An FCC regulatory fee order includes a hike on direct broadcast satellite providers from 27 cents per subscriber to 38 cents per subscriber this year, as proposed in an NPRM, despite opposition from AT&T's DirecTV and Dish Network (see 1708230015 and 1706230027). The commission said it agreed with cable industry arguments that DBS providers occupy Media Bureau resources "similar" to those used by cable (including IPTV), while it noted a disparity in regulatory fee assessments. The DBS increase is "an effort to bring the regulatory fee closer" to the cable fee, which is now 95 cents per subscriber, said the order and Further NPRM in docket 17-134 released Tuesday to collect $356.7 million in regulatory fees in FY 2017 (see 1709050081). The FCC projected about $22 million (6.2 percent of the allocation) in fees from International Bureau regulatees; $89 million (24.9 percent) in fees from Wireless Bureau regulatees; $116 million (32.4 percent) from Wireline Bureau regulatees; and $130 million (36.5 percent) from Media Bureau regulatees. Industry regulatory fee payments are due Sept. 26, said a public notice. The FCC failed to justify a decision to reassign 38 staff full-time equivalents for non-high-cost USF regulatory activities from the Wireline Bureau to an "indirect" category, "meaning that the cost of these programs will be borne by all Commission licensees," said Commissioner Mike O'Rielly, who partially dissented from the order. He also cited a lack of support for AM/FM changes that reduced fees for small broadcasters, but he "hesitantly" backed the DBS fee increase. The FNPRM sought further comment on the appropriate tiers for calculating terrestrial and satellite international bearer circuit fees raised in the 2016 and 2017 NPRMs, and on the methodology for calculating cable-TV subscribers in multiple dwelling units raised in the 2008 NPRM. Attorneys from law firms blogged on details of the actions, including Davis Wright, Fletcher Heald and Wilkinson Barker.

The FCC and industry stepped up preparations for Hurricane Irma -- a Category 5 storm that was near Puerto Rico Wednesday and projected to head toward Florida. The Public Safety Bureau activated its disaster information reporting system (DIRS) for Irma to facilitate communications provider reports on infrastructure status and other storm-related situations. Reports are requested starting at 10 a.m. Thursday and continuing daily at that time until the system is deactivated for Irma, said a public notice. (The agency deactivated DIRS for Hurricane Harvey, said another PN, one of several Tuesday.) FCC bureaus announced procedures to help communications providers "initiate, resume, and maintain operations" in areas affected by Irma, said a PN, with guidance on special temporary authority requests and much contact information. A PN announced a 24/7 call line (202-418-1122) and email address (FCCOPCenter@fcc.gov) to address emergency needs. An FCC webpage on Irma contains links to various resources. "FCC public safety staff is busy preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Irma while continuing to respond to the aftermath of #Harvey," tweeted Chief of Staff Matt Berry. Chairman Ajit Pai Wednesday visited 911 operations and other facilities in Texas to view the damage from Harvey, said a release. Comcast is making its 137,000-plus Xfinity Wi-Fi hot spots in Florida available to non-Comcast customers through Sept. 15 in anticipation of Hurricane Irma's landfall, it said Wednesday. It also prepared facilities including staging emergency generators and fuel trucks and bringing in extra technical and network restoration teams. AT&T (here), T-Mobile (here) and Verizon (here, here) issued releases on Irma preparations. Amazon faced allegations of price gouging on bottled water in Florida as Irma approached, according to some reports (here, here). The company doesn't "engage in surge pricing," it emailed. "Amazon prices do not fluctuate by region or delivery location. Prices on bottled water from Amazon, and third-party sellers that are doing their own fulfillment to customers, have not widely fluctuated in the last month.”

The FCC moved up its October commissioners' meeting from Oct. 26 to Oct. 24, said an agency notification Tuesday that didn't cite a reason. Friday, citing a commissioner's schedule, the agency also moved up by two days this month's meeting, among other actions that day (see 1709010043).

The FCC released an order Tuesday to assess and collect $356.7 million in regulatory fees from industry parties for FY 2017, with Commissioner Mike O'Rielly partially dissenting from the item, which included an NPRM. The agency also extended the comment and reply deadlines on its Telecom Act Section 706 advanced telecom deployment notice of inquiry to Sept. 21 and Oct. 6, respectively (they had been Thursday and Sept. 22), in an order from two bureaus. Some Democratic senators and groups had sought a delay, though the groups didn't get all the time they requested.

The FCC is expected to take up the next wireless completion report, the first under President Donald Trump, at the Sept. 26 commissioners' meeting, industry lawyers said Tuesday. The item is likely to be the most contentious at the September meeting because of the longstanding fight between Democrats and Republicans on whether the U.S. industry should be considered effectively competitive, former FCC officials said. All of the reports released during the Obama administration declined to make this finding, a break from the FCC’s stance during the George W. Bush administration. The Ajit Pai FCC also is expected to find effective competition (see 1705080047). Most of the other items said to be teed up are less contentious, including media modernization, a hearing-aid compatibility small-business report, AM revitalization and an item on cable-signal leakage. The FCC declined to comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appointed new members to the Consumer Advisory Committee, to serve from Sept. 1 to Oct. 21, 2018, unless the committee terminates earlier, a public notice said. The new members serving as primary representatives are CTA Vice President Regulatory Affairs Julie Kearney, Digital Policy Institute co-Executive Director Barry Umansky, T-Mobile Chief Counsel-Policy Luisa Lancetti, and Alex Phillips former president of the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association. Kyle Hildebrand and American Action Forum director-technology and innovation policy William Rinehart were added as subject matter experts and special government employees, the PN said. With the new members, the FCC expects the CAC to provide guidance on “robocall blocking and reassigned numbers, preventing slamming and associated cramming, and outreach on spectrum repacking,” the PN said.

The FCC’s Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council will meet Oct. 26, said a Friday public notice. The FCC also released the assignments of CSRIC members to its three working groups (see the personals section in this issue). The groups are: Working Group 1: Transition Path to NG911, chaired by Mary Boyd, vice president-regulatory, policy and government affairs at West Safety Services; Working Group 2: Comprehensive Re-imagining of Emergency Alerting, chaired by Farrokh Khatibi, director-engineering at Qualcomm Technology; and Working Group 3: Network Reliability and Security Risk Reduction, chaired by Travis Russell, director-telecommunications cybersecurity at Oracle. The rechartered CSRIC held its first meeting June 23 (see 1706230049).

All nonexempt responsive records sought by American Oversight (AO) in its lawsuit against the FCC were produced last week, the agency said in a docket 17-1492 reply (in Pacer) filed Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The transparent government advocates sued in July seeking documents it had originally sought via Freedom of Information Act requests about agency leadership contacts with telecom industry parties related to a rollback of Title II regulation (see 1707260045). AO said Friday it was still reviewing the FCC production.

The FCC Friday changed the date of the September commissioners’ meeting, from the 28th to the 26th. Draft items will still be announced and released on Sept. 7 rather than two days earlier, said a notice. The change was made to accommodate a commissioner’s schedule, the agency said. The meeting starts at 10:30 a.m. and will be the first to feature new Commissioners Brendan Carr and Jessica Rosenworcel. The FCC last met Aug. 3.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Friday named the top official of a wireless ISP in Arkansas chair of the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. The new chair is Elizabeth Bowles, chairman of the board of Aristotle. The former chair was Elizabeth Pierce, CEO of Quintillion Subsea Operations, who resigned from BDAC for personal reasons, said a public notice. Cities also picked up a seat on BDAC. Local government groups have repeatedly complained of being underrepresented (see 1706010054). The new BDAC member who replaces Pierce is Larry Hanson, city manager of Valdosta, Georgia, who already serves on BDAC’s Model Code for Municipalities working group, but not the full committee.