John Eggerton

Reps Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) have called on the Federal Communications Commission to protect incumbents in the C-Band. The C-band is currently used for satellite delivery of cable and broadcast network programming to TV and radio stations, satellite radio services, and cable head-ends. The FCC wants to open it up to wireless broadband to help close the digital divide and promote 5G, both prime directives for the commission.

The National Association of Broadcasters has joined with other groups in the News Media for Open Government (NMOG) coalition to press the new Congress to better protect journalists, including the long-sought federal shield law that has been introduced in numerous Congresses over the past couple of decades.

Privacy groups are calling for the creation of a new Data Protection Agency to focus on privacy protection and replace the Federal Trade Commission in that role, which lacks rulemaking authority and which, they argue, has failed to exercise the enforcement authority it has in that space.

In day two of Attorney General Nominee William Barr's confrimation hearing, Georgia State law professor Nail Kinkopf told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the independence of federal agencies including the Federal Communications Commission are at risk under Barr's theory of executive power. Kinkopf did not sugar coat his criticism of a lengthy 2018 memo on that legal issue that Barr penned, a memo Democratic lawmakers have pointed to as troubling since it argued the President's "interactions" with FBI director James Comey did not constitute obstruction of Justice.

With the US.Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit signaling it planned to hold the Feb. 1 oral argument in Mozilla vs.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-OR) announced the subcommittee Ranking Members for the 116th Congress. As expected, Rep Bob Latta (R-OH) has been named Ranking Member of the Communications Subcommittee. “I’d like to thank Congressman Walden for the opportunity to serve as Republican Leader on the Communications and Technology Subcommittee,” said Rep Latta. “The way we communicate and use technology plays a significant role in our daily lives. In this capacity, I’ll be able to advocate for policies that will help consumers, grow our economy, and spur innovation.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has filed the opening brief in its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's conditions on the 2016 Charter-Time Warner Cable (Bright House) merger.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said that oral arguments scheduled for January and now February will take place, partial government shutdown or not. That means the court will hear arguments in the Mozilla et al.

The Federal Communications Commission will move the 28 GHz auction to stage three beginning Jan 14. It will stay with the same number of six rounds per day, and the same half-horu duration, but instead of bidders having to bid on 95% of the licenses for which it is eligible, they must now bid on 100% of those licenses.

Former Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Mignon Clyburn has been tapped to join tech execs, academics, national security officials and others on a new National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Clyburn joins representatives from Amazon, Google, Oracle and Microsoft on the committee, which was created by the National Defense Authorization Act and charged with reviewing the impact on national security on advances in AI, artificial learning and related fields. The commission is tasked with producing a report to the White House by August 2019.