Public Notice

The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau announced the issuance of a further allocation of the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund in the amount of $742 million to reimburse eligible full power and Class A broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) (together, Eligible Entities) for expenses related to the construction of station facilities on reassigned television channels. With this further allocation, Eligible Entities have access to a total of $1.742 billion.

On January 13, 2018 at 8:07 am, the State of Hawaii Emergency Management Agency sought to conduct an internal exercise of their ballistic missile defense drill using the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). The exercise went awry, resulting in HI-EMA sending the following message throughout Hawaii: BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. This false emergency alert resulted in 38 minutes of confusion, fear and uncertainty for the residents of Hawaii.

This Public Notice serves as notice that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed David Young to serve on the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) as a representative of the National League of Cities. Young is Fiber Infrastructure and Right of Way Manager for the City of Lincoln (NE). 

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA),  announces its Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an Agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), announces that it is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2018 for the Rural Broadband Access Loans and Loan Guarantees Program (the Broadband Program). Applications will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Every ninety (90) days, RUS will conduct an evaluation of the submitted applications.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announces the appointment of members to serve on three working groups of the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE). These working groups -- Broadcast Diversity and Development, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector -- will assist the ACDDE in carrying out its work. As previously announced, Chairman Pai has designated Julia Johnson, President, NetCommunications, LLC, to serve as Chair of the ACDDE, and Diane Sutter, President/CEO, ShootingStar Broadcasting, to serve as Vice Chair.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), herein referred to as RUS or the Agency, announces its Community Connect Grant Program application window for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.

The Federal Communications Commission appoints the Honorable Gregg C. Sayre, Commissioner, New York State Public Service Commission, to serve on the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. Commissioner Sayre replaces the Honorable Ronald A. Brise, former Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission, who vacated his position on the Universal Service Joint Board.

Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai hereby appoints Sarah Freeman, Commissioner, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission as member to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The appointment fills the vacancy left by the Honorable Ronald A. Brise, former Commissioner, Florida Public Service Commission.

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Notice), we take steps to harmonize our rules regarding jurisdictional separations to reflect the Federal Communications Commission’s actions in February 2017 to reduce and eliminate unnecessary accounting rules. We further our goal of updating and modernizing the Commission’s rules to minimize outdated compliance burdens on carriers and to free up scarce resources that can accordingly be used to expand modern networks that bring economic opportunity, job creation and civic engagement to all Americans.