As advertised, the FCC Open Meeting for February will feature an agenda that is once again bereft of items of any particular interest to broadcasters. Various aspects in the voice communications realm will be handled during the 2/15 session.
The meeting starts at 10:30AM eastern – and if you happen to be a broadcaster, you can safely avoid the meeting in favor of almost any other business activity.
The only question for broadcasters is whether or not Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) will release his hold on FCC commissioner nominees Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai in time for them to take seats with the other three active members.
Here is the agenda published by the FCC:
CONSUMER & GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
TITLE: Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (CG Docket No. 02-278)
SUMMARY: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that protects consumers from unwanted autodialed or prerecorded calls (“robocalls”) by adopting rules that ensure consumers have given prior express consent before receiving robocalls, can easily opt out of further robocalls, and will experience “abandoned” telemarketing calls only in strictly limited instances.
TELE-COMMUNICATIONS
TITLE: Amendment of Parts 1 and 22 of the Commission’s Rules With Regard to the Cellular Service, Including Changes in Licensing of Unserved Area (RM 11510); Amendment of the Commission’s Rules With Regard to Relocation of Part 24 to Part 27 and Interim Restrictions and Procedures for Cellular Service Applications
SUMMARY: The Commission will consider, as part of its ongoing efforts to remove outdated regulations and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order proposing a staged approach to revising the licensing model for the Cellular Service from site-based to geographically-based licensing. The proposal will offer greater flexibility and reduce regulatory requirements, while enabling greater rural deployment of wireless service. The item also includes several other proposals to update the Cellular Service rules, as well as interim procedures for Cellular Service applications.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY
TITLE: The Proposed Extension of Part 4 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Outage Reporting to Interconnected Voice Over Internet Protocol Service Providers and Broadband Internet Service Providers (PS Docket No. 11-82)
SUMMARY: The Commission will consider a Report and Order to extend outage reporting under Part IV of the rules to interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers. Extended reporting will enable the Commission to fulfill statutory E9-1-1 obligations and help protect the growing number of Americans who rely on VOIP phone service.
