For broadband internet service providers (ISPs), the current FCC is a lost cause, a total waste of time. In the end, they are counting on the courts for vindication, and they are probably making a smart bet. Even though the FCC acts as if nothing has changed, in fact a lot has changed in the legal arena. Last year, the Supreme Court issued a bombshell decision in West Virginia v. EPA that will make it arduous for an agency like the FCC to adopt consequential rules absent explicit authorization from Congress.
On Monday, broadcasters made three separate presentations to FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez’s policy aides on the need to protect the regulatory status quo at a minimum regarding TV station ownership. The National Association of Broadcasters went a step further in calling for relaxation of a rule that limits combinations among the most popular stations in a local market.
TVNewsCheck Editor at Large Harry Jessell and Editor Michael Depp look back over an eventful year in broadcast business news and ahead to the steepest challenges it will confront in 2024. A full transcript of the conversation is included. [Ed. note: Jessell erroneously noted Nexstar stock took a 32% hit, when it actually lost 32 points. Since this episode was recorded, its stock rebounded to 155 yesterday.]
Exclusives
The case could reshape the rules of how other businesses can make money on the Android operating system.
The agency can finish handing out broadband service licenses to winning bidders for 2.5 GHz 5G spectrum it auctioned last year.
TV station owners have their fingers crossed as they await a big regulatory decision out of the FCC. Agency action is expected within days based on a court order requiring an FCC decision by Dec. 27. Before the agency is a proposal to tighten a key TV station ownership regulation. A negative outcome for broadcasters could upend established business practices that support their market value. Even if the FCC exempts existing TV station deals otherwise disallowed under the new rules, many broadcasters fear that even an accommodation like that could hurt their ability to exit the business at a healthy price.
On Monday, a federal judge advanced a lawsuit from investors who say they suffered losses when they sold their shares in Twitter, now known as X, because of posts from Musk claiming the platform has a major issue with fake accounts and that he could wiggle out of the deal because of it. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer found that several of Musk’s statements were false or misleading, in part, because he waived due diligence.
An FCC proposal would expand requirements for telecom providers to disclose hacks into their customers’ data. But telecom providers generally aren’t supportive of the agency’s look at the topic.
Amazon is asking a federal judge to throw out Federal Trade Commission charges that the company illegally hindered competition in the “online superstore” market, to the detriment of third-party sellers that use the platform as well as consumers. In a motion filed with U.S. District Court Judge John Chun in Seattle, Amazon argues that FTC’s allegations concern “common retail practices that presumptively benefit consumers.”
X Corp. owner Elon Musk on Thursday told the Supreme Court that a restriction on his ability to tweet about Tesla violates the First Amendment. The restriction, which he agreed to as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, prohibits Musk from tweeting about his car company without first obtaining approval from its lawyers. Such a restriction “is a quintessential prior restraint that the law forbids,” his lawyers say in a petition urging the Supreme Court to review the restriction.
Filing comments at the FCC is a routine matter. But when comments need to be filed can be contentious. A battle over FCC filing deadlines has sprung up within the context of the FCC’s rulemaking to impose common carrier regulations on broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The FCC is expecting the first round of Net Neutrality comments to arrive no later than Dec. 14 and the second no later than Jan. 17, 2024. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that is insufficient time and the deadlines need to be pushed back to Jan. 17 and March 18. But some public interest groups, including Common Cause and Public Knowledge, decided to oppose the Chamber.
A religious broadcaster says new federal rules are needed for it to obtain carriage on streaming services like YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV and Sling TV. One Ministries Inc. is turning to the FCC for help, claiming so-called virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs) are neglecting its Christian-formatted KQSL San Francisco.
The network argued that Jason Donner had not shown he faced illegal discrimination. The nation’s capital bans discrimination based on political party membership or endorsement, but Donner hasn’t shown he joined a political party, nor that his bosses knew and fired him for it, Fox lawyers said.
First Amendment advocates are alarmed by the case of Catherine Herridge, who is facing an imminent court deadline and steep fines.
The trade association for major cable TV companies says federal regulators are overreaching legally in trying to ban certain cable fees that President Biden has attacked as anti-consumer. NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, is telling FCC officials that the agency lacks legal authority to ban Early Termination Fees (ETFs) and Billing Cycle Fees (BCFs) – which are widely used by pay TV providers, including streamers in the case of BCFs, but referred to as “junk fees” by Biden and FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel.
An organization supported by traditional pay TV providers is pushing back on the idea that local TV station mergers won’t lead to higher cable and satellite TV bills. While TV stations continue to push for ownership deregulation at the federal level, the American TV Alliance (ATVA) predicts that control of TV stations by just a few owners will increase the retransmission consent fees that cable TV and satellite TV providers pay broadcasters.
Etsy, eBay and Yelp have joined a growing list of companies and organizations urging the Supreme Court to strike down laws in Florida and Texas that prevent tech platforms from moderating content. “It ought to be fundamental to the First Amendment that a marketplace for handmade T-shirts and coffee mugs should not be forced by a state’s ‘free speech’ regulations to carry ‘I ♥ Hitler’ paraphernalia out of ‘fairness’ to all viewpoints,” Etsy, eBay and others say in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Thursday. “This case should be that simple as a First Amendment matter.”
Satellite TV broadcaster and terrestrial wireless operator Dish Network and EchoStar, its sister company focused on broadband services from space, have cleared a key regulatory hurdle in the way of their merger plans. The FCC gave its blessing Dec. 6 to transfer all of Dish Network’s licenses and authorizations to EchoStar, which would be the surviving entity following the transaction. The approval is one of the final conditions needed to complete a merger announced around four months ago.
A cable TV company serving several small towns in Mississippi and Louisiana has abruptly shut down service in recent days and failed to provide appropriate notice to customers and local governments. Bailey Cable TV reportedly closed its doors on Nov. 30, causing customers who lost pay TV service to call various town officials seeking an explanation. Bailey officials were unreachable because calls placed to contact numbers on the company’s website resulted either in disconnections or automated messages saying the mail box was full.
Oliver Darcy: “The American press is facing, arguably, the gravest potential threat to its freedom in a generation. The four-time indicted, twice-impeached disgraced former president, Donald Trump, who admitted Tuesday that he will govern as a “dictator” on “day one” should he win office again, is overtly vowing to weaponize government and seek retribution against the news media, showing no regard for the First Amendment protections afforded to the Fourth Estate.”
Sony said that the Discovery shows, including MythBusters and Deadliest Catch, would be deleted from the devices on Dec. 31, citing “content licensing arrangements with content providers.”
Juniper TV CEO Samir Shah is set to become the new chair of the BBC, the U.K.’s culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said today. Shah, who has worked in broadcasting for more than 40 years, will appear before the Culture, Media and Sport committee in the U.K. for what’s known as “pre-appointment scrutiny” before officially taking up the role, which is worth £160,000 a year ($200,000).
Fox Television Stations is urging the FCC to renew the license of its WTXF Philadelphia “without delay,” claiming opponents have turned the renewal into a quarrel over issues that fall outside the scope of the agency’s review.
More than a dozen state attorneys general signed a letter directed toward media outlets like the New York Times and CNN, encouraging them to “follow the law” when it comes to coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict and ensuring they don’t give “material support to terrorists abroad.” The letter was spearheaded by Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and signed by 14 state attorneys general, and it was sent to the leadership of CNN, The New York Times, Reuters, and The Associated Press on Monday.
The National Association of Broadcasters continues to press for TV station ownership deregulation, saying a federal rule that bars the common ownership of some of the most successful TV stations in a market needs to go. NAB lawyers made their latest appeal for a market-driven ownership approach in a Nov. 30 meeting with an aide to FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel. A federal appeals court has ordered the FCC to finish its TV station ownership review by Dec. 27.
