Despite last-minute opposition from lawmakers, the FCC didn't pull from Thursday's meeting agenda an order on overhauling the way it subsidizes participants in its Rural Health Care (RHC) program (see 1907310055). Industry stakeholders also had asked for a delay or revisions to the draft in docket 17-310, which will adjust the way rates are determined when providing telehealth subsidies to rural healthcare providers (see 1907230005).

The Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC) and its key role in overseeing and running the FCC’s new broadband mapping approach got bipartisan criticism Thursday from commissioners as they voted to adopt new broadband mapping procedures. There are questions about USAC's "competence and bandwidth" to fulfill the role it's being handed to control and maintain the mapping data, Commissioner Mike O'Rielly said. USAC didn’t comment.

Despite last-minute opposition from lawmakers, the FCC didn't pull from Thursday's meeting agenda an order on overhauling the way it subsidizes participants in its Rural Health Care (RHC) program (see 1907310055). Industry stakeholders also had asked for a delay or revisions to the draft in docket 17-310, which will adjust the way rates are determined when providing telehealth subsidies to rural healthcare providers (see 1907230005).

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., led a bipartisan letter Tuesday with 11 other senators urging the FCC to delay its planned Thursday vote on a rural telehealth report and order that would in part revamp the USF Rural Health Care Program's payment distribution and create a database of payment rates based on geography (see 1907120003). Rural healthcare providers (RHCPs) and the telecom companies that service them have also sought a vote delay or revision of the FCC proposal (see 1907230005). “The proposal neither provides sufficient guidance to applicants nor addresses several of the” existing RHCPs' “key issues, and will ultimately lead to increased confusion and funding delays for rural health care applicants and providers,” the lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The other senators signing the letter were 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bennet of Colorado; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Angus King, I-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. The existing “lack of sufficient funding” for the RHC program, “combined with a lack of program rules concerning its allocation, has led to substantial delays for rural health care providers seeking to increase their telemedicine capabilities,” the senators said. The proposal “does not address the need for more funding, set forth the methodology for calculating the rural and urban rates, nor provide adequate maps to determine the rural area boundaries needed to determine pricing. Instead, it delegates rate-setting to” the Universal Service Administrative Co., “an entity that does not have relevant subject matter expertise.”

Broadcast network efforts to shut down Locast with a copyright infringement suit filed Wednesday in federal court will likely involve how nonprofit the nonprofit streaming service actually is, and what the Section 111 exemption of the Copyright Act applies to, broadcast and copyright experts told us.

Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and John Hoeven, R-N.D., led a bipartisan letter Tuesday with 11 other senators urging the FCC to delay its planned Thursday vote on a rural telehealth report and order that would in part revamp the USF Rural Health Care Program's payment distribution and create a database of payment rates based on geography (see 1907120003). Rural healthcare providers (RHCPs) and the telecom companies that service them have also sought a vote delay or revision of the FCC proposal (see 1907230005). “The proposal neither provides sufficient guidance to applicants nor addresses several of the” existing RHCPs' “key issues, and will ultimately lead to increased confusion and funding delays for rural health care applicants and providers,” the lawmakers wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. The other senators signing the letter were 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bennet of Colorado; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.; Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.; Angus King, I-Maine; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Tom Udall, D-N.M. The existing “lack of sufficient funding” for the RHC program, “combined with a lack of program rules concerning its allocation, has led to substantial delays for rural health care providers seeking to increase their telemedicine capabilities,” the senators said. The proposal “does not address the need for more funding, set forth the methodology for calculating the rural and urban rates, nor provide adequate maps to determine the rural area boundaries needed to determine pricing. Instead, it delegates rate-setting to” the Universal Service Administrative Co., “an entity that does not have relevant subject matter expertise.”

Broadcast network efforts to shut down Locast with a copyright infringement suit filed Wednesday in federal court will likely involve how nonprofit the nonprofit streaming service actually is, and what the Section 111 exemption of the Copyright Act applies to, broadcast and copyright experts told us.

Opposition poured in to an FCC proposal to cap the overall budget for the various USF programs and to combine the budget cap for two mechanisms to fund anchor institutions, in comments posted through Tuesday to docket 06-122. Stakeholders said such a plan would be difficult to implement and contradicts both the USF mission and the current FCC chairman's top priority to close the digital divide (see 1906030059).

Opposition poured in to an FCC proposal to cap the overall budget for the various USF programs and to combine the budget cap for two mechanisms to fund anchor institutions, in comments posted through Tuesday to docket 06-122. Stakeholders said such a plan would be difficult to implement and contradicts both the USF mission and the current FCC chairman's top priority to close the digital divide (see 1906030059).

The Office of Foreign Assets Control’s amendments to its reporting, procedures and penalties regulations are unclear and too broad, the Association of University Export Control Officers and The Clearing House Association said in July 22 comments, joining a series of trade associations that have been critical of the regulations' amendments.