John Eggerton

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association had some simple answers for the Federal Communications Commission, which is seeking input on the impact of its Restoring Internet Freedom (RIF) order.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s monthly drip drip drip of process deregulation has become a flood, at least temporarily, as rules for how broadband subsidy money is spent, how spectrum can be used -- and who can use it -- are being modified and waived right and left. The avowed goal is to keep America connected at a time when broadband is a literal lifeline for a homebound populace.

The Solicitor General of the United States, on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission, has asked the Supreme Court to review a US Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision overturning most of the FCC's media ownership deregulation decision, hammering the circuit for what the FCC suggested was serial obstruction of what it had concluded was in the public interest. The FCC said that it has been trying to grant the ownership deregulation for 17 years, thwarted by a series of decisions by a divided panel of the Third Circuit.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr said that groups like Free Press — he did not name them but made it clear who he was talking about — are engaged in a "sweeping and dangerous attempt to weaponize the FCC against political actors" it doesn't like. On April 6, the FCC — in this case comprising Chairman Ajit Pai, the general counsel, and the Media Bureau chief —flatly, and strongly, rejected a petition by Free Press seeking a government investigation into broadcasters who aired statements by President Donald Trump during coronavirus briefings and "related commentary." Chairman

When communications attorney Robert McDowell started feeling a little under the weather in March, he chalked it up to seasonal allergies and related bronchitis and got the usual antibiotic from his primary care physician. Then his symptoms worsened. It wasn’t seasonal allergies. After a trip to the hospital and back home again, the former Federal Communications Commissioner was re-admitted with what turned out to be COVID-19-related double pneumonia.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) have written to their respective leadership asking to set aside $2 billion in the next Covid recovery/stimulus bill for rural broadband connectivity. “In recent weeks, unemployment claims have surged, and schools across the country have closed in an effort to limit the spread of coronavirus, leaving many Americans—including low-income families and students—without critical internet connectivity," they said.

Cable operators are telling the Federal Communications Commission that if it wants to attract cable operators and other terrestrial broadband providers to its massive subsidy program for rural broadband buildouts, it should retain census blocks as the smallest biddable unit in the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction. NCTA–The Internet & Television Association has suggested that if the FCC goes big, cable operator bidders may stay home.

The coronavirus is putting a klieg light on an already hot topic in Washington, the digital divide, and is fueling new government subsidies for high-speed broadband in rural areas and new calls for more from Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and industry by those pushing to close the divide. “Our longstanding digital divide has morphed into a monstrous new COVID-19 divide,” said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. FCC Chairman Ajit  Pai has been waiving regulations and calling on Internet service providers to keep America connected, a call they have been answering.

President Donald Trump held a call with top communications company CEOs to check in with those working to maintain and extend essential connections in a pandemic-driven world of sheltering- and quarantining-in-place. According to the White House, the President thanked them and their employees for their work to keep the country connected for work, education, shopping and bridging the physical distances with virtual socializing. The President talked about the strength of a free-market based network system that remained strong. The President called the system the envy of the world and thanked

The Federal Communications Commission held its mandatory monthly meeting via a brief, video-less, teleconference call March 31, with commissioners dialing in from home and the public able to access it over a never-more-important broadband connection. The commissioners had already voted to approve all the meeting agenda items, and their time — the meeting lasted less than 20 minutes — was spent mostly talking about the pandemic and how they and the industry were dealing with it.