ACA Connects pulled the plug on its postponed 2020 members' summit (see 2003050013), citing COVID-19 concerns. It said Wednesday that it might look later this year at "a streamlined Capitol Hill visit and a mini-summit of some kind ... if the crisis is well behind us and it is clearly appropriate to hold group functions once again." The summit originally had been scheduled for last week. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly tweeted that the cancellation was disappointing "but understandable." He and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel were scheduled speakers.
Congressional leaders were optimistic Tuesday afternoon they were close to reaching a deal on a third economic stimulus bill addressing the effects of COVID-19, after days of wrangling over legislative language on funding for telecom and other priorities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was among those saying a deal appeared near, though she warned House Democratic leaders could move forward on a counterproposal if they deem final Senate bill language unsatisfactory. The Pelosi-led counterproposal drew fire from Republicans in part because it contains pandemic-specific Lifeline funding (see 2003230066).
Some communications stakeholders are on board with calls to halt retransmission consent blackouts for the next 60 days during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tuesday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai made such a request, and ACA Connects quickly endorsed it. NAB CEO Gordon Smith in Q&A with us Wednesday made a similar request and supported broadcasters doing their part. After he spoke, some cable operators made similar comments.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai got pledges from top ISPs, including all major carriers and cable operators plus telcos, to keep everyone online for the next 60 days amid the coronavirus. Pai spoke with the companies Thursday, he said Friday; see our report here. Companies and trade associations endorsed the pledge. Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks said that's a good start, but the agency needs to do more.
Dozens of ISPs of all sizes agreed to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's suggestion the industry not take adverse action against customers for the next two months amid the coronavirus pandemic, he announced Friday morning. Those companies won't terminate service to any residential or small-business customers because of inability to pay due to such disruptions; will waive any related late fees; and will open their Wi-Fi hot spots to anyone. Pai is also seeking that the providers make other changes, including related to bandwidth caps.
Industry groups challenging Maine’s ISP privacy law agreed to dismiss three Public Utilities Commission members as defendants in case 1:20-cv-00055 at the U.S. District Court of Maine, leaving only Attorney General Aaron Frey (D), said a Friday notice (in Pacer). ACA Connects, CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom sued Maine last month (see 2002180050).
The FCC got no pushback to proposed implementation of Section 1003 of the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019 (TVPA) by amendment of its rules to let small MVPDs designate a buying group to negotiate on their behalf and the proposed definitions of large station groups and qualified buying groups in docket 20-31 comments. Beyond its proposals, NTCA said the agency “must do more” in the form of retransmission consent rules reforms such as bans on forced tying and tiering. ACA Connects agreed with the proposed rules changes. NAB called the proposed rules changes “appropriate to effectuate the TVPA.” The legislation passed in December (see 1912190068).
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has said the FCC would mandate secure telephone identity revisited standards and signature-based handling of asserted information using tokens (Stir/Shaken) technology if major providers don’t move quickly enough, said Friday the agency plans to vote on that at the March 31 commissioners’ meeting (see 2003060019). Industry officials said the new rules implement at least some provisions in the Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence (Traced) Act, signed into law in January (see 1912310028). The exact details will be released when the draft is issued Tuesday. The act directs the commission to require providers to implement Stir/Shaken in their networks within 18 months of enactment.
State Democrats are pressing forward with net neutrality revivals with hope that last year’s Mozilla decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit alleviated lawmaker concerns that killed bills in previous sessions. The D.C. Circuit cleared a “path to be able to set our own net neutrality rules,” said Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff (D). He and other legislators and stakeholders spoke in recent interviews.
America's Communications Association hires Mike Jacobs as vice president-regulatory affairs; he came from ITTA, which is closing (see 2001150052); at ACA, Jacobs succeeds Mary Lovejoy, who left the cable association in June for the FCC, where she's attorney-adviser, Office of Economics and Analytics Auctions Division ... T-Mobile amends Executive Vice President-Corporate Services David Carey’s employment to end automatically July 1, with position termination April 30-July 1 ... Nick Martin, ex-Forbes Tate Partners, becomes communications director, office of Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. ... WarnerMedia Entertainment integrates content acquisitions team across entertainment networks and direct-to-consumer business under Michael Quigley, executive vice president-content acquisitions, with Senior Vice Presidents Jonathan Melber for content acquisition, HBO Max, and Royce Battleman, for content acquisition, HBO, Cinemax, TNT, TBS and truTV; while Chris Grunden and Leslie Cohen add responsibilities for film acquisitions for HBO Max ... Taxpayers Protection Alliance adds Targeted Victory Vice President Nathan Leamer, ex-FCC, to board ... Center for a New American Security names Charles Clancy, Mitre; Jessica Cussins Newman, Future of Life Institute; and Chris Whitlock, Deloitte to Artificial Intelligence and National Security Task Force ... Content & Connectivity Human Resources appoints Kara Anderson, ESPN, and Jennifer Dunn, AMC Networks, to board.