Regulation

The investigation by the Federal Trade Commission marks the most substantial political and legal threat yet to the social media giant as it grapples with the fallout from Cambridge Analytica and its controversial tactics.

D.C. Federal District Judge Richard Leon oversees the first day of “trial” concerning AT&T’s proposed $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner.

The cable association urges the FCC not to act on raising the 39% ownership cap before knowing how much such an action could increase cable rates. ACA wants the commission to consult with the new Office of Economics and Analytics and seek an econometric analysis

All that talk has turned to action: Former Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has announced her run for the New York governor’s seat. The actress made it official on Monday, and she plans to run in the Democratic Primary against current Governor Andrew Cuomo.

U.S. and European officials on Sunday called for Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to explain how personal information about tens of millions of users ended up in the hands of a data analysis firm that worked for President Trump’s 2016 campaign — without the permission or knowledge of the vast majority of those affected.

The choice of Larry Kudlow as chief economic adviser, a position with real influence over Americans, crosses a threshold in an administration that has already blurred the line between it and the media.

The talk in media circles is focused on what happens if the AT&T deal is stopped by the government and Time Warner is forced to go it alone.

Producer Gavin Polone sued Warner Bros. on Thursday, accusing the network of using creative accounting practices to deprive him of residuals for the Netflix revival of Gilmore Girls. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, represents the fourth dispute between Polone and the studio over Gilmore Girls residuals in the last 16 years.

Los Angeles Times: “The real issue is whether any company should be able to amass control over so much of the public airwaves.”

In a standoff with far-reaching implications, the government claims that the megamerger would give AT&T, which already owns the nation’s largest pay-TV provider, DirecTV, added clout to bully others, freeze out new entrants in the TV industry and increase rates for consumers. The dispute — a rare standoff in an antitrust case — will be decided by a federal judge after a trial that begins Monday in Washington, barring a last-minute settlement.

Two new initiatives are working to correct shortcomings in newsroom cultures that are creating environments ripe for harassment and abuse: Press Forward and the Power Shift Project.

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau have made changes to the DTV Reception Map. The map is designed to help over-the-air viewers understand which local stations they will be able to receive and what signal quality they might expect depending on their antenna type and placement as the repack rolls out for hundreds of TV stations that will begin transmitting on new channels between now and July 2020.

The cable group is concerned that Sinclair could use “after-acquired clauses” in Indianapolis and Greensboro, N.C., to raise retrans rates.

Two titans — the U.S. Justice Department and telecommunications giant AT&T Inc. — are locked in a high-stakes showdown to decide who controls some of the nation’s most popular television channels.

CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow is tapped to replace Gary Cohn, who announced last week he would step down as director of the National Economic Council after he opposed the president’s plans for new trade tariffs.

Sources say Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has settled on FCC official Geoffrey Starks as his pick to take over the seat of Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn upon her expected departure. Starks is an assistant chief in the agency’s Enforcement Bureau.

The parents of murdered Capitol Hill staffer Seth Rich are suing Fox News for emotional distress, claiming its coverage of the crime painted their son as a traitor and has prevented them from properly dealing with his death.

With the NCAA Basketball Tournament about to begin, broadcasters, publishers and other businesses need to be wary about potential claims arising from their use terms and logos associated with the tournament, including March Madness®, The Big Dance®, Final Four® or Elite Eight,® each of which is a federally registered trademark.

Free Press and other groups challenge what they call the FCC’s dramatic reversal of media-ownership limits that pave way for media mergers, including Sinclair-Tribune.

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Heather Locklear has been charged with several counts of battery against first responders who answered a domestic violence call at her Southern California home. The 56-year-old Melrose […]

“AT&T is merging with Time Warner not to thwart online viewing, but to advance it, by enabling AT&T to introduce new video products better suited to mobile viewing,” the company writes in papers submitted to a federal judge in New York.

Sinclair’s behavior in trying to merge with Tribune is doing it — and the entire broadcasting industry — no favors. By dragging out this process, and by pressing for every advantage, Sinclair is making life difficult for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who has been broadcasters’ best friend in that job in decades.

The Wall Streer Journal reports a group of 11 former Department of Justice officials has asked a judge to revisit questions about whether the White House interfered in the government’s lawsuit challenging AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Inc. Journal subscribers can read the full story here.

Here’s a rundown of what stations should be thinking about now, before the lowest unit rate windows open.

Comcast’s gatecrashing of Rupert Murdoch’s eight-year campaign to buy pay-TV group Sky has sparked a regulatory race with 21st Century Fox .

“Microsoft’s bet seems to be that it’s cheaper to hire slick PR muscle and to try to hoodwink regulators into handing out free spectrum than to buy spectrum like everyone else. As someone whose 600 MHz auction battle scars are still healing, I sure hope they are wrong.”