Public Notice

The Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) is requesting comment on the 45-day public trial of Comsearch’s TV bands database system that was completed on April 9, 2014.

This database system is designed and intended to support the operation of low power unlicensed transmitting devices on unoccupied spectrum within the broadcast television bands (TV bands). This unoccupied spectrum is commonly known as the TV “White Spaces.” Comsearch has provided a summary report on the trial of its TV bands database system to OET.

This summary report identifies: 1) problems/concerns reported and their disposition and 2) descriptions of changes made by Comsearch to the channel availability calculator or registration systems during the trial period.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) seeks to supplement the record in the incentive auction proceeding by inviting comment on measurements of wireless Long-Term Evolution (LTE) interference into digital television (DTV) receivers conducted by OET engineers. The OET seeks comment on this matter.

On April 15, 2014, the Commission released a Report and Order in the 2014 Quadrennial Regulatory Review -- Review of the Commission’s Broadcast Ownership Rules and Other Rules Adopted Pursuant to Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. In the Report and Order, the Commission adopted an attribution rule for television joint sales agreements (JSAs), establishing that same-market television JSAs for more than 15 percent of the weekly advertising time for the brokered station are to be counted toward the brokering station’s ownership totals, just as the Commission has long done with respect to radio stations. To avoid disruption of current business arrangements, the Report and Order provided a two-year compliance period -- from the effective date of the Report and Order -- for parties to same-market JSAs in existence as of the release date whose attribution results in a violation of the broadcast ownership limits to come into compliance with the broadcast ownership rules. The effective date of the Report and Order is 30 days after it was published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2014; thus, the effective date of the television JSA attribution rule is June 19, 2014, and the two-year compliance period will end on June 19, 2016.

The Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition Bureau has released number of locations that would be eligible for the offer of model-based Connect America Phase II support if the proposed speed benchmark of 10 Mbps downstream/1 Mbps upstream (10 Mbps/1 Mbps) is used to determine the presence of an unsubsidized competitor.

Because the Connect America Phase II budget remains the same under either scenario, the extremely high-cost threshold would decrease from $207.81 to $172.51 if the 10 Mbps downstream speed benchmark were used. Approximately 824,000 price cap carrier locations have an average cost above this $172.51 extremely high-cost threshold, whereas approximately 577,000 price cap carrier locations are above $207.81.

The results have been produced using the adopted Connect America Cost Model (CAM v4.1.1), with a new solution set to reflect 10 Mbps/768 kbps coverage. The Bureau also is releasing a list of census blocks comparing the census blocks and number of locations that would be eligible for the offer of model-based support using 3 Mbps/768 kbps to determine broadband coverage versus using 10 Mbps/768 kbps.

On September 26, 2013, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) released the Inmate Calling Services Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

As part of that order, the Commission adopted a mandatory data collection requirement “to enable [it] to take further action to reform rates.”

The Commission announces that notice of the requisite Paperwork Reduction Act approval from the Office of Management and Budget and information collection effective date have been published in the Federal Register. This allows the Commission to collect from all ICS providers data related to the costs of providing ICS. The required data are due July 17, 2014. The Commission requires ICS provider data to be filed electronically.

On May 18, 2014, AT&T and DIRECTV announced an agreement pursuant to which AT&T seeks to acquire DIRECTV in a stock-and-cash transaction. As part of the transaction, AT&T also plans to divest its interest in América Móvil, a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico.

Applications seeking Commission consent to the assignment or transfer of control of the licenses and authorizations held by DIRECTV are expected.

The purpose of this public notice is to announce the opening of a docket, MB Docket No. 14-90, and to establish the ex parte status of discussions related to the proposed transaction. When the applications have been accepted for filing, we will issue a separate public notice announcing that fact and setting forth a pleading schedule.

This report is submitted in accordance with the requirements of the Open-Market Reorganization for the Betterment of International Telecommunications Act (the ORBIT Act) which has an objective of ensuring that intergovernmental satellite bodies INTELSAT and Inmarsat are privatized in a pro-competitive manner.

To this end, the Act requires the submission of annual reports to Congress as noted below. The Commission has undertaken a number of proceedings required by or related to the ORBIT Act. The Commission will continue to implement and enforce the requirements of the ORBIT Act.

On the whole, we believe that US policy goals regarding the promotion of a fully competitive global market for satellite communications services are being met in accordance with the ORBIT Act. The Commission will continue to inform Congress of the actions it takes to implement the requirements of the ORBIT Act and the impact of those actions in its next annual report

On May 27, 2014, T-Mobile USA filed a petition for an expedited declaratory ruling that would provide guidance on the criteria used for determining whether the terms of a data roaming agreement meet the “commercially reasonable” standard set forth in the Federal Communications Commission’s data roaming rule ( requires facilities-based providers of commercial mobile data services to offer roaming arrangements to other such providers on “commercially reasonable terms and conditions.”

T-Mobile contends that providers need this guidance to evaluate the commercial reasonableness of terms offered in individual negotiations and to reach agreements. In this public notice, we seek comment on the Petition. Interested parties may file comments and reply comments on the above Petition on or before July 10, 2014. Reply comments are due August 11. All pleadings must reference WT Docket No. 05-265.

The Federal Communications Commission will hold an Open Meeting on the subjects listed below on June 13, 2014.

The FCC will hear:

• a presentation with an update on the efforts to transition circuit-switched networks to Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The presentation will include a status report on the voluntary experiments proposed by AT&T designed to assess how the transition to IP networks affects users.
• a presentation with an update on the continuing efforts to launch new and diverse voices to the American public via increased access to Low Power FM radio stations.

The FCC will consider:

• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by ADX Communications of Escambia and Pensacola seeking review of Media Bureau decisions granting assignment applications.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by The Curators of the University of Missouri seeking review of the Media Bureau’s dismissal of its rulemaking petition to reserve Channel 252C2 in Columbia, Missouri, for noncommercial educational use.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Smile FM seeking review of the Media Bureau’s dismissal of its application for a new noncommercial educational FM station at Yates, Michigan.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by TJN seeking review of a decision by the Media Bureau dismissing its application for a new noncommercial FM station at Gold Beach, Oregon.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Dr. Glenn W. Cherry and Charles W. Cherry, II, seeking review of several decisions by the Media Bureau.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by Chicago Public Media seeking review of a decision by the Media Bureau granting a new noncommercial educational FM station in Antioch, Illinois to BVM Helping Hands.
• A Memorandum Opinion and Order concerning an Application for Review filed by World Revivals, Inc., seeking review of a several decisions by the Media Bureau.

New Cingular Wireless PCS, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of AT&T, and Unrestricted Subsidiary Funding Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sprint, and together with AT&T have filed an application pursuant to section 310(d) of the Communications Act of 1934, seeking to assign 19 A and B Block Wireless Communications Service (WCS) licenses to AT&T from Sprint.

The proposed transaction involves only the assignment of spectrum; no subscribers would be transferred. AT&T states that the proposed license assignments would facilitate the transition of WCS spectrum to mobile broadband use and allow AT&T to make more efficient use of spectrum to provide new and better services to customers.

Preliminary review indicates that, as a result of the instant transaction, AT&T would be assigned 10 to 20 megahertz of WCS A and B Block spectrum in 713 counties in all or parts of 153 Cellular Market Areas across parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Post-transaction, AT&T would hold 36 to 165 megahertz of spectrum in total in these 713 counties.