Montana Public Service Commission announces David Sanders, ex-U.S. Department of Transportation, as executive director … Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) appoints Thomas Gleeson, Public Utility Commission executive director, as a commissioner for a term expiring Sept. 1, 2029, and designates him PUC chair … E.W. Scripps Chief Legal Officer Bill Appleton retiring at end of 2024, with Deputy General Counsel Dave Giles to replace him.

Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA) officials made their case Friday for assigning the 4.9 GHz band to FirstNet, a proposal that faces objections on numerous fronts. A year ago, commissioners approved 4-0 a long-awaited order and Further NPRM on the band's future, establishing a national band manager governing the leasing process. The FCC also sought comment on rights and responsibilities of the band manager (see 2301180062). The PSSA has asked that a single, national licensee get the spectrum (see 2304240057).

An FCC proposal prioritizing application processing for broadcasters that originate local programming may not offer enough incentive to change behaviors and would likely favor the largest broadcasters that already create their content, said broadcast attorneys and academics in interviews Thursday. Since the proposal would apply only to applications facing holds or petitions to deny, it also may not have a wide reach, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Anne Crump. “Ultimately, it won't really make that much difference because the vast majority of applications just run a normal course.”

Satellite Industry Association elects Julie Zoller of Amazon as chair, Danielle Pineres of Planet Labs PBC as vice chair and Peter Davidson of Intelsat as treasurer ... Maryland Public Service Commission appoints Christina Ochoa, former state assistant attorney general, as director-legislative affairs and assistant general counsel … Motion Picture Association renews Chairman-CEO Charles Rivkin’s contract for a third three-year term.

U.S. critical infrastructure operators should deploy American-built drones that follow secure-by-design principles and understand that Chinese drones carry significant national security risks, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI said Wednesday in new guidance. “Cybersecurity Guidance: Chinese-Manufactured Unmanned Aircraft Systems” seeks to raise awareness about “threats posed by Chinese-manufactured UAS and to provide critical infrastructure and state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners with recommended cybersecurity safeguards.” The agencies said Chinese laws provides its government with "expanded legal grounds for accessing and controlling data held by firms in China. The use of Chinese-manufactured UAS in critical infrastructure operations risks exposing sensitive information” to Chinese authorities. David Mussington, CISA executive assistant director-infrastructure security, noted critical infrastructure sectors like communications, energy and chemicals are “increasingly relying on UAS for various missions that ultimately reduce operating costs and improve staff safety.” Mussington cited the threat of “China’s aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations.”

First Amendment questions are lingering when it comes to censoring online chatbots, even when they encourage users to kill themselves, a tech industry executive told the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee Wednesday. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., pressed Information Technology Industry Council General Counsel John Miller about an online user who took his life after interacting with an online chatbot that encouraged him to do so. Hawley argued individuals and their families, including parents of young users, should be able to sue tech companies for such incidents. Miller said companies don’t want chatbots “doing those sorts of things,” but AI is responsible for a lot of good. The technology has been useful in cancer research, for example, he said. Asked if companies should be sued for AI's negative impacts, Miller said, “Under the current law, that’s probably not allowable,” alluding to Communications Decency Act Section 230, which has enabled technological innovation and which the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld, Miller said. Hawley asked Miller if he would support legislation the senator sponsored with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act. The proposed law would clarify that Section 230 doesn’t apply to claims based on generative AI activity (see 2306150059). Miller said he hasn’t reviewed the bill but argued there are “other equities at play in this discussion,” including the First Amendment. Hawley asked Miller if a chatbot encouraging a teenager to kill himself is First Amendment-protected speech: “Is that your position?” Miller said it’s not his position, but “I don’t think the question’s been resolved.”

Commerce Department and DOD officials will brief House Commerce Committee members Thursday on the findings of a Pentagon study about how commercial 5G use of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band would affect incumbent military systems, as expected (see 2312280044), Communications Subcommittee Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, told us Wednesday. Panel Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and others were pressing for more details about the DOD report as they determine whether its findings justify ruling out an auction of the frequency (see 2311290001). House Commerce advanced its Spectrum Auction Reauthorization Act (HR-3565) in May with language mandating an auction with an eye to using revenue to pay for other telecom projects (see 2305240069). Rodgers pressed Diane Rinaldo, Open RAN Policy Coalition executive director, during a Wednesday House Communications hearing (see 2401170078) on how the FCC’s lapsed spectrum auction authority, which House Commerce wants to restore via HR-3565, would bolster U.S. development of open radio access networks (ORANs). “If you want more ORAN, you need more spectrum,” said Rinaldo, a former acting NTIA administrator. “My members need consistency. They need an understanding of how their business is going to roll out the next couple of years. Coming to a standstill hurts us all and hurts future innovation.”

Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday that NBC and CNN are “crooked, they’re dishonest and, frankly, they should have their licenses or whatever they have taken away” because the networks didn’t carry his victory speech after the Iowa caucuses for the 2024 Republican presidential election. The networks covered the speeches of other Republican presidential hopefuls from Iowa. The FCC didn’t comment, but the agency doesn’t issue licenses to cable channels or networks. “I was surprised that those networks didn’t carry Trump’s victory speech, but their right to choose to carry it or not is within their editorial discretion protected by the First Amendment,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May. A station repeatedly refusing to carry a candidate’s speeches while treating other candidates differently could raise an issue of whether the FCC’s reasonable access rules were violated, May said. "The FCC is an independent agency for a reason. It never could and never should bow to such ridiculous threats from a would-be executive,” said Matt Wood, Free Press vice president-policy. “Of course, even his saber-rattling here is dangerous, and designed to chill freedom of the press and editorial discretion.” Last year, Trump promised NBCU’s parent Comcast would be scrutinized for “treason” if he becomes president again (see 2309290042). Trump made similar comments against media companies many times during his presidency. Trump’s FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said then that the agency lacks the authority to rescind broadcast licenses based on their content (see 1809040051). Comcast, CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, NAB, NCTA and all five FCC commissioners didn’t comment Wednesday.

NTIA’s administration of the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (Wireless Innovation Fund) drew criticism from some House Communications Subcommittee Republicans during a Thursday hearing over concerns the agency was slow to use it to aid development of U.S. open radio access networks (see 2401160068). Subpanel Democrats conversely eyed whether Congress should allocate additional funding to the NTIA initiative for ORAN use. Members of both parties sought to tie future ORAN development to the push to give the FCC’s Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program an additional $3.08 billion to close a funding shortfall that could hurt the goal of removing suspect gear from U.S. networks (see 2311070050).

The FCC unanimously ordered Cumulus to pay a $26,000 penalty for a late annual equal employment opportunity report, over the objections of the broadcaster and the NAB (see 2203300067), said a forfeiture order Tuesday. “Cumulus’s characterization of the requirement to upload an Annual Report to the station online public inspection file and website as a mere administrative task undermines the Commission’s goal of ensuring meaningful public input via public access to the Annual Report,” said the order. The third-largest U.S. radio group, Cumulus reported a Q3 net revenue of more than $200 million. Cumulus had argued that although the report was filed late, it was completed on time and the FCC should have merely admonished the radio broadcaster. The agency rejected that argument, and said failing to upload a completed annual report analyzing EEO activities on time is the same as failing to conduct the analysis altogether. Cumulus also said the FCC shouldn’t adjust the penalty upward due to Cumulus’s multiple past EEO violations, because those occurred before the company’s bankruptcy reorganization. The FCC rejected those arguments, noting that many of the same executives still lead Cumulus. The company hasn’t provided evidence that bankruptcy proceedings are “intended to absolve licensees of the consequences of pre-bankruptcy violations of the FCC’s rules,” the order said. Unusually for an enforcement proceeding, NAB informally filed comments supporting Cumulus, which the FCC dismissed. “NAB offers no legal or procedural basis for submitting its nonparty filing,” the order said. “More broadly, NAB urges the Commission to apply a more balanced and reasonable approach to proposed forfeitures going forward, claims that are more appropriately raised in a petition for declaratory ruling.” The FCC reduced Cumulus’s forfeiture from the originally proposed $32,000, conceding that in the past the agency hasn’t treated late filed EEO reports the same as failing to prepare one. “Although nothing in our case law suggests that such a failure does not also amount to a violation of our self-assessment rule, Cumulus may not have had the requisite notice” of that policy, the order said. “Going forward, Cumulus and all other licensees are on notice” that the FCC will consider the timeliness of posting EEO reports when it considers if stations are meeting their EEO obligations, the order said. The FCC is considering a draft EEO order that would require additional workforce diversity reporting from broadcasters (see 2312220061).