ASPEN -- Finding a way to restore the affordable connectivity program (ACP) is a high priority for the end of 2024 and social media-related advertising revenue could provide potential solutions, FCC Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez said Monday.

FuboTV will likely succeed in proving that the planned ESPN/Warner Bros. Discovery/Fox Sports streaming joint venture will violate federal antitrust law, a federal judge ruled Friday as she granted plaintiff Fubo a preliminary injunction to block it. The sports streaming JV, Venu, has raised anticompetitive concerns on the part of some federal lawmakers (see 2404170067).

FCC commissioners unanimously approved an NPRM on further changes to rules for the citizens broadband radio service band that Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated two months ago. The Biden administration has focused on sharing models based on CBRS as part of its assessment of the future of spectrum. The agency posted the NPRM on Friday. Comment deadlines will come in a Federal Register notice.

Verizon is looking to build grassroots support for its position on the 4.9 GHz band, opposing control of the spectrum by the FirstNet Authority and Verizon rival AT&T, as the fight over 4.9 GHz heats up (see 2408130035), with near daily filings for and against FirstNet use of the band.

California appropriators last week halted multiple telecom-related bills meant to help vulnerable communities. Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D) blamed the broadband industry after the Senate Appropriations Committee held back her bill that would have banned digital discrimination as the FCC defines it (AB-2239). However, that committee and its Assembly counterpart advanced several other telecom and privacy bills to final floor votes.

Streaming services increasingly are cracking down on password sharing as they see the success that Netflix has had with its initiative, industry analysts tell us. Executives at streamers tell Wall Street the effort will help drive revenue growth.

Communications Litigation Today is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel circulated to the 10th floor plans for a full commission vote on restructuring radio group Audacy’s petition for a declaratory ruling seeking expedited foreign-ownership review as part of George Soros-affiliated entities purchasing its stock (see 2404230054), a commission official confirmed to us Thursday. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, preemptively claimed credit for Rosenworcel’s decision after pressing Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington about Audacy last week (see 2408090051).

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., remains optimistic that she can get enough panel members on board with her Spectrum and National Security Act (S-4207) during the August recess to open a viable path for the stalled measure during the waning days of this Congress. Three Senate Commerce Republicans who are also senior members of the Armed Services Committee and are seen as potential converts on S-4207 told us just before the chamber recessed that they remain highly dubious about the measure.

The objective of Consumers' Research was getting a case about the Universal Service Fund contribution methodology before the U.S. Supreme Court. That case resulted in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' recent 9-7 en banc decision that found the contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax," legal experts said during a Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition webinar Wednesday. The 5th Circuit remanded the contribution factor for Q1 2022 to the FCC for further work.