John Eggerton

At the annual FCC Chairman's Dinner hosted by the Federal Communications Bar Association, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai took some obligatory shots at various industry players.

Senate has unanimously approved a resolution on protecting press freedom, including calling on the President to be a leader in defending a free press, including a press that promotes "government accountability."

Whereas freedom of the press is a cornerstone of American democracy and is enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution;

Sens Steve Daines (R-MT) and Ron Johnson (R-MS) have asked the Federal Communications Commission to resolve interference issues with TV white spaces (TVWS) use by unlicensed devices, come up with final guidance, and allow for the expansion of TVWS use. They say the technology is key to closing the rural broadband divide because it is an affordable connectivity answer for rural and tribal communities.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) have joined with Consumer Reports, Common Cause and others to call for House hearings on the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger in the next Congress. In letters to likely new House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and likely new House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the groups said that hearings in their respective committees would be an "excellent" first step toward the incoming Democratic Reps vision of stronger antitrust enforcement (something Rep Nadler has pushed for),

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons told the Senate Consumer Protection Subcommittee at an FTC oversight hearing that the FTC needs three things to protect consumer privacy: 1) rulemaking authority; 2) civil penalty authority—currently it can only try and make consumers whole for losses, not penalize the conduct responsible; and 3) jurisdiction over nonprofits and common carriers. Currently, the FTC has to sue or settle with alleged violators, then monitor enforcement of the settlements it secures.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a California District Court ruling that Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) was not barred from suing Charter over its allegation the cable operator's decision not to carry his programming was racially motivated. The panel rejected Charter's motion to dismiss the suit and remanded it back to the US District Court for the Central District of California for further proceedings, which likely means a trial on its merits unless the parties settle.

After a judge ruled Nov 16 that the White House must restore the press pass of CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta, President Donald Trump said of the court defeat, "[I]t’s not a big deal. What they said though is that we have to create rules and regulations for conduct etc. etc. We’re doing that, were going to write them up right now.

Privacy groups are pressing the Federal Trade Commission for the status of their complaint against Google.

Sens Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Tom Udall (D-NM) have added their voices to those of broadcasters and others asking the Federal Communications Commission to be careful how it allows new users to share the C-band spectrum they use to receive programming networks from suppliers.

The American Cable Association called on the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation into Comcast-NBCUniversal. It would be a way to keep Justice overseeing the company after the conditions DOJ imposed on the merger expired earlier in 2018.