The combined FY 2021 appropriations and COVID-19 aid omnibus bill (HR-133) that Congress passed Monday got further praise from lawmakers and other observers Monday and Tuesday for its broadband funding and other telecom and tech policy provisions (see 2012210055). HR-133’s approval got a far more mixed reception from within the copyright community because it includes text from the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (Case) Act (HR-2426/S-1273) and Protecting Lawful Streaming Act. Both chambers passed HR-133 by overwhelming margins, sending the measure to President Donald Trump.

In an era of the Me Too movement and Black Lives Matter, running the companies and institutions that dominate the communications universe largely remains a white male affair, according to our analysis of the board membership of major companies, trade and interest groups. Women hold 12% of board seats among broadcasters and 28% among MVPDs and programmers. People of color are harder to find on those boards: 6% at broadcasters, 28% at wireline and wireless operators.

In an era of the Me Too movement and Black Lives Matter, running the companies and institutions that dominate the communications universe largely remains a white male affair, according to our analysis of the board membership of major companies, trade and interest groups. Women hold 12% of board seats among broadcasters and 28% among MVPDs and programmers. People of color are harder to find on those boards: 6% at broadcasters, 28% at wireline and wireless operators.

NTCA elects Fred Johnson, Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative, as chairman; Keith Oliver, Home Telephone Co., as vice chairman; and Barry Adair, Wabash Communications Co-Op, as secretary/treasurer ... Optimus Ride taps ex-Verizon Vice President, City Solutions Sean Harrington as CEO and member of its board, replacing co-founder Ryan Chin, who remains at the autonomous vehicle technology systems developer "with responsibility over policy and sustainability initiatives" ... WWE appoints Karen Mullane controller-chief accounting officer; she's ex-corporate controller and interim chief financial officer, Etsy ... Board member Arun Sarin leaves Cisco, which says directors "reduced the size of the Board to nine members effective with Mr. Sarin’s resignation."

Expect President-elect Joe Biden’s DOJ to quickly withdraw from a lawsuit at U.S. District Court for Eastern California challenging that state’s net neutrality law (case 2:18-cv-02660), experts said in interviews this week. It probably wouldn’t stop USTelecom, CTIA, NCTA and ACA Connects from continuing industry’s challenge (case 2:18-cv-02684), they said. Open-internet bills blossomed in many states after Chairman Ajit Pai’s FCC reversed the previous commission’s Communications Act Title II order.

NTCA adds Mano Koilpillai, ex-Dynamic Consulting and Accounting, as chief financial officer; Roxanna Barboza, ex-Department of Agriculture, as industry and cybersecurity policy analyst; and Lauren Gaydos, ex-communications director for Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., as public relations manager ... Charlotte Willner from Pinterest named founding executive director of Trust & Safety Professional Association and its sibling organization Trust & Safety Foundation Project.

The FCC Wireless Bureau decision to not include integrated receiver/decoder (IRD) equipment costs in the C-band clearing earth station lump sum amount was based on "ample evidence" and followed the law and the agency's own C-band clearing order, the full commission said in a docket 18-122 order Thursday denying ACA Connects' August application for review (see 2008140033). There's an extensive record showing IRD costs will be satellite operators' and they should be reimbursed, and ACA is ignoring plain language of the order, the agency said. ACA "relies on misleading quotations and ignores the breadth of evidence" in challenging the reasoning of the commission deciding compression equipment costs are satellite operator costs, it said. ACA emailed it was "reviewing the FCC's decision." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in September denied ACA's petition (in Pacer) to delay the lump sum election deadline (see 2008270052) (docket 20-1327).

Traditional video service still has life "in my neck of the woods" in ways it might not on the coasts, said Patty Jo Boyers, president of southeast Missouri-based cable ISP Boycom Vision, on C-SPAN's The Communicators, to be televised this weekend. She said part of Boycom's customer base is elderly poor who can't access over-the-top service. She said cord cutting slowed during the pandemic, and the company had a big increase in broadband customers, due partly to OTT demand. Asked if the FCC is "an ally," Boyers, who's also ACA Connects chairman, said, "Today, yes. In the past, not so much." She said Chairman Ajit Pai's administration "has been refreshing" with its work on reversing onerous regulatory burdens. She said the way U.S. broadband networks handled a deluge of demand during the COVID-19 pandemic was proof of that approach. "We consider [all FCC administrations] allies," though it will sometimes disagree, ACA President Matt Polka said.

CTA President Gary Shapiro and Jason Oxman, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, expressed hope Monday that President-elect Joe Biden’s bipartisan skills would bring progress on high-skilled immigration and infrastructure initiatives in Congress. President Donald Trump hasn't conceded.

Industry and the National Emergency Number Association agreed the FCC needs to do more work before reporting to Congress on feasibility and cost of making Wi-Fi access points and other communications technologies available for access to 911 during times of emergency. Replies on a Public Safety Bureau notice were due Friday in docket 20-285. The FCC must file a report as a requirement of Ray Baum’s Act. “In light of the significant technical and security issues raised in this proceeding about relying on Wi-Fi access points as a backup for wireless 9-1-1, the FCC should seek the guidance of relevant technical expert bodies on these issues prior to submitting its study to Congress,” CTIA said. Access points supported by fixed wireline are “just as challenged as mobile wireless services to remain operational during severe emergencies,” it said: “Other Commission proceedings demonstrate the increasing resilience of mobile wireless networks even where fixed wireline backhaul and commercial power is unavailable for extended periods of time.” Connecting through access points “appears to be technically feasible, but work must be done to ensure quality assurance to 9-1-1 and to its callers,” NENA commented. Such connections “must meet, at the very least, the public’s expectations for reliability and service; meeting these expectations may be challenging absent regulatory authority,” the group said. ACA Connects said it’s not “technically feasible” today to use Wi-Fi “to provide a backup path to 911 when mobile networks are down.”