C Spire's petition saying an FCC modification of a commercial TV station's market to add communities makes that outlet and all its broadcast streams local for reciprocal retransmission negotiations in those communities (see 1906040031) is either an attempt to use the agency to disrupt the network-affiliate relationship or a reflection of changing video market realities. Those were clashing broadcaster/MVPD arguments this week in docket 19-159 replies. C Spire and MVPD allies are trying "to hoodwink" the FCC into an "unprecedented [and] unlawful" level of government intrusion into retransmission consent and network affiliation agreements through its petition, NAB said. It said the pay-TV provider is trying to get the FCC to rewrite its retransmission consent agreement with Gray, while the declaratory ruling would only reiterate what MVPDs and broadcasters understand to be their good faith negotiation obligations after a market modification. CBS said what C Spire seeks -- a ruling that rules bar any restriction in a network affiliation agreement on a station’s ability to grant retrans -- could violate congressional content because it might significantly disrupt the relationship between a broadcast network and its affiliated stations, it said. Network affiliation agreements routinely and legitimately include obligations or restrictions, it said. Such a declaratory ruling would require a new rule and would have to go through FCC rulemaking processes first, Tegna said. Congress voiced concern broadcasters could use retrans agreements to limit MVPDs carrying signals that became local through the market modification process, so clearly a station can't condition a retrans grant for a local station in a market modification area on an MVPD either carrying or not carrying a non-commonly owned station, C Spire said. Affiliate consolidation, geographic restrictions in network affiliation agreements and dual big-four affiliations via multicast programming streams are distorting efforts to preserve localism and access to in-state programming, with those changes pointing to affiliation agreements involving retrans of stations found to be local following a market modification now are violating good-faith rules, the company said. Backing C Spire's petition, Pine Belt Communications said it also has video subscribers in an out-of-state designated market area and has had similar difficulties getting retrans consent to deliver local or significantly viewed stations. It said rural cable operators know well how DMA boundaries are broadcaster leverage in retrans negotiations in violation of good-faith rules. Along with its petition, C Spire filed a related retrans complaint against Gray.

The Technological Advisory Council meets Sept. 18 at 10 a.m. in the Commission Meeting Room, the FCC said Monday. TAC last met in June, its first meeting since it was rechartered (see 1906240049).

Oregon joined 15 other state attorneys general suing to stop T-Mobile from buying Sprint. “If left unchallenged, the current plan will result in reduced access to affordable wireless service in Oregon -- and higher prices,” Oregon AG Ellen Rosenblum (D) said Monday in a New York AG news release. The 16 states have nearly half the U.S. population, said New York AG Letitia James (D). T-Mobile didn’t comment. Earlier this month, Texas AG Ken Paxton became the first Republican to join (see 1908050029). T-Mobile/Sprint told the FCC there's no reason to further delay the agency's order approving their deal. The Rural Wireless Association and NTCA (see 1908070059) and the Wireless ISP Association asked the FCC last week to seek additional comment. “Petitioners have articulated no credible basis that could plausibly justify yet another delay in Commission action in this proceeding,” T-Mobile and Sprint filed, posted Monday in docket 18-197. “License transfer applications associated with the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint were filed on June 18, 2018.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals should deny review of Portland, Oregon's challenge of an FCC ban on local moratoriums on wireless infrastructure deployments, said respondents (in Pacer) Thursday in Portland v. FCC, No. 18-72689. The orders are “fully consistent with Congress’s decision to preserve local zoning authority” and don’t raise significant constitutional concerns, they said.

The FCC established an Enforcement Bureau Fraud Division, tasked with taking enforcement actions against fraud in the USF and other funding programs that the agency oversees, says a notice set for Monday’s Federal Register. The FCC approved the division’s establishment in January (see 1902040037). Using existing Enforcement Bureau staff, the division will work with the Office of Inspector General and other law enforcement agencies, says the notice.

A U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, erred in moving a complaint back to state court after defendant Cox Communications had it moved to federal court under the Class Action Fairness Act, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a docket 19-55658 opinion Thursday. In the opinion written by Judge Milan Smith and joined by Judges Michelle Friedland and Michael Simon, the 9th Circuit said Cox didn't have to prove all of the plaintiffs in the class-action claim about its advertised internet speeds -- initially filed in state court in California -- would be from California, and that its belief that would be the case was sufficient to challenge state court jurisdiction. Plaintiff's outside counsel didn't comment Friday.

2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg backed telehealth investment improvements as part of a rural healthcare policy platform. Buttigieg urged doubling annual funding for the FCC's USF Rural Health Care Program to $1 billion. The platform also proposed to “massively expand” broadband coverage across the U.S. and “expand the types of care settings that can receive reimbursement for telehealth services.” Release of Buttigieg's plan Friday was two days after a trio of other 2020 Democratic hopefuls -- Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts -- issued competing rural-focused policy platforms that propose major investments in broadband deployments (see 1908070070). Much of the tech-focused debate during the 2020 campaign until last week was on the antitrust implications of the growth of major tech companies, including Warren's proposal to break up big tech companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon (see 1904170046 and 1906270010).

The FCC Wireless Bureau said it’s consolidating Dish Network requests for extra time to build out various spectrum licenses with T-Mobile and Sprint requests for approval of their deal. Last month, Dish sought extensions for AWS 4, lower 700 MHz E-block and AWS H-block licenses, the bureau said Thursday: “With those requests, DISH expressed a willingness to accept a number of conditions that would generally require it to construct a nationwide 5G broadband network, subject to making significant financial payments if it fails do so.” All are consolidated under docket 18-197. The FCC said attorneys general in two more states, Indiana and Texas, sought access to numbering resource utilization and forecast reports filed by carriers and disaggregated, carrier-specific local number portability data as they scrutinize the deal. "The Commission is providing this notice to inform carriers of the requests … to allow carriers the opportunity to contact those Offices of Attorney General or to take any other action they may deem appropriate if they have concerns or oppose disclosure,” said a separate Thursday notice.

The Wireless ISP Association wants shared, not unlicensed, use of the C band (see 1908070032).

To help close the digital divide, the FCC needs a robust verification system for its broadband maps that relies less on broadband providers' self-reported data, Public Knowledge said in a letter posted in docket 19-195 Thursday. "The FCC's faulty data collection process has led to the production of broadband maps that overstate broadband availability in many parts of the U.S.," the group said, leaving unserved communities "on the wrong side of the digital divide." Public Knowledge wants ISPs to take more responsibility for the mapping data they provide. "Carriers that overstate deployment risk disqualifying truly unserved areas from receiving universal support," it said. "Carriers should have some skin in the game if they overstate coverage." It suggested the FCC consider crowdsourcing and other challenge systems to check the accuracy of the service availability and performance data that providers report (see 1908070009). "To incentivize participation and offset costs, these verification mechanisms should require providers that have overstated coverage data to reimburse expenses for those who successfully challenge inaccurate carrier data submissions," it said. Public Knowledge said it supports FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks' idea "of using more advanced data validation algorithms to help catch error data."