The California Assembly Privacy Committee advanced legislation Tuesday that would hold online platforms liable for knowingly, recklessly or negligently helping facilitate child sex trafficking.
Broadcasters are expecting to talk ATSC 3.0, the future of AM radio in cars, and FCC regulatory fees at 2023’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, which kicks off Saturday. It's the second in-person show since the 2020 and 2021 iterations were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Broadcasters, attorneys and industry officials told us they expect the show to be the best attended since 2019. “I don't think there's any question that will be a lot more people than last year's show,” said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford.
A White House Office of Science and Technology Policy official supported restoring the FCC’s spectrum auction authority but also emphasized during a Media Institute event Wednesday that all federal agencies need “an opportunity to be heard” before the commission makes a major spectrum policy decision. The FCC’s mandate expired last month amid efforts to delay congressional action on repurposing parts of the 3.1-3.45 GHz band for commercial use until after a DOD study of its systems on the frequency (see 2303090074). Austin Bonner, OSTP's assistant director-spectrum and telecom policy, also noted optimism about the trajectory of work on a national spectrum strategy, after NTIA’s Tuesday listening session at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
Beyond promoting U.S. space leadership, the FCC's newly launched Space Bureau is going to make regulatory process transparency and streamlined application processing a focus, Chief Julie Kearney said Tuesday at an event marking the launch of the agency reorganization of the International Bureau into the Space Bureau and Office of International Affairs. OIA Chief Ethan Lucarelli said a priority there would be the agency's role in international standards setting. The agency also named Joel Taubenblatt Wireless Bureau chief and Ron Repasi Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) chief. Both had been acting chiefs.
Alaska USF’s possible June 30 termination is raising concerns and producing much discussion among industry and consumer advocates in the state. A spokesperson for Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) told us the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) may decide the fate of AUSF, which was established to keep phone rates low in high-cost rural areas. If those dollars go away, “somebody has to pay those costs, and the somebody is most likely going to be those rural ratepayers,” said Alaska Chief Assistant Attorney General Jeff Waller in an interview Friday.
The White House is eyeing former acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez, ex-Wiley, and to a slightly lesser extent NASA Chief of Staff Susie Perez Quinn as the most viable potential candidates to replace ex-nominee Gigi Sohn as President Joe Biden’s pick fill the long-vacant third Democratic FCC seat, lobbyists and others said in interviews. Officials cautioned that the Biden administration is also looking at other potential candidates and several remained viable Tuesday, including Narda Jones, chief of staff to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel.
Reply comments showed no consensus on use of the 5 GHz band by unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for communications other than control and non-payload communications (CNPC) (docket 22-323). There also were multiple calls in this week's comments or the agency to start work to open other spectrum to UAS use. Many initial commenters urged the FCC to establish service rules to facilitate use of the band by drones (see 2303100028).
The complicated series of transactions in the Standard/Tegna deal and the companies’ own submission of “narrowly crafted” concessions at a “late stage” of the process led to the protracted review of the purchase and subsequent hearing process (see [Ref;2304040063]), said the FCC in a partially redacted response filing Tuesday (docket 23-1084) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The broadcasters' response is due Friday.
Industry urged the FCC to move with caution as it considers additional steps to further clamp down on gear from companies on the FCC's covered list, in comments posted Monday in docket 21-232 (see 2304070050). Several commenters raised concerns about the potential complexity of including components and revoking previous authorizations of covered equipment.
More areas are eligible for state broadband funding under the California Public Utilities Commission’s more granular mapping approach for 2023, CPUC officials said Monday. The CPUC held a California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) virtual workshop with ISPs, consumers, local governments, and regional consortia. “The validation process we’re using for CASF … is more rigorous and more responsive to the reality on the ground than what we’re seeing at the federal level,” said Communications Division Director Robert Osborn.