The FCC Enforcement Bureau's 2025 equal employment opportunity audit letters sent to 27 randomly selected MVPDs contain the same new diversity questions that were added to letters sent to broadcasters earlier this year. Attorneys have described the new questions as “landmines” because the precise nature of the response expected by the agency is unclear (see 2508220035). While previous EEO audit letters asked stations for information on any complaints about “unlawful discrimination” involving the station brought before government entities, the new questions seek information on both internal and external complaints. The questions also go beyond unlawful discrimination related to race, sex, religion and national origin and ask about complaints related to “any bias, sensitivity or any other matters” related to those categories. The letters also tell targeted MVPDs to submit copies of “any formal or informal agreement, contract, policy, practice, or other document that impose requirements or goals (aspirational or otherwise) regarding race, color, religion, national origin or sex on the Unit, contractors, employees or any third parties providing services on behalf of the Unit.” The audit targets include Comcast, Charter, Cox, Cincincatti Bell and Mediacom. Responses to the letters are due Jan. 26.
The FCC Media Bureau has rejected altafiber’s June retransmission consent complaint against Nexstar, said an order Friday. The MVPD had argued that Nexstar violated the FCC’s good faith retransmission consent negotiation rules by demanding high rates and that altafiber carry Nexstar's NewsNation cable network in the Cincinnatiarea, where Nexstar has no broadcast TV stations (see 2506160037). Nexstar didn’t violate the good faith rules because it offered multiple proposals with different terms during negotiations, the order said. “We do not find that these proposals are so 'sufficiently outrageous' that they constitute a violation of the good faith negotiation requirements under the totality of the circumstances test,” the bureau said.
A host of civil rights groups made joint filings last week calling on the FCC to reject Nexstar/Tegna; Gray Media’s proposed purchases of stations from Allen Media, Block Communications and Sagamore Hill; and a Sinclair/Scripps combination, if one is proposed. “These transactions would diminish competition, weaken local journalism, narrow editorial diversity, and further constrain opportunities for underrepresented communities in broadcasting,” said the filing from 23 groups including Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ), the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
The nonprofit Pennsylvania Prison Society (PPS) is challenging the FCC's November prison calling reconsideration order before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 2-1 FCC decision increased rates for incarcerated people’s communications services on an interim basis (see 2512040036). In a petition for review filed last week with the 3rd Circuit (docket 25-3431), PPS said the reconsideration order also denied a PPS application for review, delaying implementation of parts of the FCC's 2024 IPCS order.
“Clear and understandable data” from an upcoming data collection on incarcerated peoples calling services is required for “just, reasonable and fairly compensatory” rate caps, said representatives from Aventiv and Securus in a Dec. 10 meeting with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, according to an ex parte filing posted in docket 23-62 Friday. The companies also discussed the necessity of “a stable regulatory environment, coupled with consistent enforcement of rules and requirements,” the filing said.
VoIP providers in California have been getting State Board of Equalization notices about having to file annual property tax statements starting next year, which is what the cloud communications industry had hoped the FCC would prevent, telecom lawyer Jonathan Marashlian of Marashlian & Donahue wrote Friday. The tax development springs from the California Public Utilities Commission's 2024 decision reclassifying interconnected VoIP providers as “telephone corporations," he said. "Once the CPUC decided to regulate VoIP like legacy telephony, other state agencies quickly followed suit—and found new ways to tax VoIP providers," he said.
The FCC should grant the 30-day extension the airline industry has requested for comments on the upper C-band spectrum auction (see 2511140015), said the North American Spectrum Alliance and a joint filing from public interest, tribal and rural interest groups Friday. Due in part to the government shutdown, the FCC “currently has before it an unusual number of significant proceedings that affect overlapping sets of stakeholders,” said the joint filing from groups including Public Knowledge, the Rural Wireless Association and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. “Stakeholders with limited staff and resources face particular difficulty when multiple proceedings demand attention at the same time,” the filing said. “A modest extension in this docket will allow for more complete participation by parties whose perspective the Commission should want to hear.” The extra time “will result in the ‘complete record’ that the FCC is rightly seeking for this proceeding, without meaningfully delaying the ultimate timeline for the Upper C-band auction,” said the North American Spectrum Alliance filing. The “large and diverse group of stakeholders in the Upper C-band requires this additional time to submit well-informed comments on the complex and numerous scenarios for the auction and the post-auction transition,” the alliance said. A 30-day extension is “unlikely to delay the overall proceeding,” the joint filing said. “Congress has set a July 2027 deadline for the spectrum auction, and the Commission has ample time to complete this rule-making while still meeting that deadline.”
Wireless ISPs continue to urge the FCC not to relocate citizens broadband radio service operations from any portion of the 3.55-3.70 GHz band to another band. CBRS advocates have been pushing against any major change to the band. NCTA is encouraging service providers to file comments at the FCC opposing proposals to increase power levels (see 2511130037).
The FCC is rechartering its World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee and soliciting applications for membership, said a public notice Friday. The FCC “intends to renew the Committee for a period of two (2) years following consultation with the General Services Administration,” the PN said. “It is anticipated that after this consultation, the renewed charter will become effective on or before January 31st 2026.” Applications and nominations are due by Jan. 9, the PN said. The committee is intended to provide the FCC with “advice, technical support, and recommended proposals” for the WRCs, the PN said. “In particular, the Committee will focus on the international frequency spectrum issues identified on the WRC-27 agenda with the goal of identifying private sector/public priorities and objectives.” The current WRC advisory committee’s informal working groups have meetings scheduled for January and February, said a second PN.
The FCC needs to do more to verify spending program participation and eligibility requirements, said an Office of Inspector General report on the agency’s top management and performance challenges for FY 2026. The report prioritized protecting FCC programs from abuse, safeguarding national security and strengthening cybersecurity as the top three challenges. The FCC’s “widespread reliance on unvalidated, self-certified eligibility criteria for participation in and seeking reimbursement from FCC programs is a significant vulnerability” that leads to abuse of FCC programs, the report said. “A systemic failure to verify program requirements through reliable source records encourages bad actors to do business with the Commission and allows unscrupulous program participants and their partners -- telecommunications providers, sales agents, consultants, and vendors -- to easily commit fraud against FCC programs,” the report said. The agency should incorporate “common sense verification measures before program funds are disbursed,” the OIG report said. FCC rules don’t currently apply federal regulations for suspending or debarring fraudulent entities to its subsidy programs, the report said. “Thus, as highlighted in all our Semiannual Reports to Congress for the last eight years, FCC should implement regulations necessary for the suspension and debarment guidelines to be applicable to its subsidy programs and other nonprocurement transactions, such as grants or loans, to protect itself and the entire government from fraud and misconduct,” the report said.