Broadcasting&Cable

Through a voice vote, the Senate has unanimously confirmed Michael Kratsios to be President Donald Trump's associate director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), making him the new Chief Technology Officer. President Trump nominated Kratsios as CTO back in March. Kratsios was the deputy CTO as well as deputy assistant to the President for technology policy at the White House, a post he has held since President Trump took office.

The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously passed the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (DATA) Act (S.1822), a bill that would try to improve the data the government uses to establish where broadband is and isn't via broadband availability maps. Specifically, the bill:

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons defended the FTC's $5 billion settlement with Facebook, saying that it was the best deal it could get with limited authority, and calling on Congress to pass comprehensive privacy legislation. Chairman Simons said he was faced with two choices, get an "excellent" settlement, as he suggested this was, or face years of litigation that would likely achieve "far less" relief than the FTC got, which he took pains to outline.

The House Communications Subcommittee held a hearing on spectrum management and House leadership was not pleased with the infighting between the Federal Communications Commission and National Telecommunications & Information Administration over spectrum policy. The most prominent falling-out is over the FCC's recent auction of high band spectrum in the 24 GHz band for 5G and concerns by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of "out-of-band emissions" affecting satellite weather sensing.

Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O'Rielly has been named "New Yorker of the Year" by the New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA). O'Rielly, who was born just outside Buffalo (NY), was hailed by the association as "one of the outstanding commissioners in the history of the FCC". “Receiving this award is an incredible honor," Commissioner O'Rielly said.

The Federal Communications Commission took some heat after it voted to loosen its children's television rules. “Today’s FCC decision sacrifices children’s education and well-being all for corporate profit under the guise of flexibility," said Sen Edward Markey (D-MA), one of the senators behind the Children's TV Act. "Promoting the public good and serving kids should not fall by the wayside for the sake of increased business revenue.