New York is enjoined from enforcing its broadband affordability law, in a stipulated final judgment (in Pacer, docket 21-CV-02389) approved Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley in Central Islip, Long Island. Hurley ruled last month that ISPs would likely succeed on conflict and field preemption arguments, and granted a motion for preliminary injunction by the New York State Telecommunications Association, CTIA, ACA Connects, USTelecom, NTCA and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (see 2106110064). Under the stipulated final judgment, the sides agreed to a final judgment in favor of the ISP interest plaintiffs conceding that the state law is preempted by federal law. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) reserves the right to appeal the stipulated final judgment, declaration and permanent injunction. Her office didn't comment. For our report on the sides settling this case that may go to an appeals court, see here.

New York will continue defending its broadband affordability law, with a pact between the state attorney general and ISP plaintiffs a procedural step on the way to appeal, said an AG office spokesperson Friday. New York reserved appeal rights while agreeing not to enforce its law, in the agreement with ISP associations including the New York State Telecommunications Association (NYSTA), USTelecom and CTIA. See our bulletin. “The parties have conferred and agree that the Court’s holdings on preemption” in its June 11 preliminary injunction order “resolve the substantive legal issues in this matter and render the entry of final judgment appropriate,” said the stipulated final judgment (in Pacer). New York reserves the right to appeal the stipulated final judgment, declaration and permanent injunction, it said. “Defendant expressly reserves all appellate rights in this matter.” Assistant AG Patricia Hingerton asked (in Pacer) Judge Denis Hurley to order the proposed stipulation be filed by the parties Friday in case 2:21-cv-02389 at U.S. District Court in Central Islip, New York. Hurley ruled last month that ISPs would likely succeed on conflict and field preemption arguments, and granted the motion for preliminary injunction by NYSTA, CTIA, ACA Connects, USTelecom, NTCA and the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association (see 2106110064). New York appealed June 30 to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 2106300071). “It looks like the parties agreed to take steps to move the appeals process forward,” emailed New York Public Utility Law Project Executive Director Richard Berkley. “This case would never have ended after a decision by the trial court; it was always going to be appealed. So this would save the time of having to fight it out in the lower court, then start moving it up the appeals courts' ladder.” ISP groups declined to comment.

Amazon again supplanted Facebook in Q2 as top lobbying spender in tech and telecom, with NCTA and Comcast rounding out the top four. Huawei, Twitter, the Information Technology Industry Council and Telecommunications Industry Association had the sectors' largest percentage increases compared with the same period last year. Broadcom, BSA|The Software Alliance and the Computer and Communications Industry Association had large decreases. Amazon spent $4.86 million in Q2, up almost 11%. Facebook paid $4.77 million, down 1%. NCTA disbursed $3.26 million, down more than 10%. Comcast spent $3.25 million, down almost 11%. AT&T spent just over $3 million, down more than 10%. Verizon expended $2.76 million, up almost 9%. Charter Communications was little changed at $2.57 million, and CTIA at $2.5 million was also flat. Microsoft spent $2.47 million, a 15% decrease. T-Mobile spent $2.4 million, down 8%. NAB fell 5% to $2.18 million. Qualcomm gained 8% to $2.13 million. Google reported $2 million, a more than 23% increase. Apple had $1.64 million, an almost 11% increase. ViacomCBS paid $1.6 million, up 39%. Dell's $1.12 million was a 23% increase. Huawei spent just over $1 million, a 523% increase. IBM was $980,000, down more than 5%. Disney spent $830,000, down more than 6%. Cox's $810,000 was down almost 13%. Twitter spent $660,000, a 69% increase. ITI spent $600,000, rising 43%. USTelecom was relatively unchanged at $570,000. Lumen had $520,000, an almost 9% increase. The Internet Association disclosed $390,000, up more than 14%. Broadcom posted $360,000, down 40%. BSA was $290,000, down almost 31%. ACA Connects was level at $160,000. NTCA also spent $160,000, an 11% decrease. ICANN spent $85,000, similar to Q2 2020. TIA spent $70,000, a 40% increase. CCIA's $30,000 was down 25%.

As the FCC works on new broadband availability maps, experts said in recent interviews that building a nationwide map requires a focus on answering specific questions about connectivity. Some said it may be months before a final map is released.

Allow industry flexibility and avoid prescriptive rules on accessibility, replied NAB, Zoom, ACA Connects and CTA on the 21st Century Video Accessibility Act posted Wednesday in FCC docket 21-140. “Accessibility is not something that must be mandated with a heavy hand,” said Zoom. “The regime is working overall,” said CTA, saying industry “is continuing to meet the needs of consumers free of unnecessary red-tape.” CTA said the FCC should relax some CVAA rules to increase flexibility, such as letting alternative technology fulfill captioning requirements. It would be “premature” for the agency to adopt audio description quality standards as rules, said ACA Connects. “Broadcasters have demonstrated their commitment to ensuring access,” NAB said. Industry accessibility initiatives are a “critical” part of the CVAA, but “accessibility barriers continue to require substantial ongoing vigilance and action from the Commission,” said groups including Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Communications Service for the Deaf, and National Association of the Deaf. Strengthen rules and reject “unwarranted calls to weaken accessibility mandates,” they asked.

The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed report on the Financial Services Subcommittee-cleared measure to fund the FCC and FTC in FY 2022 seeks further work on changes to USF contribution rules and wants additional study of how municipal broadband can expand connectivity access. The committee was still considering the underlying bill late Tuesday afternoon. Dueling panels of telecom policy officials disagreed on how lawmakers should translate into legislation the $65 billion broadband component in a bipartisan infrastructure package framework President Joe Biden endorsed last week (see 2106240070).

New York may not start enforcing a state broadband law requiring $15 monthly low-income plans that was to go into effect Tuesday, a federal judge ruled (in Pacer) Friday. ISPs challenging the state’s Affordable Broadband Act (ABA) are likely to succeed on conflict and field preemption arguments, ruled Judge Denis Hurley of U.S. District Court in Central Islip, New York. ISPs showed imminent, irreparable harm, and the balance of equities and public interest favor keeping the status quo, he said. The decision counters recent rulings in California net neutrality and Maine ISP privacy cases where courts said states aren’t preempted.

ACA Connects said it would cost the federal government $106 billion-$179 billion to fully fund buildout of “future-proof” broadband networks in all unserved areas lacking 100 Mbps symmetrical. That’s above President Joe Biden’s $100 billion request in his initial infrastructure spending proposal (see 2103310064), a pair of Democratic broadband funding bills and a scuttled $65 billion proposal from Senate Republicans. ACA said $61 billion-$118 billion would allow full buildouts in areas lacking 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. Also Thursday, AT&T CEO John Stankey told the Economic Club of Washington (see 2106100046) he doesn’t “think it’s optimally the best thing for the American taxpayer to think about putting fiber to every farmhouse in the United States when in fact, we can do it a variety of different ways with a variety of different technologies.”

New York may not start enforcing a state broadband law requiring $15 monthly low-income plans that was to go into effect Tuesday, a federal judge ruled (in Pacer) Friday.

Industry trade groups said 21st Century Communications Video Accessibility Act rules are sufficient, but consumer groups want the FCC to examine and strengthen accessibility requirements for the online and streaming media due to problems that rose in use during the pandemic, per comments posted Tuesday in docket 21-140. “Acknowledge the wide range of Internet-Protocol-based multimodal communications services,” said Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and other groups for the hearing-impaired. They asked the FCC to complete rollout of real-time text, update TV closed captioning rules, “vigorously enforce” rules, migrate the Disability Rights Office to a new Office of Civil Rights, and seek more authority on accessibility from Congress. NAB, NCTA and CTA said the rules are sufficient. “There is no need for the Commission to update its rules implementing the CVAA,” said NCTA. “No additional obligations are necessary or appropriate” now, said NAB. “Leverage” the emergency broadband benefit and emergency connectivity fund to increase connectivity to the disabled, CTIA said. “Evaluate the accessibility of emergency information, government press conferences, and other critical sources of public information presented through television,” urged the American Foundation for the Blind. ACA Connects said the FCC “bizarrely” never made rule changes from 2016 on programmer closed captioning certifications effective: “It is well past time for the Commission to address this by publishing with dispatch the requisite Federal Register notice.”