Participated in a letter (with the Reporters Committee and other news media organizations) sent to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. The letter proposes a Supreme Court rule addressing sealed court records, given a recent upsurge in sealing at the Court. Such a rule, based on similar rules adopted by several [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-17-19 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, expected to be passed by the Senate later this week. Those are the Television Viewer Protection Act and [...]
Participated in an amicus brief (with the Reporters Committee and other amici) filed with the Ohio Supreme Court in CNN v. Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local Schools. CNN appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court after its request for the release of certain high school records relating to the deceased gunman from the Aug. 4, 2019 mass shooting [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-11-19 Attorney General William Barr signaled this week that the Justice Department is looking seriously, and critically, at social media platforms' Sec. 230 immunity from liability for third-party posts. "Section 230 has garnered significant attention from experts, consumer groups, and legislators," Barr said in a speech in Washington to [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-10-19 Advertisers are telling the Federal Trade Commission that its rule implementing the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is working and needs only tweaks around the edges. In comments to the FTC, the Association of National Advertisers argued that its members "have historically demonstrated thoughtful and unwavering [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-10-19 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 [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 12-9-19 With billions of political ad dollars on the line, broadcasters are working hard to make sure a new FCC ruling does not take even a little bite out of their share of that likely record political pie. At an NYC Television Week panel in New York, Kantar’s [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-21-19 Wrapping up a long two days, the House Energy & Commerce Committee approved a handful of bipartisan broadband and tech-related bills on a variety of topics, from broadband mapping and network security to freeing up spectrum. There were a handful of amendments adopted without opposition as the [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-21-19 House Energy & Commerce Communications Subcommittee chairman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) reached agreement on a STELAR reauthorization bill that then passed a full-committee markup Nov. 20, but the bill does not reauthorize the compulsory distant signal license, a major piece of the [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 11-20-19 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit won't review a three-judge panel decision throwing out much of the FCC's broadcast ownership deregulation order according to a court document obtained by B&C. The full court did not explain why it would not review the decision, but [...]