Ownership

In a very short one page decision, the US Court of Appeals rejected the requests filed by public interest groups to stay the effect of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to reinstate the UHF discount. For the foreseeable future, this decision will free many broadcast television groups to acquire more television stations as UHF stations (which most TV stations now are) count for only half their audience reach in assessing compliance with the 39% limit on the national audience share that any TV owner can have.

While, contrary to some press reports, this does not signal the Court’s final approval of the FCC’s decision to reinstate the discount, it does suggest the direction which the Court is likely to take in its assessment of this Commission decision. This decision does not end the case. The public interest groups can continue to pursue their appeal though full briefing and oral argument and a full court decision. However, the rejection of the stay certainly increases the odds that the FCC will ultimately prevail in its defense of the reinstatement of the UHF discount.

The New York Times issued a correction to an editorial after it was widely criticized for incorrectly linking the 2011 shooting of Rep Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) to a map circulated by Sarah Palin's political action committee which showed certain electoral districts under crosshairs. "An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords," the Times' correction said. "In fact, no such link was established." In a tweet, the Times further added, "We're sorry about this and we appreciate that our readers called us on the mistake."

The editorial, titled "America's Lethal Politics," implied that the man who shot Giffords, Jared Lee Loughner, was inspired by Palin's map. It further claimed that in the shooting of Rep Steve Scalise (R-LA) and several others at a practice for a Congressional baseball game there was "no sign of incitement as direct as in the Giffords attack."

Dropping a bombshell on the US grocery industry, online shopping giant Amazon.com said it agreed to buy Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion in cash. The deal’s announcement instantly sparked a selloff in the stocks of other major US supermarket and big-box chains on expectations that Amazon would bring its low-price expertise and technology prowess to bear with Whole Foods, putting further downward pressure on prices in the already hyper-competitive $611-billion US grocery industry.

Amazon’s brazen bid to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion will bring the e-commerce giant toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump, who once slammed the company as a threat to competition — and threatened it would have such “problems” under his watch. Looming over the customary antitrust review are President Trump’s own comments.

Sitting down with conservative commentator Sean Hannity in May 2016, Trump explicitly challenged Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in large part because of his ownership of the Washington Post. "He thinks I'll go after him for antitrust," Trump said at the time. "Because he's got a huge antitrust problem because he's controlling so much, Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing.” President Trump continued: "He's using the Washington Post, which is peanuts, he's using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust." In December 2015, Trump essentially called Bezos's ownership of the Post a tax-dodging scheme for his "no-profit company, Amazon." (The Post is owned by Bezos personally and is not part of Amazon.) Months later, at a campaign rally in Texas, the president issued his most direct threat to the e-commerce titan. "Believe me, if I become president, oh do they have problems, they are going to have such problems,” President Trump said.

Netflix is reentering the fray over network neutrality, saying it will participate in an online protest in July designed to draw attention to a high-stakes fight over the future of the Internet. The streaming video company said that it will “never outgrow” its advocacy for net neutrality, the idea that Internet service providers should not arbitrarily manipulate online content as it travels to consumers' screens.

On July 12, Netflix will join Amazon, Reddit, Mozilla and a host of others in modifying its website. The user-facing changes are expected to highlight the benefits of regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission in 2015.

Washington (DC) was quick to respond to the court decision not to block the Federal Communications Commission's reimposition of the UHF discount, at least while it decides a court challenge to that decision under FCC chairman Ajit Pai. The decision allows deals like the Sinclair-Tribune merger to proceed, which without the discount would have exceeded the FCC's 39% cap on national audience reach.

"The FCC’s order eliminating the UHF discount [voted last fall by a Democratic majority and against the Republicans' dissent] was made without a comprehensive review of broadcast media ownership rules. [The National Association of Broadcasters] supports the Court’s decision denying the stay request.” Chairman Pai had said the discount decision by the Democrats was reversed because it did not also include considering the impact on the 39% cap. “The UHF discount has long outlived its usefulness,” said former FCC chairman Michael Copps, currently a special adviser to Common Cause. “Reinstating it was a huge, unwarranted gift to Big Broadcast. So it is disappointing that the court did not rein in the broadcast-friendly majority at the FCC. We remain committed to halting the wave of media consolidation the FCC majority has sought to unleash.”

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied the emergency stay motion filed by public interest groups that sought to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from implementing its decision to reinstate the so-called UHF discount that the groups claim will “make it easier for the nation’s largest television ownership groups to acquire additional stations, and crowd out diverse and local voices.” A stay would have prevented the UHF discount from going into effect while the court hears the case on its merits. Restoring the UHF discount to its national ownership rule, in effect, raises the limit on household coverage of TV station groups from 39% to 78%.

The decision is good news for Sinclair Broadcast Group, which needs it to implement its proposed agreement to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion and assumption of debt. That deal would increase Sinclair's household reach to 72%. The FCC had urged the court to deny the stay, saying the public interest groups’ request fell "far short" of meeting the criteria for a stay.

T-Mobile said the Federal Communications Commission has granted the spectrum licenses it successfully bid on in the broadcast incentive auction, which means it can start planning how to use it. The company has already signaled it would like to start lighting up some of that new mobile wireless broadband spectrum as early as the end of 2017, with testing beginning this summer.

"With the spectrum transfer complete, the real fun begins. Despite the cries from skeptics, T-Mobile has already kicked off deployment activities and will see the first sites ready for testing this summer," the company said. "This timeline—well ahead of expectations—sets the stage for commercial operations later this year. That’s when new 600 MHz smartphones from leading smartphone manufacturers are anticipated to arrive. T-Mobile has been working closely with the FCC and broadcasters and expects more than 1 million square miles of 600 MHz spectrum the Un-carrier owns to be clear and ready for deployment by year end."

In this endless cycle of breaking political headlines, television news is facing its biggest moment of opportunity since Fox News Channel and MSNBC came on the scene 21 years ago. The competitive fervor among the Big Three to turn these added eyeballs into regular viewers is further stoked by the fact that the longtime market leader — Fox News — is vulnerable after a year of turmoil on both sides of the camera. The pervasiveness of headlines and commentary online and on social media platforms has unquestionably stepped up the tempo for cable news.

“We are just working at a different pace now,” says Bret Baier, Fox News' chielf political anchor. “It’s not just this administration but our society. People are now used to absorbing things in a nanosecond, and they expect their 24-hour cable news to be as fast as they are.”

Verizon officially closed its $4.5 billion agreement to purchase Yahoo. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced her resignation in a message to employees. “It’s an emotional time for all of us,” Mayer wrote in a blog post. “Given the inherent changes to my role, I’ll be leaving the company. However, I want all of you to know that I’m brimming with nostalgia, gratitude, and optimism.”

“Yahoo’s imprint and impact on the valley will long outlive its own history,” said Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino. “For so many years, (its) creative culture and the individual leaders left an indelible mark on the valley.”

Yahoo’s drawn-out, painful demise seemed as much about the laws of nature as the laws of business, as it struggled in vain to keep its strength while a wily predator gobbled up its sustenance. Once that upstart Google came onto the internet scene with a better algorithm for searching, Yahoo’s kicking and flailing at a digital advertising market that had left it behind provided drama that time after time captivated Silicon Valley. It made for an epic tale that showcased the power of rapidly changing technology to both create and destroy.