Regulation

The Senate has put the STELAR retransmission consent reform vehicle on blocks, apparently for good. As expected the Senate has passed compromise bills that make the retrans good faith negotiation mandate for broadcasters and MVPDs permanent and sunsets the every-five-year renewal of the satellite distant signal compulsory license.

The former 60 Minutes correspondent is suing the magazine  for $25 million, claiming an article about her retracted report tarnished her career.

While political broadcasting never seems to be totally off the airwaves, the 2020 election season is about to click into high gear, with the window for lowest unit rates to begin on Dec. 20 for advertising sales in connection with the January Iowa caucuses. The beginning of the LUR window in Iowa is but the first of a rapid many political windows that will be opening across the country as the presidential primaries move across the country.

Bills that would end the every-five-year renewal of the satellite compulsory license passed the House Tuesday in a package of funding bills, H.R. 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, which is expected to be passed by the Senate later this week.

A major shareholder — New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer — is pressuring Comcast to back down from its thorny legal battle with comedian-turned-TV producer Byron Allen — something the media mogul says he would welcome.

Cassandra Vinograd, a London-based associate producer for 60 Minutes, has sued CBS for “unlawful discriminatory conduct” and “unlawful retaliatory conduct” after she attempted to report her boss for misconduct. She says Michael Gavshon sent her an inappropriate photograph and drank excessively.

Diane Rinaldo, who is acting administrator for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, emailed staff a “fond farewell” on Monday. Doug Kinkoph, Commerce Department acting deputy assistant secretary, will fill in for Rinaldo as acting administrator.

The FCC has voted unanimously to propose eliminating the requirement that cable operators provide their subs at least 30 days notice of a TV station channel coming off their systems, changing it to notice “as soon as possible” given that retrans deals are often struck in the 11th hour. It must still collect comment on the proposal and vote on a final order, but that will almost certainly happen.

Darryl Polo and Luis Villarino pleaded guilty to multiple criminal copyright and money laundering charges while operating iStreamItAll and Jetflicks, illegal television and movie streaming operations.

Federal officials are considering seeking a preliminary injunction against Facebook over antitrust concerns related to how its products interact, according to people familiar with the matter. A majority of the five-member FTC would be needed to seek an injunction, which the commission would need to file suit in federal court to obtain.

A source familiar with the agreement said that there is a bicameral, bipartisan deal on House Energy & Commerce and Judiciary versions of bills that would essentially end the every-five-year STELAR reauthorization cycle, which has been a goal of the National Association of Broadcasters. STELAR’s renewal has been used as a vehicle for proposed retrans reforms NAB has opposed as unnecessary.

Christmas might not feel so merry for the Walt Disney Co. this year after a hearing this morning on the potential class action pay equity lawsuit from 10 female employees of the House of Mouse did not go to a happy place for the Bob Iger-run company.

As the decade ends, nothing about TV is the same, whether it’s how much television we consume; how and where we do it; who gets to make it, and the level of respect given the creatively emboldened small screen. We don’t just watch TV, we binge it until we’re bleary-eyed if not sated. We still change channels with a remote control, but more often we’re logging in to watch shows on our phones or other devices and on our schedules, not network-dictated appointment TV.

The House has passed a compromise bill, HR 5035, the Television Viewer Protection Act (TVPA), that would make permanent the mandate that broadcasters and MVPDs negotiate in good faith. That mandate sunsets at the end of the year unless renewed. But the bill does not renew the compulsory license, which also sunsets at the end of the year if not renewed.

The trade group tells the commission it should revise proposed regulatory fees for VHF stations so that they “more accurately reflect their actual population served.”

In a recent action, the FDA issued 15 warning letters to companies marketing CBD products – warning them about marketing both for edible products and for health claims. The FDA also released a Consumer Update warning consumers about many of the potential risks of CBD use and included a litany of advertising issues that the FDA found problematic, beyond the simple issues of advertising products to be ingested and making specific health claims.

A Pennsylvania appeals court has rejected Cosby’s bid to overturn his sexual assault conviction. The ruling today was being closely watched as Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. Defense lawyers say the trial judge improperly allowed five other accusers to testify.

Democrat Representative David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who leads the Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, doesn’t just want to enforce the laws governing the tech industry. He wants to change them.

Currently in Phase 7 of its broadcast incentive auction repack, the FCC said that as of Dec. 6, 697 of 987 stations being repacked (71%) have moved off their pre-auction channels, with 79% of those having fully transitioned to permanent facilities.

America’s Public Television Stations is turning to an FCC rulemaking in an attempt to aid its five-year quest to involve public TV stations in a new national emergency communications system. “To leave public television stations … on the sidelines of the FirstNet infrastructure is to ignore a robust, reliable and ubiquitous partner whose public safety capabilities have proven effective in a variety of critical use cases,” APTS told the FCC in comments.

Francisco Salguero moves from the USDA to oversee the commission’s work in IT development, deployment and information security.

Google, Alibaba and other Big Tech companies could be forced to share data on financial services customers with banks and financial technology firms to prevent unfair competition. As Facebook’s plan for its Libra “stablecoin” faces scrutiny, a global body of regulators from the world’s main financial centers said that Big Tech’s growing tentacles raised questions for financial stability, competition and data privacy.

Broadcasters are asking the FCC to make sure it protects incumbent newsgathering operations in the 6 GHz midband spectrum it is eyeing for unlicensed use.

The FCC and its Republican chairman, Ajit Pai, took hits from both sides of the aisle in an oversight hearing in the House Communications Subcommittee Thursday (Dec. 5).

Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa won an injunction against Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s assets in Mexico, but Mexico’s market regulator said on Thursday that the ruling would not stall the deal.