Regulation

Both the House and Senate Commerce Committees have agreed to bring the FCC reauthorization bill, “Ray Baum’s Act,” to the House floor for a vote next on March 6. The bill includes the repack fund that will compensate radio stations, translators, and LPTVs for costs related to displacement and reduced power while TV stations are “repacked” on the spectrum, and adds elements of the Senate’s Mobile Now Act promoting the development of 5G networks.

President Trump has invited representatives of the video game industry to a meeting at the White House next week, days after he suggested a link between violent games and a recent spate of deadly school shootings including in Parkland, Fla.

The Wall Street Journal reports that YouTube last year stopped hiring white and Asian males for technical positions because they didn’t help the company achieve its goals for improving diversity, according to a civil complaint filed by a former employee. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.

In an attempt to restore the net neutrality rules, consumer advocacy group Free Press Thursday filed suit against the FCC. Free Press argues that the FCC can’t support Chairman Ajit Pai’s claim that the former rules resulted in a drop in investment by carriers.

Public broadcasters have asked the FCC to exempt noncommercial TV statiions from a regulation requiring them to broadcast using two different standards during rollout of the new ATSC 3.0 standard.

The departure of one of the president’s longest-serving advisers, who worked as a one-woman communications shop during his winning campaign, came as a surprise to most in the White House — and cast a pall over the West Wing at a tumultuous time. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The attorneys general say that the FCC lacks authority to raise the nominal 39% cap, but it does have the power to eliminate the UHF discount and it should exercise that power to prevent all stations groups from exceeding 39%. “[L]ifting or eliminating the national audience reach limit threatens diversity, competition, and localism,” they say.

With primaries in some states happening as soon as March, the 2018 election cycle is certain to be contentious and hard-fought. Now is the time for broadcasters to review their systems to ensure that they will be in compliance with the FCC’s political advertising requirements. The FCC’s political broadcast rules generally cover: 1) who is entitled to access to broadcast advertising time; 2) how much they pay for that time; and 3) disclosure and recordkeeping requirements. Here’s a look at each of those areas.

On Friday, the FCC announced its first EEO audit of 2018. The notice itself was not sent by mail, but instead by email, the first time that email has been used to for EEO audits. Also, the procedure for responding to the audit is different. No longer does the broadcaster subject to the audit have to submit paper copies of all of its documents to the FCC through the FCC Secretary’s office. Instead, the response will be filed in the station’s online public file.

A top Democratic super PAC is spending $250,000 on a television ad buy to boost Democratic candidate Conor Lamb ahead of next month’s Pennsylvania special election.

Discovery says the DOJ had concluded its investigation into the proposed merger, clearing the way for the deal to close.

Congressional Democrats today introduced a long-promised resolution aimed at undoing the FCC’s repeal of the net neutrality rules. Spearheaded by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), the measure would reverse the FCC’s December decision to repeal the Obama-era regulations. It would do so via the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to nix agency rules, within 60 days of their publication in the Federal Register, by a simple majority vote.

Fox News has come out victorious in a blockbuster ruling on Tuesday that could cause a sharp derailment in the sharing of clips from the cable network. In the decision, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals analyzes copyright fair use and comes to the conclusion that TVEyes, a media monitoring service, went too far by giving its customers the ability to watch virtually all of Fox News’ content.

CNN boss Jeff Zucker has called upon advertisers and tech firms to help find new way to monetize news content on mobile platforms, and on authorities to pay closer attention to the power wielded by Google and Facebook, as news providers try to adapt to the changing digital landscape.

t’s part of an aggressive push towards super-fast 5G wireless services, which require new swaths of airwaves to become available to the carriers building the networks. The FCC said it wants to hold two auctions — first of the 28 GHz band and then of the 24 GHz band — starting later this year.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Stacey Dash, the actress turned conservative political commentator, has filed paperwork to run for a congressional seat in Southern California. Documents submitted Monday to the Federal […]

Social media giants Facebook and Twitter should be fined if they don’t weed out automated accounts, or bots, trying to influence U.S. public opinion, says Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

March is one of those months where without the Annual EEO Public File Reports that come up for different states every other month, or without the Quarterly Issues Programs List and Children’s Television Report obligations that arise following the end of every calendar quarter. But this March has two very significant deadlines right at the beginning of the month — Online Public Files for radio and Biennial Ownership Reports — that will impose obligations on most broadcasters.

Facebook Inc and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg have reached a $35 million settlement of class-action litigation accusing them of hiding worries about the social media company’s growth prior to its May 2012 initial public offering.

CNN, The Miami Herald and The South Florida Sun Sentinel filed a civil lawsuit in Broward Circuit Court today in an effort to obtain footage of the outside of the building where the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School took place earlier this month.

America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) will present the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Rep. Charles W. Dent (R-Pa.) during its Public Media Summit today, Monday, Feb. 26, at 2:20 p.m. at the Fairmont […]

MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by coal company Murray Energy against HBO host John Oliver. A segment of Oliver’s Sunday show “Last Week Tonight” […]

At its meeting yesterday, the FCC adopted a notice suggesting the abolition of the EEO Mid-Term Report, FCC Form 397. That form is filed at the mid-point of the renewal term of TV stations with five or more fulltime employees and radio clusters with 11 or more fulltime employees. As the content of the report is principally made up of the broadcaster’s last two EEO Public Inspection File Reports, and those reports are available in a broadcasters online public inspection file, the FCC concluded that there is no real reason that these reports need to be separately submitted, and thus proposed its elimination.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai received the National Rifle Association’s “Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award” at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. The NRA-sponsored award was given to Pai in recognition of months of heavy criticism over his successful push to repeal the agency’s net neutrality rules last December.

Well, it’s official: the Open Internet rule, better known as Net Neutrality, will go bye-bye starting April 23.

“While the commission has a long history of facilitating the introduction of new technologies and services,” the commission said, “the regulatory path from technological breakthrough to authorization of service has often been too long and arduous.”

The FCC plans to make its net neutrality repeal official on Thursday, when it will publish the revocation order, dubbed “Restoring Internet Freedom,” in the Federal Register. The expected move will trigger a 60-day window during which Congress can rescind the FCC’s move by passing a resolution of disapproval.