Mutlichannel News

The respective parties have filed their opening briefs in Chinese telecom Huawei's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's initial determination that its technology is a national security risk and must be excluded from broadband subsidies — and likely ripped and replaced from existing networks. The FCC voted unanimously on June 30 to affirm its initial designation that Huawei (and ZTE) are suspect, which means no carrier can use tech from either company to build out broadband and be eligible for any of the government's billions of dollars in Universal Service Fund subsidies for

Comcast said it has extended its free Internet Essentials broadband offer to homes through the end of the year.  Comcast, as did most other cable operators, offered 60-days of free Internet service to homes with college, elementary and high school-aged children back in March as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That offer was extended to June 30 as stay-at-home orders continued. Even with most school years ended, Comcast said it has decided to extend the offer through the end of 2020.

the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) has agreed to modify its agreement with domain name registrar Verisign that will allow it to boost prices for .com domain names, but not to vertically integrate--say, merge with a web content supplier. That came in an extension of the six-yea.com registry agreement. Also part of the agreement, said NTIA, is "a new commitment to content neutrality in the Domain Name System (DNS)....Verisign will operate the .com registry in a content neutral manner with a commitment to participate in ICANN processes.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) hammered the Federal Communications Commission at a hearing for not investing enough in subsidizing and deploying broadband to rural areas like his home state, calling it an "unacceptable failure" and adding that he has urged FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to act immediately to correct the situation. Chairman Pai's office signaled it agreed the FCC's budget-control mechanism worked against closing the rural digital divide, and it was on the way to fixing it.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, has told the Federal Communications Commission that Sinclair's response to the commission's request for more information on how it would comply with its rules in the Tribune merger were insufficient, and without that info the deal must be denied. That came in comments to the FCC filed Nov. 2.