FCC sets review team for Charter deals
The Federal Communications Commission took its first major step towards commencing review of Charter Communications’s deals to buy Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Jonathan Sallet, FCC’s...
View ArticleHouse Dem introduces new data breach bill
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) introduced a data breach bill, the House version of a Senate bill introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) earlier this year. Although data breaches have become...
View ArticleAd tax deduction still in play by tax reformers
The advertising tax deduction is still in play as part of comprehensive tax reform. But this round, it’s only one of six options for squeezing more tax dollars out of the business community. The six...
View ArticleSmall cable companies press FCC for condition on AT&T-DirecTV merger
A group of 27 small cable operators in 12 states is pressing the Federal Communications Commission to place conditions on the AT&T-DirecTV merger to prevent the combined company from crushing...
View ArticleCogent doesn’t trust AT&T despite recent interconnection agreement
Shades of Netflix and Comcast. Cogent, having just signed an interconnection agreement with AT&T, has now gone to the Federal Communications Commission reiterating its demand that the commission...
View ArticleWireless firms settle with FCC over data security breach
Wireless firms TerraCom, Inc. and YourTel have agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle Federal Communications Commission charges that the companies failed to protect the personal information of 300,000...
View ArticleKelly Cole leaves NAB to form new lobby firm
Top broadcast lobbyist Kelly Cole is leaving the National Association of Broadcasters to start her own lobbying practice. She spent nine years at the NAB, most recently as executive vice president,...
View ArticleFCC’s Wheeler circulates IP transition proposals for telephone service
As telecom companies work to replace their legacy copper landlines with next-generation Internet-based networks, Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler is proposing two orders aimed at...
View ArticleSenate Dems press Wheeler on cable/broadband rates and competition
Four Democratic Senators sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler complaining about cable and broadband industrial consolidation and requesting that the commission use...
View ArticleReport: FTC looking into Apple Music
Does entering the streaming music business make Apple’s long-standing business terms with Jango, Spotify, Rhapsody and other streaming services suddenly illegal? That’s the premise behind a reported...
View ArticleNTIA convenes meetings on drone privacy
The government-led multi-stakeholder meeting process will convene its first meeting to begin hammering out best practices for drone privacy on August 3. President Obama called for the meetings in...
View ArticleSen. Blumenthal, FCC’s Rosenworcel push phone companies on robocall blocking
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Federal Communication Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, and consumers groups called on telephone companies to offer robocall blocking tech to consumers, now that...
View ArticleMind the (spectrum) gap – a hot item on FCC Thursday agenda
There are three items on the Federal Communications Commission agenda for July 16, but only one big topic: the broadcast incentive auction. What will happen this coming Thursday is less predictable...
View ArticleAuthors and booksellers to DOJ: investigate Amazon for antitrust (updated)
Groups representing authors, agents and independent booksellers have asked the Department of Justice to investigate Amazon for antitrust violations. The New York Times reported Monday that the...
View ArticleNews drone goes live for ABC7 in San Francisco
While the Federal Aviation Agency is still working on final rules for flying commercial drones in U.S. airspace, at least one TV newsroom has figured out how to legally use camera-equipped drones for...
View ArticleNAB accuses retrans reformers of manufacturing a crisis [updated]
Broadcasters warned the Federal Communications Commission that retransmission reform advocates of “manufacturing” disputes to “spur the government to regulate more heavily.” The FCC is about to tread...
View ArticleStudy: Broadband faces reduced investment due to Title II
The broadband industry faces a future of increased costs, business restrictions, and open-ended regulatory uncertainty that is likely to significantly reduce investment over the long term. So says an...
View ArticleLawsuits take aim at “NFL Sunday Ticket”—the crown jewel of AT&T / DirecTV...
Two groups of plaintiffs—sports bars and similar venues as well as football fans as a class— are attacking the very idea of a sports league cutting an exclusive television deal such as the one the NFL...
View ArticleNPR leaves coalition fighting music performance royalties
National Public Radio has followed Amazon and exited the MIC Coalition, a group formed to oppose legislation that would impose music performance royalties. The bill—the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act—was...
View ArticleGOP lawmakers urge FCC to delay incentive auction vote
House energy and commerce leadership is urging Federal Communications chairman Tom Wheeler to postpone Thursday’s scheduled vote on the incentive auction procedures after the agency released...
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