The FCC approved two orders designed to speed the deployment of positive train control technology in the Northeast. It clears the way for three of the country’s busiest commuter railroads -- the Long Island Railroad, Metro-North Railroad and New Jersey Transit -- to deploy PTC. The orders allow Amtrak using PTC “on a critical segment of the Northeast Corridor -- from New Rochelle, New York to New Haven, Connecticut -- where it is a tenant on Metro-North track,” the FCC said Tuesday. “The Commission has recognized that ‘PTC is a potentially transformative technology’ that can 'save lives, prevent injuries, and avoid extensive property damage,'” the FCC said. “We seek to facilitate implementation of this important safety measure, and today we continue our efforts ‘to develop policies to facilitate the rail industry’s acquisition and use of spectrum for PTC in the public interest.’” Congress last year approved a law extending the deadline for building out PTC nationwide from the end of 2015 until the end of 2018 (see 1510290069). Investigators said in May that the lack of PTC was partly responsible for a deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia (see 1505150047).

Google didn't seek eligibility to buy spectrum in the incentive auction, a company spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday. "Like all those interested in improved connectivity and equitable access, we'll be following the upcoming spectrum auction closely," she emailed. "That said, we have not filed to participate." The FCC deadline to file an auction application was Wednesday last week, according to the auction's website. In a Tuesday blog post titled "The Best Things in Life Are Free (Even When You’re Worth More Than Half a Trillion Dollars)," an NAB spectrum official critiqued Google. Noting the company has "expressed an interest in 'low band' spectrum" such as the up to 100 MHz that will be sold in the incentive auction, this "would be a perfect opportunity for Google to acquire spectrum usage rights," wrote NAB Vice President-Spectrum Policy Patrick McFadden. "Google’s participation would have the added benefits of raising billions in auction revenues for the government and helping to ensure the auction’s success." Now, the company is effectively saying, "Sorry, Congress. Sorry, FCC. No dice," said McFadden. "Rather than bid in the auction, Google believes it has found access to free spectrum it can monetize." The company has backed three usable channels for unlicensed use in the broadband bands and repurposed 600 MHz band, in past filings in docket 12-268 (such as here and here). "For the past year, Google has helped lead the charge behind the scenes to push the FCC to simply reallocate spectrum during the auction process for Googley purposes," wrote NAB's McFadden. "If Google can keep pulling favors from the government to add to its $548 billion bottom line, more power to it. It’s up to all of us -- most of all the FCC -- to not keep giving things to Google for free." The company didn't comment on NAB's critique. The FCC proposal "preserving continued access to unlicensed spectrum in the post-auction TV band is the subject of a substantial record that remains open for public comment," an agency spokesman responded to NAB.

The FCC is addressing universal service accounting issues, Chief Financial Officer Mark Stephens said in the agency's FY 2015 Summary of Performance & Financial Information released Tuesday. An independent auditor in FY 2014 identified a "continuing material weakness in the control environment over USF budgetary accounting," Stephens said. He said that material weakness resulted from the USF budgetary activities of the Universal Service Administrative Co. "The accounting errors that the auditors noted above were corrected by USAC and the FCC and do not affect the Commission’s FY 2015 financial statements," Stephens said. "However, the auditors noted that corrections need to be made to USAC’s processes and internal controls to avoid these types of errors from recurring in the future. The FCC will work with USAC to ensure that USAC takes the proper corrective action to resolve these recommendations and strengthen its internal controls." He also said the FCC was "committed to remediating information technology control deficiencies" and was moving to address a "noncompliance" finding about the Debt Collection Improvement Act.

The FCC proposed fining OneLink Communications $29.6 million for apparently committing various “fraudulent, deceptive, and manipulative practices targeting consumers with Hispanic names,” said a commission release Friday night. It said OneLink and three companies it manages -- Cytel, TeleDias Communications and TeleUno -- apparently “slammed” consumers by switching their long-distance service to other carriers without consent, “crammed” unauthorized charges onto consumer bills and fabricated audio recordings to try to justify the actions. “The apparent practices reflect an ongoing, expansive, calculated, and multi-pronged campaign to allegedly ‘win’ customers through deceit and fraud,” said an FCC notice of apparent liability (NAL). “The Companies’ apparent practices included misrepresenting themselves to consumers including by ‘spoofing’ the Companies’ telephone number, tricking consumers into making statements or disclosing information that the Companies recorded and then used to ‘verify’ that the consumer had authorized a change in telephone service provider, charging for services that the consumer had not ordered, and submitting to the Commission false and/or misleading information.” The commission said the companies often used telemarketers to obtain information from consumers. “In many cases, the Companies claimed to be calling the consumers from a U.S. Post Office or elsewhere under the pretext of notifying the consumer about a package delivery. The Companies then provided fabricated audio recordings to the Commission as purported proof that consumers had authorized the Companies to switch their long distance carriers,” said the NAL, saying the agency received more than 200 consumer complaints about the companies. The FCC said the apparent unauthorized charges and deceptive calls were “unjust and unreasonable” practices under the Communications Act. The companies will have a chance to respond to the allegations, but the commission expressly noted it could move to revoke the companies’ authorization to operate. Commissioner Ajit Pai, who supported the NAL, said in a statement that there had been a rise in “hucksters and criminals” profiting in a “market for fraud” from unauthorized service changes and charges. “Today’s case may be the worst yet,” he said. “To put it mildly, OneLink’s conduct was appalling. ... For conduct this egregious, the book should be thrown.” Commissioner Mike O’Rielly partially approved and partially dissented but didn't issue a statement. OneLink had no comment.

Mexico and the U.S. reaffirmed their commitment to common standards for repacking TV stations to clear 600 MHz spectrum for mobile broadband use and pledged to finalize an agreement for implementation of positive train control railroad collision avoidance technology in the border area, said FCC International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre in a blog Friday on a two-day bilateral spectrum coordination meeting. She said the FCC met with Mexico's Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation. Meeting outcomes also include an agreement on a path to rebranding the 800 MHz band along the border "to reduce interference to U.S. public safety licensees" and development of plans to tackle coordination in such bands as 400 MHz, 700 MHz, 2500-2686 MHz, 3.4-3.7 GHz, 5.9 GHz, and the PCS and AWS bands, De La Torre said.

Correction: The group of which Randolph May is president is the Free State Foundation (see 1602110054)

The FCC blocked three Class A broadcasters from participating in or receiving repacking protection during the incentive auction and disqualified an additional Class A broadcaster as expected, in a recon order issued Friday (see 1602090060). The order was approved 3-2, with Commissioner Ajit Pai dissenting and Commissioner Mike O’Rielly dissenting in part. The recon petition from Fifth Street Enterprises, Videohouse and WMTM was denied as being procedurally improper and because participation in the auction is up the FCC's discretion, said the recon order. Latina Broadcasters’ WDYB Daytona Beach, Florida, had been listed as included in the auction, but the FCC decided Latina missed the 2012 deadline to file for Class A status just as the other broadcasters did, the recon order said. The broadcasters behind the recon petition didn't file for Class A status in time for the 2012 deadline (see 1601250060) that was required for stations to be eligible for the incentive auction. Latina did file for Class A status in time but allowed the underlying construction permits to expire, and then filed a low-power TV application instead of a Class A one. That means Latina wasn't pursuing Class A status by the deadline, the recon order said. The decision to remove protection while maintaining it for a similarly situated Class A station which is included in the auction, is "utterly indefensible," said Pai in his dissent. "It is impossible to reconcile the Commission's ostensible support for promoting diversity with such shabby treatment of one of the few television stations owned by a Hispanic woman.”

Charter Communications is pushing back at critics of its proposed takeovers of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable, meeting with the FCC to rebut arguments raised against the deals. Separately, it received some ammunition in its arguments from Discovery Communications, which also met with the FCC to say claims that New Charter might try to use its power to keep Discovery content from rival multichannel video programming distributors are off base. In an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 15-149, Charter said executives met with FCC staff including General Counsel Jon Sallet and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake to address individual filings by such critics as Incompas, Nvidia, TiVo (see 1601220017) and Time Warner Inc. (see 1601140033). Incompas' arguments that cost savings that New Charter would enjoy could hurt broadband competition aren't backed by any evidence and depend "on the questionable assumption that a provider's decision to enter a particular market depends on the incumbent providers' costs," Charter said. It also said there's no basis for conditions requiring New Charter support of CableCARD since it plans "to purchase, distribute and service CableCARDs ... for years to come." And Charter said it "has been transparent and unequivocal" that it backs the rise of over-the-top services like HBO Now since they drive broadband demand, and thus has no motive to harm OTT. It also disputed Nvidia claims Charter has blocked access to TV Everywhere apps to disadvantage Nvidia's Shield TV device. Discovery, in a separate ex parte filing Thursday in the docket, said it told commission staff -- including Lake and Owen Kendler, who's heading the FCC working team overseeing the deals' review -- that it has no incentive to withhold programming from any MVPD and though John Malone and BHN owner Advance/Newhouse own equity stakes in both Discovery and Charter, the programmer "has made many deals with alternative distribution providers" and that it doesn't vary its pricing across regions in a given MVPD contract to target any overlapping Charter areas. Withholding its programming from a rival MVPD to benefit Charter would hurt Discovery's top line and would cause only limited switching to New Charter, it said. Given the decline in linear TV viewing and the growth of OTT platforms, "cutting back on reaching viewers through these platforms would harm [its] ability to evolve with the changing video marketplace," Discovery said. In ex parte filings Thursday in the docket on meetings they had with FCC officials (see here and here), Charter/TWC/BHN foes Stop Mega Cable coalition and the Writers Guild of America, West said the deals would give New Charter too big a hold on the U.S. broadband market and incentive to stifle growth in the online video market.

The FCC improved administrative efficiency and advanced policy goals last year, Chairman Tom Wheeler said in the agency's FY 2015 Annual Performance Report released Thursday. "We are making decisions faster, improving speed of disposal on routine matters, expanding electronic filing and distribution, decreasing backlogs, and improving responsiveness to consumers," Wheeler said. On policy, he said FCC decisions continue to "help American consumers, enhance U.S. competitiveness, and improve our innovation economy." He highlighted FCC actions to make more spectrum available for broadband, uphold net neutrality, revamp USF subsidy mechanisms, approve AT&T's buy of DirecTV with conditions, help the disabled use communications technologies and protect consumers from unwanted phone calls. The report said the commission met its speed of disposal (SOD) goals 98 percent of the time, processing 853,415 applications and complaints in FY 2015. The Office of Engineering and Technology led with a 99.9 percent SOD success rate, followed by the Wireline Bureau at 99.3 percent. Wheeler said the commission adopted an Enforcement Bureau "modernization plan" to concentrate "reduced" resources where they're needed the most, in "areas with the greatest spectrum density." The plan "refocuses field staff on the resolution of public safety and other interference issues. Once implemented, this plan will save millions of dollars annually. We will apply these savings to modernize the equipment used by the field so they can handle the interference issues in the new shared spectrum environment," he said. On the controversial scaling back and closure of Enforcement Bureau field offices, the report said the bureau, Office of Managing Director and "expert outside consultants conducted a thorough, data-driven analysis of the agency’s field operations to maximize the effectiveness of those operations, align them to the overall mission and priorities of the FCC, improve equipment and advanced technologies for field agents, and ensure the most efficient use of the agency’s resources." A Communications Daily Special Report: "Portrait of the FCC in a Partisan Era" said some believe unauthorized "pirate" radio operations are flouting rules because the scaled-back bureau downgraded the importance of such interference enforcement (see 1512150014). As discussed elsewhere in the Special Report (see 1512150040), some bureaus lagged FCC goals by not keeping backlogs low. Last fiscal year, the new report said, the Media Bureau met SOD goals 85 percent of the time, and the International Bureau 76 percent, though the latter's performance was affected by consultations with the executive branch over foreign ownership.

Technology companies such as Apple and Google are in the Newspaper Association of America crosshairs over use of advertising blockers and fair-use copyright issues, NAA CEO David Chavern said at a Media Institute lunch Wednesday. Chavern said NAA is talking to Apple about its use of ad blockers in Apple News, and plans similar conversations with other companies. "You've got to keep letting my guys make money," Chavern said. "That keeps the reporting coming. ... At some point, we've got to get back to talking about fair use for my members." Apple didn't comment. Chavern became CEO in October and said a good portion of his job has been to evangelize about the traditional news business. "Facebook isn't going to interview the quarterback," he said. "Google's not going to interview the mayor. They don't want to." A key reason, Chavern said, is the difficulty in creating a newsroom: "That's going to be really, really expensive. Incumbency has its advantages." Despite woes about the state of the newspaper industry, Chavern said, "It's not the coal industry, it's not travel agents. People want the product." Newspapers, even with declining print circulations, are somewhat the envy of digital businesses, Chavern said, because those print operations still are profit generators -- something digital businesses find elusive. But he said the decades of enjoying 35-plus percent profit margins are gone, and newspaper companies must resign themselves to that. "It may not ever get to that again," he said. "It doesn't have to be that [level]." Given that all of the 2,000 newspapers that make up NAA are "experimenting like crazy" and generally don't compete much among one another, Chavern said, "there's an incredible opportunity for knowledge sharing," with that being one NAA goal. He previously spent nine years as U.S. Chamber of Commerce chief operating officer, and spent part of his talk discussing the ins and outs of lobbying. "This is a tough environment for advocacy," Chavern said, saying much of the job involves laying the groundwork for when legislative action has a better likelihood of passage.