By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-18-22 A trio of Democratic legislators has introduced a bill that would ban the use of personal information to target most online advertising. The bill defines that personal information broadly, saying it comprises "data linked or reasonably linkable to an individual or connected device, including inferred and derived data, [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-17-22 The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold a markup this week on a bill to promote competition in an app market dominated by Apple and Google. The Jan. 20 markup, where a bill is amended and voted on (or sometimes not), will be on the Open App Markets [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-14-22 AT&T was the big winner in the FCC’s 2.45 GHz 5G auction, with the largest gross total at $9,079,177,491 and the most licenses won at 1,624. The assignment phase of the auction closed earlier this month following the clock phase, which ended in November. Number two in gross [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-13-22 The ranking member on the powerful Senate Commerce Committee wants the relationship between new FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and new NTIA head Alan Davidson to start out on the right foot. In a letter to both, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), called on the Federal Communications Commission and the [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-12-22 A D.C. District Court judge has said the Federal Trade Commission can proceed with its antitrust suit against Facebook, but not with its allegation that Facebook blocked app interoperability (its so-called “platform policies”). While Judge James E. Boasberg said the agency “may” have a tough time proving its [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-11-22 The Senate Judiciary Committee has moved its scheduled markup of a tough new online antitrust bill from Thursday (Jan. 13) to Jan. 27. The bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, was introduced back in October by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-10-22 The FCC said it has committed another $361 million-plus in broadband subsidy dollars for schools and libraries, bringing its total to date to almost $4.2 billion since its June 2021 launch. That is part of the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund, not to be confused with the FCC's [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-6-22 The FCC plans to vote this month to expand the online activities that define a candidate, and to square its political file rules with the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). According to a draft of the proposed report and order (R&O), it would revise the definition of [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-4-22 President Joe Biden on Tuesday (Jan. 4) praised stakeholders – including FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel – for the agreement by AT&T and Verizon Communications to delay their rollout of 5G wireless service in the C-band spectrum from January 5 to January 19. But he also suggested there could [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-4-22 Three former chiefs of the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau – including two former top military officers – have expressed their strong endorsement of Gigi Sohn as the regulator’s fifth commissioner. Those ringing endorsements came in letters this week to the chair and ranking [...]