The FCC said it wrapped up consent decrees with five carriers that allegedly violated the commission’s Lifeline rules. Each of the companies also agreed to put in place a compliance plan. Telrite agreed to pay the biggest fine, $1 million. The other carriers and their fines are i-wireless ($750,000); Global Connections ($425,000); Easy Wireless ($100,000) and Cintex Wireless ($55,000). None commented. “Noting that the companies have already repaid the program for improper payments, the FCC found that the public interest would be served by adopting the Consent Decrees, which resolve the Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeitures issued to the companies,” the FCC said in a news release. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn approved in part and dissented in part on each of the orders. “While I believe the Commission should have taken strong and decisive action, the Enforcement Bureau under this Chairman continues to show bias,” Clyburn said. “It essentially gives hall passes to large, well-known corporations when wrongdoing is found, while it fines little-known small businesses and individuals substantial sums of money for harms which are often substantially narrower. When a company or an individual violates our rules, they should be punished, but that punishment should fit the offense.”

A trio of Florida, California and Swiss businesses using spam emails made unsubstantiated earnings claims, misrepresented the nature of their products and falsely promised an easy money-back guarantee when marketing different software products and services to people wanting to work from home, the FTC said Thursday in a lawsuit to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The suit alleges violations of the FTC Act and Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act and seeks an injunction to prevent future violations and unspecified amounts for restitution, refunds and "the disgorgement of ill-gotten monies." Defendants Montano Enterprises, JK Marketing and GSD Master and their owners couldn't be reached for comment.

The DOJ is asking U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia to amend the protective order in the agency's lawsuit to block AT&T's buy of Time Warner. In an unopposed docket 17-cv-2511 motion (in Pacer) Wednesday, Justice said the amended order would add protections covering the use of confidential information and also extend the existing order's protections to some materials that the U.S. agreed to produce about the 2011 Comcast/NBCUniversal consent decree. DOJ said the additional protections include a requirement parties notify some non-parties when using their confidential information in particular circumstances. Leon earlier this month denied a motion (in Pacer) by third-party Fox also asking for an amended protective order.

With Thursday the deadline for states to opt out of FirstNet, the authority and AT&T got an opt-in notice from the District of Columbia. That makes 48 states and territories to opt in. Oregon and Washington state said yes on Tuesday (see 1712260035). New Hampshire is the only state to say it would opt out, but opt-in arguments for that state haven’t subsided (see 1712200043). Still unannounced are California, Florida, Mississippi and New York, plus the three Pacific territories, which have until March 12 to decide.

VTDigger wants to appeal a district court decision that FirstNet is exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests (see 1712200043), the local news organization said in a Friday memo (in Pacer) to the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont in Burlington. VTDigger asked the district court to certify interlocutory appeal of its order to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

ITTA said the FCC shouldn't require nationwide number portability (NNP) of mobile and traditional wireline numbers. Comments are due Thursday on an NPRM and notice of inquiry on NNP (see 1710240062), but ITTA filed early. “While the Commission’s aims are laudable, the realities of implementing NNP may, for many carriers, cause more harm than yield competitive benefits,” ITTA said “Furthermore, carriers will be forced to pass along implementation costs to consumers, which, in turn, dilutes the consumer benefits of NNP. ITTA cautions the Commission to keep this in mind as it evaluates the record in response to its proposal to implement NNP.” NNP would force carriers to upgrade their equipment, but the money would be better spent on transitioning to IP-based networks, ITTA said.

FirstNet got opt-ins from Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and North Dakota Friday (see here, here, here and here). The decisions make 45 of 56 states and territories to opt in, and come after Rivada urged all states to opt out in protest of a late FirstNet change to its draft spectrum manager lease agreement (see 1712210039). The deadline to opt out is Thursday.

AT&T and Time Warner again agreed to push back the termination date of AT&T's buy of TW. In an SEC filing Thursday, AT&T said it and TW agreed to move the date to June 21, from April 22. The two previously agreed to move the date by six months (see 1711280063). The trial in the DOJ suit seeking to block AT&T/TW is scheduled to start March 19 and run an estimated 15 days (see 1712070067).

The FCC International and Wireless bureaus and Office of Engineering and Technology published procedures for registering fixed satellite service earth stations entitled to protection from the 3.5 GHz citizens broadband radio service. The Thursday public notice -- stemming from the 2016 report and order on the shared band (see 1605020059) -- detailed eligibility requirements for earth stations entitled to protection and gave an overview of the registration process.

President Donald Trump’s comments questioning the “licenses” of media outlets are mostly “bravado,” NAB President Gordon Smith said in an interview with C-SPAN’s The Communicators that will be shown Saturday (see 1710110075). Smith said he's not worried the FCC will try to penalize media outlets over their content. Chairman Ajit Pai is “totally committed” to the First Amendment, Smith said. He also said he believes statements by FCC commissioners that broadcasters who miss their post-incentive auction repacking deadlines won’t be kicked off the air, but he said broadcasters will need Congress to provide additional repacking reimbursement funds. Broadcasters “have a lot to be thankful for” in the recent federal tax reform bill, especially since it doesn’t include proposed provisions that would have removed deductions for advertising revenue. Since broadcasters get most of their income from advertising, such a rule change would be a “real and present danger” to the industry, Smith said. A Microsoft push to have vacant channels in the TV band set aside for unlicensed use is “premature,” Smith said, and shouldn’t be taken up until after the repacking is complete. The NAB head declined to take a position on whether the FCC has the authority to change the national ownership cap, saying the association’s members are still debating the matter. Some elements of NAB support leaving the cap alone, while others want the limit raised or eliminated, Smith said. He also didn’t take a position on the pending Sinclair/Tribune merger, or net neutrality rules. NAB is “neutral on net neutrality,” he said.