Washington Beat

Last week RBR+TVBR reported on a proposal from computing giant Microsoft to use TV white space to provide wireless broadband services in rural areas. Specifically, Microsoft wants the FCC to reserve a vacant UHF white space channel in every market nationwide, following the post-auction repack of broadcast television stations. The NAB is less than thrilled, and issued a statement on the matter Tuesday. We also have some thoughts on the matter, via a RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION.

Connoisseur Media chief Jeff Warshaw wants changes to the embedded market rule that affects New York and Washington, DC. He’s addressing the issue to the FCC, including a July 5 letter to the Commission. The NAB is backing the move. Warshaw has been championing the cause for several years, seeing it as being against the public interest and competition, and another example of the radio industry laboring under outdated, pre-Internet regulations.

The FCC has received a bounty of comments regarding its proposal to do away with the main studio rule. Leading the way was the NAB, which had this to say ...

In one month, the term of the FCC's lone Democratic Commissioner will come to an end. With Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr all but confirmed as the newest Commissioners, the FCC will again have five decision-makers. This begs the question of what lies ahead for Clyburn, whose exit would result in a 2-2 deadlock on contentious votes.

Forget Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert. The late night chatter among politicos and wonks from Gaithersburg to Fredericksburg and across Capitol Hill was all about Brendan Carr. Unless something highly unusual transpires, the current General Counsel of the FCC is all but set to become the next Republican Commissioner.

Tuesday may be Independence Day, but that doesn't give any ol' person the independence to become an unlicensed radio station operator. Just in time for the Fourth of July, the FCC on Thursday issued no less than five Notice of Unlicensed Operations to a half-dozen buccaneers of broadcasting. Three involve Boston-area pirates. The other two are tied to fake FMs in South Florida.

PBS and America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) are getting financial assistance during the post-incentive auction repack period to translator stations that extend public television signals into hard-to-reach rural areas. No, it's not coming from ongoing pledge drives at many of the nation's noncommercial classical music stations.

He faces the most difficult challenge in the history of the Commission, as he travels the nation seeking support from the broadcasting community. He is FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner is beyond a doubt in support of, as he writes in this "tribute" to the Commission's leader.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioners Mignon Cyburn and Michael O'Rielly each had something to say about President Trump's late Wednesday evening announcement that he intends to nominate Brendan Carr as a Republican FCC Commissioner. Here are the details.

Months of speculation and predictions as to who will take the two open FCC Commissioner seats have come to an anti-climactic end, thanks to President Trump.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) on Wednesday urged the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate whether Federal law was violated by the submission of fake comments — using stolen identities — to the FCC net neutrality commenting system.

There's no more acting for Wayne Leighton. The FCC has selected him to serve as chief of the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, continuing the work he has been doing as acting chief.

Add two more Buccaneers of Broadcasting to the list of individuals caught with pirate radio stations in the Borough of Queens. The FCC on Friday issued two new Notices of Unlicensed Operations, or NUOs, to individuals found to be in violation of the Commission's rules on pirate broadcasts. The NUOs are part of a largely intensified effort by the FCC to rid the airwaves of illegal broadcasts, and much of the new activity involves infringers in the New York Tri-State Area.

As the weeks into the new Congress pass, the chances of the Deutch-supported PROMOTE Act and the Blackburn-backed Fair Play Fair Pay Act coming up for a House vote grow dimmer. That's because the LRFA now has 195 co-sponsors in the House and 22 in the Senate.

On Saturday, June 10, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai stopped by a Wyoming Broadcasters meeting and said, in part, “Last month, the FCC launched a comprehensive review of our media regulations. Our goal is clear: We want to figure out how to update our rules to match the realities of today’s media marketplace." In the view of Media Information Bureau columnist Ken Benner, this isn't the first time such FCC efforts have been attempted, only to be destroyed with the well-funded lobbying of Members of Congress.