Li Zhou

House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chairman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) isn’t joining fellow rural state lawmakers in pushing for dedicated funding for broadband in the infrastructure package. She wants to focus on bills to streamline permitting and clear away regulations impeding new networks, and attach them to the infrastructure legislation. “I want to see how much bipartisan support we can end up building for simplifying this process,” she said.

Apparently, the Senate has now received official notice of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality repeal. That procedural development is important because it could be the first step to triggering a 60-day clock for Congress to undo the FCC’s decision. (That is, 60 legislative days.) The Senate’s 47 Democrats and two independents plus Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) have said they would support such a maneuver, using the Congressional Review Act. That’s 50 votes, still one vote short of the number needed for approval in the Senate. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group representatives met with Federal Communications Commission officials to suss out what the agency will consider in reviewing broadcaster ownership of more than one top-rated TV station in a local market.

The rest of the world may know Rep Darrell Issa (R-CA) best as a vocal and spirited antagonist of Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi situation, but, for some, Issa’s long tenure in Congress evokes some different memories. For one thing, it was Rep Issa who, back in the winter of 2011, first issued the call to stop the Stop Online Piracy Act, on the grounds that it would break the internet’s basic functioning; fans of the internet came running, and stop SOPA they did. For another, Issa’s also been a key congressional proponent for modernizing the US patent system.

Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune (R-SD) said he’s “hopeful” Republicans steer clear of the Congressional Review Act resolution to reverse the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) became the first GOP lawmaker to support the measure from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) has indicated that he’s considering the proposal.

The Trump administration is eyeing multiple “work streams” to help speed along broadband deployment, the National Economic Council’s Grace Koh told reporters: easing the permitting process on federal lands; letting towers built on federal lands also include infrastructure from telecom companies; and using dark fiber agencies have deployed to help rural providers through interconnection agreements.

Which Republicans could be likely targets in garnering support for a Congressional Review Act resolution that would undo the Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of net neutrality? Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a swing vote who has said she does not support FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s moves; Dean Heller of Nevada; Orrin Hatch of Utah; John McCain of Arizona; and Bob Corker of Tennessee.

Federal Communications Commission General Counsel Thomas Johnson said the agency must “respectfully decline” requests from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as part of the AG’s investigation into the fraudulent use of names on comments in the net neutrality rollback proceeding. Johnson said revealing the logs of IP addresses for some comments raises “significant personal privacy concerns” and could also endanger the security of the commission’s comment system.

The National Hispanic Media Coalition, Color of Change, NAACP and the Benton Foundation are among the organizations concerned about proposed changes to the Lifeline program, which is on the docket for the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming open meeting. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai -- who has long called for reforms to deter waste, fraud and abuse in Lifeline -- is seeking a vote at the agency’s Nov. 16 meeting on a major overhaul of the program, which subsidizes phone and broadband service for the poor.

The Federal Communications Commission told the DC Circuit Court of Appeals it was reasonable to reinstate the so-called UHF discount in April because it is “inextricably intertwined” with the 39 percent national audience reach limit imposed on broadcasters. Remember, the UHF discount allows broadcasters to count half the reach of UHF TV stations when calculating adherence to that 39 percent limit.