Broadcasting&Cable

The House Commerce Committee approved a bill that reauthorizes the Federal Communications Commission -- and includes a number of other bills, including an incentive auction fund increase.

Sens Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) introduced the bipartisan Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Act of 2018 to help close the urban-rural digital divide and expand access to broadband in rural communities.

The nation’s top intelligence chiefs testified Feb 13 that they fully expect Russia to seek to disrupt the 2018 midterm elections. Appearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats said that Russia will continue using propaganda, false personas and social media to undermine the upcoming elections.

The Federal Communications Commission reported that prices for expanded basic cable were up 3.4 percent in 2015 (the most recent figures available) to $71.37 per month, but the percentage increase over 2014 was down from an average annual increase of 4.4 percent over the previous five years. The average price of basic service was up 4.4% to $25.40 in 2015 over 2014, the FCC said.

President Donald Trump says rural areas are going to get broadband as part of his infrastructure plan as a way to address what he signaled was an "unfair" lack of such access. "[T]he rural folks have been left out, including broadband Internet access, which they don't have," President Donald Trump said in a meeting with state and local officials on his $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. "And they want it, and the farmers want it.

President Donald Trump's newly proposed budget includes a proposal to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), part of a package that includes $300 billion in new spending overall. CPB provides federal funding for PBS and National Public Radio stations. "The Budget proposes to eliminate Federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over a two year period," according to the proposal.

The budget bill that passed in the wee hours of the morning of Feb 9 included $20 billion for infrastructure initiatives, at least some of which will go to broadband buildouts.