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  2. November 2017

November 2017

President Trump Uses Lauer Exit to Suggest Need for Comcast-NBCU Exec Firings

President Donald Trump has leapt on the news of Today Show co-host Matt Lauer's dismissal by NBC as further "evidence" of the "fake news" brand he has applied to news outlets the president dislikes. President Trump recently renewed his attacks on the press with a vengeance, and doubled down yet again Nov 29. In a pair of tweets following the news that NBC had fired Lauer following allegations of sexual misconduct, the president asked when top Comcast-NBCU executives would also be fired for putting out "fake news," mentioning specific names.

Analysts Say Turner Arbitration Offer Blunts Government's Objections to AT&T-TW Deal

Analysts say AT&T’s declaration that it would offer distributors arbitration when Turner carriage deals expire—and its promise of no blackouts for seven years—if its acquisition of Time Warner goes through answers one of the government's biggest objections to the deal. AT&T disclosed the offer in response to the Justice Department’s suit looking to block the merger on antitrust grounds.  MoffettNathanson Research analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson called AT&T's arbitration and no-blackout gambit clever.

Comcast deleted net neutrality pledge the same day FCC announced repeal

An examination of how Comcast's net neutrality promises have changed over time reveals an interesting tidbit—Comcast deleted a "no paid prioritization" pledge from its net neutrality webpage on the very same day that the Federal Communications Commission announced its initial plan to repeal net neutrality rules.  Starting in 2014, the webpage, corporate.comcast.com/openinternet/open-net-neutrality, contained this statement: "Comcast doesn't prioritize Internet traffic or create paid fast lanes." That statement remained on the page until April 26 of this year, according to page captures from

Lawsuit aims to uncover how government surveils journalists

What, if anything, is constraining the Trump Justice Department in its dangerous war on leakers, whistleblowers, and journalists? The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Freedom of the Press Foundation are teaming up to find out.

INCOMPAS Blasts FCC Chairman for Attacking Twitter and Streaming Competition

Chairman Pai’s attack on Twitter is like a boxer losing a fight and taking wild and erratic swings. Preventing hate speech and bullying behavior online is not the same thing as allowing cable companies to block, throttle and extort money from consumers and the websites they love. Twitter is an amazing platform for left, right and center. Donald Trump might not be President without it, and Chairman Pai's plan to kill net neutrality will put Comcast and AT&T in charge of his Twitter account.

Taking Net Neutrality to Court

Defenders of the Federal Communications Commission's current Open Internet rules are plotting out a legal challenge to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to repeal them. This would be the latest in a series of court battles over FCC net neutrality authority. Several groups including Public Knowledge, Free Press, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla and the Computer & Communications Industry Association expressed interest in a legal challenge, which may consume much of 2018.

The FCC is Lying When It Claims Net Neutrality Hurt Investment

As internet service providers have poured millions of dollars into killing net neutrality protections, they have made one common refrain: that the Federal Communications Commission's fairly modest net neutrality rules somehow destroyed network investment in the United States. Never mind that any time a journalist fact checks these claims they find they're indisputably false.

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