Add Consumer Technology Association President Gary Shapiro to the list of those strongly endorsing Gigi Sohn for the fifth seat on the FCC. In a blog post as CTA kicked off CES 2022 yesterday, Shapiro called Sohn ”a pragmatic problem solver who understands what it takes to make innovation thrive.“
Thirteen women are suing the Black News Channel for gender discrimination, accusing the Florida-based network of unequal pay for female employees and a workplace culture that forced them “to conform to sexist or misogynistic stereotypes about how women are supposed to behave.”
The FCC is defending its decision to make broadcasters do some extra due diligence in identifying foreign leased programming, a decision that came amid concerns about foreign disinformation in U.S. media. Calling it a “minimal extension” of its longstanding regulations regarding foreign programming sponsorship, the FCC told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit it should not block that rule “extension.”
Three former chiefs of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau — including two former top military officers — have expressed their strong endorsement of Gigi Sohn as the regulator‘s fifth commissioner. Confirmation of Sohn, a Democrat, would tip the balance of power on an FCC that‘s currently politically tied at 2-2.
In a letter to the Fox News personality, Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democratic chairman of the House panel investigating the Capitol insurrection, said the panel wants to question him regarding his communications with former President Donald Trump, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and others in Trump’s orbit in the days surrounding the evemt.
Exclusives
AT&T and Verizon Communications said late Monday (Jan. 3) that the companies will delay their planned Jan. 5 rollout of 5G wireless service in the C-band, at least briefly, at the request of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (above). The secretary had asked for a two-week delay to try and resolve issues of possible interference with radio altimeters that use the adjacent ban.
In accordance with congressional directives in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the FCC has introduced the Affordable Connectivity Program, the $14.2 billion successor program to the Emergency Broadband Benefit […]
He succeeds Gordon Smith. Michelle Lehman is named to the newly created chief of staff role.
Preston Padden, the former top Fox and Disney executive and a long-time champion of independent broadcasters, has penned an online op ed supporting Gigi Sohn as the fifth commissioner on the currently politically tied FCC. Padden concedes he and Sohn have disagreed on any number of issues — he is a small government, free market advocate, she a progressive backer of government regulation in service of her view of the public interest. But he says she will be “an important and necessary voice for competition and disruptive new market entrants at the FCC.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is pressing a federal appellate court to allow the state to enforce a new law that would prohibit Twitter, Facebook and YouTube from suppressing users’ posts based on viewpoint. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman in Austin blocked the law in early December, ruling that the measure violated tech companies’ First Amendment rights to exercise editorial discretion over the material they publish.
The airline industry has filed an emergency petition at the FCC asking that the commission stop implementation of rules for the rollout of 5G in the band and suggesting not to do so could cost the airline industry a billion dollars and delay shipments of COVID-19 vaccines and tests. It is just the latest battle line in the air war between the FCC and aviation over what the latter says is the potential for dangerous interference to critical aviation systems like altimeters.
January Regulatory Dates For Broadcasters
As the holiday season comes to an end and 2022 comes into focus, broadcasters have several dates and deadlines to keep up with in January and early February.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in a decision handed down Dec. 28), said that the FCC conclusion on the risk of harmful interference was just the sort of technical call that the court owes “significant deference.”
Lawmakers say 2022 is shaping up as a pivotal year in their efforts to tighten regulations on social media and other internet platforms — and are pushing President Biden to come off the sidelines. Democrats and Republicans are working on half a dozen or more major categories of legislation dealing with online privacy and children’s safety, the transparency of companies’ data-collection practices, accountability for content posted on social media and market dominance by a handful of major players.
This year, TVNewsCheck reported on the deaths of outstanding men and women who shaped television as actors, lawmakers, producers, business people, journalists, on-air personalities and more. Here’s a look back at some of those influencers, each linked to their obituary.
Harry Mason Reid, a combative former boxer-turned-lawyer, was widely acknowledged as one of toughest dealmakers in Congress, a conservative Democrat in an increasingly polarized chamber who vexed lawmakers of both parties with a brusque manner and this motto: “I would rather dance than fight, but I know how to fight.” Over a 34-year career in Washington, Reid thrived on behind-the-scenes wrangling and kept the Senate controlled by his party through two presidents — Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama — a crippling recession and the Republican takeover of the House after the 2010 elections.
The New York State judge also ordered The Times to turn over physical copies and destroy any electronic versions of documents a lawyer prepared for the conservative group.
Broadcasters have asked a federal court to stay the FCC’s implementation of the decision to boost disclosure requirements for foreign government-sponsored programming until that court can hear their appeal of the decision.
The Federal Trade Commission is pushing forward with antitrust scrutiny of Amazon’s cloud computing business, according to people familiar with the matter. Lina Khan, the head of the agency and a vocal critic of the online retailer, is advancing a probe started several years ago by her predecessor.
Weeks after Kyle Rittenhouse said he wanted to “lay low” when he was found not guilty of homicide, attempted homicide and other charges related to last year’s fatal shootings that rocked Kenosha, Wis., the teen was welcomed Monday at a conservative conference to music, pyrotechnics and a standing ovation from thousands of attendees. Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two men and injured another during mass protests against police violence in August 2020, suggested Monday that lawsuits could be filed against media outlets for how they covered his murder trial.
Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) are introducing a bill that would give some low-power television (LPTV) stations the opportunity to apply for Class A television service status, which includes must-carry rights. LPTVs haven’t been able to apply to the FCC for such status since 1999.
The National Association of Broadcasters is telling the FCC that it should not mandate participation in the Disaster Information Reporting System, a mandate that could pull staffers away from maintaining service in a natural disaster to “fill out a government form.”
CNN fired a producer who was charged last week with trying to induce minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity. The producer, John Griffin, worked at the network for about eight years, including on the morning show New Day.
