47 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter C - BROADCAST RADIO SERVICES

In this document, the Commission invites comment on proposed changes to its rules implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and to its call completion rules. The Commission proposes rules to codify the clarification contained in the 2016 Guidance PN that providers may block calls when the subscriber to a particular telephone number requests that calls originating from that number be blocked; permit providers to block calls originating from invalid numbers; permit providers to block calls originating from valid numbers that are not allocated to a voice service provider; and permit providers to block calls originating from valid numbers that are allocated but not assigned to a subscriber. In addition, the Commission seeks comment on the possibility of permitting providers to block calls in other situations where the calls to be blocked are reasonably likely to be illegal based upon objective criteria.

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted and released an Order on May 3, 2017, correcting certain rules in part 1 of the FCC's rules. In particular, the FCC replaced certain inadvertently deleted paragraphs from a section of the Commission's rules.

Petitions for Reconsideration (Petitions) have been filed in the Commission's rulemaking proceeding by Jennifer A. Manner, on behalf of HUGHES NETWORK SYSTEMS, LLC, Bohdan R. Pankiw, on behalf of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and Arthur F. McNulty, on behalf of Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission) published a document in the Federal Register on March 4, 2015, concerning its rural call completion recordkeeping and reporting requirements. That document inadvertently omitted reference to the Order on Reconsideration ( Reconsideration Order ) WC Docket No. 13-39, FCC 14-175, which adopted minor amendments to those requirements. This document corrects that error.

In this document, the Commission extends the deadline for filing comments and reply comments on the Commission's Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in this proceeding, which was published in the Federal Register on March 13, 2017. The Commission also extends the deadline established in a separate Public Notice for filing justifications supporting confidentiality requests relating to mobile speed data filed through the Commission's Form 477.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, information collection requirements adopted in the Commission's Report and Order, FCC 16-128. This document is consistent with the Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing OMB approval and the effective date of the rules.

In this Report and Order, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) adopted rules to allow full power and Class A stations with auction-related channel sharing agreements (CSAs) to become sharees outside of the incentive auction context so that they can continue to operate if their auction-related CSAs expire or otherwise terminate. The Commission also adopted rules to allow all low power television and TV translator stations (secondary stations) to share a channel with another secondary station or with a full power or Class A station. This action will assist secondary stations that are displaced by the incentive auction and the repacking process to continue to operate in the post-auction television bands. The rules adopted in this R&O will enhance the benefits of channel sharing for broadcasters without imposing significant burdens on multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs).

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) seeks comment on the federal need for the international services reporting requirements set forth in the Commission's rules. Those reporting requirements are the annual Traffic and Revenue Reports and the Circuit Capacity Reports. The Commission believes these reports are no longer necessary in their current form. The Commission proposes to eliminate the annual Traffic and Revenue Reports altogether, and seeks comment on whether there are ways to further streamline the Circuit Capacity Reports.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) proposes and seeks comment on reforms of its rules governing the 800 MHz Cellular (Cellular) Service and other Public Mobile Services. Specifically, the Commission proposes to eliminate four rules that impose requirements on licensees in these services concerning station inspections, records retention and production, operators at station control points, and the filing of certain employment reports. The Commission believes that the existing requirements may disadvantage the affected licensees, as compared to licensees of other wireless spectrum bands, or may no longer be necessary in today's digital age, or for which the benefits may no longer outweigh the costs and burdens of compliance. The Commission also seeks comment on whether other measures could be taken to give Public Mobile Services licensees more flexibility and administrative relief, and on ways to consolidate and simplify its rules, not only for the Cellular Service, but also other geographically licensed wireless services. In this regard, the Commission considers a possible relocation of rules governing certain flexibly licensed wireless services.

In this document, the Commission takes steps to further improve the quality of video relay service (VRS) by authorizing skills-based routing and deaf-interpreter trials, directing the publication of speed-of-answer data, permitting assignment of ten-digit telephone numbers to hearing persons for point-to-point video communication in sign language with VRS users, and authorizing a pilot program in which some VRS calls are interpreted by communications assistants (CAs) at home workstations.

A Petition for Reconsideration (Petition) has been filed in the Commission's rulemaking proceeding by Rick Kaplan, on behalf of NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS.

The Federal Communications Commission finds that a limited extension in this proceeding would be beneficial to the development of a complete record on the issues, and it grants a fourteen-day extension for filing reply comments in response to the Commission's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning non-geostationary, fixed-satellite service systems and related matters.