Communications and Technology Alert: Chairman Carr Testifies on Broadcast Ownership Caps; NG911 Bills Passed in House; Satellite Licensing Bill Reintroduced in Senate; Commission Grants Waiver of Handset Unlocking Rule [Vol. XXIII, Issue 3]
Chairman Carr Discusses Broadcast Cap at House Subcommittee Oversight Hearing
Last Wednesday, Chairman Brendan Carr provided testimony at a hearing in front of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. During the hearing discussing oversight of the Commission, Chairman Carr discussed media ownership, particularly the longstanding 39 percent cap on audience share held by a single broadcast chain. Chairman Carr discussed the potential to raise the cap through agency rulemaking, to which House members pushed back due to the caps being set by statute under the Communications Act, requiring congressional amendment. Raising the cap could impact pending mergers between broadcast entities seeking consolidation within the market. For more information, please contact Casey Lide (lide@khlaw.com; 202.434.4186) or Sean Stokes (stokes@khlaw.com; 202.434.4193).
House Subcommittee Passes Public Safety Bills
Last week, the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology approved six communications focused, public safety bills to proceed to the full House Commerce Committee. One of the bills that was advanced is the Next Generation 9-1-1 Act, which would provide grant funding to assist state and local governments in upgrading their emergency dispatch systems to the NG911 standards. The Subcommittee also advanced the Public Safety Communications Act, which would provide statutory authority for the NTIA's Office of Public Safety Communications. The duties of the office would include administering NG911 grant programs and managing FirstNet. Other bills advanced included the Emergency Reporting Act (H.R. 5200), Kari’s Law Reporting Act (H.R. 5201), LuLu’s Law (H.R. 2076) and the Mystic Alerts Act. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (202.434.4239; wright@khlaw.com).
Satellite Licensing Streamlining Bill Re-Introduced in Senate
Last week, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) re-introduced the Satellite and Telecommunications Streamlining Act (SAT Act), which aims to streamline the Commission’s satellite licensing process. Responding to industry complaints about yearslong waits to receive satellite licenses, this bill would limit the Commission to a one year shot clock to approve or deny applications for geostationary, non-geostationary, and earth station licenses. This bill follows the Commission's own internal effort to restructure the satellite licensing process in the form of the Space Modernization for the 21st Century Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Comments in this rulemaking are due on January 20th and reply comments are due on February 18th. For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239) or Tim Doughty (doughty@khlaw.com; 202.434.4271).
Commission Grants Waiver of Handset Unlocking Rule
Last Monday, the Commission released an Order granting Verizon’s request for waiver of Section 27.16(e) of the Commission’s rules, which prevent providers from disabling features of cellphones or comparable handsets on their networks. In 2007, the Commission adopted Section 27.16 in part to prevent providers from preventing customers from transferring and being activated on competitor networks. However, in 2019, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted a partial waiver of the rule to Verizon, permitting the locking of devices up to 60 days from activation. Verizon then applied for a full waiver in light of their acquisition of pre-paid provider TracFone due to fraud and criminal actions associated with the prepaid market. The Commission found it was in the public interest to grant this waiver, given the current 60-day unlocking requirements are “insufficient to deter the handset fraud that it is confronting.” For more information, please contact Wes Wright (wright@khlaw.com; 202.434.4239) or Tim Doughty (doughty@khlaw.com; 202.434.4271).
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