State broadband offices are facing increasing challenges in hiring and retaining staff, particularly directors. State broadband officials and experts told us competition for talent is heavy.
The FCC’s biennial 2022 Communications Marketplace Report’s video competition section lists the quadrennial review and ATSC 3.0 as focuses of FCC broadcast policy for the next two years and chronicles rising competition for broadcasters from online media, but it doesn’t indicate upcoming changes to the agency’s definition of the broadcast marketplace or MVPDs. “While the report is thorough in its coverage, it seems to miss some core dynamics of the local media advertising marketplace,” said BIA Advisory Services Managing Director Rick Ducey. “Local media are competing for all media spending. TV and radio stations don’t just compete with other stations, they compete with all other local ad-supported media.”
The Consumer Technology Association's president sharply criticized FTC merger policy during a Thursday keynote at CES. CTA also released a scorecard on the most innovative countries in the world. In one of the most prominent presentations at CES, John Deere executives described how the autonomous tractor will help feed the world as population continues to expand. The company introduced the fully autonomous tractor at CES a year ago.
Lumen’s CenturyLink won't avoid public hearings in a Minnesota service quality probe. At a partially virtual meeting Thursday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 to refer the matter to an administrative law judge for a contested case proceeding on whether the telco is meeting requirements of Minnesota Statutes Chapter 237 and Minnesota Rules Chapter 7810. Lumen Assistant General Counsel Jason Topp said he didn’t think hearings were needed in the more than 2-year-old proceeding. “It's time to bring this to a head, move forward and develop a record.”
National Hispanic Media Coalition CEO Brenda Castillo and the leaders of 20 other groups urged President Joe Biden a day before he renominated Gigi Sohn to be the third FCC Democrat (see 2301030060) to instead “nominate a person of Latino descent” to the commission. Two of the names of potential candidates to replace Sohn as Biden’s FCC nominee before Tuesday -- former acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez, ex-Wiley, and NASA Chief of Staff Susie Perez Quinn -- are Latina (see 2212300044). The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (see 2102110043) and others began pressing Biden to nominate a Latino FCC commissioner in early 2021.
CTA warned of potential rocky months ahead as CES got started in Las Vegas Wednesday. Supply chain issues are easing, but labor shortages remain, said Steve Koenig, CTA vice president-research, during his annual tech trends update before formal CES programming begins Thursday. CTA projects in a new report U.S. technology retail revenue of $485 billion in 2023, slightly above pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels but down from a record-breaking $512 billion in 2021.
A Gray Television petition asking the courts to set aside the FCC’s $518,000 forfeiture order against the company (see 2211010077) suggests it's targeting agency policy rather than simply seeking to overturn the fine, attorneys told us. “The Commission’s Order is erroneous and improper for several reasons,” said Gray’s petition for review in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (docket 22-14274) last week.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., stopped short Tuesday of agreeing to a push from Communications Subcommittee ranking member John Thune, R-S.D., for a full re-vetting of FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, after her re-selection to be the commission’s third Democrat (see 2301030060). Other Sohn supporters, meanwhile, hailed her renomination and urged the Senate not to unnecessarily delay advancing her. President Joe Biden first nominated Sohn to the FCC in October 2021 (see 2110260076), but her confirmation process never made it past the committee level. Senate Commerce tied 14-14 on advancing her in March (see 2203030070), leading to a monthslong stall.
The FCC released a long-expected NPRM Wednesday seeking comment on proposed service rules allowing the use of the 5030-5091 MHz band by drones, which was approved by commissioners Dec. 23 (see 2212230035). Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said the NPRM takes a broad look at the use of spectrum by unmanned aircraft systems. It asks more than 160 questions about future use of the band and other spectrum by drones.
The feud over whether content providers should pay for use of telco networks ratcheted up after Deutsche Telekom (DT) sued Meta for compensation and European internet exchange points urged the European Commission not to regulate fees. The two sides published dueling reports last year, and the EC promised to launch a consultation on the matter (see 2210130001).