipients may not return owing to reenrollment confusion or other issues.

NTIA is expecting detailed comments from federal agencies this week about the proposed implementation plan for the national spectrum strategy (see 2311130048), Scott Harris, NTIA senior spectrum adviser, said during an FCBA webinar Wednesday. NTIA has shared with the agencies its initial thoughts, he said. Next, it will prepare “a full draft” implementation plan, which it will also share, and “kick off” interagency meetings seeking “government-wide” consensus, Harris added.

Former FTC Consumer Protection Bureau Director Jessica Rich, ex-Kelley Drye, joins Consumer Product Safety Commission as general counsel, succeeding Austin Schlick, ex-FCC general counsel, who elevates to executive director … Bureau of Industry and Security hires Microsoft’s Elizabeth Cannon as first executive director-Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services … Qualcomm promotes Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala to expanded role of CFO and chief operating officer ... LG Ad Solutions, connected TV and cross-screen advertising platform, names GumGum’s Angela Barnett head-corporate communications.

Parents aren't the only ones responsible for protecting their children online, and social media companies should do more as their safety obligations evolve with the rise of AI, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Monday.

Newly promoted at Indie Semiconductor: Peter Gulden to executive vice president-radar systems and software; Abhay Rai to chief product officer; and Michael Wittmann to chief operating officer ... Resilio, file synchronization solutions company for content creation workflows, hires Signiant’s Thomas Bush as vice president-strategic accounts, media and entertainment ... ViewLift, digital content distribution platform for sports and entertainment streaming, adds John Rose, Boston Consulting Group managing director and senior partner, and also former EMI Group, and Steve Byrd, former Sportradar head-global strategic partnerships, to its board.

With digital legislation proliferating, a key question is how different regulatory approaches can work together, speakers said during an Atlantic Council webcast Monday. They strongly agreed that regulation is necessary in privacy/data protection, digital competition and online content moderation, but the issue is how best to coordinate regulatory regimes, said Mark MacCarthy, Brookings Institution, Center for Technology Innovation nonresident senior fellow. Approaches include a single agency or voluntary cooperation among relevant authorities, as in the U.K., panelists said.

Senate committees will take a proactive stance on AI legislation in 2024 now that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has wrapped up his AI forums, Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., told us last week.