The FCC’s report to Congress on the future of the USF, released Monday (see 2208150048), contained more questions than answers, industry experts said Tuesday. The 65-page report has few broad conclusions on the future of USF, declining to adopt competition as a separate goal or to set a separate deployment goal targeting mobile broadband. It weighs against assessing a fee based on broadband internet access service (BIAS).
The “overwhelming majority” of copyright holders have a positive outlook about the Copyright Office-designated entity paying out digital streaming royalties, Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) CEO Kris Ahrend said in an interview last week. Critics say the MLC relies on faulty data that’s contributing to the accumulation of nearly half a billion dollars in unclaimed and unmatched royalties for songwriters and publishers.
Maine ISPs balked at a pole owners’ plan to have attachers cover 80% of the costs of a state database for pole attachments, in reply comments Friday at the Maine Public Utilities Commission. Connecticut needn’t move forward with a proposed single-visit pole transfer (SVT) framework, industry said in Thursday comments at the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).
ASPEN, Colo. -- It's "too early to tell" whether NTIA efforts aimed at better spectrum coordination among federal agencies are paying off, NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson said Sunday at the Technology Policy Institute's annual Aspen Forum. He said improved coordination has White House backing and agencies "want to do better."
The Joe Biden administration could be poised to take an action the Donald Trump White House tried but wasn’t able to complete and release a national spectrum strategy, industry officials familiar with the administration’s work on the issue told us. That follows what could be key meeting in May at the Aspen Institute. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson participated in the two-day session, which focused specifically on a national strategy.
Nexstar bought a controlling interest in the CW network, the broadcaster announced Monday. Other broadcasters have purchased content networks in the past, but the largest U.S. station owner buying a national network just beneath the scope of the big four is a new sign of broadcast groups’ increasing drive to own programming, analysts and industry officials said. The deal is intended to give Nexstar “a seat at the table regarding future changes in the network affiliate ecosystem,” and increased exposure in the national ad market, said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook on a press call about the transaction Monday.
California legislators killed a social media bill that would have held platforms civilly liable for addicting children, after opposition from the web industry and free-speech advocates. But some other controversial internet bills made it through Friday’s cutoff for fiscal committee votes. Bills on broadband, free inmate calls and the 988 mental-health hotline also advanced to floor votes.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld the FCC’s 2020 5.9 GHz order Friday, allocating 45 MHz of the band for Wi-Fi and 30 MHz for cellular vehicle-to-everything technology, in a win for the agency. As the court did in December on the 6 GHz order (see 2112280047), judges clarified in strong language that the FCC has significant discretion in spectrum decisions. ITS America and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials brought the case, which was argued in January (see 2201250066).
The FCC denying Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) program funding for SpaceX's Starlink (see 2208100050) points to satellite operators needing to be able to prove their systems' scalability and reliability if they want to participate in future broadband subsidization programs, experts told us. SpaceX and the FCC didn't comment.
The digital divide isn’t the only gap industry should worry about as rural carriers also face a cybersecurity gap, said Terry Young, director-5G product marketing at A10 Networks, during a Fierce Telecom virtual conference Thursday. Other speakers said open radio access networks will have a role in bridging the digital divide.