Regulation

An arbitrator rules that the actor’s pattern of sexual harassment caused damage to MRC and flouted…An arbitrator rules that the actor’s pattern of sexual harassment caused damage to MRC and flouted contractual obligations.

The FCC is getting video streamers, multichannel video programming distributors and others together to talk about the state of closed captioning for online programming. It has scheduled a Dec. 2 forum with a keynote address from Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a longtime advocate for greater communications accessibility as author of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.

A bipartisan group of at least 10 state attorneys general is investigating how Instagram may harm children and teens. The group, which includes AGs from California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont, will investigate the methods used by Instagram to attract and encourage engagement among young people, and whether parent company Meta — née Facebook —has violated consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is challenging the Federal Trade Commission’s chairwoman, contending in a series of letters that she is overstepping the agency’s legal authority. The agency says it won’t back down.

Acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said Thursday (Nov. 18) that her planned refresh of the record on independent content providers’ access to distribution platforms will need to include over-the-top video.

Two House Democrats from California, Reps. Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren, have reintroduced a sweeping privacy bill that would impose broad restrictions on companies’ ability to use online data for ad targeting.

Armstrong Williams: “My company, Howard Stirk Holdings, is one of only two African-American commercial television station licensee enterprises in the United States today. I have seen just how hard it is to grow and build HSH, and I do not want an FCC nominee to saddle the industry with unnecessary, harmful regulations.”

The Senate Commerce Committee vetted the renomination of acting FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel for a new, five-year term today (Nov. 17) and nary was heard a discouraging word. If confirmed, President Joe Biden has signaled he will designate her permanent chairman, the first woman to hold that post. (Mignon Clyburn was the first woman to be acting chair.)

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday it is in direct talks with the telecom industry about its aviation safety concerns involving the planned use of spectrum for 5G wireless communications.

Under the agreement, the U.S. will issue one-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese journalists and will immediately initiate a process to address “duration of status” issues, China Daily said. China will reciprocate by granting equal treatment to U.S. journalists once the U.S. policies take effect, and both sides will issue media visas for new applicants “based on relevant laws and regulations.”

Gigi Sohn’s nomination to the FCC is on a lot shakier ground than that of Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. If Sohn fails to be confirmed, broadcasters should lobby for a candidate who better understands how the agency can give the industry its best chance to flourish.

The bipartisan vote Tuesday was 68-29 to confirm Jonathan Kanter, an antitrust lawyer who has opposed tech giants in private practice, as assistant attorney general heading the Justice Department’s antitrust division. The position has been without a permanent head for nearly a year as Biden and his advisers sifted through a number of qualified candidates and then nominated Kanter in July to face Senate vetting.

Criticized by Republicans, Khan tells agency staffers she aims to build bridges going forward.

Actor Eliza Dushku shared her experience facing sexual harassment on the set of CBS’s Bull in front of a House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, speaking out about being fired from the show and forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

President Joe Biden has named former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu to oversee the administration’s massive infrastructure plan, including the $65 billion investment in broadband. Landrieu will be senior adviser and infrastructure coordinator, directing historic investments in universal high-speed internet access, as well as money for roads, bridges, rail, ports, airports, climate “resilience” and more.

The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, which if passed would see the federal government subsidizing the hiring of local reporters and newsroom employees via tax credits, is a troubling and ill-advised giveaway to commercial TV broadcasters.

Commission approval clears the way for Gray’s purchase of Meredith’s TV stations, with Meredith anticipating closing on Dec. 1.

The Justice Department and the SEC have contacted companies that discussed investing in the Silicon Valley media business.

The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a Nov. 17 nomination hearing for Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. She must be vetted and voted in before the end of the year or she would have to leave the commission since her term has already expired. But not on that hearing schedule is President Biden’s other nominee to the FCC, Gigi Sohn.

In his final State of the Industry address before leaving the association, Gordon Smith, President-CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, laid out nine lessons for the industry that started with the importance of negotiating and included the admonition that the “NAB should never register Republican or Democrat, but as human, local and American. We uphold and defend American values, such as factual journalism and the First Amendment. Neither party satisfies 100% of our issues. We need friends on both sides of the aisle.”

With the administration’s decision to renominate Jessica Rosenworcel for another term on the FCC and to select her as permanent chair, and the nomination of Gigi Sohn to fill the vacant seat on the commission, and assuming both are confirmed by the Senate, the FCC could be back at full strength by the first of next year. Here’s a look at the broadcast issues that a full FCC Commission will be facing.

The Senate Commerce Committee plans to consider President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the FCC next week but hold off consideration of his choice for a fifth commissioner who has drawn Republican criticism. The committee will hold a hearing on Jessica Rosenworcel’s nomination for a full term as chairwoman of the FCC on Nov. 17, according to a person briefed on the matter. A hearing is expected several weeks later for Gigi Sohn, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the procedure hasn’t been made public.

Wall Street Journal editorial: “Negotiations over the $4 trillion spending bill are consuming Washington, but President Biden’s effort to supercharge the regulatory state is also steadily advancing. The latest example is his nomination of progressive partisan Gigi Sohn to the FCC. Sohn’s strident partisanship should disqualify her from serving as an officer of an independent agency with so much power to control the public airwaves. There’s also a risk that the president could designate her as chair after she’s confirmed, as he did with the radical Lina Khan on the Federal Trade Commission.”

Congress passed its long-awaited $1 trillion infrastructure bill over the weekend, which promises to make a dramatic dent in the digital divide and give a boost to the electric vehicle market in America. Industry groups and tech companies alike were quick to praise its passage as a win for the tech industry. Here’s a quick look at what the bill will do for tech.