Senators are working to address civil liberty concerns about a bill that could lead to a TikTok ban in the U.S., Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., told us recently.
The FCC appears headed for approval Thursday of a draft NPRM on facilitating the launch of next-generation 911 with relatively few changes (see 2305180069), industry officials said. APCO asked for added language and NTCA raised small carrier concerns, but otherwise a docket on the NPRM has been quiet since the draft item was circulated two weeks ago. Comments were filed last week in docket 21-479.
Among the first broadcasting matters likely to be taken up by a full five-person FCC are the 2018 Quadrennial Review and the proposed Equal Employment Opportunity data collection, said broadcasters, public interest advocates and FCC officials in interviews this week. Both items have been long stalled at the agency and are considered nearly ready to be rolled out, industry and FCC officials told us. Such a 2018 quadrennial order likely wouldn’t include substantive rule changes, broadcast industry officials said. “I don’t have any great hopes of any massive deregulation,” said Gray Television Senior Vice President-Government Relations and Distribution Rob Folliard. The FCC didn't comment on the specifics of what Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has planned for broadcasting once she has an FCC majority, but an agency spokesperson said the Chairwoman "will continue to prioritize protecting consumers and preserving competition, localism and diversity.”
The growing cadence of commercial space launches is facing a bottleneck from lack of available launch sites, space launch experts told us. A plethora of launch providers is operating or developing launch capability, but facilities “are where we started to get the hiccups," said space lawyer Bryce Kennedy, Association of Commercial Space Professionals president.
Congress should revoke Section 230 if it continues to fail in passing legislation to hold Big Tech accountable for online harms, including child exploitation and illegal drug sales, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and several other members Thursday.
FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin terminated the Standard/Tegna hearing proceeding, said an order Thursday in docket 22-162. Tegna and Cox Media Group withdrew from the proceeding last week, and Tegna filed the formal withdrawal of its transfer applications Wednesday. Standard said it's ready to continue litigating the matter. “It is not in the public interest to expend the time and resources to continue this hearing as an academic exercise,” wrote Halprin. The proceeding "is therefore terminated,” said the order.
CTIA questioned the conclusions in a May NTIA report arguing that dynamic sharing and the citizens broadband radio service should be a model for future spectrum use (see 2305010063). Filings were due Wednesday but hadn't been posted by the NTIA. The Wireless ISP Association supported the findings in the report (see 2305310062).
The Senate Commerce Committee’s plan for moving on President Joe Biden’s trio of FCC nominees remains fluid amid uncertainty about whether there will be bipartisan appetite to move Anna Gomez, the White House’s new nominee for the vacant fifth commission seat, together with sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks (see 2305220065). Gomez told members of the U.S. delegation to the upcoming Nov. 20-Dec. 15 World Radiocommunication Conference last week she plans to stay in her existing State Department appointment to lead the group (see 2301260072) until the Senate confirms her as a commissioner.
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The world is falling behind in its push to lower the digital gender gap and get more women connected globally, GSMA said in a report released Wednesday. ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said the numbers from GSMA are critical as policymakers work to close the gap.