The FCC teed up the telecom relay service fund proposals of its administrator for the funding year starting July 1. Comments are due May 24, replies June 1 on Rolka Loube Associates' "proposed provider compensation rates, funding requirement, and carrier contribution factor," said a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau public notice in docket 10-51 in Thursday's Daily Digest. Rolka Loube projected the TRS fund needs $1.25 billion for FY 2018 (up from $1.14 billion currently) and a carrier contribution factor of 2.1 percent of U.S. interstate and international telecom end-user revenue (see 1705030034). It projected the IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) needs $735 million and video relay service needs $460 million. The PN sought comment on Rolka Loube's proposed per-minute compensation rates, including of $1.95 for interstate and intrastate IP CTS and interstate CTS, based on a multistate average rate structure. The PN noted Rolka Loube's proposals for alternative rate mechanisms, but it said it was premature to select specific recommendations for IP CTS because the FCC has an open rulemaking on the methodology for that service; instead, it may seek comment on some of the recommendations as part of that rulemaking. For VRS, Rolka Loube recommended per-minute compensation rates of $5.29 for "emergent" providers, $4.17 for proposed Tier I traffic (0-2.5 million minutes monthly) and $2.83 for proposed Tier II traffic (minutes exceeding 2.5 million monthly). That would be closer to what smaller VRS providers have proposed than what industry leader Sorenson Communications sought (see 1704250057). The PN said the comments would be incorporated into a VRS rate rulemaking (see 1703230055). Another PN said the FCC plans to place into the record summaries of VRS providers' updated cost and demand information reported in 2017 for 2015 (actual), 2016 (actual), 2017 (projected) and 2018 (projected), subject to protective order safeguards. Affected parties have until Wednesday to object.

The FCC should stay its restoration of the UHF discount pending judicial review, said numerous public interest groups in a petition filed Wednesday. Petitioners Common Cause, Free Press, Media Alliance, Media Mobilizing Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Prometheus Radio Project and the United Church of Christ Office of Communication said they and viewers they represent “will incur immediate and irreparable harm” if the order restoring the discount isn’t stayed, because the FCC will be able to approve deals once the rule is effective “and divestiture thereafter is effectively impossible.” The FCC’s vote to restore the discount “has already opened the floodgates for further broadcast consolidation, starting with Sinclair’s recently announced bid to buy Tribune Media’s stations in most of the nation’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas,” said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood in a news release. The groups say their legal challenge of the restored discount is likely to prevail, since the FCC has conceded that the technical underpinnings of the discount -- the onetime inferiority of the UHF band -- no longer apply. “It is arbitrary and capricious to adopt a provision that lacks any independent technical or policy support,” said the petition. The groups also criticized the FCC’s explanation that the discount was restored pending a future review of the national ownership cap. Both Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly said they don’t believe the FCC has the authority to alter the national cap. “It is arbitrary and capricious to assume what the future membership of the FCC may do in an as-yet to be initiated hypothetical proceeding based on a record that does not yet exist and may not support the legal and factual conclusions necessary to do what the current majority of the Commission would like to do," the petition said. The petition seeks final action by May 23.

Internet Association President Michael Beckerman said no one should make any statements against FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that could be construed as racist. Pai acknowledged in a recent interview that he has been attacked because of his Indian heritage (see 1705100070). “Threats and racist remarks directed at Chairman Pai -- or any person -- are wrong,” Beckerman said in a statement. “Chairman Pai is a decent and kind person, and while we disagree on net neutrality, I have tremendous respect for him. Internet Association and its members are committed to an open and safe environment online for internet users to freely express themselves.” “We can debate & disagree on merits of issue but racism & threats are not appropriate,” tweeted Commissioner Mike O’Rielly. Meanwhile, Free Press announced it would hold a rally outside FCC headquarters during next week’s commissioner vote on a net neutrality NPRM. “The rally will feature speeches by Net Neutrality champions, music and chanting,” Free Press said. “We’ll get loud, show that we won’t back down and bring our message right to the FCC’s doorstep.” NCTA released a poll that found most Americans say they oppose regulation of the internet. “By an overwhelming 78 percent to 12 percent margin, voters support the government having little or no regulation of the internet, with 53 percent supporting a ‘light touch’ and 25 percent do not want the government to regulate at all,” the cable association said. The FCC said the sunshine period on the net neutrality NPRM officially starts Friday “and will continue until the Commission releases the text of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking or removes it from the meeting agenda.” The sunshine period limits further lobbying, as is typically the case before a meeting. “Given the significant public interest in this item, this Public Notice both reminds the public of those rules and highlights the opportunities that the public will have to continue its participation in this important proceeding,” the notice said.

Comments on broadband healthcare solutions are due at the FCC May 24, replies June 8, said a commission public notice in docket 16-46 published in Wednesday's Federal Register after being issued last month (see 1704240068). The FCC seeks "information on a variety of regulatory, policy, and infrastructure issues related to the emerging broadband-enabled health and care ecosystem," said an FR summary of the item. The commission "seeks to ensure that consumers -- from major cities to rural and remote areas, Tribal lands, and underserved regions -- can access potentially lifesaving health technologies and services, like telehealth and telemedicine, which are enabled by broadband connectivity." A Connect2HealthFCC Task Force will use the information to make recommendations to the agency, the item said. Accompanying it was an FR summary of another FCC notice seeking comments by Tuesday, replies by May 26 on petitions for reconsideration of USF Mobility Fund rules filed by the Rural Wireless Association; CTIA; Blue Wireless; Panhandle Telephone Cooperative and Pine Belt Cellular; Blooston Rural Carriers; Rural Wireless Carriers; and T-Mobile.

The FCC released results of its Form 323 data gathering on broadcast ownership, and the data shows a slight increase in full-power station ownership by women and a decrease for racial minorities between 2013 and 2015. The groups remain under-represented compared to their portion of the U.S. population. Public interest groups have been asking the FCC to release the 323 ownership data for several years, and pushed the issue during the previous administration's media ownership rulemaking proceeding. "This data is years overdue," said Cheryl Leanza, who represents the United Church of Christ. “Racial minorities owned 36 full power commercial television stations (2.6 percent) in 2015 and 41 full power television stations (3.0 percent) in 2013,” said the Media Bureau’s third report on ownership of commercial broadcast stations. The report shows women owned 102 full-power stations in 2015, up from 87 in 2013. Hispanic full-power ownership also rose from 2013 to 2015, from 42 to 62, the report said. Women owned 14.9 percent of total low-power TV stations in 2013, and fell to 11 percent in 2015, while Hispanic LPTV ownership went from 10 percent in 2013 to 13.4 percent in 2015. “Racial minorities owned 27 LPTV stations (2.4 percent) in 2015 and 41 stations (3.3 percent) in 2013,” the report said. According to the Form 323 data, American Indian/Alaska Natives owned 40 broadcast stations in 2015, Asians owned 152 broadcast stations, African-Americans owned 180 broadcast stations, Pacific Islanders owned 20, and people belonging to two or more races owned 10 broadcast stations. “Whites collectively or individually held a majority of the voting interests in 9,515 broadcast stations,” the report said.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn was to have spoken Wednesday in Los Angeles at the Connected Communities forum on access and affordability. An excerpt released by Clyburn’s office indicated a speech urging the public to pressure the FCC to make rules that foster “robust, affordable communications services” and “a media landscape” that reflects “rich diversity.” Commissioners “are your public servants at the FCC, and it is high time that our actions reflect our job description,” Clyburn said, according to the released remarks.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai worries the attacks he has undergone on net neutrality could have a negative effect on his family, he said in a podcast hosted Wednesday by Matt Lewis, a columnist for The Daily Beast. Pai said protesters have been in his neighborhood talking to his neighbors. “It’s just sort of annoying,” he said. “It’s the same professional protesters who have been to the FCC many times before. … It scared my kids a little bit, which took some reassuring from me.” Needing a security plan is one of the negative parts of being chairman, he said. “My eyes are still focused on the prize, which is delivering results for the American people,” he said. “Nothing is going to intimidate me.” The FCC must focus on actual harm rather than potential harms to the internet as it revises net neutrality rules, Pai said. “If there’s a hypothetical harm, let’s wait until it materializes or at least we have evidence that it will materialize,” he said. “Otherwise, the government is simply making it up as it goes along, which is pretty dangerous for investment and innovation.” Pai said he has long believed that the preferable solution is for Congress to step in and “tell us what the rules of the road should be in the digital world once and for all,” he said. The FCC has contorted itself for years “because we’ve tried to fit this square peg of the 21st century internet marketplace into the round holes of 1934 laws or 1996 laws,” Pai said referring to the Communications Act and Telecom Act. “Otherwise, we’re going to keep having these debates over and over again.” Pai, who was on Capitol Hill last week to meet with House Commerce Committee lawmakers on net neutrality (see 1705030052), said he mostly enjoyed Hill meetings aimed at finding agreement. A few weeks ago, Pai said he met with members of the House Rural Broadband Working Group. “It was an incredible meeting” and discussions ran twice as long as scheduled, he said. “I got some very favorable feedback from the Democrats,” Pai said. “They said, ‘You know what? This has never happened before. Thank you for giving us a chance to share our views and letting us know what you’re thinking.’” Pai added, “I continue to think common ground is there.”

The FCC Electronic Comment Filing System seemed to still be experiencing problems Wednesday, as it has been this week. Access to filings was intermittent and apparently limited to only some dockets when we did have access. The agency declined to comment. The commission has been receiving high volumes of comments on its open internet draft proposals, which Sunday night was the target of a commentary by HBO comedian John Oliver. His 2014 commentary was credited with helping spark a wave of public comments in a previous net neutrality rulemaking that apparently helped crash the agency's system (see 1406040046). Beginning Sunday at midnight, the commission was "subject to multiple distributed denial-of-service attacks" that eventually tied up servers in the agency's commercial cloud host's system, preventing responses to people trying to submit comments, said Chief Information Officer David Bray Monday (see 1705080042). Fight for the Future, which backs net neutrality rules, Tuesday questioned whether the DDoS attacks took place right after Oliver's commentary, and Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, wrote the FCC Tuesday to ask questions about the situation and urge an alternative way to file comments (see 1705090063).

The FCC is closing a post office box used to collect fees from industry petitioners seeking relief from Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act obligations if they're "not reasonably achievable." A Tuesday order "will reduce Commission expenditures and modernize our procedures by amending Section 1.109" of its rules. "The only current use of Section 1.1109 and P.O. Box 979092 [in St. Louis] is to collect fees for [CALEA] Section 109(b) petitions. The FCC has not received a Section 109(b) petition since 2002," said the order by commissioners in docket 17-123. Based on U.S. Treasury guidance, the commission is migrating from using P.O. boxes to an all-electronic payment system for application and regulatory fees, said the order. Future payments for Section 109(b) petitions will be made under procedures set forth on a commission webpage, but for now, such payments will be made through the Fee Filer Online System, it said.

The repacking plan should be made more flexible so broadcasters can adjust their repacking timeline to their individual circumstances, NAB and Nexstar said in FCC replies to opposition filings against NAB’s petition for reconsideration of the post-incentive auction transition plan. “To ensure a successful and efficient repacking process that serves the interests of broadcasters and the public interest,” the FCC “must afford broadcasters greater flexibility,” Nexstar said in docket 12-268. NAB rejected arguments that its petition was procedurally flawed and late, with the 39-month repacking deadline determined in 2014. Such arguments are “misguided” NAB said, since the FCC’s transition plan is the focus of the recon petition. “There is nothing remotely improper about linking reconsideration of the scheduling plan to the pending petition for reconsideration of the 39-month deadline,” NAB said: The FCC should allow the Media Bureau to adjust the prepacking schedule to reflect broadcaster circumstances. The agency “must build into its repacking plan additional flexibility to allow stations to continue to operate on their pre-auction channels if those stations, despite diligent efforts, are unable to complete their transition by their assigned deadline,” NAB said. The FCC also should “clarify international coordination requirements,” the group said. “The Public Notice is ambiguous regarding the need for stations in border regions to coordinate their channel assignments with Canada or Mexico.” Broadcasters are “not only hard pressed to complete all the basic tasks necessary to meet the filing deadline, but also have insufficient time to study less costly alternatives for implementing their required channel changes,” said Nexstar.