Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

New Capabilities

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. DJI got the Avata 360 — a drone that shoots 8K spherical video while flying at high speed — approved 34 days before the window shut. On March 26, the company launched it globally, creating a product category that did not previously exist: native 360-degree first-person-view flight in a single aircraft.

Updated Mar 26

Money Moves

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 Mar 20

Money Moves

Reviewing SpaceX's million-satellite orbital data center application

Elon Musk's SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence startup xAI in a $250 billion deal—the largest acquisition in corporate history, surpassing Vodafone's $203 billion purchase of Mannesmann in 2000. The combined entity is valued at $1.25 trillion, with SpaceX contributing $1 trillion and xAI $250 billion. The merger consolidates three of Musk's companies under one roof: SpaceX's rocket and satellite businesses, xAI's Grok chatbot and AI infrastructure, and X (formerly Twitter), which xAI absorbed in March 2025. Within days of the merger announcement, Musk began publicly articulating the orbital data center vision, appearing on the 'Cheeky Pint' podcast in early February 2026 to argue that solar panels produce five times more power in space than on Earth, making orbital AI infrastructure economically superior to terrestrial data centers by 2028.

Updated Feb 6

Rule Changes

Implementing foreign drone restrictions via Covered List

For nearly a decade, Chinese drone manufacturer DJI dominated the American skies. The company held 70 to 90 percent of the U.S. drone market—used by hobbyists, farmers, real estate agents, and 90 percent of first responders with drone programs. On December 23, 2025, that dominance hit a wall: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 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.

Updated Feb 3

Built World

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 Dec 16, 2025

Rule Changes

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.

Updated Dec 15, 2025

New Capabilities

Setting rules that determine whether direct-to-cell becomes mainstream or chaotic

SpaceX doesn’t “do launches” anymore. It does output. Another pair of Starlink v2-mini batches is on the manifest, each packing 29 satellites — the orbital equivalent of sliding more servers into a data center rack.

Updated Dec 14, 2025