The Benefit of the Bargain (BoB) version of BEAD is shaping up to be "a tremendous success," with state plans to date coming in $15 billion under what they were allocated, NTIA head Arielle Roth said Monday. Speaking at SCTE's TechExpo event in Washington, Roth said NTIA is also pressing states in some cases to submit cheaper final proposals.
Wireless carriers have traditionally opposed the jamming of wireless signals at correctional facilities and supported managed access systems, but with FCC commissioners set to approve on Tuesday a Further NPRM proposed by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, the industry has had little to say in recent weeks (see 2509050055). Industry observers said the draft FNPRM is likely to be approved largely as proposed.
House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Senate Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and other Hill Democratic leaders castigated FCC Chairman Brendan Carr during what amounted to a one-party bicameral hearing Monday for his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney widely perceived as influencing the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! from the air (see 2509180066). Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast stopped preempting Kimmel Friday night, as expected (see 2509260054). The Senate Commerce Committee is eyeing potential dates soon for an FCC oversight hearing that ranking member Maria Cantwell of Washington and other Democrats have been requesting to confront Carr (see 2509220059), lobbyists told us.
Broadcasters, MVPD groups and public safety entities largely agree that the FCC's plans to revamp emergency alerting are a good thing, but they differ on the direction they want those plans to take, according to comments filed in docket 25-224 by Thursday’s deadline.
Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast planned to cease preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and air the show on their ABC affiliates Friday night, said news releases Friday afternoon. A source familiar with the situation told us that Disney made no editorial or content concessions prior to the announcements.
FCC items reversing its off-premises hot spot and school bus Wi-Fi programs, which were approved during the Biden administration, are expected to be approved 2-1 Tuesday, with a dissent from Commissioner Anna Gomez, agency and industry officials told us. Officials active in the proceeding warned that for the school bus program in particular, it’s unclear what will happen to projects already funded under the E-rate program.
SpaceX’s Starlink broadband service is likely to end this year with roughly 8.2 million subscribers worldwide and add 3.8 million in 2026, Quilty Space said during a webinar Thursday. Quilty analyst Caleb Henry said SpaceX’s growth is being driven by the renewed addition of U.S. subscribers after it temporarily leveled off at about 1.3 million in late 2023 and early 2024. The company now has about 2 million U.S. subscribers, he said.
In the past, carrier investment and wireless technology cycles largely aligned, as carriers rolled out the next generation of wireless, said Brian Daly, assistant vice president of wireless technology strategy and standards at AT&T. As 6G is deployed, the cycles no longer match up, he said Thursday during a Light Reading advanced wireless networks webinar. “We’re moving more toward a continuous innovation, continuous disruption cycle.”
The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) unanimously approved a report Thursday on “best practices” for the FCC and industry on the ethical and practical use of AI and machine learning (ML). The report, which examines privacy and new risks for telecom networks, wasn’t released Thursday.
Upcoming FCC action to undo its July 2024 order allowing E-rate recipients to use funding for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots is a clear sign that House leaders have lost interest in advancing a Senate-passed Congressional Review Act resolution of disapproval (S.J.Res. 7) against that order, supporters and opponents told us. The FCC is likely to approve next week two proposals to cancel both the off-premises hot spot order and another to fund Wi-Fi on school buses (see 2509030064). The House Commerce Committee's Republican leaders still haven't taken a position on S.J.Res. 7, which the Senate passed more than four months ago. Supporters argue that moving the CRA measure would prevent a future majority-Democratic FCC from resurrecting the Wi-Fi rules for schools and libraries in their current form.