Rural America is used to being “last to the race” when new wireless generations are released, but that won’t be the case with 5G, said Anand Akundi, interim head of Ericsson North America’s regional carrier unit. “5G changes the paradigm,” he told the Competitive Carriers Association Wednesday.
Measuring TV viewers is expected to get more competitive following Nielsen’s accreditation troubles, and advertising targeting is considered the best way to monetize ATSC 3.0, said panelists at the virtual TV2025 Conference Wednesday. “I could see a time in the future where we start to rethink the value of third-party measurement,” said Publicis Media Senior Vice President-Global Research, Data Sciences Eric Cavanaugh.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice sued Texas over its social media law Wednesday (see 2109030048 and 2109100049), calling it a First Amendment violation. See a news bulletin here. The associations filed a lawsuit against a similar social media law passed in Florida.
Comcast wants to chat with local government associations about why only cable operators pay franchise fees, said Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Klayton Fennell Wednesday at NATOA’s virtual annual conference. Localities haven't had impacts from two recent court decisions on public, educational and government (PEG) channels, NATOA officials said in an interview. FCC staffers updated NATOA on local-federal engagement efforts.
Congressional Democrats are returning from a month-plus recess more willing to vent frustrations over President Joe Biden’s delay in announcing nominees to two Democratic FCC seats. They cite growing concerns the sometimes-lengthy Senate confirmation process could result in the current 2-2 split commission switching to a 2-1 GOP majority in January. Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel’s term expired in June 2020, meaning she would have to leave Jan. 3 absent Senate reconfirmation.
Delay in getting a fifth member on the FCC is preventing the commission from acting on some key issues for local governments, said NATOA annual conference panelists Tuesday. Localities may need to explore new ways to maintain franchise fee revenue as more people cut pay TV for over-the-top services like Netflix, said others.
T-Mobile and Dish Network executives clashed at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing Monday (see 2109200065) on how long T-Mobile agreed to keep its CDMA network, in the Boost Mobile divestiture agreement brokered with DOJ. The partly virtual hearing on the CPUC’s August order saying the carrier may have misled the agency (see 2108160021) started at 10 a.m. PDT and went overtime, with the lights at the state commission’s headquarters automatically turning off before it ended after 6 p.m. PDT.
Google and Facebook didn’t engage in anticompetitive behavior through a 2018 digital advertising agreement, representatives from the companies told the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee during Tuesday’s hearing (see 2109200060). A lawsuit from state law enforcers accused the companies of an illegal price-fixing scheme via the agreement.
An FCC draft NPRM on expanding eligibility for E-rate to tribal libraries is expected to be unanimously approved during commissioners' Sept. 30 meeting, experts said in recent interviews. Library groups and tribal leaders welcomed the move, saying more libraries may be likely to consider applying.
DOD is focused on making 3.1-3.45 GHz available for 5G, but doing so won’t be easy, said Vernita Harris, director-spectrum policy and programs, at the virtual NTIA Spectrum Policy Symposium Tuesday. Others said after the fights during the last administration, the Biden administration is improving coordination on sharing between federal agencies. The 3.1-3.45 GHz band is widely viewed as the most promising mid-band spectrum on the horizon for 5G.