Regulation

State governments are becoming pivotal players in the battle over net neutrality. In recent weeks, legislatures from California to Massachusetts have introduced bills aimed at restoring the FCC’s broadband rules, which banned Internet providers from arbitrarily speeding up or slowing down websites. Their novel approach, analysts say, is largely untested in court — and it could drive the fight over the Internet’s future into hazy legal territory.

The Department of Justice on Friday moved to prevent AT&T from arguing that politics played a role in the government’s decision to stop its merger with Time Warner Inc, a deal that President Donald Trump had publicly criticized. “There was no selective enforcement,” Justice Department lawyer Craig Conrath said at a pre-trial hearing. “The president is unhappy with CNN. We don’t dispute that. But AT&T wants to turn that into a get-out-jail-free card for their illegal merger.”

AT&T is demanding that the Justice Department hand over additional evidence to prove that President Trump did not wield political influence over the agency as its antitrust enforcers reviewed the company’s bid to acquire Time Warner.

Public interest group MMTC had petitioned the US Court of Appeals for a rehearing on its decision upholding the FCC decision deciding not to impose any multilingual EAS obligations on broadcasters. The full Court of Appeals has just issued a one sentence order denying that reconsideration request. While, theoretically, MMTC’s next appeal would be to the Supreme Court, lacking an issue of major significance or constitutional importance, that is unlikely.

The creation of the First Amendment by our nation’s founders demonstrated a profound commitment to human dignity, reason and the search for truth. First Amendment confusion reigns today in America. Today, too many Americans take a self-centered approach, claiming their own individual rights, but not acknowledging that the First Amendment protects the free speech of the other guy, too.

In a huge surprise, a New York federal judge on Thursday delivered a blow to nine news organizations defending their use of a Tom Brady photo. The judge’s decision is sure to be controversial and could prove quite consequential, too, potentially disrupting the way that news outlets use Twitter and causing many in technology to re-examine ubiquitous practices from embedding to linking.

RTDNA on Thursday demanded that the press office for the Georgia State Senate rescind its threat to revoke press credentials for a WGCL Atlanta reporter who had the audacity to ask questions of a state senator in the public hallway of a public building, the Georgia State Capitol.

In another proceeding initiated as part of its effort to modernize the rules that apply to broadcasters, the FCC is seeking comment on whether and how to update the requirement that licensees file paper copies of certain contracts and other documents with the agency within 30 days of their execution. As a result of the publication of the notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, comments are due on March 19 and reply comments are due on April 2.

Patrick Butler, president-CEO of America’s Public Television Stations: “Public television is primarily a local service, performed by 170 community, university and state licensees throughout America, pursuing essential missions of education, public safety and civic leadership for everyone — everywhere, every day, free of charge. Without the federal investment, this universal service would be impossible. And the farther away from major cities public television goes, the more important federal funding becomes.”

By the end of last year, in a previously undisclosed move, the FCC’s inspector general, the agency’s top internal watchdog, opened an investigation into whether FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and his aides had improperly pushed for TV station ownership rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair Broadcast Group, according to Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey and two congressional aides.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday approved a bill reauthorizing funding for the FCC and allocating additional funds to TV and radio stations affected by the FCC’s incentive auction, which repurposes broadcast airwaves for wireless providers. It would also implement a number of process reforms aimed at making the agency run more efficiently.

The company is requesting that Makan Delrahim testify in the trial over the government’s decision to block its $85 billion merger with Time Warner, according to two people with knowledge of the pretrial activity.

“To bridge America’s digital divide, we’ll have to use innovative technologies,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said today. Pai also said the proposal would increase competition among internet service providers, and he encouraged the agency’s commissioners to approve an application from SpaceX to begin the project.

Charles in Charge star Alexander Polinsky on Wednesday joined his former co-star Nicole Eggert in accusing Scott Baio of abuse, saying that he “was sexually harassed by Scott Baio and ultimately assaulted by him” while appearing on the 1980s sitcom as a minor.

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau announced the opening of a 60-day filing window for those LPTV stations that are being displaced as a result of the post-incentive auction repacking process.The window will be open from Tuesday, April 10, through Tuesday, May 15, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Once a station has identified which channel it wants — and on which it can operate without causing unacceptable interference — it should file a construction permit application during this filing window.

The FCC in December issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking looking at changes in the national television ownership caps. Yesterday, the commission issued an Order extending the comment dates. Comments are now due on March 19, with replies on April 18.

Elizabeth Rose, a former female employee of Vice Media has alleged in a lawsuit filed today that the company discriminates against female employees, systemically and intentionally paying them less than their male counterparts.

FCC Commissoner Michael O’Rielly will head up a review of commission rules requiring, among other things, that stations air three hours of educational information programming each week and imposing commercial limits and other obligations.

Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox pledged to keep Sky News independent and continue funding the loss-making channel for five years, in an attempt to overcome British regulatory concerns over its $15.7 billion takeover of pay-TV firm Sky.

Gene Green, the congressman from Texas, will receive the association’s inaugural Broadcast Champion Award at its State Leadership Conference on Feb. 27 in Washington.

President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled 2019 budget again proposes the elimination of funding for the three major entities that award federal funding for public broadcasting and the arts: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts. (AP photo/Susan Walsh)

A coalition of top public broadcast organizations formally withdrew a recommendation Friday that the FCC ease equal employment opportunity requirements for public stations. America’s Public Television Stations, NPR, CPB and PBS jointly recommended the review in a joint response to the commission’s request for comments on its agenda to modernize media regulations. After supporters of the EEO rules objected last week, the organizations formally withdrew it.

The city of Yuma, Ariz., has sent a letter to Charter demanding the cable operator provide a credit to subscribers who have been without two Yuma-based stations since Feb. 1 due to a fee fight with their owner, Northwest Broadcasting. The stations affected are: CBS affioiate KSWT and NBC affil KYMA. The stations are two of 11 Northwest-owned network affiliates that have been blacked out in the dispute.

“As alleged in our complaint, The Weinstein Company repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination,” state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in court papers filed against Harvey Weinstein and the company.

Eleven members of Parliament from the United Kingdom journeyed to a large ballroom in Washington Thursday to learn about fake news from three U.S. social media giants, Google, Facebook and Twitter. The meeting was unusual — the official parliamentary session was the first time a House of Commons committee broadcast a public hearing live from outside the United Kingdom. And it wasn’t exactly cordial.

SES has accepted the merits of an Intelsat/Intel suggestion to the FCC that satellite’s valuable C-band frequencies can be shared with telcos in city areas to help boost 5G coverage. SES will join a consortium with Intelsat which is open to all satellite operators. The move, if accepted by the FCC, could prove to be extremely valuable for SES and Intelsat. The two dominate the supply of satellite capacity over the US.

Ellenann B. Yelverton today was appointed vice president, general counsel of Raycom Media. “With a growing number of properties in our portfolio and a fast-changing industry landscape, Ellenann is the […]

Marketing Architects Inc., a Minneapolis-based advertising agency that created and disseminated allegedly deceptive radio ads for weight-loss products marketed by its client, Direct Alternatives, has agreed to pay $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission and State of Maine Attorney General’s Office to settle their complaint.