Despite pressure from tribal and public interest groups, the FCC appears unlikely to change rules for the AWS-3 auction to allow a tribal window, industry officials and observers said Friday. With Olivia Trusty, a second Republican, joining the commission, Chairman Brendan Carr probably has the votes to approve auction rules regardless of opposition from Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez, officials said. The agency is scheduled to vote on the order Thursday.
The FCC should “move expeditiously” to relax broadcast ownership and require a mandatory transition to ATSC 3.0, said NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a meeting Monday with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty, according to an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 17-318. “Each day that passes without reform further disadvantages broadcasters -- and ultimately the American public -- in a land of unconstrained non-broadcast media giants,” the filing said. Recent objections to NAB’s push for an ATSC 3.0 transition timeline and tuner mandate are “disingenuous and blatantly anticompetitive” and come from “certain players in the ecosystem that are clearly threatened by a competitive free video service available to consumers throughout the nation.” Local broadcasters “are striving to secure a future that is free, local, innovative, and resilient,” the filing said. “But doing so requires timely, forward-looking action from the Commission.”
The FCC posted on Thursday the drafts for all the items teed up for votes at the commission’s Aug. 7 open meeting. Most have a deregulatory bent.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence approved an FY 2026 Intelligence Authorization Act July 15 that would provide additional reviews of foreign purchases of land near U.S. intelligence community facilities, according to a summary of the legislation.
The Senate was on track Wednesday to pass a revised version of the 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that retains language to claw back $1.1 billion in advance CPB funding for FY 2026 and FY 2027, despite opposition from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Public broadcasting supporters continued pressing for some Republicans who voted Tuesday night to clear procedural hurdles for bringing HR-4 to the floor to vote against passing the measure. Senators were voting Wednesday afternoon on Democrats’ amendments to HR-4 after rejecting bids to jettison the CPB defunding language.
The Trump administration’s decision to approve exports of advanced Nvidia chips to China could backfire on the U.S. the next time it tries to convince allies to restrict their advanced technology shipments to China, Divyansh Kaushik of Beacon Global Strategies said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched a Section 301 investigation on Brazilian policies that discriminate against American firms, naming these issues:
The Senate passed a bill that directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a methodology to identify the country of origin of imported red snapper and some tuna species. The goal is for CBP to be able to confiscate illegally caught red snapper and tuna at the time of import.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., announced July 10 that he has reintroduced a bill that would bar Chinese corporations and individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party from owning American agricultural land and homes.
The FCC Office of International Affairs has signed off on the requested transfer of the PPC-1 submarine cable landing license from one Australian company, TPG Telecom, to another, Vocus Group, as part of Vocus' purchase of TPG's subsea cable business (see 2411150001), said a public notice Thursday. PPC-1 connects Sydney to Piti, Guam.