By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-20-22 The Senate has weighed into what was described as an “overgrown standing army” of Big Tech monopolists, with Senate Antitrust Subcommittee chair Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) saying to the army of lobbyists that would try to take down a tough new antitrust law under consideration: “Bring it on.” The [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-20-22 President Joe Biden took some time during his press conference Jan. 19, one of only a handful of solo outings with the White House press corps, to suggest that media coverage has become polarized, much as the two political parties have been. He also ventured into some cord-cutting [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-19-22 The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has taken aim at the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, which would ban the use of personal information to target most online advertising, saying the bill would kill the commercial Internet as we know it. The bill was introduced this week by Reps. Anna [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 1-18-22 The Biden Administration signaled Jan. 18 that it would be updating and strengthening merger guidelines in the face of a surge of consolidation it argues has reduced competition and consumer choice. That came in an announced “public inquiry” they said was expected to result in “strengthening enforcement against [...]

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 [...]