By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 5-5-21 The State of Maine has conceded that the law mandating cable a la carte violated the First Amendment, so it will not be enforced. According to the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, the Maine Attorney General is no longer defending the law, and in fact has conceded that it ran [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 5-3-21 The Biden Administration has received a bipartisan warning from Congress not to include Sec. 230-related language in any trade agreements. That came in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai from House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), [...]
Participated with the Reporters Committee and 90 other media organizations and outlets in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in response to news that the Department of Justice has launched investigations of the Minneapolis and Louisville Metro police departments. The letter urges the Justice Dept. to make the treatment of the press [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the New Mexico Court of Appeals in The New Mexican v. Public Service Company of New Mexico & BHP Billiton New Mexico Coal, Inc. This case concerns an attempt by utility companies to impose a prior restraint on The New Mexican [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-22-21 Hill Republicans are proposing to invest $65 billion in broadband infrastructure spending over five years, with the FCC and the National Telecommunications & Information Administration charged with handing out the new money. That is according to their just-announced $568-billion GOP Infrastructure Framework, a counter-offer to the Biden Administration's [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-20-21 The FCC is seeking comment on whether it needs to update its rules limiting excessively loud commercials. That came in a request from the Media Bureau and following a letter to FCC acting chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel from Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), author of the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-19-21 House Republicans have fired a shot across the net neutrality regulation bow before that ship has sailed. According to a copy of a letter to FCC acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel provided to Multichannel News, Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Communications Subcommittee ranking [...]
Participated with the Reporters Committee and 31 other media organizations and outlets in a letter to the Attorney Grievance Committee of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The letter requests public access to all papers, records, and documents from any and all disciplinary proceedings currently pending against Rudy Giuliani. A number [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-15-21 A coalition of dozens of groups and academics from around the world are calling on Facebook to scrap plans to launch a version of Instagram for children. Facebook is countering that it continues to explore the option, which it said will be age appropriate and managed by parents. [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 4-14-21 A bipartisan bill has been introduced to speed broadband deployments by cutting right-of-way "red tape" in rural communities. Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) have teamed up to introduce the Accelerating Rural Broadband Deployment Act, which they said will lead to easier and faster broadband installations. [...]