The Federal Aviation Administration and key C-Band stakeholders AT&T and Verizon have agreed on a glide path to protecting sensitive aviation systems while boosting 5G service around "certain airports." AT&T and Verizon have also agreed to extend current interference mitigation efforts for another year.

The FCC cleared AT&T and Verizon to start rolling out service in the C-Band after they paid billions for the privilege, but the companies agreed to hold off back in November after the FCC put out a bulletin advising pilots, aircraft owners, manufacturers and others on the potential impact of 5G flexible use operations in the C-band on radio altimeters (RAs), which gauge how close a plane is to terrain.

AT&T and Verizon then agreed to mitigate possible interference around certain airports while pointing out that they had been authorized by the FCC to proceed without those.

Back in January, the companies had agreed to keep those mitigation strategies in place until July 5, 2022, but the FAA said they had agreed Friday to extend those voluntarily efforts for another year.

That agreement includes, in the meantime, requiring operators of "regional aircraft" whose altimeters are most susceptible to interference to retrofit them with new filters by the end of the year and identifying airports where wireless service can be enhanced with the smallest risk of disrupting flight plans.

“Through close coordination with the FAA over the last several months, we have developed a more tailored approach to controlling signal strength around runways that allows us to activate more towers and increase signal strength," said AT&T. "Though our FCC licenses allow us to fully deploy much-needed C-Band spectrum right now, we have chosen in good faith to implement these more tailored precautionary measures so that airlines have additional time to retrofit equipment. We appreciate the FAA’s support of this approach, and we will continue to work with the aviation community as we move toward the expiration of all such voluntary measures by next summer." ■

In advance of this week's hearing on aviation interference issues and the 5G C-band rollout, some spectrum policy experts and fans of 5G took aim at the Federal Aviation Administration‘s efforts to delay the rollout over interference concerns.

They made their case for the Federal Communications Commission in the FCC v. FAA “conflict” in a letter to the leadership of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, which held a marathon hearing titled “Finding the Right Frequency: 5G Deployment & Aviation Safety.”

The FCC auctioned C-band spectrum for 5G after concluding that it could co-exist with aviation safety systems in nearby spectrum. The FAA disagreed and the rollout by C-band spectrum auction winners AT&T and Verizon was delayed and modified over those FAA concerns.

But in their letter, representatives from more than a half-dozen groups and companies, including New America's Open Technology Institute and Public Knowledge, said the U.S. has a history of stewarding new wireless tech rollouts while ensuring the safety of existing users, which they argue was the case with the FCC’s approval of the rollout.

“The recent experience of the FAA issuing safety alerts regarding the rollout of 5G in the C-band just before it was set to launch, an insinuation of the danger of 5G transmission to altimeter operations with no empirical evidence, and the subsequent political brinkmanship to litigate the issue more than a year after rules were made public, was unfortunate and avoidable,” they told the legislators. “It needlessly impugns the safety of both aviation and 5G.”

Congress should take the FCC’s side, they argued. In any event, the groups added, any issues with interference to altimeters, which tell planes how close they are to the ground when bad weather makes visual assessments problematic, can be handled “with minimal cost and disruption.”

That letter notwithstanding, the Democratic leadership at this week's hearing was decidedly on the side of the FAA. There was plenty criticism to go around over the lack of communications and coordination between the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which represents government spectrum users; the FCC, which oversees commercial users; and the apparent disconnect between FCC and FAA engineers over the interference potential. ■

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation heard mostly from concerned aviation witnesses about safety issues related to the rollout of 5G wireless services in the C-band in a marathon hearing Wednesday (February 2) titled “Finding the Right Frequency: 5G Deployment & Aviation Safety.”

Federal agencies came under withering fire for failure to communicate over the issue. One legislator, though, suggested that it was a case of two sets of engineers at two different agencies — the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Administration — not speaking the same language when they were speaking at all.

Legislators also pointed out that the C-band interference issue had been identified years earlier, but there was still a last-minute scramble and talk of catastrophic consequences.

The telecom industry and the FCC were hammered by committee leadership for putting the telcos’ bottom line before safety — and not just in regard to aviation, but also to automobiles and GPS reliability.

Also: Wireless Companies Agree to Modified C-Band 5G Rollout

Democratic and Republican senators set the contentious tone by saying there had been an extraordinary lack of communications and coordination among the FCC, the FAA and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration. The result, the lawmakers said, was ridiculous, embarrassing and inexcusable. AT&T and Verizon Communications delayed their 5G rollouts twice over fears towers close to some airports could cause interference to altimeters, and then had to agree not to light up 5G towers in proximity to airports with low visibility issues while the FCC and FAA attempted to resolve an issue legislators said they had years to hammer out.

Full committee chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) put much of the blame on the wireless industry, saying it had kept key data on tower heights and positioning proprietary — refusing to share that data even though it was requested by the FAA — and then only late in the process releasing data on its “secret towers and powers.” Only then did it become clear that 5G and altimeters were going to be a big problem, DeFazio said.

He also blamed the FCC for auctioning the C-band spectrum, adding it had also sold off half of the vehicle-to-vehicle spectrum despite arguments from the transportation industry that it was needed for auto safety. He suggested it was much more important to the FCC that consumers could stream HD while walking down the street. DeFazio pointed out that the FCC’s V2V decision had been taken to court and he hoped it would lose. 

Adding in a third FCC decision — to allow Ligado to launch a satellite-delivered broadband system near GPS spectrum — DeFazio suggested the agency was ignoring any consequences beyond the telecom industry‘s bottom line. “That has to change,“ he said, then clearly angry, he argued the country does not even regulate telecom anymore, “which is why we have the crappiest cell phone service in the world.”

“Having a dropped call is way less serious than having a dropped airplane out of the sky,“ DeFazio said.

After AT&T and Verizon paid billions for C-band spectrum — and after the FCC engineers cleared their 5G services for takeoff adjacent to bandwidth used by aviation — the telcos agreed to delay and adjust their use of that spectrum. They were responding to airline industry and FAA concerns that 5G could cause “catastrophic” interference to avionics systems, specifically altimeters used to tell planes how close they are to the ground while taking off or landing in poor weather.

As a result, and under strong pressure from the Biden administration, the wireless broadband providers also agreed to some “exclusion zones” around those airports until the issue can be resolved, including via the adoption of new altimeter standards.

In his testimony, FAA administrator Steve Dickson said the telecom industry was cooperating and providing data, and that he was confident the issue could be resolved. He said the wireless industry and aviation were working on new flight test data that will help going forward, including retrofitting avionics to make sure they are C-band resistant.

That will likely include informal and formal methods as more 5G is rolled out and as the FCC frees up more spectrum for 5G.

Testifying for the wireless industry, among the eight airline industry witnesses, was CTIA president Meredith Attwell Baker. Baker is arguably uniquely qualified to weigh in, since she has seen the spectrum issues from the various vantages currently in the mix as former head of the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA).

Baker said the industry was committed to both safe flights and robust and reliable C-band 5G. But she also suggested that the rollout delays of AT&T and Verizon came despite “all available real-world evidence” that 5G and altimeters could coexist.

She also put some of the blame on the media, saying “the press tried to pit the future of wireless versus aviation,” which she said was “always a false choice.”

Baker said that millions of Americans are both getting 5G service and flying safely thanks to hard work in the past few years and weeks, with engineers working together.

Dickson had said that based on the new data from wireless companies, the FAA was now refining the exclusion zones. Baker pointed out that, as of January 28, the FCC had cleared 90% of the commercial fleet for low visibility landings in the vicinity of C-band 5G networks, proving “coexistence is attainable.” She said she was committed to being a good partner with aviation and to getting the other 10% of the fleet cleared for takeoff and landing.

But Baker's bottom line was that "[t]he wireless industry remains confident that 5G poses no risk to air traffic safety but has taken these steps to allow the FAA time to evaluate altimeter performance with C-Band 5G."

Also: Airline CEOs Say C-Band 5G Rollout Could Mean Chaos

As to providing data, she said that AT&T and Verizon last fall had provided “vast and unprecedented access to their 5G network deployment designs, radiofrequency planning, and equipment performance.”

Playing something of the peacemaker, Dickson suggested that the delay in getting the data was that there was a “lack of understanding” of what data the FAA needed because the telcos had never had to produce it for the government before.

All sides agreed that 5G would continue to roll out, that aviation needed to be protected, and that such protection would require better coordination and communication going forward. That“s something they said was happening but with still "a lot of work to do."

Asked about what lessons the industry had learned, Baker said that they had followed the FCC rules back in March 2020 and how the altimeter issue did not get resolved before the C-Band auction she did not understand. She pointed out that she had worked at NTIA and that the interagency coordination process had worked on some "hairy spectrum issues."

She said that perhaps now that the FCC and NTIA have permanent leadership — NTIA administrator Alan Davidson and FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel — they could “take a fresh look at what is working and what is not.” She said she hoped they would do that.

“NATE welcomes the leadership and testimony of Meredith Attwell Baker, President and CEO of CTIA before the House Subcommittee on Aviation," said Todd Schlekeway, president and CEO of NATE: The Communications Infrastructure Contractors Association. "Ms. Baker’s testimony made clear that the wireless industry and the Federal Communications Commission followed the science and real world usage of 5G services and the impact on aviation. “NATE urges policy makers to continually work together to advance 5G services and maintain America’s global leadership in wireless telecommunications that have allowed for telework and telehealth services and many other technologies that have helped Americans cope with a global pandemic.” ■

In an effort to finally roll out 5G service in the C-band spectrum it paid billions of dollars for while accommodating concerns about interference to aircraft safety systems, AT&T has agreed to take further, temporary precautions as it rolls out the service January 19.  Verizon is also reportedly doing the same.

“At our sole discretion we have voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways as we continue to work with the aviation industry and the [Federal Aviation Administration] to provide further information about our 5G deployment, since they have not utilized the two years they’ve had to responsibly plan for this deployment," said AT&T, clearly unhappy with the continuing push for delays by the airline industry.

The most recent was a letter from airline CEOs saying there would be chaos if wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon did not delay activating some towers near airports.

AT&T and Verizon have already delayed their rollouts from December to earlier this month (January 5), then again to January 20 as they got pushback from the FAA and the airlines, who want buffer zones around many airports at a minimum.

Altimeters use spectrum adjacent to the C-band spectrum. The FCC concluded that both could co-exist, but has since signaled there might need to be more guardrails.

“We are frustrated by the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner,” an AT&T spokesperson said. “We are launching our advanced 5G services everywhere else as planned with the temporary exception of this limited number of towers.”

A Verizon spokesperson was unavailable at press time to comment on its next steps toward the January 19 rollout but the Times was reporting that Verizon, too, would limit the rollout on select towers near airports. 

As he did for the last delay, President Biden weighed in with his approval, which suggested that Verizon had indeed also fallen in line. 

“I want to thank Verizon and AT&T for agreeing to delay 5G deployment around key airports and to continue working with the Department of Transportation on safe 5G deployment at this limited set of locations,” said Biden, who has apparently been convinced by the airline industry of the potential ”chaos“ without the limited rollout. “This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled. This agreement protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans. Expanding 5G and promoting competition in internet service are critical priorities of mine, and tomorrow will be a massive step in the right direction.”

The president said he and his “team” have been heavily involved in discussions among “wireless carriers, airlines, and aviation equipment manufacturers to chart a path forward for 5G deployment and aviation to safely co-exist — and, at my direction, they will continue to do so until we close the remaining gap and reach a permanent, workable solution around these key airports.“

FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel signaled she was pleased with the agreement.

“Next-generation 5G technologies will be the backbone of our economic future," said Rosenworcel. “Today’s agreement makes it possible to bring this technology to millions more consumers and businesses throughout the country starting tomorrow using the C-band.  This is welcome news because we know that deployment can safely co-exist with aviation technologies in the United States, just as it does in other countries around the world.  The FAA has a process in place to assess altimeter performance in the 5G environment and resolve any remaining concerns. It is essential that the FAA now complete this process with both care and speed.”

Republicans in Congress were not giving the Biden administration any props for its handling of the altimeter issue.

“The Biden administration has failed to provide any leadership to find a solution to this spectrum issue,” Republican ranking members on the relevant committees said. “The U.S. government has hardworking experts who can address any outstanding technical issues, but instead of leading, the White House has sleepwalked through this botched process. By lurching from one arbitrary deadline to the next with no clear plan or strategy for resolution, this Administration’s negligence continues to delay finding a lasting solution that improves our everyday wireless communication while protecting aviation safety.” 

Issuing the statement were House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-Ohio), Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-Mo.), and Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member Garret Graves (R-La.). ■

Airline pilots have joined their airline bosses in asking the Federal Communications Commission to stay its decision to allow a rollout of 5G wireless in the C-band spectrum adjacent to the bandwidth used for critical aviation devices.

In a January 2 filing with the FCC, the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) said that wireless operations could interfere with the radio altimeters they use to determine a plane's height-above-terrain. And because there is no other sources of that info, the interference may not be detectable and shut could provide “hazardously misleading” information to flight crews.

AT&T and Verizon Communications have said they would roll out their service January 5 despite Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg‘s call for a delay. They have already delayed that rollout from December 5 due to concerns about interference to altimeters.

AT&T and Verizon were the big winners in the FCC's C-band spectrum auction.

The airline industry filed an emergency petition at the FCC asking the agency to stop implementation of rules for the rollout of 5G in the band and suggesting not doing so would cost he airline industry $1 billion and delay shipments of COVID-19 vaccines and tests.

The airlines wanted a decision by Monday (January 3).

The wireless and aviation industries have signaled they will work together to resolve issues about wireless use of C-band spectrum and interference with critical aviation systems like altimeters.

The Federal Communications Commission freed up C-band spectrum for 5G wireless use, auctioning it for a record $81.1 billion. Its engineers said that wireless and incumbent aviation systems could share the band without interference, but the airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration begged to differ.

Also: Rosenworcel Signals C-Band Aviation Power-Down

But in a joint statement Wednesday (Dec. 22), CTIA, the wireless telecommunications association, the Aerospace Industries Association, and Airlines for America signaled they would work together to get 5G launched in the band by Jan. 5, 2022.

Last month, AT&T and Verizon Communications, the biggest winners in the C-band auction, said they would delay until January their use of the spectrum for which they paid billions of dollars at auction. That decision came after the FAA expressed its continuing C-band interference concerns to The Wall Street Journal and put out a bulletin advising pilots, aircraft owners, manufacturers and others on the potential impact of 5G flexible use operations in the C-band on radio altimeters (RAs), which gauge how close a plane is to terrain.

“We are pleased that after productive discussions we will be working together to share the available data from all parties to identify the specific areas of concern for aviation,” CTIA and the airline associations said in signaling the team effort. “The best technical experts from across both industries will be working collectively to identify a path forward, in coordination with the FAA and FCC. Our belief is that by working collaboratively in good faith on a data-driven solution, we can achieve our shared goal of deploying 5G while preserving aviation safety.”

The FCC's approval of C-band use for 5G was always under the caveat that 5G not interfere with critical navigation systems.

In fact, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel told the Senate in written answers to questions for her nomination hearing that the agency may put new restrictions on wireless use of C-band spectrum, including a nationwide power reduction.

The FCC voted in 2020 to free up 300 MHz of C-band satellite spectrum (3.7-4.2 GHz) for terrestrial 5G broadband. Of that, 280 MHz is to be auctioned and 20 MHz is to be used as a guard band between wireless users and the incumbent satellite operators being relocated to the remaining upper 200 MHz to continue to deliver network programming to broadcasters, cable operators and other clients, and to relay video from remote locations to studios.

“The FCC continues to work productively with the FAA to ensure the safe and swift deployment of new technologies," said an FCC spokesperson. "We remain optimistic that we will resolve outstanding issues to launch 5G to meet the country’s evolving needs.”

The FCC is considering putting new restrictions on wireless use of C-Band spectrum, including a nationwide power reduction, as the Biden Administration works on how best to free up that spectrum for 5G without risking interference to critical aviation communications.

Wireless deployments in the band were delayed from fall given concerns by the Federal Aviation Administration, but are now scheduled to launch January 5, 2022.

That is according to FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel in written answers to questions posed by Senate Commerce chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) in advance of her confirmation to a new, five-year, term.

Also: Aviation Groups Warn of Serious Impacts From C-Band 5G Rollouts

According to a copy of those answers, Rosenworcel said that information it received* after adopting the framework for C-Band spectrum sharing suggested that the presence of C-Band operations could cause some erroneous altimeter readings.

Given that new info, she told Cantwell, the FCC is taking the report "very seriously," serious enough to open a proceeding to review the findings and whether any changes need to be made to the C-Band rules.

But she also said that, "out of an abundance of caution," the FCC, as part of ongoing discussions with the FAA, is considering a number of potential new interference mitigation strategies, including creating exclusion zones around airports and helipads, reducing power nationwide, and limiting "skyward" transmissions.

Last month, AT&T and Verizon, the biggest winners in the C-Band auction, said they would delay until January their use of the spectrum for which they paid billions of dollars at auction. That decision came after the FAA expressed its continuing interference concerns about C-Band to The Wall Street Journal and put out a bulletin advising pilots, aircraft owners, manufacturers and others on the potential impact of 5G flexible use operations in the C-Band on radio altimeters (RAs), which gauge how close a plane is to terrain.

But while the companies agreed to reduce 5G power levels, the coalition said those mitigation efforts were "inadequate and far too narrow." The coalition pitched the FCC on its own counter-proposal that "provides additional safeguards in, around, and on the approach to airports and heliports," one of those mitigation strategies the FCC is considering.

The FCC voted in 2020 to free up 300 MHz of C-Band (3.7-4.2 GHz) satellite spectrum for terrestrial 5G broadband, 280 of that to be auctioned and 20 MHz to be used as a guard band between wireless users and the incumbent satellite operators that are being relocated to the remaining upper 200 MHz to continue to deliver network programming to broadcasters and cable operators (and other) clients, and to relay video from the field to the studio.

*A report submitted by Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) titled "Assessment of C-Band Mobile Telecommunications Interference Impact on Low Range Radar Altimeter Operations." ■

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure a drone restriction over a Texas bridge does not prevent media outlets from reporting fully on the migrant situation there.

That is according to a letter from the senator to FAA administrator Steve Dickson, a copy of which was supplied to Multichannel News by the senator.

The two-week temporary restriction on drone flights over the international bridge into Del Rio, Texas, stil allows flights, but under a waiver process.

Wicker wants the FAA to explain just why it instituted the tighter drone access policy in the first place and give its assurance that will not impede media coverage of the border issue.

"To ensure that the First Amendment is protected, I expect that the FAA will promptly process any waiver sought by the media, which I understand is standard practice," said Wicker.

He said he wanted more than a reply to his letter. "Given the concerns raised by this matter, I request a briefing with an explanation for implementing this aviation restriction at the Mexican border."

Conservative media have been positing a nefarious motive for the restriction, linking it to viral footage of the migrants that got airplay on Fox News, with reporter Bill Melugin saying that the border patrol had been overwhelmed by more than 8,000 migrants.

The FAA tweeted Friday:

The agency made clear that "Media Coverage Providing Crucial Information to the Public" is one of the cases for expedited approval of such waiver requests.

Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) say that recent drone sightings in "safety-sensitive" areas--like the Boston Red Sox' Fenway Park, says Markey--have put an exclamation point on their call for FAA to publish a proposed rule to let the public know who is flying where.

Drones are used for, among many other things, TV and movie production, as well as live sports and news.

In a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the senators cite various sightings, including during the baseball game and one at Newark Liberty Airport that led to flights being halted.

They point out that Congress directed the FAA to come up with drone-identification standards in 2016, with a two-year deadline that passed nearly a year ago, and that the legislation is key to insuring privacy as well as safety.

The senators say the rules would allow the public, the FAA, law enforcement, and others to track drones and identify their operators.

Related: Sen, Markey Says Privacy Regs Should Precede Drone Rules

The FCC proposed to loosen its commercial drone rules to allow commercial drones to be flown over people and at night "under certain conditions." Markey said identification rules should be a linchpin of any rule allowing drone flights over people.

A number of TV and movie producers have been granted waivers of general drone flight rules.

Sen. Ed Markey is renewing his call for privacy protections after the Federal Aviation Administration proposed to loosen its commercial drone rules to allow commercial drones to be flown over people and at night "under certain conditions."

The FAA's goal in the draft proposal is to open up "an entirely new realm" of commercial drone possibilities, including for newsgathering and TV and film production as well as infrastructure inspection, emergency response and aerial surveying, though it is aerial surveillance Sen. Markey is most concerned about.

Related: CTIA Says Commercial Wireless Should Be Drone Home

The FAA does already allow for night flying and over people, but only under a waiver program that has drawn thousands of requests. The FAA says it has not received any reports of accidents under that waiver program, which is one of the arguments for loosening the rules. For night flights, the conditions are that pilots get training on night flying and the UAAS (unmanned aerial vehicles) would have to have an anti-collision light.

Flights over people would not require waivers anymore, either, but with plenty of safety-related conditions depending on the level of risk to people on the ground, like rotating parts or the weight of the drone.

Drone manufacturers would have to declare a product meets a specific category of conditions--there will be three separate categories a drone could come under--and monitor to make sure the product being produced continued to meet those standards. They would also have to correct any safety defects they identify after manufacturing.

Markey said privacy protections and other rules established by Congress should be in place before the FAA widens those roving electronic eyes in the skies.

The senator has for years been promoting legislation, the Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act--and will introduce it yet again--a bill that would create a framework for informing the public, not only about when and where drones would be flying and who was at the controls--or at least who owned the drone--but also related to data collection and minimization, disclosure and law enforcement access to that data. It also deals with licensing and operation on the drones.

“Privacy cannot be an afterthought as the FAA seeks to make it easier and safer for commercial drones to take flight,” said Markey. “Drones have the capability to collect treasure troves of sensitive personal information using technologies like facial recognition and automated license plate readers, yet the FAA has failed to establish any baseline privacy protections, despite its obligation to integrate drones into the national airspace."

Markey said Congress must ultimately be at the controls.

DJI, which makes civilian drones and imaging technology, was pleased with the draft, particularly a "performance-based standard for measuring safety, which allows manufacturers to develop creative ways to meet that standard," a standard DJI had proposed, though it said the safety testing methodology in the draft was different and needed scrutinizing.

“Drones prove every day that they belong in the sky doing important work for America, and everyone benefits when it is easier for professionals to safely fly over people and at night,” said Brendan Schulman, DJI VP of policy and legal affairs. “Drones have helped rescue more than 200 people from peril around the world, and drones help professionals do their work faster, safer, more efficiently and at a lower cost. Removing the barriers to routine night operations and flight over people will mean more benefits for more people.”

CNN said it has received government approval to fly a drone over large crowds of people outdoors.

The Federal Aviation Administration gave the cable news network a first-of-its-kind waiver to "to operate the Snap UAS, a frangible, 1.37-pound aircraft with enclosed rotors that is made of deformable material, over people," CNN said.

CNN said it will be able, for the first time, to fly an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) over open-air assemblies, up to 150 feet above ground level.

“This waiver signifies a critical step forward not only for CNN’s UAS operations, but also the commercial UAS industry at large,” said David Vigilante, senior VP of legal for CNN, in a statement.

CNN said its waiver request was the product of more than two years of research and testing in conjunction with Vantage Robotics, which developed the Snap 4K "flying camera," and that the waiver was granted in part based on the network's history of safe operations and test data showing the camera was safe to fly over crowds on the ground.

Related: White House Unveils Drone-Boosting Plan

CNN already obtained waivers to fly a smaller craft over people and one for using UAS on closed sets for TV and film.

In August 2016, CNN launched a dedicated drone unit to provide aerial shots for all networks and platforms.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is all for harnessing the power of drones, but also wants the government to establish privacy rules. Currently, the Obama Administration has helped stakeholders come up with voluntary drone privacy best practices, an approach it has taken with other privacy issues, including facial recognition and apps and, announced just this week, the Internet of Things.

But in the wake of the White House announcement of efforts to boost drone use, and voluntary efforts on privacy, Markey called for more.

“While I am pleased that the White House continues its efforts to safely integrate drones into our national airspace, when it comes to drone privacy, we are still essentially flying blind,” he said. “As more drones take flight, voluntary privacy guidelines and best practices are simply not enough. Drones flying overhead could collect very sensitive and personally identifiable information about millions of Americans, but right now, we don’t have sufficient safeguards in place to protect our privacy. We need to put privacy rules on the books now before more and more drones take flight over our heads and backyards.”

Markey has proposed The Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act, legislation to establish drone privacy rules including informing the public about the location and ownership of drones.