Pointing to FCC Section 25.159(b) rules aimed at preventing spectrum speculation, non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation operators oppose Boeing's ask to substitute OneWeb Chairman Greg Wyler and his SOM1101 for two of its pending NGSO applications (see 1801020007). A satellite lawyer said the FCC likely will dispose of the Boeing petitions quickly as it tries to move on the pending applications, with the agency highly unlikely to go along given how approval goes against rules and implications for other proceedings that involve attributable interest issues, like spectrum auctions. Boeing and Wyler didn't comment Tuesday. The company argued Wyler doesn't have attributable interest in OneWeb (see 1801020007).
Notable CROSS rulings
AM broadcasters filed more than 850 applications for new FM translators during s recent window, said an FCC news release Friday. Interest was higher than expected, broadcast industry officials and a spokesman told us. The window closed Wednesday was seen by many as the last chance for AM broadcasters to get a translator because no other windows are planned and space in the FM band is limited, broadcasters, brokers and industry lawyers said in interviews Friday.
With the clock ticking toward May 25 implementation of EU general data protection regulation, work toward compliance is becoming an increased challenge that many businesses won't meet, said speakers Thursday evening at an FCBA CLE. Verizon's Anjali Hansen said an area of heavy lifting in GDPR compliance is ensuring suppliers are compliant, with the company having a 30- to 40-person team doing just updates to supplier contracts. "You take a lot of Advil ... and go through them one by one," she said.
More broadcasters filed motions to intervene on the FCC’s side in public interest groups’ challenge of the broadcast ownership order on reconsideration. Nexstar (in Pacer) cited the order’s changes to rules governing joint sales agreements as giving it the right to intervene in the case, while News Corp (in Pacer), Bonneville International (in Pacer) and 21st Century Fox (in Pacer) pointed to their common ownership of TV stations and newspapers and the order’s elimination of the newspaper cross-ownership rule. Radio broadcaster Connoisseur Media (in Pacer) said the order’s changes to rules governing embedded markets were its reason for intervening. NAB, Sinclair and the News Media Alliance also filed motions to intervene (see 1801290036). An FCC response in the case is due Friday.
Public interest groups’ request for emergency stay of the FCC’s November broadcast ownership order on reconsideration (see 1801250065) is considered a “big ask” but the agency’s record of defeat on ownership rules at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means it has a real chance, said attorneys, broadcasters and academics. Petitioners Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project’s request the 3rd Circuit block the ownership rule changes and pending transactions based on them, and appoint a special master to force the FCC to collect data on minority ownership, might be a “tall lift” in most circumstances, said University of Minnesota School of Journalism assistant professor-media law Christopher Terry. If the court agrees the regulator again failed to follow the court’s directives, it’s “not an unreasonable request,” he added.
Public interest groups asked the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the FCC’s rollback of broadcast ownership rules, block any deals that would be inconsistent with current broadcast ownership rules, and force the agency to comply with the Prometheus III decision. The request came in a petition for writ of mandamus filed by Prometheus Radio Project and Media Mobilizing Project Thursday. The same groups appealed the broadcast ownership reconsideration order last week (see 1801180045). They want the court to rule on the request by Feb. 7, the effective date of the recon order that would eliminate rules against cross-ownership and restricting duopolies. “If not stayed, the FCC’s most recent order will result in so much consolidation in local media markets and such dramatic impact on ownership diversity, so as to deny Citizen Petitioners adequate relief,” the filing says. The stay request castigates the FCC for failing to comply with all three 3rd Circuit Prometheus decisions, which required the FCC to establish a new definition of an eligible entity and to collect data on how ownership rules affect ownership diversity. The writ asks the court to stay implementation of the ownership recon order until “60 days after the adoption of a final, reviewable order adopting or rejecting an eligible entity definition that will advance ownership by minorities and women,” or until after the court has ruled on the groups’ appeals of the recon order and the 2014 quadrennial ownership review. The groups also asked the court to appoint a special master to supervise FCC compliance with the court’s previous Prometheus remands and oversee implementation of data collection plans. The FCC didn’t comment.
Liability protections for third-party online content should be included in the North American Free Trade Agreement, said 55 scholars and groups of various regulatory persuasions in a letter Monday to trade heads of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The internet was an "obscure electronic network" when NAFTA was negotiated and now is an essential part of the economy, said the Center for Democracy & Technology, Competitive Enterprise Institute, FreedomWorks, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, R Street, TechFreedom and others. They urged that a new agreement include immunity provisions like Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online companies from legal action for content on their sites. Immunity provisions make it easy for startups to launch new services, and advance consumers' free speech rights, the letter said. “The legal exposure of Internet businesses raises vitally important trade issues,” blogged Santa Clara Law professor Eric Goldman, who spearheaded the effort and has been critical of congressional legislation aimed at curbing online sex trafficking that would make exceptions to Section 230 protections (see 1801040050). "New rules on cross-border data flows, non-disclosure requirements for source code and algorithms, and highlighting the role of interoperability mechanisms to transfer data across borders" should be part of a new pact, said Software & Information Industry Association Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy.
Twenty-three amicus filings from a diverse group of tech companies, privacy groups, journalists and lawmakers support Microsoft in a privacy suit headed for oral argument at the Supreme Court Feb. 27 (see 1801180062). U.S. v. Microsoft, the “Microsoft Ireland” case, involves the company’s challenge to a U.S. government warrant demanding emails stored in a server based in Ireland, citing the 1986 Stored Communications Act as justification. The high court granted the government’s application to review a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said Microsoft didn't have to comply with a probable-cause warrant for the customer's emails in Ireland because U.S. law doesn't apply outside the country (see 1710160009).
LAS VEGAS -- Relations among FCC members remain the same as they were before the highly charged net neutrality debate resulting in last month’s vote overturning the 2015 net neutrality rules, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn told us at CES Tuesday. Clyburn joined Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Brendan Carr on a CES panel Tuesday, amid tight security. Meanwhile, preoccupying CES Wednesday was a blackout that struck the Las Vegas Convention Center's Central Hall and kept that portion of the show in total darkness for several hours. Later in the day the blackout was blamed on the torrential rains that poured down on Las Vegas Tuesday.
The FCC order on reconsideration relaxing media ownership rules takes effect Feb. 7, the Federal Register will say Monday. Legal challenges are widely expected to follow the 3-2 order’s publication (see 1711160054). It eliminates and relaxes rules barring broadcast duopolies and cross-ownership. Comments on a related proposal to create an incubator for new entrants into the broadcast industry are due March 9, Monday's FR also will say.