By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-18-21 A trio of Senate Republicans wants their Democratic colleagues to hold a public hearing on what they say was the Obama-Biden Federal Trade Commission's failure to give Google more than a slap on the wrist following a 2011 investigation into potential anticompetitive conduct. That urging--they can only urge [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-16-21 Local elected officials and some community organizations from across the country have written to acting FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel asking the FCC to investigate digital "redlining" as well as to restore the Title II classification of internet access service, suggesting both will help close the racial justice divide. [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-15-21 Signaling it was FCC policies under Republican Chairman Ajit Pai that "secured" leadership in 5G, Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr has unveiled his plan for maintaining that leadership, though with a Democratic chair and, eventually, majority, Carr has only the power to propose, not impose. In a speech to [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-12-21 The FCC has released its list of communications equipment and services deemed a national security threat. Joining Huawei and ZTE, currently the poster companies for the FCC's effort to secure the network supply chain, are three other Chinese companies: Hytera Communications Corp., Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., and [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-12-21 Facebook and Google's market power, especially over digital advertising, has translated to a potential "extinction level event" for local news operations, broadcast, online, and print. That was the underlying message of House Antitrust Subcommittee chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) at a hearing Friday (March 12) on “Saving a Free [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-11-21 Democrats are taking a couple of bites at the $100-billion connect-everyone legislative apple. On the same day Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) introduced his bill to fund universal connectivity to the tune of $100 billion, all 32 members of the House Energy & Commerce Committee joined to introduce the [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-11-21 A bipartisan pair of legislators have introduced a bill that would eliminate some "outdated" regulations including the must-carry/retransmission consent regime that broadcasters use to secure payments from MVPDs for their local programming/signals and the compulsory copyright license. Broadcasters were not happy, while MVPDs were pleased with the prospect [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-11-21 As advertised, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), joined by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), has re-introduced a bill to close the digital divide by connecting everyone to the Internet at high speeds – 1 Gig is the goal. "Internet access will have the same dramatic impact on rural [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-10-21 In a 70-30 vote that included 20 Republicans, the Senate has confirmed Merrick Garland to be the nation's next attorney general and he has pledged to use that post for strong antitrust enforcement…. At his confirmation hearing, Garland pledged that he will be a strong enforcer of antitrust [...]

By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 3-10-21 Facebook has filed motions to dismiss the antitrust lawsuits brought by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general. Most of the nation's state attorneys general, joined by the Federal Trade Commission, last December filed a lawsuit charging that Facebook is an unlawful monopoly guilty of anticompetitive conduct. [...]