Commercial and public broadcasters are asking the FCC to relax its rules to allow them to deploy more transmitters at the edge of their service areas as they build out for ATSC 3.0.
ATLANTA (AP) — Reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley have settled allegations that they failed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in income taxes to the state of […]
Moving ever closer to its reunion with Viacom, CBS on Tuesday finds its corporate culture again under the spotlight in a $1 million-plus discrimination and retaliation lawsuit from the company’s former director of international treasury.
FCC Extends LPTV Reimbursement Deadline
Low-power TV, TV translator stations, and FM stations intending to request reimbursement for expenses incurred as a result of the repack of full-power and Class A television stations were required to file their Initial Reimbursement Form (Form 2100, Schedule 399) by Oct. 15. Now the FCC has announced that the deadline to file the reimbursement forms for LPTV and TV Translator stations is pushed back to Nov. 14 by 11:59 p.m.
While TV mogul Byron Allen alleges racism in refusing to license his niche channels, U.S. businesses worry that a win for him during the new Supreme Court term would increase legal costs and hurt their reputations.
Exclusives
Advertisers sued Facebook in 2016 over user metrics that supposedly measured the average length of time consumers spent viewing posted video ads. The lawsuit said that the time was inflated by up to 900 percent and that helped convince advertisers to buy Facebook’s video advertising services.
Court Puts Restrictions On Real Estate Seminars With HGTV Stars
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal court has agreed to put temporary restrictions on a pricey real estate seminar business fronted by HGTV stars after the Federal Trade Commission said […]
More Challenges For E-Cigarette Ads
Even though advertising for e-cigarettes is not currently illegal at the federal level, there are moves to change that position (including the announcement last month of an anticipated ban on flavored vaping products).
Days before the new session of the Supreme Court is set to begin, an ever-growing chorus of displeasure with the alliance between Comcast and Donald Trump’s Department of Justice in Byron Allen’s $20 billion battle with the NBCUniversal owner grew even louder and potentially more presidential.
In what could signal a big change in regulatory approach, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has plans a vote on an item that would set the precedent that streaming services qualify as “effective competition” to MVPDs sufficient to trigger basic rate deregulation of those MVPDs.
The decision by the EU’s top court that individual countries can order Facebook to take down posts globally sets a benchmark for the reach of European laws governing the internet.
Fired WSOC News Director Files Suit
Former WSOC news director Julie Szulczewski says she was fired after seven years. She’s filed a a federal lawsuit in which she says the station and its parent company, Cox Media Group, pushed her out to bring in a younger, less qualified man and “keep the boys’ club” happy.
But the 200-page appeals court ruling says the FCC can’t stop states from setting their own regulations. Consumer advocates and other groups viewed the ruling as a victory for states and local governments seeking to put in their own net neutrality rules.
October is one of the busiest months on the broadcaster’s regulatory calendar. Here’s a rundown of what’s up.
Evan Swaztrauber began his new job as policy adviser to FCC chair Ajit Pai Monday (Sept. 30) — the chairman had announced at the FCC’s public meeting he would be making the move. Swarztrauber replaces Nathan Learner, who has left the agency.
WCAU Reporter Charged In Two Assaults
A House of Representatives panel sent letters to four e-cigarette companies asking them to stop all print, broadcast and digital advertising of their products in the United States, the same day as market-leader Juul said it would pull its ads, the panel said on Thursday.
The streamer alleges that ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC are engaged in sham copyright litigation and are colluding to deny consumers over-the-air signals they once committed to make freely available.
It would replace the current newspaper publication requirement with a written public notice posted online on a publicly accessible website that includes a direct link to the broadcast application in question.
The Justice Department will open an antitrust investigation of Facebook, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, marking the fourth recent antitrust probe of the social media company.
The Las Vegas Sun filed a new federal lawsuit against the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The civil complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas alleges unfair trade practices. The federal antitrust lawsuit adds to a breach-of-contract complaint filed in state court more than a year ago.
FCC Approves Gray’s Top 4 Duop in Sioux Falls
Gray gets the go-ahead to buy the NBC affiliate and operate it with the ABC affiliate it already owns in the South Dakota market. The action, in essence, constitutes a waiver of the FCC’s local ownership rules barring ownership of two stations in small markets and of two top-rated stations (typically network affiliates) in all markets.
The SEC accuses the media analytics firm of overstating revenue by $50 million, making false statements about performance.
Broadcast and cable operators have a few more days to get those checks to the FCC. After only days earlier reminding regulated entities that they needed to get their regulatory fees in by the Sept. 24 deadline, the FCC Monday (Sept. 23) extended that due date to midnight Sept. 27.
