By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-8-21 The Senate has passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) (formerly the Endless Frontier Act), which, among many other things, attempts to diversify and better secure the 5G supply chain by backing alternatives to Chinese tech suppliers Huawei and ZTE. It now heads to the House. Among [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-8-21 The FCC has officially restored the deregulatory media ownership order adopted by the Republican majority under former chairman Ajit Pai, a decision reversed by an appeals court before that reversal was reversed by the Supreme Court. But the FCC is also seeking comment to “update the public record” [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-5-21 The Department of Justice said Saturday (June 5) that, going forward, it will not be issuing subpoenas for reporters' records in leak investigations. That came after the New York Times reported that not only was the Biden White House continuing the pursuit of such records from its reporters, a [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-4-21 Broadcasters joining the call for the FCC to start assessing its regulatory fees on Big Tech – computer companies, streamers, and other edge providers – saying they should not have to pay for computer company efforts – Microsoft in particular – to “degrade” their service. In comments to [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-4-21 Edge players have launched the latest legal salvo in their attempt to block a Florida law they say unconstitutionally restricts free speech, equal protection, and due process. The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, which together represent all the big players – Amazon, Google, Twitter, Mozilla, plus [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-4-21 Facebook will extend its ban of former President Donald Trump past the midterm elections, coming up with a two-year penalty but with the threat of a permanent ban still on the table. The company's oversight board had already upheld the suspension of Trump accounts on Facebook and co-owned [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-2-21 Even as Microsoft is trying to convince the FCC to expand the broadcast band channels it wants to use for broadband, it has announced an expansion of its Airband initiative, which has been targeted to closing the rural digital divide to eight of the largest U.S. cities. The [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 6-1-21 Senate Commerce Committee members Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) have re-introduced a bill that would standardize the definition of high-speed fixed broadband in government subsidy programs. The Broadband Parity Act, which the pair introduced in the last Congress, would tell the FCC to get together [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 5-27-21 House Energy & Commerce Committee Democratic leadership is pressing Big Tech companies for answers to why they have not done more to prevent COVID-19 vaccine disinformation. E&C Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), joined by the subcommittee chairs, wrote the CEOs of Facebook, Twitter, and Google as they continued [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 5-27-21 Big Tech companies are suing the state of Florida over its recently passed law that limits websites’ Sec. 230 immunity from civil liability over third-party content, saying it is a speech restriction targeted at select online businesses. The Computer & Communications Industry Association teamed up with NetChoice, whose [...]