Washington Beat

As expected, the full House of Representatives has passed H.R. 2482, legislation that will reauthorize the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, giving it set appropriations for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. 

Al Sikes and Tom Wheeler have teamed up to pen an opinion piece for Newsweek that slams the current Chairman and President Trump for having "upended 90 years of precedent and Congressional mandates to transform the agency into a blatantly partisan tool."

The FCC has agreed to new sharing rules that the Carr Commission believes will "bolster innovative commercial uses" in the lower 37 GHz spectrum band. With this proceeding, Chairman Carr believes the new licensing framework could unlock 600 MHz of spectrum for new and more intensive commercial services.

On Tuesday, the FCC issued a Notice of Violation to the licensee of a low-power radio station serving a portion of South Florida as part of "The Voice of the Caribbean" for far exceeding its licensed power output. A second LPFM that's a simulcast partner, owned by a different licensee, has apparently done the same thing.

She's all but certain to become the next FCC Commissioner and on April 9 participated in a nomination hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. It is now known that the Committee will vote on Olivia Trusty's nomination on April 30, which would set up a full Senate vote.

The former co-Deputy Bureau Chief of the FCC's Enforcement Bureau has become the newest Member of the law firm Lerman Senter, an addition Managing Member Jeff Carlisle is praising.

The operators of a LPFM licensed to the Broward Jewish Alliance, targeting Blacks of Caribbean descent with reggae and soca music, has received a Notice of Violation from the FCC's Enforcement Bureau for far exceeding its licensed power maximum, extending its coverage area beyond where it is permitted to serve.

As terrestrial broadcasters seek their own set of deregulations under the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, SiriusXM wants to eliminate a series of legacy regulations that it says are stifling innovation in satellite radio.

A federal judge’s ruling that Google illegally monopolized key online advertising markets is drawing praise from the NAB, which says the decision validates long-held concerns about "Big Tech" influence over digital revenue streams critical to local journalism.

The owner of a Class B AM radio station licensed for 10kw from two towers in a suburban area of San Juan, Puerto Rico, has received a Notice of Violation — a precursor to a potential forfeiture notice — for operating the facility outside of its licensed parameters.

A former FCC attorney advisor is being welcomed as the newest associate at law firm Lerman Senter. She started her new role on April 15.

The Walker River Paiute Tribe of Native Americans in Nevada, due east of Lake Tahoe, has entered into a consent decree with the FCC that resolves a matter in which the tribe was tardy with the license renewals for a series of low-power TV stations it owns.

Two U.S. Senators have asked the Acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lift its freeze on grants that are designed help improve the resiliency of public broadcasting stations.

New federal legislation, when coupled with actions by the Commission, highlight regulatory ironies involving both the political left and right. That's the viewpoint of Clay Calvert, writing on behalf of the Washington, D.C. think tank American Enterprise Institute.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has promoted from within to fill the position of EVP/Chief Operating Officer and, concurrently, another woman to serve as its EVP of Government and External Affairs and Acting Corporate Secretary.