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FCC chairman Wheeler ready to discuss national broadcast plan
NEW DELHI: Federal Communications Commission Chairman (FCC) Tom Wheeler has asked broadcasters to share channels, migrate to the Internet and use next year’s incentive auction to adopt a new transmission standard.
“We’ve just been through one TV transition,” Wheeler said in his remarks at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas. “We both know the magnitude of that challenge … Government and broadcasting will need to work together on this, because it will be a long and heavy lift.”
Wheeler’s NAB show debut as chairman came just days after the Commission passed an order cracking down on joint-service agreements (JSAs) and collective retransmission negotiations among certain TV stations. He acknowledged the contention. He admitted: “It’s no secret that broadcast has been critical of some of my actions at the FCC.”
He said he took NAB president and CEO Gordon Smith’s suggestion for a national broadcast plan “very seriously.” He added: “If Congress were to approve, I guarantee you we’ll support this.”
Smith suggested such a plan could include an ownership review and transition to a transmission standard based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing — a radical change from the current 8-VSB technology mandated by law.
“When it comes to OFDM, particularly ATSC 3, the FCC will be ready and responsive when the standard is completed,” he said. “If it is possible to get a multiple of throughput on spectrum with OFDM, we as stewards of the spectrum need to be supportive.”
Wheeler said the Commission would use discretion in reviewing JSAs and shared service agreements.
“When JSAs and SSAs serve the public interest … they will have no problem passing the FCC,” he said, “so long as they do not impair competition, diversity and localism. Some have impaired that. Those actions have encouraged … us to enforce the rules of the statutory mandate.”
Smith asked why the FCC focused on broadcast JSAs without taking the same approach to cable interconnects — multiple pay-TV operations that team up on ad sales. Wheeler said the JSA order specifically asked for evidence that interconnects were anticompetitive so the issue could be addressed.
The chairman pitched the incentive auction as an opportunity for broadcasters, as he has since being confirmed. While his JSA and retrans rulings cast him as a broadcast foe, he said there was “no conspiracy.”
“The FCC is carrying out the mandate of Congress,” he said. “Those who want to participate, can. Those who do not, do not have to.”
He said the auctions could provide the cash for TV stations to become over-the-top providers. “OTT represents an open field for stations because of their local news operations,” he said.
“You have the opportunity to deliver local news down to the neighborhood,” he added. “The Internet has failed to serve localities the same way.”
With OTT migration in mind, he encouraged broadcasters to support network neutrality, quoting a Pew study saying one-third of Americans consume news online.
“Many stations, most stations, many people in this room, have websites that deliver news video,” he said. “That means stations are positioned to leverage that trend … Assuring an open Internet is directly relevant to the opportunity the digital future presents to you.”
He encouraged more exploration of channel-sharing, and said the recent test of the methodology in Los Angeles proved its efficacy.
“It will allow you to maintain your existing business, while taking home an auction check,” he said. “It’s an once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity to expand your business model on somebody else’s dime” — one that wouldn’t happen again anytime soon. “Neither government nor broadcasters will want to deal with another repacking.”
Repacking TV channels into less spectrum is expected to be complicated for everyone involved, including over-the-air viewers, whose numbers are growing, Smith noted. Wheeler concurred, offering a personal anecdote.
Apple rarely announces minor updates with much fanfare, and iOS 26.4 is no exception. No dramatic redesigns, no flashy keynote moments. What it delivers instead is a focused set of improvements that sharpen the experience you already have. If that sounds underwhelming, spend a week with it. You will change your mind.
Apple Music Learns to Listen Better
The biggest shift in this update lives inside Apple Music. Apple has brought AI-powered playlist generation to the app, and it works on mood rather than genre. Type something like “rainy evening at home” or “running late on a Monday,” and it builds a playlist that actually fits. This is not algorithmic guesswork dressed up in new clothing. It genuinely reads the intent behind vague descriptions and responds well.
Alongside this, a new concerts feature scans your listening history and surfaces live events happening near you. It is a smart bridge between your digital music habits and real-world experiences. Apple is quietly making the case that a music app should do more than just play songs.
Shazam also gets a meaningful upgrade. It can now identify songs without an internet connection. This might sound like a minor convenience, but anyone who has tried to Shazam something at a crowded venue with patchy signal will tell you it is anything but minor. The feature works locally on-device, which also means it is faster.
CarPlay Gets Smarter Controls
CarPlay has been updated with deeper integration for intelligent voice assistants. The goal is to reduce how often drivers need to look at a screen or tap anything at all. You speak, things happen. It is a clear step toward making the driving experience safer without stripping away functionality. The integration feels natural rather than bolted on, which is a harder thing to achieve than it sounds.
The Fixes You Feel Every Day
This is where iOS 26.4 earns its keep. Keyboard responsiveness has been improved, and the difference is noticeable immediately. Typing feels more accurate and less combative. Accessibility features have been refined across the board, with better contrast options and adjusted spacing that makes the interface easier to read without forcing you into larger text sizes.
The Health app has also been updated. It now surfaces more actionable insights from your daily data rather than just displaying numbers. If your sleep patterns have shifted or your activity levels have changed, the app now contextualises that clearly instead of leaving you to interpret raw figures on your own.
These are the kinds of changes that do not photograph well for a press release. They also happen to be the ones that make your phone feel genuinely better to use.
A Few Other Additions
New emojis have been added in this update. They will find their way into your conversations faster than you expect. Family Sharing has also been updated, with more granular control over shared payments and subscriptions. If you share an Apple account with family members, this puts clearer limits on who can spend what, which has been a long-requested fix.
What This Update Actually Represents
iOS 26.4 is Apple doing what it does best when it is not trying to make headlines. Every addition here serves a clear purpose. The AI music features are genuinely useful. The CarPlay improvements address a real safety concern. The small UI fixes accumulate into a noticeably smoother daily experience.
There is no bloat. Nothing feels experimental or half-finished. That discipline is harder to maintain than it looks, especially as operating systems grow more complex with each passing year.
If you have been holding off on updating, this is the one worth installing.
