The House Energy & Commerce Committee on Wednesday (July 13) unanimously approved — 52-0 — the Spectrum Innovation Act of 2022, a bill that would, among other things, extend the Federal Communications Commission’s auction authority and direct the government to find additional midband spectrum for 5G.

The vote means the bill, which incorporates several pieces of communications legislation favorably reported out of the Communications Subcommittee in June, has now been favorably referred to the full House for a vote.

The auction-related legislation included in the bill was the Extending America’s Spectrum Auction Leadership Act of 2022, which extends the FCC’s authority to auction spectrum to March 21, 2024.

The FCC’s authority to auction spectrum sunsets on September 30 and there are no other pieces of legislation pending to extend it, so the House and Senate need to approve the bill ASAP given the dwindling number of days in the legislative session.

With the FCC planning to launch its 2.5-GHz spectrum auction, extending its authority would make sure that effort does not run into trouble if it extends past September 30.

The bill was also amended to include $10 billion funding for next-generation 911, with that money coming from the FCC’s midband auction, as well as an ongoing public safety and security fund from future auction proceeds.

Per the legislation, the FCC's auction proceeds from its newly reauthorized authority will also go to help pay for the commission's congressionally mandated Secure and Trusted Networks Act program to rip and replace suspect network equipment and services, starting with ZTE and Huawei.

The FCC has not approved all of the requests it has gotten for funds to rip and replace that suspect tech. Congress set aside $1.98 billion of funding in legislation mandating the program, while the FCC said in February it had received more than $5.5 billion in funding requests.

Also added to the bill was the Simplifying Management, Access, Reallocation, and Transfer of Spectrum [SMART] Act, which would create an ongoing framework for facilitating spectrum sharing among federal and non-federal users.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the committee chairman, said he thought that collectively the bill would raise billions of dollars in spectrum auction proceeds to fund overdue policy priorities in a way that is budget neutral, since it is anticipated all of the spending will be covered by spectrum auction proceeds.

One possible snag is that while the bill allocates $10 billion for next-generation 911 (NG 911), the cost is estimated at more like $15 billion. But Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Next Gen 911 Caucus, called it “more than a hell of a start.” 

“This is how we win the future, by coming together to solve our nation’s challenges in this committee room, under regular order, with input from members up and down the dais,” Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.), ranking member, said of the bipartisan, multipart bill. ▪️

Streaming service Haystack News said it is launching a pop-up channel covering the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. 

The channel will feature coverage from Haystack’s news content partners and will be available free through Sept. 12.

Haystack will also be mounting a number of other pop-up channels during September.

One will focus on the California vote to recall Governor Gavin Newsom.

Another will feature stories about the Emmy Awards.

Haystack News will have live coverage of the worldwide Global Citizen Live concert via ABC News Live on Sept. 25 and 26. Musicians participating in the event include Billie Eilish, BTS, Camila Cabello, Coldplay, Demi Lovato, Doja Cat, Duran Duran, Ed Sheeran, Green Day, Keith Urban, Lizzo, Lorde, Metallica, Ricky Martin, Shawn Mendes, The Lumineers, The Weeknd and Usher.

An NFL news and highlights channel will also appear after the league kicks off the season on Thursday. 

“From the somber memorial of the 20th anniversary of the horrific September 11 terrorist attacks to the worldwide celebration of how music unites the globe in fighting poverty and climate change, Haystack News offers the most dynamic platform for personalized and curated news content,” said Daniel Barreto, co-founder and CEO of Haystack TV. “Special dedicated pop-up streaming channels are popular options within Haystack News that make it the preferred one-stop platform for breaking news and special events.”

As the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001 approaches, Generation 9/11 tells the stories of seven children, Megan, Nick, Fares, Ronald Jr., Dina, Claudia and Luke who all lost their fathers that day. The documentary airs Tuesday, Aug. 31 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App. Commissioned by PBS, ARTE France and Channel 4, Generation 9/11 is produced by Arrow Pictures and directed by Liz Mermin.

Generation 9/11 follows the protagonists on their journeys and documents what happened in the 20 years since the attacks. The documentary combines new footage, family photos and home archives. They'll share first days of school, 9/11 anniversaries, discovering how their fathers died and more.  

“Our research team spent months identifying all the individual stories,” said John Smithson, creative director for Arrow Pictures. “From there, we focused down on a small cross-section of children whose fathers died on that fateful day, people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds across America and the world beyond to unveil the hidden cost of the tragedy.”

“The world, not just America, was forever changed as a result of 9/11 and its aftermath, and we wanted to explore that ongoing global impact in a direct, personal way,” said Bill Gardner, VP, programming and development, PBS. “These young people and their families have been shaped by 9/11 in a variety of intimate ways, and their openness to sharing their lives allows us to thoughtfully explore the nuances of the 20 eventful years since that terrible day.”

The FCC has reached "enforceable" agreements with the three top wireless carriers to start providing location information for 911 calls ASAP, resolving an Enforcement Bureau investigation into their request for extensions of the deadline to provide that potentially lifesaving information.

Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all agreed to provide "vertical" location information within the next seven days, which will help first responders locate 911 callers in multi-story buildings.

"Six years is too long to wait for 911 vertical location information that can save lives," said Rosenworcel. "These settlements accomplish what has evaded the agency for too long: they ensure that the FCC, public safety, and wireless carriers work together to immediately start delivering this information to first responders without further delay."

The FCC had adopted rules back in 2015 but gave providers until April 2021 to start complying in the largest markets.

All three had sought extensions of the April 3, 2021 deadline for providing the information in the top 25 markets, citing challenges related to COVID-19. The FCC launched an investigation into the providers and the deadlines and current capabilities to provide the information.

As a result of that investigation, the Enforcement Bureau reached settlements with the three requiring them to start providing the info, to implement a compliance plan with specific testing, reporting and public interest conditions, and to pay $100,000 apiece.

History Channel will mark the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with four new documentaries.

The first, Revealed: The Hunt of Bin Laden, is set to premiere May 2, on the 10th anniversary of the capture of the elusive terrorist. The documentary was co-produced by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

The other three documentaries will premiere on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11. 

“Over the last 20 years, The History Channel has been committed to never forgetting the events of September 11 that changed this world forever by honoring the heroic individuals who perished or played an important role in that tragic time in our history,” said Eli Lehrer, executive VP and head of programming for The History Channel. “Our mission as archivists of history is to continue to offer powerful documentaries with untold, poignant stories that provide a different perspective to that horrific day.”

The documentaries airing in September are: 

9/11: Four Flights tells the stories of the people aboard the jets that crashed during the terrorist attack with personal narratives from family and friends.

Rise and Fall: The World Trade Center looks at the towers through an architectural and engineering lens. It features the stories of the people who planned and built the complex and tells the story of the first 1993 attack on the World Trade Center and examines in detail how they fell.

9/11: From the Ground Up (working title) offers an account of the day from people who picked up video cameras that day and features previously unseen pictures and unheard audio, without interviews or commentary.

The May 2 documentary, Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden features interviews with unnamed intelligence officers, SEAL operators and Army pilots who carried out the raid that got Bin Laden, as well as President Barack Obama, Secretary Hillary Clinton, Secretary Robert Gates, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Admiral William McRaven.

HBO has teamed with filmmaker Spike Lee to develop a documentary series that chronicles the life of New Yorkers beginning with the terror attacks of 2001 through the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multi-part documentary, NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½, will offer a portrait of the city through first-hand accounts from everyday New Yorkers as it rebounded from the September 11th terrorist attacks and now from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, said HBO. The documentary will debut later this year commemorating the 20th anniversary of the attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.  

“We’re thrilled to have another groundbreaking HBO documentary event from Spike Lee,” said Lisa Heller and Nancy Abraham, co-heads of HBO Documentary Films in a statement. “From documenting the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans to the 9/11 attack on New York City and beyond, we treasure Spike’s singular capacity to chronicle and pay tribute to the human toll of these historic events while bearing profound witness to the strength and resiliency of the human spirit.”

Read also: HBO Gets A Boost from Theatrical Films: Hub Study

Cable broadband operators said they can't open their Wi-Fi networks for 911 access during times of emergency when wireless networks are down because they don't have the capability of routing 911 calls or texts or even identifying them among other network traffic.

In comments to the FCC, which asked about such whether such use should be required (per its implementation of the RAY BAUM's Act), NCTA-the Internet & Television Association said its members voluntarily open their Wi-Fi access points (APs) at no cost in emergencies to allowing people to remain connected over the 'net--as they have during COVID-19 for students.

But NCTA told the FCC that the technical limitations of Wi-Fi infrastructure and user devices would make a requirement that Wi-Fi APs open automatically for public access to provide 911 in emergencies when mobile nets are down is "technically unworkable."

It said that while Wi-Fi APs are equipped to provide internet connection in emergencies, that is only after users register and only where power and backhaul is available--it said that "the vast majority of residential customers do not have any such back-up power to enable operation of Wi-Fi APs when power is out."

"Notably, Wi-Fi APs lack mechanisms to facilitate 911 call routing and location services without the support of a mobile network, and in fact cannot distinguish between 911 calls or texts and other data traffic transiting the Wi-Fi network," NCTA said.

In addition, it said, "the Wi-Fi ecosystem’s decentralized array of service providers, access points, and devices lacks the capabilities to allow for automatic, secure identification and authentication of devices with Wi-Fi networks." That would mean a host of privacy and security concerns would have to be addressed before allowing for automatic and unauthenticated connections.

The FCC has released its annual report on 911 fees collected and distributed by states and found $197.9 million had been diverted to services other than 911 in five states, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. 

States levy a fee on cell phone bills to fund wireless enhanced 911, though some use it for other purposes as well.

Related: What's the 611 

That drew some immediate calls for addressing that fee diversion, but it was actually an improvement over last year, when six states diverted $285 million. 

“The FCC’s report on state 911 fees once again shows again that some states are diverting the money they collect away from 911-related services. This is unacceptable. When Americans pay 911 fees on their phone bills, they expect that money to fund 911-related services. Instead, more than 7% of the fees collected went to other purposes,” said FCC chairman Ajit Pai.   

The issue of 911 fee diversion has been on the radar screen of FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly for years and his statement did not mince words over the practice. 

“Despite some progress over the years reducing the list of diverters and non-reporters, the Commission’s latest 9-1-1 fee diversion report sadly shows that the same pitiful states continue to raid consumer-paid funds for unrelated purposes," he said, "and one additional territory didn’t bother to respond at all. 

"Specifically, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and at least one county in Nevada seized 2018 funds for other uses, meritorious or not, placing the public safety of residents and visitors at risk," he added. Then there was American Samoa, which did not respond to the FCC inquiry. "This is unconscionable," he said. States and territories are not required to provide the info. 

As to the report, he said: "I’m so appreciative that such downright thievery is receiving greater scrutiny by the Commission and generating serious legislative proposals by key Congressional leaders.” 

The report prompted House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Bob Latta (R-Ohio) to send a letter to House E&C chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) calling for legislation to end such fee diversion. "Our first responders and public safety professionals deserve better, and we urge you to bring legislation before the Committee expeditiously to end all diversion of 9-1-1 fees," they said.  

They said that since 2009, over $1 billion has been diverted, which they said was "unconscionable." 

The FCC has launched an investigation into voice, video and broadband provider CenturyLink's 911 outage, and the FCC chairman is not happy.

“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly."

At press time, CenturyLink said it was still working on the problem after initially signaling it should have been resolved earlier in the morning, informing customers in a series of tweets of ongoing issues preventing that resolution:

[embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078512853664059392[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078581735942770688[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078616062747324416[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078678635387781120[/embed]

Pai said he had told the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to launch an investigation ASAP, including the impact of the outage on other 911 service by other providers.

The FCC says that AT&T Mobility has agreed to pay a $5.25 million settlement--the FCC called it a 'fine'--related to inadvertent 911 service outages caused by planned changes to its network that interfered with 911 call routing.

As a condition of the settlement, which was published Thursday (June 28), AT&T has also agreed to mitigate the chance of future outages, to ensure reliable call completion and file compliance reports with the commission.

The outages occurred March 8, 2017, and May 1, 2017, and affected wireless customers across the country. They resulted in over 15,000 failed 911 calls.

“Providing access to emergency 911 services is critically important, and to that end we cooperated with the FCC in their review," said AT&T Mobility in a statement. "These events resulted from planned network changes that inadvertently interfered with the routing of 911 calls. We’ve taken steps to prevent this from happening again.”

The FCC concluded AT&T had failed to quickly, clearly and fully notify affected call centers.

"Such preventable outages are unacceptable," the FCC said in announcing the settlement.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had called for the investigation of the outages, tweeting on March 8:

[embed]https://twitter.com/AjitPaiFCC/status/839686315142758404[/embed]

The plight of the iconic ground zero flag will be chronicled in a History special, America’s 9/11 Flag: Rise From The Ashes, set to debut on Sunday, Sept. 11, the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The special will chronicle the flag’s recovery and journey back to New York, where it will be donated to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York, said the network.

The flag, which was raised by three New York City firefighters at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, New York City terror attacks but then went missing, was eventually recovered in Everett, Wash. According to the network, the flag had been taken from the yacht Star of America, owned by Shirley Dreifus and Spiros E. Kopelakis, which was docked at the World Financial Center. Later, a different flag that was believed to have been the original flag was displayed in Yankee Stadium and assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt on a mission to Afghanistan after 9/11. But the original flag actually had been misplaced.

The special is part of the "History Saves History" initiative developed by the network to preserve historical items that is at risk of being lost or forgotten.

 “We are honored that History has been able to play a role in the recovery and return of the Ground Zero Flag, an important national symbol,” Jana Bennett, president and general manager of History, said in a release. “The story of how the flag was found, authenticated and returned to New York is one of the great modern day mysteries solved.  Programs like America’s 9/11 Flag: Rise from the Ashes are an example of History’s commitment to commemorating the events that unfolded on and after 9/11, as well as the stories of individuals who witnessed or played a role in the events of that day.”

"What kind of joke is that?"  I asked incredulously.

In the lobby of the Comedy Central offices, a little after 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, we were in a happy mood. So when the VP we were to meet came out and said, "They just blew up the World Trade Center," reality didn't register. My colleagues and I thought we had stumbled into some dark jokes at the humor headquarters near Columbus Circle.

Our host just pointed to the TV monitor in the lobby, and we watched the flaming, smoking towers.

For the rest of the morning.

Like you and people around the world, we became spectators at an event we'll never forget.

My colleagues and I had been walking up Broadway during the critical moments, and saw some speeding police cars with sirens blaring just after 9 a.m. What's so unusual about that around Times Square in Manhattan?

But the chaos of the next few hours -- and weeks and months -- gave us our first glimpse of the new world order. At Comedy Central HQ, there was confusion about how to handle the situation. At the time, Comedy Central was co-owned by Viacom and Time Warner Inc. One of the parent companies had locked down and required all employees to stay inside until they knew what was happening around New York; the other company sent employees home right away. Where we sat, people were not sure which policy to follow.

Just a few hours earlier, I had been having breakfast with another cable pal at his Midtown Manhattan club. He saw a familiar face a few tables over: the then-president of Time Warner Cable of Manhattan. We exchanged a few pleasantries, and then I thought about him throughout the day as I knew his team was tending to the local cable facilities to keep people connected and informed. I saw him interviewed later in the week, describing his team's heroic efforts to keep communications flowing.

Like you, I have countless memories of the personal and professional aftermath of that horrendous day. The only rare experience I had is that I was one of the relatively few people who was in both New York and Washington on that tragic day. I had arrived in Manhattan on Monday night and I eventually got to Penn Station and caught a train back to my D.C.-area home by Tuesday evening. Among my indelible memories: the smoky plumes of lower Manhattan as seen from a Metroliner in New Jersey.

Needless to say, no business was conducted between my colleagues -- Israeli producers pitching a game show -- and Comedy Central that day. Perhaps the most memorable words I heard were from the chief of the Israeli team, who said, "This is much worse than anything we've faced, but now you know what we go through all the time."

A decade-and-a-half later, against the background of tributes and memorials, the terrorism conversation that ramped up in the autumn of 2001 continues unabated and has grown more volatile. With new media platforms that have fed our ability to obsess over live news, we're more connected -- if not more informed -- than ever. As I look ahead to what the next wave of technology, information and ideas will bring us -- digitally and instantaneously -- we need more of the dedicated commitment that we saw on 9/11 of 2001.

(Pictured: Gary Arlen's copy of the 9-17-2001 issue of Multichannel News)

The video images of the Hungarian photo-journalist first being bumped by fleeing immigrants, while she was outside in a field taping, was troubling. Her name is Petra Laszlo, and she works for the Hungarian TV station N1TV. She was just doing her job, and found herself caught in a panic not of her making.

Having been there myself, I tried to sympathize as to how she must have felt. She had this large group of “outsiders” quickly surging her way, while she tried to capture the event for her employer. She might have been trampled.

What really turned a rather minor event, though, into a global embarrassment for all journalists, was her reaction. Indeed, it turned the relatively minor occasion into an international embarrassment for Hungary as a nation, but as important, globally, and professionally, for journalists and journalism as a trade.

I feel shamed.

She pro-actively was filmed doing her worst version of multitasking. With one appendage, she continued to do her job of chronicling the event for history. Yet, with another rather malevolent appendage, she threw the image of the media into the dust, as she actively thrust her leg and intentionally tripped a running man in obvious fear, indeed as he tried to carry his infant from harm. Then she kicked a young girl half her size. It was pretty clear, as well, that the young girl and the man she tripped had not intentionally harmed her.

Indeed, it was scary to see.

Interestingly, perhaps this woman epitomized the collective angst and unfriendliness of the Hungarian people toward these Syrian, Iraqi and Afghani newcomers. I hope not.

Rather, what really burns -- and what I would like to apologize to these immigrants for (as a longtime and proud member of the journalist community), is what this act said to the world about journalists.

In doing this, I sincerely hope that the world gets what I have always said. I hope it gets what I still believe fervently is true: The profession of journalism is indeed a noble one. And it remains so.

I base this upon, and am comforted on this 9/11 by, the knowledge that 14 years ago today my profession did its job stunningly well, as it captured a truly world-changing event in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Shanksville, Pa.

Yet, just as is true with any profession, there are bad apples. There are those who let the bad side of their natures and their bad acts get the better of them. This was truly the case with this rather weak videographer this past week in Hungary.

But --I think I will be able to say this forever -- actions like hers will never be representative of the trade of journalism, nor journalists.

In conclusion, to the people of Hungary, and most fervently and importantly to the immigrants and to the rest of the world (as but one sincere journalist on behalf of our profession): I, and we, apologize. This woman does not represent us, and she is not representative of the great good our profession or what we do.

Thank you, in advance, for your understanding and continued positive attitudes toward us and what we do.

We journalists will keep trying to earn that.   

Jimmy Schaeffler is chairman and CSO ofThe Carmel Group, astreaming/broadband, broadcast and pay TV/video consultancy based in Carmel by the Sea, Calif.; he writes about telecommunications and media.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is circulating two items to the other commissioners meant to insure that the IP-based 911 call goes through, and services supported by traditional copper networks are not lost in the retirement of those nets in favor of fiber or cable. That includes providing competitive carriers equivalent access and rates to the new service.

According to FCC officials speaking on background, the chairman is circulating a policy statement that the network compact values of competition, consumer protection, universal service and public safety and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asking how to preserve those values in the move from copper-based networks to IP delivery.

The items, being teed up for a vote at the FCC's November meeting, follow a series of ip-911 outages that affected millions and that the FCC has called unacceptable.

To prevent a repeat, the FCC is making clear that if the IP transition creates gaps in accountability and oversight of a functioning end-to-end 911 system, the FCC will step in to fill them.

Among the other proposals are updates to rules requiring networks, particularly incumbent providers, to inform the public of any major changes to service, and requiring that "new types of services meet the needs of consumers before carriers are allowed to remove legacy services from the marketplace."

The notice also tentatively concludes that that carriers who want to discontinue a service used as a wholesale "input" should have to provide competitive carriers relying on that input to access to equivalent wholesale access going forward. those competitive carriers should also have to receive "sufficient notice" of when copper networks are being retired so their service to customers is not interrupted.

And in a bit of housekeeping, the chairman is also circulating an order eliminating the requirement to file paper copies of notices of copper retirement, instead requiring those to be filed electronically.

“COMPTEL commends the Chairman for his leadership and commitment to ensuring that public safety, competition and interconnection are preserved during the technology transitions," said the association in a statement [it represents competitive carriers]. "We applaud the Chairman for circulating an item to initiate a proceeding that considers critical issues impacting business, education, nonprofit and government markets, and residential consumers, as the industry – led by competitors embracing advanced IP technologies – continues its transition to next-generation services.

"As the Commission proceeds, it must ensure that incumbents do not exploit their transition to IP technologies as a way to diminish or eliminate the wholesale access to last-mile connections on which competitors rely to serve business customers.

"In particular, it is important that the Commission adopt standards that, at a minimum, require equivalent wholesale access when incumbents seek to discontinue legacy services used by competitors to reach and provide innovative service to their customers.

"We look forward to continuing to work with the Commission on these important issues, so businesses can continue to benefit from the services our members deliver.”

"Public Knowledge commends Chairman Wheeler for taking steps to make good on the Commission’s promise to preserve universal access, public safety, consumer protection, and competition in the phone network," said Jodie Griffin, senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge. "We are now in the midst of the transition, and the FCC cannot afford to lose any time in addressing the policy issues raised by new technologies and business practices."