By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-25-20 Cable operators are telling the FCC that retrans regulations should apply to carriage negotiations that include ancillary "broadcast internet" services. That came in comments by NCTA-The Internet & Television Association on the FCC's inquiry into what, if any, rules need to be changed to accommodate broadcaster's potential new [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-21-20 FCC chairman Ajit Pai has told a member of the House that the agency is generally not in the business of dictating what viewers can and can't see. Pai was responding to a letter from Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.), who was concerned about a TV show, La Comay, [...]
By Gary Arlen, Multichannel News, 8-17-20 The 280 megahertz of midband spectrum which is intended for 5G and other advanced services has been fully approved to go to auction starting Tuesday, Dec. 8, under a plan that the Federal Communications Commission adopted on Aug. 6. The controversial auction of the 3.7 to 3.98 GHz [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-17-20 Law firm Cooley LLP has broken out the ways that the NTIA petition, if acted on by the FCC, would impose “sweeping changes.” For one, its requirement that websites disclose their moderation policies would subject edge provider content to the FCC’s authority for the first time. It could [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-17-20 Section 230 is the surviving section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, the rest of which was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. It allows social media sites to host third-party speech without being subject to legal action based on the content that is posted or what [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-17-20 California’s net neutrality law should be blocked because federal law pre-empts the state statute, the U.S. Justice Department argued in asking a federal judge to overturn a state law reviving many tenets of the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order. The Justice Department said federal statutes pre-empt the net [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-12-20 A federal appeals court has upheld most of the FCC's orders speeding the deployment of cell service buildouts by easing regulations on those 5G deployments, including pole attachments and various local reviews of buildouts. Specifically upheld were the Small Cell Order, the Moratoria Order, and the One Touch [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-11-20 Online video streaming site Vimeo has asked the FCC to "summarily and promptly" dismiss a petition by the Trump Administration asking the FCC to come up with a regime for regulating online speech. It said the Administration does not have the authority to ask the FCC for the [...]
By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 8-11-20 The Trump Administration is making 100 MHz of midband spectrum available for FCC auction by December 2021, according to the White House, and use by commercial 5G providers at full power ASAP, at least on the government timeline. The move was billed as strengthening U.S. leadership in 5G. [...]
By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable Online, 8-10-20 Broadcasters are ramping up the pressure, and the rhetoric, in their attempt to get the FCC to hold off on increasing the regulatory fees it charges TV and radio stations, especially during a pandemic that has done a number on revenue. The FCC supports itself through its [...]