Daily Digest 6/1/2018 (AT&T Wants to Settle FTC Suit)

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on Thursday, June 7, 2018: 

Use of Spectrum Bands Above 24 GHz For Mobile Radio Services (GN Docket No. 14-177); Amendment of Parts 1, 22, 24, 27, 74, 80, 90, 95, and 101 To Establish Uniform License Renewal, Discontinuance of Operation, and Geographic Partitioning and Spectrum Disaggregation Rules and Policies for Certain Wireless Radio Services (WT Docket No. 10-112): The Commission will consider a Third Report and Order, Memorandum Opinion and Order, and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would continue efforts to make available millimeter wave spectrum, in bands at or above 24 GHz, for fifth-generation wireless, Internet of Things, and other advanced spectrumbased services. It would finalize rules for certain of these bands and seek comment on making additional spectrum available in the 26 GHz and 42 GHz bands for flexible terrestrial wireless use, sharing mechanisms in the Lower 37 GHz band, and earth station siting criteria for the 50 GHz band.
Accelerating Wireline Broadband Deployment by Removing Barriers to Infrastructure Investment (WC Docket No. 17-84): The Commission will consider a Second Report and Order that will revise the Commission’s section 214(a) discontinuance processes, network change disclosure processes, and Part 68 customer notification process to remove barriers to infrastructure investment and promote broadband deployment.
Petition of NTCA—The Rural Broadband Association and the United States Telecom Association for Forbearance Pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 160(c) from Application of Contribution Obligations on Broadband Internet Access Transmission Services (WC Docket No. 17-206): The Commission will consider an Order granting forbearance from applying Universal Service Fund contribution requirements to rural carriers’ broadband Internet access transmission services.
Audacy Corporation Application for Authority to Launch and Operate a NonGeostationary Medium Earth Orbit Satellite System in the Fixed-and Inter-Satellite Services (IBFS File No. SAT-LOA-20161115-00117): The Commission will consider an Order and Authorization that recommends granting Audacy’s request to construct, deploy, and operate a proposed non-geostationary satellite (NGSO) constellation to provide continuous, high-speed, low-latency relay services to other NGSO spacecraft operators through Audacy’s proposed satellites and gateway earth stations.
O3b Limited Request for Modification of U.S. Market Access for O3b Limited’s NonGeostationary Satellite Orbit System in the FixedSatellite Service and in the Mobile-Satellite Service (IBFS File Nos. SAT-MOD-20160624-00060, SAT-AMD-20161115-00116, SAT-AMD20170301-00026, SAT-AMD-20171109-00154): The Commission will consider an Order and Declaratory Ruling that recommends granting a request to modify O3b’s existing U.S. market access grant by adding new nongeostationary satellites and new frequency bands in order to provide broadband communication services in the United States.
Updating the Intercarrier Compensation Regime to Eliminate Access Arbitrage (WC Docket No. 18-155): The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes measures to eliminate access arbitrage in the intercarrier compensation regime.
8YY Access Charge Reform (WC Docket No. 18-156): The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes taking further steps in reforming intercarrier compensation by transitioning interstate and intrastate originating 8YY end office and tandem switching and transport charges to bill-and keep and capping and limiting 8YY database query rates.
Text-Enabled Toll-Free Numbers (WC Docket No. 18-28); Toll Free Service Access Codes (CC Docket No. 95-155): The Commission will consider a Declaratory Ruling and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will clarify the Commission’s rules regarding the authorization required to text-enable a toll-free number, and propose further safeguards to promote the innovative use of tollfree numbers while protecting the integrity of the toll-free numbering system.
Protecting Consumers from Unauthorized Carrier Changes and Related Unauthorized Charges (CG Docket No. 17-169): The Commission will consider a Report and Order to protect consumers from slamming (the unauthorized change of a consumer’s telephone provider) and cramming (the placement of unauthorized charges on a consumer’s telephone bill), including rules to address sales call misrepresentations and abuses of the third-party verification procedures.
Misuse of Internet Protocol (IP) Captioned Telephone Service (CG Docket No. 13- 24); Telecommunications Relay Services and Speech-to-Speech Services for Individuals with Hearing and Speech Disabilities (CG Docket No. 03-123): The Commission will consider a Report and Order, Declaratory Ruling, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Notice of Inquiry to adopt measures, and seek comment on others, to ensure that Internet Protocol Captioned Telephone Service (IP CTS) remains sustainable for people with hearing loss who need it.
Leased Commercial Access (MB Docket No. 07-42); Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative (MB Docket No. 17-105): The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that tentatively concludes that the Commission should vacate its 2008 Leased Access Order, and invites comment on ways to modernize the existing leased access rules.
Enforcement Bureau Action: The Commission will consider an enforcement action.

Washington and Silicon Valley are united at the moment in trying to get a better handle on how, exactly, Justice Department antitrust chief Makan Delrahim will handle the American tech industry and its iconic companies, from Amazon to Google. May 31 they'll have another chance, with a DOJ roundtable meant to shed light on the relationship between regulation and competition.

Whether regulation meant to foster competition might have the opposite effect, and if so, how to avoid that if government decides to regulate anyway. It’s a topic of particular interest as politicians on both the right and left float — let’s admit it — vague notions of somehow checking the power of Silicon Valley. Chief Delrahim is scheduled to give opening remarks.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is selling off nearly two dozen TV stations to comply with federal ownership rules — but that may not stop the company from reaching millions of those stations' viewers with its conservative programming. Four of the sales include provisions that would leave the giant broadcaster with a role in the stations' programming, finances and operations, even when it no longer owns them. Sinclair has made these kinds of arrangements before as it has sold off some of its outlets. But the conditions attached to the station sales are attracting new scrutiny as the company pursues a $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media that would expand Sinclair's access to households across the country. "This is a technique that was developed by slick lawyers for the purpose of getting around the rules," said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. "It borders on a regulatory fraud."

One buyer of Sinclair stations, conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, pushed back on the notion that Sinclair would control the stations he's purchasing in Seattle (WA), Salt Lake City (UT), and Oklahoma City (OK). "I get to reject something that I don't want to run," he said. But the deals present a major test for Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who faces scrutiny over a number of agency actions that critics say have benefited Sinclair.

Very few Americans have enjoyed steadily rising pay beyond inflation over the last couple of decades, a shift from prior years in which the working and middle classes enjoyed broad-based wage gains as the economy expanded. Now, executives of big US companies suggest that the days of most people getting a pay raise are over, and that they also plan to reduce their work forces further. John Stephens, chief financial officer at AT&T, said 20% of the company's employees are call-center workers. He said he doesn't need that many. In addition, he added, "I don't need that many guys to install coaxial cables." Because of the changes coming, AT&T is pushing employees to take nano-degree programs to prepare them for other jobs — either at AT&T or elsewhere.

Broadcasters are warning the Federal Communications Commission not to weaken protections for current spectrum users, like broadcasters, in its race to free up more spectrum for wireless broadband. While that sounds like it could be a 2014 advisory on the potential impact of the broadcast incentive auction, it was actually the National Association of Broadcasters calling on the commission to require "detailed" technical proposals for sharing C-band spectrum rather than simply "assume that technical solutions will appear that will allow incompatible services to share spectrum."

The FCC is preparing a report--Mandated by the MOBILE NOW Act--on the feasibility of current C-band satellite spectrum users sharing their 3.7-4.2 GHZ spectrum band with terrestrial wireless broadband users. That report needs to be in the hands of the appropriate committees by Sept. 23, 2019, so there is still time to hash out the issue. Broadcast networks use the C-band to deliver their content to over 1,000 affiliates, as do cable networks to their MVPDs, as does NPR to get its programming to public radio stations. NAB told the FCC that before it allows the band to be shared with unlicensed devices or licensed wireless broadband services, it needs to do its due diligence to make sure incumbents are not subject to harmful interference.

President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen is facing legal peril, including an FBI raid of his home and office — and involvement in a civil lawsuit with porn star Stormy Daniels. But in the past, it was Cohen who has sought to put legal pressure on others to solve problems for his boss. For the first time, audio recordings of Cohen's legal threats, from a 2015 Daily Beast interview, are being published. The audio, taken from a 2015 interview with Cohen and then-Daily Beast reporter Tim Mak and published by NPR — Mak's current employer — reveal Cohen making legal threats to Mak over a piece he was writing about a 1993 Trump biography. The biography, written by former Newsweek reporter Harry Hurt III and titled "The Lost Tycoon," details a sworn deposition from Trump's first wife, Ivana, who alleged during her divorce proceedings that Trump had raped her.

President Donald Trump is continuing to react to the controversy over the cancellation of “Roseanne,” which was taken off the air May 29 after lead actress Roseanne Barr posted offensive and racist tweets. President Trump on May 31 repeated his complaint that Disney chief Bob Iger has not apologized to him for anti-Trump comments made by ABC personalities, something he believes is a double standard since Iger got in touch with Valerie Jarrett, the former top aide to President Barack Obama who was the target of Barr’s racist comments. Jarrett said Iger called her before announcing that ABC, which is owned by Disney, was pulling the plug on “Roseanne.” “Iger, where is my call of apology?” Presidnet Trump tweeted. “You and ABC have offended millions of people, and they demand a response. How is Brian Ross doing? He tanked the market with an ABC lie, yet no apology. Double Standard!” President Trump is referring to ABC News reporter Brian Ross, who was suspended after making an error in a report last year when he said President Trump had directed his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to make contact with the Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign.

From Washington to Texas to California, politicians are road-testing their political messaging strategies, searching for the best way to reach voters in ways that often bypass the traditional media gatekeepers. These media methods have obvious appeal: Politicians can appear accessible but remain insulated from the press. They are also not altogether new. President Donald Trump eschewed traditional television advertising during the 2016 campaign and can now overshadow even his own party’s message at the drop of a tweet. And many politicians have long made a practice of ducking reporters.

Yet several factors have converged to elevate the practice: Fake news and false information about politics have proliferated; the public’s trust in the mainstream media is low; and social media platforms make unfiltered messaging easier than ever. As a result, there is a new urgency among politicians to deliver talking points directly. Many politicians blame the news media for the shift, claiming dishonest coverage has left them no other choice. “For those of you who want to truly see what is happening, follow along through social media,” Gov Matt Bevin (R-KY), a prolific purveyor of Facebook videos, told voters during his state of the commonwealth address in 2017. “With all due respect to what now passes for traditional media, it’s dying for a reason.”

Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth – but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of US teens ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat. 

This shift in teens’ social media use is just one example of how the technology landscape for young people has evolved since the Center’s last survey of teens and technology use in 2014-2015. Most notably, smartphone ownership has become a nearly ubiquitous element of teen life: 95% of teens now report they have a smartphone or access to one. These mobile connections are in turn fueling more-persistent online activities: 45% of teens now say they are online on a near-constant basis. The survey also finds there is no clear consensus among teens about the effect that social media has on the lives of young people today. Minorities of teens describe that effect as mostly positive (31%) or mostly negative (24%), but the largest share (45%) says that effect has been neither positive nor negative.

For the next several weeks, until her daughter Pippa goes to day care as a slightly older baby, she will join Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter on the fifth floor, either in a gray bouncy seat behind a desk or nestled in a wrap attached to her mother’s chest. It was the imperfect but best solution for Commissioner Slaughter, whose appointment in March to serve as an FTC commissioner just happened to coincide with the birth of her third child. 

The work culture for families has been stubbornly slow to change in Washington. To take a position of leadership in federal agencies, on Capitol Hill or in the White House requires long and unpredictable hours. Modest pay, demanding travel and meager family leave benefits also deter many women from rising in the government ranks. Such considerations have held back female representation in every corner of government. Women comprise 20 percent of Congress. They hold a quarter of the cabinet posts in the Trump administration.