Federal regulator
Appears in 9 stories
Cleared the constellation and the direct-to-cell service
Your phone needs a cell tower to work. AST SpaceMobile is trying to replace that tower with a satellite the size of a tennis court. On June 17, 2026, a SpaceX Falcon 9 carried three of them to orbit from Cape Canaveral.
Updated 2 hours ago
Setting rules that determine whether direct-to-cell becomes mainstream or chaotic
SpaceX hit 50 dedicated Starlink launches before June 2026, roughly one every four days. The constellation has 10.3 million subscribers across 160 countries, 10,191 active satellites, and $10.6 billion in 2025 revenue. Starlink is SpaceX's only profitable division and the central asset in its pending Nasdaq IPO.
Updated May 31
Approved the merger via bureau-level action, waiving the 39% ownership cap
For two decades, federal law has barred any single company from owning television stations that reach more than 39% of American households. On March 20, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) waived that rule for the first time, clearing Nexstar Media Group's $6.2 billion acquisition of rival broadcaster Tegna. The combined company now owns 265 stations in 44 states, reaching roughly 80% of U.S. TV households — more than double the legal cap.
Updated May 30
Reviewing SpaceX's million-satellite orbital data center application
In February 2026, SpaceX bought xAI for $250 billion, the largest acquisition in corporate history. By mid-May, all 11 original xAI co-founders had left, and more than 50 SpaceXAI researchers and engineers had departed for Meta and Thinking Machines Lab.
Updated May 26
Implementing foreign drone restrictions via Covered List
For nearly a decade, Chinese drone manufacturer DJI dominated the U.S. drone market with 70 to 90 percent share, used by hobbyists, farmers, real estate agents, and 90 percent of first responders with drone programs. On December 23, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission added all foreign-made drones and critical components to its Covered List, blocking any new models from receiving the equipment authorization required for U.S. sale.
Reviewing license transfer
A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday morning carrying replacement satellites Globalstar needs to keep its mobile network alive. The same launch ticks off one of the conditions Amazon set before paying about $10.7 billion to buy the company.
Updated May 17
Regulator enforcing Kuiper/Leo deployment milestones and spectrum/operations conditions
At 3:28 a.m. ET on December 16, ULA lit an Atlas V and pushed 27 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into orbit. It's another clean launch in a campaign that's starting to look like a metronome: stack satellites, light rocket, repeat.
Updated May 15
Rule-writer and enforcer pushing robocall mitigation from voluntary tools to mandatory blocking
The FCC's robocall fight just hit the part where the referees stop warning and start pulling players off the field. As of December 15, 2025, U.S. voice providers are required to block calls that claim to originate from numbers that should never place outbound calls.
Defending foreign drone ban in federal court
DJI controls roughly 77% of the American consumer drone market. On December 22, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blocked all new foreign-made drones from receiving the radio-frequency authorization required for legal US sale.
Updated Mar 26
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