FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, President-elect Donald Trump's pick as agency chair, has signaled he would be receptive to banning pharmaceutical advertising on broadcast television, but attorneys, analysts and industry officials told us any attempt to do so would face an uphill battle. “I think it probably requires that two-step, where Congress passes a law, or maybe [the Department of Health and Human Services] HHS can do it, but there is precedent where that happens and the FCC enforces it,” Carr said during a recent interview with radio host Dana Loesch. Losing pharma ads would be a “major hit” for TV broadcasters, as the industry represents nearly a third of local TV ad spending, said BIA Advisory Services Managing Director Rick Ducey. In 2023, pharmaceuticals spent $2.4 billion on broadcast TV ads, according to Media Radar.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, could shift the direction Congress’ USF revamp takes when he becomes the panel’s chairman in January, lawmakers and lobbyists told us. Observers believe his impact on what Congress decides will partially depend on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules when it reviews the FCC appeal of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in favor of Consumers' Research's challenge of the USF contribution methodology (see 2411220050). A high court ruling upholding the 5th Circuit could shift momentum in favor of Cruz’s proposal that Congress make USF funding part of the appropriations process, officials said.

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

A possible shakeup of the federal Universal Service Fund (USF) will be top of mind for state telecom regulators in the year ahead, NARUC Telecom Committee Chair Tim Schram said in an interview earlier this month at the association’s Anaheim meeting. USF is one of several areas of uncertainty in 2025, said three state consumer advocates in a separate interview at the collocated National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA) conference.

The next FCC and Trump administration will place a major focus on deregulation of commercial space activities and streamlining the approvals processes, space policy experts tell us. In addition, some expect long-awaited clarity on what agency oversees novel space missions like in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing, or asteroid mining. Moreover, the experts anticipate increased openness about the use of satellite communications in federal programs fighting the digital divide.

The extent to which the U.S. Supreme Court decides the USF challenge on theoretical rather than practical grounds could have major implications for whether the court issues a decision that overturns the program's funding mechanism. The court said last week it will hear a challenge to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision, which found the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Consumers' Research challenged the contribution factor in the 5th Circuit and other courts.

FTC Chair Lina Khan redefined the agency during her nearly four-year tenure, Democrats and Republicans said in interviews last week. However, they split along party lines on whether her impact was positive for antitrust and consumer protection enforcement.

Incarcerated people’s calling service providers and law enforcement groups want the FCC to reconsider provisions of its implementation of the Martha Wright-Reed Act, but a coalition of public groups said the industry arguments are incorrect and procedurally wrong, comments filed in docket 23-62 posted Tuesday show. Most of the filings focused on October petitions for reconsideration of the FCC’s order from NCIC Communications and HomeWAV, and aimed at the agency’s categorization of costs and fees, handling of provider expenses, and timing of the order’s changes to prison calling rules.

In an investors' note Monday, New Street’s Blair Levin discussed reasons why the U.S. Supreme Court may overturn the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 9-7 en banc decision, which found the USF contribution factor is a "misbegotten tax.” Consumers' Research, a conservative group, challenged the contribution factor in the 5th Circuit and other courts.

Competition is a better guarantor of good customer service than FCC rules, multiple industry groups said as they pushed back against proposals floated in the FCC's customer service NOI. The NOI was adopted 3-2 in October along party lines (see 2410230036). In comments in docket 24-472, which were due Friday, some industry groups also argued that the agency lacks legal standing on customer service rules. "Careful consideration will confirm that the Commission lacks anything like the plenary authority" to adopt a single set of customer service rules, CTIA said. Disability advocacy organizations, meanwhile, made suggestions for customer service requirements.