Editor’s note: You’re watching the Super Bowl; we get that. But to try to capture just how busy Friday was at the Federal Communications Commission, we thought we’d record it all in one newsletter. We’ll be back with the rest of the Headlines on Monday morning.
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
“Ajit Pai is intelligent and genial, but he is not on the side of consumers and the public interest.”
-- Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
EXPLAINING THE FRIDAY NEWS DUMP
FCC Chairman Pai Statement On Revoking Midnight Regulations - press release
Statement of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn On Today's Friday News Dump - press release
New FCC Chairman Releases a Friday-Afternoon Flurry of Anti-Consumer Items [links to Free Press]
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
FCC Ends ‘Zero-Rating’ Review
AT&T Statement on FCC Closing Sponsored Data Inquiry [spoiler alert: We love it!]
Trump’s FCC Quickly Targets Net Neutrality Rules
This Is the Year President Donald Trump Kills Net Neutrality
DIGITAL DIVIDE
The FCC is stopping 9 companies from providing federally subsidized Internet to the poor
Statement of Commissioner Clyburn on Reversing Lifeline Designations - press release
Public Interest Groups Blast FCC Lifeline Reversals [links to Benton Foundation]
ALA denounces recent FCC Lifeline revocations, report retractions [links to American Library Association]
Order Retracting FCC's Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis Paper: Improving the Nation's Digital Infrastructure - public notice
We Need More Internet Service Providers, Not Less [links to National Digital Inclusion Alliance]
FCC made a case for limiting cost of prison phone calls. Not anymore.
EDUCATION
FCC Retracts E-rate Modernization Progress Report - public notice [links to Benton summary]
Benton Troubled By FCC's Transparency About Face - press release
CYBERSECURITY
FCC White Paper on Cybersecurity Risk Reduction Recission Order - public notice [links to Benton summary]
OWNERSHIP
FCC Media Bureau Rescinds JSA Guidance [links to Benton summary]
CommLawCenter: FCC’s Media Bureau Rescinds Ruling on New Noncom Ownership Reporting Rules [links to CommLawCenter]
ELECTIONS AND MEDIA
FCC Media Bureau Sets Aside Political File Complaint Decisions [links to Benton summary]
BROADCASTING
FCC Puts Freeze on the Filing of Applications for Digital Companion Channels [links to Federal Communications Commission]
GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
Chairman Pai's Response to Rep Pallone and Rep Doyle Regarding Appointment as Chair of the Federal Communications Commission
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FCC Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to the OMB [links to Federal Communications Commission]
FCC Information Collection Being Submitted for Review and Approval to the OMB ii [links to Federal Communications Commission]
POLICYMAKERS
Chairman Ajit Pai Taps Commissioner Michael O'Rielly to Lead Federal-State Partnerships - press release
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EXPLAINING THE FRIDAY NEWS DUMP
PAI ON MIDNIGHT REGULATIONS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
In the waning days of the last Administration, the Federal Communications Commission's Bureaus and Offices released a series of controversial orders and reports. In some cases, Commissioners were given no advance notice whatsoever of these midnight regulations. In other cases, they were issued over the objection of two of the four Commissioners. And in all cases, their release ran contrary to the wishes expressed by the leadership of our congressional oversight committees. These last-minute actions, which did not enjoy the support of the majority of Commissioners at the time they were taken, should not bind us going forward. Accordingly, they are being revoked.
benton.org/headlines/fcc-chairman-pai-statement-revoking-midnight-regulations | Federal Communications Commission
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FRIDAY NEWS DUMP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Today is apparently ‘take out the trash day.’ In an eponymous episode of the West Wing, White House Chief of Staff Josh Lyman stated: ‘Any stories we have to give the press that we’re not wild about, we give all in a lump on Friday . . . Because no one reads the paper on Saturday.’ Today multiple Bureaus retract—without a shred of explanation—several items released under the previous administration that focus on competition, consumer protection, cybersecurity and other issues core to the FCC’s mission.
In the past, then-Commissioner Pai was critical of the agency majority for not providing sufficient reasoning behind its decisions, citing specifically to the Supreme Court case Fox v. FCC which states: ‘[T]he requirement that an agency provide reasoned explanation for its action would ordinarily demand that it display awareness that it is changing position. An agency may not, for example, depart from a prior policy sub silentio[.]’
It is a basic principle of administrative procedure that actions must be accompanied by reasons for that action, else that action is unlawful. Yet that is exactly what multiple Bureaus have done today. The Bureaus rescind prior Bureau actions by simply citing a rule that allows them to do so, when in prior invocations of that rule there have been oft-lengthy explanations for the reasoning behind the actions.
My office requested more than the allotted two days to review the dozen items released today. We were rebuffed. Then, we simply asked to have the Bureaus comply with the reasoned decision-making requirements of the APA. No deal. It is disappointing to see this Chairman engage in the same actions for which he criticized the prior Chairman. I am hopeful that in the future this Commission, consistent with our shared commitment to increased transparency, will heed the APA’s requirement for reasoned decision-making. The American public deserves no less.”
benton.org/headlines/statement-commissioner-mignon-clyburn-todays-friday-news-dump | Federal Communications Commission
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NETWORK NEUTRALITY
ZERO-RATING REVIEW ENDS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Thomas Gryta]
The Federal Communications Commission stopped its review of wireless carriers that exclude their own video-streaming services from customers’ usage caps, closing an inquiry that began under the previous administration. The FCC previously raised concerns about the so-called zero-rating practices by AT&T and Verizon, in which those carriers didn’t apply data used on their streaming services toward customers’ data-usage charges. The agency warned that zero-rating could harm competition by deterring consumers from using services, such as those from Netflix, that aren’t connected with a carrier. The carriers have argued that the practice complies with existing rules and benefits consumers. On Feb 3, however, the acting head of the FCC’s wireless bureau, Nese Guendelsberger, sent letters to AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile US notifying them that no further action would be taken. The action also “sets aside and rescinds” an earlier FCC report raising concerns about zero-rating, along with “any and all guidance, determinations, and conclusions contained therein.” That report will have “no legal or other effect or meaning going forward.” The FCC’s newly appointed chairman, Ajit Pai, has criticized the zero-rating investigation in the past, calling it “sad—and pointless,” and noting that any action “can quickly be undone.” On Feb 3 he said, “Going forward, the Federal Communications Commission will not focus on denying Americans free data. Instead, we will concentrate on expanding broadband deployment and encouraging innovative service offerings.”
benton.org/headlines/fcc-ends-zero-rating-review | Wall Street Journal | Order | Chairman Pai | Commissioner O'Rielly | letter to AT&T | letter to Comcast | letter to T-Mobile | letter to Verizon
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FCC TARGETS NET NEUTRALITY RULES
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Cecilia Kang]
In his first days as President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai has aggressively moved to roll back consumer protection regulations created during the Obama presidency. Chairman Pai took a first swipe at network neutrality rules designed to ensure equal access to content on the internet. He stopped nine companies from providing discounted high-speed internet service to low-income individuals. He withdrew an effort to keep prison phone rates down. In total, the chairman of the FCC released about a dozen actions in the last week, many buried in the agency website and not publicly announced, stunning consumer advocacy groups and telecom analysts. They said Pai’s message is clear: The FCC, an independent agency, will mirror the Trump administration’s rapid unwinding of government regulations that businesses fought against during the Obama years. “With these strong-arm tactics, Chairman Pai is showing his true stripes,” said Matt Wood, policy director at the consumer group Free Press. “The public wants an FCC that helps people. Instead, it got one that does favors for the powerful corporations that its chairman used to work for.” Rep Anna Eshoo (D-CA) said, “Ajit Pai is intelligent and genial, but he is not on the side of consumers and the public interest.”
benton.org/headlines/trumps-fcc-quickly-targets-net-neutrality-rules | New York Times
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THE YEAR TRUMP KILLS NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Wired, AUTHOR: Klint Finley]
2015 was the year the Federal Communications Commission grew a spine. And 2017 could be the year that spine gets ripped out. Over the past two years, the FCC has passed new regulations to protect network neutrality by banning so-called “slow lanes” on the internet, created new rules to protect internet subscriber privacy, and levied record fines against companies like AT&T and Comcast. But this more aggressive FCC has never sat well with Republican lawmakers. Soon, these lawmakers may not only repeal the FCC’s recent decisions, but effectively neuter the agency as well. And even if the FCC does survive with its authority intact, experts warn, it could end up serving a darker purpose under President-elect Donald Trump.
benton.org/headlines/year-president-donald-trump-kills-net-neutrality | Wired
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DIGITAL DIVIDE
FCC HANDCUFFS LIFELINE PROGRAM
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Brian Fung]
The Federal Communications Commission is telling nine companies they won't be allowed to participate in a federal program meant to help them provide affordable Internet access to low-income consumers — weeks after those companies had been given the green light. The move undercuts the companies' ability to provide low-cost Internet access to poorer Americans. For Kajeet Inc., one of the companies that was initially granted permission to provide service through Lifeline, the news comes as a blow. “I’m most concerned about the children we serve,” said Kajeet founder Daniel Neal. “We partner with school districts — 41 states and the District of Columbia — to provide educational broadband so that poor kids can do their homework.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had indicated that closing the digital divide is one of the signature issues he hopes to address. But the Feb 3 move cuts against those remarks. "The most obvious fact in our society is that high-speed Internet is astronomically expensive for the middle-class and down," said Gene Kimmelman, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. "So in any way limiting the Lifeline program, at this moment in time, exacerbates the digital divide. It doesn't address it in any positive way."
benton.org/headlines/fcc-stopping-9-companies-providing-federally-subsidized-internet-poor | Washington Post | Los Angeles Times
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REVERSING LIFELINE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn]
Today, the agency reverses course on providing more competition and consumer choice for Lifeline customers. Rather than working to close the digital divide, this action widens the gap.
By eliminating the designations of nine entities to provide Lifeline broadband service, the Bureau has substantially undermined businesses who had begun relying on those designations. These providers include a minority-owned business, a provider enabling students to complete their homework online, and others serving Tribal lands.
Given the serious policy concerns at stake here, I asked to have this Order considered by the full Commission. But, clearly the goal was to include this in the ‘Friday News Dump’, as my request was flatly denied.
I remain hopeful, however, that this is not the final answer and that the providers’ requests will remain pending after today’s action. I implore the Chairman and the Bureau to consider these designation requests expeditiously. #ConsumersFirst.
benton.org/headlines/statement-commissioner-clyburn-reversing-lifeline-designations | Federal Communications Commission
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IMPROVING THE NATION’S DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Wayne Leighton]
On January 17, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis released a paper, “Improving the Nation’s Digital Infrastructure” (Digital Infrastructure Paper). By this Order, the Office now sets aside and rescinds the Digital Infrastructure Paper, and any and all guidance, determinations, recommendations, and conclusions contained therein. The Digital Infrastructure Paper will have no legal or other effect or meaning going forward.
benton.org/headlines/order-retracting-fccs-office-strategic-planning-and-policy-analysis-paper-improving | Federal Communications Commission
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PRISON PHONE RATES
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ann Marimow]
The Federal Communications Commission is no longer pressing to cut the costs of most prison phone calls, backing away from a years-long effort to limit charges imposed by a handful of private companies on inmates and their families. The shift comes as the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Feb 6 considers whether commissioners went too far when they capped prices for inmate calls that had reached more than a $1 per minute. After President Trump tapped a new leader for the FCC, the commission’s attorneys changed course and told the court that the FCC no longer would defend one of its own key provisions that limited fees for prisoners’ intrastate calls. The issue set for court was first raised more than 15 years ago by a retired nurse in the District of Columbia who could not afford to call her incarcerated grandson. Because the FCC is no longer defending a key provision of its own rule, the court has provided additional time for arguments from attorney Andrew Jay Schwartzman, who represents inmate advocates, including the DC Prisoners’ Legal Services Project and the Human Rights Defense Center.
[Andrew Jay Schwartzman is the Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation]
benton.org/headlines/fcc-made-case-limiting-cost-prison-phone-calls-not-anymore | Washington Post
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EDUCATION
BENTON STATEMENT
[SOURCE: Benton Foundation, AUTHOR: Amina Fazlullah]
The “E-rate Modernization Progress Report” tells a powerful story of how pragmatic FCC policies are playing a vital role in extending gigabit broadband to every school, Wi-Fi to every classroom, and opportunity to every child. It tells of progress being enabled by the E-Rate and commitments of support from a bipartisan group of governors. This impressive broadband progress is something that all of us, as Americans, can be proud of. It’s surprising that a day after taking new transparency steps, the FCC would somehow feel the need to remove this data from the record and hide this broadband progress report from the public. We just aren’t sure what this “sweep under the rug” strategy may be about, or why the FCC is now playing politics with our kids' digital future.
https://www.benton.org/node/254318
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GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
PAI LETTER TO HOUCE COMMERCE MINORITY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Ajit Pai]
In response to a letter from House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and House Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA), Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai pledged to:
Reach out to the House Commerce Committee in a bipartisan manner and answer letters from Members “to the extent I can within law and Commission rules”;
Do his best to hear all points of view and “approach every issue with a literal open door and a figurative open mind”; and
Treat FCC staff fairly.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-pais-response-rep-pallone-and-rep-doyle-regarding-appointment-chair-federal | Federal Communications Commission
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POLICYMAKERS
PAI TAPS O'RIELLY TO LEAD FEDERAL-STATE PARTNERSHIPS
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated an order appointing Commissioner Michael O’Rielly to serve as the chairman of the Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service, the Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations, and the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services. The Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service was established in March 1996 to make recommendations to implement the universal service provisions of the Communications Act. This Joint Board is comprised of FCC Commissioners, State Utility Commissioners, and a consumer advocate representative. The Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations was established in June 1980 to make recommendations with respect to any amendment of the Commission’s rules governing the jurisdictional separation of common carrier property and expenses between interstate and intrastate operations. This Joint Board is comprised of FCC Commissioners and State Utility Commissioners. The Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Services was convened in 1999 as part of the Commission’s ongoing efforts to ensure that advanced services are deployed as rapidly as possible to all Americans and serves as a forum for an ongoing dialogue among the Commission, state regulators, and local and regional entities regarding the deployment of advanced telecommunications capabilities. The Joint Conference is comprised of FCC Commissioners and State Utility Commissioners.
benton.org/headlines/chairman-ajit-pai-taps-commissioner-michael-orielly-lead-federal-state-partnerships | Federal Communications Commission | O'Rielly Statement | B&C
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