By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-17-20The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee took its turn taking Big Tech to the woodshed in a hearing Tuesday (Nov. 17) entitled "Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election" that included threats of breaking up companies and/or heavily regulating them.Republicans have been focused on what they see as Silicon [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-16-20 The Senate Commerce Committee is marking up a bill this week (Nov. 18) that would expand the number of broadband suppliers eligible for $1 billion in funding to rip-and-replace suspect tech, like that of Huawei and ZTE. The bill, S. 4472, the Ensuring Network Security Act, amends that [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-16-20 With a likely Democratic FCC unlikely to start freeing broadcasters from local ownership restrictions, it is even more important for broadcasters to have the flexibility to flex their online, interactive muscles. If the Federal Communications Commission turns blue, as expected, the front-runners for chair are senior Democrat Jessica [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-11-20 As they transition to ATSC 3.0, the Next Gen TV transmission standard, broadcasters want the FCC to clarify/modify the TV station license framework for simulcasting to extend to multicast streams. The FCC is allowing stations to partner on distribution arrangements so that broadcasters can continue to deliver a [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 11-2-20 Top House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans want the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on what they said is misleading TV advertising by trial lawyers, ads they said could threaten the COVID-19 recovery. In a letter Monday (Nov. 2) to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, the Republicans said [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-29-20 In his last speech as an FCC commissioner, Michael O'Rielly took aim at another Trump Administration proposal – a government-issue 5G network. O'Rielly is having to leave the commission because President Trump withdrew his nomination, a move most believe stemmed from the commissioner's criticism of the president's effort [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-28-20 The Democratic leadership of the House Energy & Commerce Committee said the FCC has some explaining to do about Chairman Ajit Pai's decision to act on the Trump Administration's request that it find a way to regulate social media, platforms Republicans argue are using their Section 230 liability [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-28-20 Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), co-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee that investigated Russian election meddling, took issue with the Commerce Committee's hearing with Big Tech CEOs Wednesday (Oct. 28). He joined a growing chorus of Democrats on that Commerce Committee who, during that hearing, branded it a sham [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-28-20 Verify and trust appears to be Big Tech's answer to threats of regulation over their moderation of content. Social media CEOs faced a gauntlet Wednesday (Oct. 28) at a highly anticipated and hotly charged hearing whose title signaled the tenor of the exchanges with the Republican majority: "Does [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 10-28-20 The Trump Justice Department has joined the President in arguing that Twitter and Facebook's restriction of access to a story in the New York Post about Hunter Biden is evidence that social media need regulating. That came in a letter from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd to the [...]