The FCC didn't act by Friday on a request to stay its recent business data service order, said an agency spokesman Monday. He said the issue remains under consideration. Windstream, BT Americas, Incompas and the Ad Hoc Telecom Users Committee had asked the commission to act by June 30 or they would consider inaction a denial (see 1706260054). The FCC rarely grants such requests, but parties are required to seek regulatory relief before asking courts for a stay. Challenges to the deregulatory order are before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Various parties asked that the case be transferred to the D.C. Circuit.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn's interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators series (see 1706290070) is available here. It was also scheduled to run on C-SPAN's cable channel Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Monday on C-SPAN2 at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

An FCC draft inquiry on advanced telecom deployment circulated June 26, according to the commission's circulation list, which was updated Friday. The inquiry under Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act explores whether advanced telecom capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion.

The Library of Congress Copyright Royalty Board officially launched eCRB, its electronic filing and case management system. In a news release Thursday, it said a regulation published in the Federal Register in early June allows most CRB filings to happen within eCRB. It also said the launch of eCRB should speed the claims process for cable and satellite royalty funds.

An FAA rulemaking committee aimed at developing standards for identifying drones will meet July 18-19, said the agency in a Friday news release that briefly provided an update of the panel's inaugural meeting (see 1706210064 and 1705230030). It said the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Identification and Tracking Aviation Rulemaking Committee, which first met June 21-23, considered existing drone ID and tracking issues, air traffic management for drones, concerns for local governments and potential legal matters. The FAA said the committee developed preliminary questions and reviewed some identification technologies. A Senate committee last week advanced legislation reauthorizing the agency until 2021, but that bill will have to be reconciled with House legislation (see 1706290024).

The FCC waived rules in order "to assist remote Alaskan health care providers (HCPs) impacted by the Rural Health Care Program pro-ration," said a commission order Friday in docket 02-60 that said the waiver applied only on a one-time basis. "This order creates a path for service providers in remote Alaska to reduce the cost of service to affected HCPs by waiving Commission rules that could otherwise serve as unnecessary roadblocks to relief. ... [W]e find that special circumstances present good cause for this waiver." The order said qualifying demand for the first time exceeded the healthcare program's $400 million annual cap, triggering a "pro-ration" rule that lowers support for applicants.

The FTC and DOJ's Antitrust Division approved changes to a form that companies use to report a proposed merger, acquisition or related transaction under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The Antitrust Act Notification and Report form provides the "initial evaluation of the potential anticompetitive impact" on such transactions, said the commission, which voted 2-0 to OK the changes, in a Thursday news release. The form's changes include: deleting language requiring filers to explain how they determined the fee; an updated "Revised Date" on the bottom of every page; a reference to a specific regulation listing civil penalties for noncompliance; an updated address for the FTC's Premerger Notification Office; and updated electronic version of the form.

GAO criticism of FCC Lifeline USF oversight should be analyzed and put in context, said Davis Wright attorney Danielle Frappier, who represents Lifeline wireless providers, in a Friday blog post. She noted some characterized GAO's Thursday report as confirming that waste, fraud and abuse in the low-income subsidy program are "prevalent" and "everything" has gone wrong (see 1706290037). "No one asserts that the program is perfectly structured or administered. And, where corrections and improvements in the program can be made, they should be made," wrote Frappier. "But there are some significant limitations on the data and analysis in the report of which readers should be aware. Probably most importantly, the report is based on data from 2014, and therefore necessarily takes virtually no account of the many additional safeguards and improvements that have been made." She cited specific FCC efforts to improve Lifeline enrollment verification procedures and "some real difficulties in doing large scale comparisons of data cross multiple databases," as GAO did. "The report notes that the Improper Payments Information Act rate for the Lifeline program was 0.45 percent in 2015. That is quite a low number -- lower than for the E-rate program, which in that same year was 6.33 percent (see the FCC Fiscal Year 2015 Agency Financial Report at p. 88) and much lower than the typical improper payment rates for programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, veterans’ benefits, etc.," she wrote. "As a result, the appropriate reaction to an improper payment rate of less than one-half of one percent is to use this data to continue to make improvements to the program, not to treat the program as in any sort of crisis calling for an urgent or hysterical response." The National Grange issued a statement Thursday urging continued support for Lifeline. An FCC Wireline Bureau public notice Thursday in docket 11-42 reminded Lifeline providers of their primary responsibility to ensure the eligibility of consumers seeking program support.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said playing defense in the minority at the agency is a "very interesting" experience. "Playing the entire field has been a little exhausting but exhilarating at the same time,” she said in an interview on C-SPAN's The Communicators set to air Saturday and Monday. There have been "more than a couple" 2-1 votes, with her dissenting, but she said she still cares about the same things, including putting "consumers first." Asked if she was rallying net neutrality advocates to try to change Republican colleagues' plans to roll back Title II broadband regulation, put pressure on Congress, or build a record in court, Clyburn said, "All of the above." Without Communications Act Title II broadband classification, "What backstop authority do we have?" she asked, citing USF, broadband deployment barriers and pole attachments as areas that would suffer without Title II. “Right now we have certainty that we will be the referee on the field enabling and answering the calls of people who say ‘I want choice, I want connectivity.’'' she said. "All of these things are made possible with connectivity, and if we do not have all of the tools in our regulatory belt to be able to say that we have authority to enable all of these wonderful opportunities, then who does and how does it get done?" She also addressed inmate calling service charges, AT&T/Time Warner, broadband infrastructure pre-emption and other subjects.

Correction: Broadcasters would still have to offer 50 hours of described video during prime time or children's programming under the FCC's draft video description item. Only the proposed additional requirement of 37.5 hours could be fulfilled at any time between 6 a.m. and midnight (see 1706280063).