Without speaking a word or scratching a pen across paper, President Joe Biden drove up the pressure on Big Tech companies already smarting under federal and congressional investigations, epic antitrust lawsuits and near-constant condemnation from politicians of both parties.
The Federal Trade Commission will be the agency to review Amazon’s proposed acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM, according to people familiar with the matter, just as the commission gets a new chairwoman, Lina Khan, who has been critical of the online giant’s expansion.
Major U.S. streamers including Netflix, Amazon and Disney+ could be regulated for the first time in the UK as part of proposals being considered by Boris Johnson’s government. Ministers at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport have announced that they will consult on plans to subject the streaming giants to British broadcasting laws, bringing them in line with the BBC, ITV, Sky and others.
The high court agreed with a lower court’s determination that NCAA limits on the education-related benefits that colleges can offer athletes who play Division I basketball and football violate antitrust laws. The case is important in the short term for students who may see schools competing for talent by sweetening their offers with a variety of education-related benefits. It’s also important in the long term because it sets the stage for future challenges to NCAA rules limiting athletes’ compensation.
Mere days away from sentencing for her involvement in the NXIVM cult, former Smallville actress Allison Mack on Monday got an unexpected helping hand from federal prosecutors.
The National Association of Broadcasters said a recent appeals court decision has established the precedent for commission authority to levy regulatory fees on Big Tech. NAB has been pushing the FCC to start charging Big Tech and other unlicensed spectrum users such a fee, as it does broadcasters and other FCC licensees and said it is now clear the FCC has the authority to make it happen.
Exclusives
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah and her defense attorneys have asked a federal judge in New York this week to dismiss […]
The selection of legal scholar Lina Khan to head the Federal Trade Commission is seen as signaling a tough stance toward tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple. Khan was sworn in as FTC chair just hours after the Senate confirmed her as one of five members of the commission on a 69-28 vote.
President Joe Biden’s ambitious goals for broadband, including expanding access throughout the country, may remain unmet until he nominates a fifth commissioner to the FCC. That’s according to the ACLU, Center for Democracy and Technology, Free Press, Mozilla and dozens of other advocacy organizations.
The Senate has confirmed a fifth commissioner, Lina Khan, to the Federal Trade Commission, so that regulatory body has a Democratic majority — some five months into the Biden administration — though it is still operating under an acting chair, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.
A bipartisan group of House members introduced five bills targeting Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
There is a major difference of opinion between the National Association of Broadcasters and the network affiliate broadcaster associations over whether the FCC should require streaming services to deliver emergency alerts. NAB says no, while network affiliates say yes, definitely. All they need to do is carry local TV station signals on their streaming services, which they are pushing the FCC to mandate.
Government leak hunters have been ratcheting up pressure on the ability of journalists to do their jobs for a generation — a push fueled by changing technology and fraught national-security issues that arose after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Now, those tensions have reached an inflection point.
On Friday, the FCC said it will conduct a nationwide test of the EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on Aug. 11 at 2:20 p.m. EDT, with a backup date of Aug. 25 at 2:20 p.m. EDT. FEMA will initiate the WEA portion of the nationwide test using the State/Local WEA Test category. Only those subscribers who have opted in to receive WEA test messages will receive the test message. Participating CMS providers are required to transmit the State/Local Test message and enable subscribers to opt in to receive it. FEMA will transmit the alert in both English and Spanish. All EAS participants are required to participate in this nationwide EAS test.
The disclosure of the aggressive leak investigation tactic followed a similar revelation involving The New York Times.
Starz wants Disney to change the name of its upcoming Latin America streaming service, Star+. The Lionsgate-owned network filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Disney in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. Starz is arguing that the name of Disney’s forthcoming streaming service is too similar with Starz, particularly its own streaming service StarzPlay, which operates in 58 countries worldwide and has been available in Latin America since 2019.
California lawmakers are seeking a large increase to the state’s film and TV tax credit program, a $180 million hike that would bring the Golden State more in parity with New York. The state Senate Budget Committee adopted a proposal last week that would provide $90 million per year for 2021-22 and 2022-23. That is a far greater figure than Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to increase the tax incentives by $30 million in the next fiscal year.
A new executive order directs the Commerce Department to undertake what officials describe as an “evidence-based” analysis of transactions involving apps that are manufactured or supplied or controlled by China. Officials are particularly concerned about apps that collect users’ personal data or have connections to Chinese military or intelligence activities.
The Parents Television and Media Council is calling on the FCC and Congress to regulate streaming services. That came Tuesday after the heads of the top streaming services did not participate in its virtual town hall on better content controls.
The National Association of Broadcasters is expressing concern about the changes the FCC is proposing to make in calculating FY 2021 regulatory fees — objecting to both the increased amounts and proposed calculation methods. For the third consecutive year, the commission plans to increase fees to “unfair, unsustainable levels,” the NAB said in a filing with the commission.
The Justice Department on Saturday announced that it will no longer use subpoenas or other legal methods to obtain information from journalists about their sources — a major policy shift that came just a day after the New York Times revealed that the department had prohibited the newspaper’s lawyers and executives from disclosing an effort to seize email records of four reporters.
NCTA-the Internet & Television Association has bolstered its government affairs team, including adding some Democratic firepower in a town where the White House, both houses of Congress, and the FCC, are all under Democratic control. The new faces: Timothy Graham, Alex Minard and Kelsey Odom
It is the third instance over the last month in which a news media organization has disclosed that federal authorities seized the records of its journalists in an effort to identify sources for national security stories published during President Donald Trump’s administration.
