Regulation

The commission wants opinions on whether to extend the deadline for TV stations to convert nontextual emergency information into audio on station SAP channels.

The White House press office is getting a bit more Sunshine these days — former Disney Channel star Caroline Sunshine, that is. She’s joining the team as a press assistant. Sunshine, 22, is known for her role alongside Zendaya as Tinka Hessenheffer in Shake It Up, a Disney Channel show about teen dancers that ran from 2010 to 2013. She was also in the 2010 film Marmaduke, among other roles.

President Trump has nominated Rebecca Slaughter, an aide to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), to serve on the Federal Trade Commission.

In case you forgot, this a reminder to low-power television and TV rranslator broadcasters of the FCC’s Special Displacement Window for LPTV Stations. This 60-day filing window opens up on Tuesday, April 10, and lasts through Tuesday, May 15, at 11:59 p.m. ET. This special window is limited to applications to change channels, which may be filed only by operating LPTV stations and TV translators being displaced from their current channel as a result of the TV spectrum repack.

A scandal engulfing Facebook over the use of its data by political consultants widened on Tuesday when a whistleblower said Canadian company AggregateIQ had developed a program to target Republican voters in the 2016 U.S. election.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court on Monday threw out a lawsuit by 101-year-old actress Olivia de Havilland against the creators of the FX Networks show “Feud: Bette […]

On Friday, the FCC released a Public Notice announcing that the rules requiring the inclusion in the online public file of TV station “shared services agreements” is now effective after having been approved by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act. This obligation for TV stations to put in their public file agreements between independently owned TV stations for shared broadcast services (including shared news operations, accounting staffs and other operational matters) became effective on March 23.

Facebook said in a statement today that the company remains “strongly committed” to protecting people’s information and that it welcomes the opportunity to answer the FTC’s questions. News outlets reported on the FTC investigation last week, but the FTC hadn’t confirmed it until Monday. Facebook’s stock, which already took a big hit last week, plunged as a result.

Friday’s enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 was welcomed by broadcasters because for the first time made FM, LPTV, and TV translator stations eligible for repack reimbursement funds. But it also expanded the definition of an essential service provider at disasters to include “wireline or mobile telephone service, Internet access service, radio or television broadcasting, cable service or direct broadcast satellite service.”

Last Friday, President Trump signed a $1.3 trillion appropriations bill that will mean some significant changes to the broadcasting community. The 2,232-page omnibus bill not only includes an additional $1 billion for spectrum repack on top of the already $1.75 billion already allocated, but also changes how broadcasters are treated in terms of access to funding, resources and critical areas in cases of disasters.

The affiliates want the FCC to impose a 39% ownership cap on the networks to keep the networks’ power in check. But that’s not what regulations are for — they should protect the public, not one business from another.

President Donald Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill Friday that includes an additional $1 billion for spectrum repack expenses, averting a government shutdown and ending a panic that briefly gripped official Washington. A few hours after stunning even his closest advisers by tweeting that he was “considering a VETO“ of the bill, he held a news conference to say he would begrudgingly support it “as a matter of national security.“

The host, whose contract was suspended and has since been terminated, is suing the public broadcaster for dropping him. PBS has issued a response to his lawsuit — and it details witness accounts about the talk show host’s alleged sexual harassment and dalliances with subordinates.

Small cell 5G gear will no longer need federal environmental and historic reviews. The change is meant to lower costs and speed deployment of next-gen networks.

John Bolton, the next national security adviser, was a longtime commentator. He’s the latest TV personality to go from the small screen to the White House.

Flora Posteraro, the former WHTM Harrisburg, Pa., news anchor whose dismissal has roiled the midstate’s social media world, has now filed sex discrimination and retaliation complaints against her former employer, Nexstar Broadcasting.

A New York federal judge won’t yet dismiss a WNYW New York reporter’s claim that she was fired in retaliation for complaining about discrimination — and found it’s too early to tell whether it was irrelevant for her to reference other women’s allegations against Roger Ailes and Billl O’Reilly in her complaint.

The $1.3 trillion appropriations bill has passed the House on Thursday and the Senate early Friday morning. Among its many provisions, it allocates an additional $1 billion for spectrum repack expenses — above and beyond the $1.75 billion already allocated.

With April Fools’ Day falling on a Sunday this year, perhaps the potential for on-air pranks is lessened. But, then again, who knows what weekend talent may be planning? While a little fun is OK, remember that the FCC does have a rule against on-air hoaxes. While issues under this rule can arise at any time, broadcaster’s temptation to go over the line is probably highest on April 1.

The government and AT&T clashed on Thursday as each launched their opening salvos in a far-reaching trial on the telecom giant’s proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner.

The action is the latest installment of the commission’s Modernization of Media Regulation initiative. The proposal would simplify the reauthorization process when a previously approved satellite station is assigned or transferred.

Fans will be glued to the “March Madness” college basketball tournament as the joint owner of rights for the games, Time Warner Inc, goes before a judge today to defend a proposed takeover by AT&T Inc. With some 12 million viewers per game last year, the NCAA tournament exemplifies the marquee programming the U.S. government argues will become more expensive if Time Warner is bought by AT&T, the biggest pay-TV provider via subsidiary DirecTV.

The three towns — Yuma, Ariz.; Jackson, Wyo.; and El Centro, Calif. — allege that Charter violated FCC regulations by failing to notify their customers 30 days in advance that they could lose local channels.

AT&T says it needs to buy Time Warner to compete with the likes of Amazon, Netflix and Google in the rapidly evolving world of video entertainment. The Justice Department’s antitrust lawyers worry that consumers will end up paying more to watch their favorite shows, whether on a TV screen, smartphone or tablet.

The trade group tells the FCC it should increase the coverage limit to 78%. Network affiliates, on the other hand, want to limit the networks to 39% for their O&Os, while Nexstar and Sinclair say there is no longer justification for any cap at all.

A New York judge said today that a defamation lawsuit against President Trump related to an allegation that he sexually harassed a former Apprentice contestant may go forward.