John Eggerton

The Senate has passed a Farm Bill whose broadband section reins in potential overbuilding of commercial broadband operators with government broadband subsidies.

Limited-government groups want the Federal Communications Commission to limit the mandates in its enforcement of children's programming legislation dating from the early 1990s, while a prominent kids TV group sees it slightly differently, while agreeing changes are needed.

Critics of the Sinclair-Tribune merger continue to try to get Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to delay a decision on the deal until a federal appeals court rules on the UHF discount that made the combo possible. Common Cause and Public Knowledge officially petitioned the FCC to "hold the proceeding in abeyance," which is just legalese for "hold off," pointing out that "the Court’s consideration of the UHF Reinstatement Order has direct bearing on whether the proposed acquisition of Tribune Media Company (“Tribune”) by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

In advance of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the proposed T-Mobile-Sprint merger, the Communications Workers of America called on the companies to commit to protecting workers' rights and not eliminating jobs, and threatened to oppose the deal if they won't make that commitment. CWA conceded that the CEO of T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom, Tim Höttges, has said that the merger will create and repatriate jobs. But it wants that in a "binding" form at the Federal Communications Commission, which is vetting the deal along with the Department of Justice.

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), held a hearing to consider draft legislation to reauthorize the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). But the bill was billed as a rural broadband solution, including coordinating funding efforts and getting mroe accurate and granular maps of broadband coverage.

The attorneys general of Illinois, Iowa (stations from both states are involved in the deal) and Rhode Island have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to deny the Sinclair-Tribune merger, which would give Sinclair over 200 TV stations.

The New York State Supreme Court's appellate division has cleared the way for the state to continue pursuing a lawsuit against Charter Communications over broadband speed claims. The appellate court ruled that the FCC's 2015 Open Internet Order's transparency rules did not give the commission the power to preempt the state's lawsuit and said the state's claims are actionable.

MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett says that AT&T-Time Warner's court victory should not be seen as a green light for vertical mergers (ones combining distribution with content), particularly ones involving an ISP and a content company, say Comcast-Fox for instance. Moffett argues that the Department of Justice tried the wrong case by focusing its argument on the combination of the Turner linear networks and distributor DirecTV (owned by AT&T) and the alleged impact on Turner's independent distributors--increased consumer prices to consumers.

Smaller cable operators are getting an assist from the American Civil Liberties Union in their effort to block the Sinclair-Tribune deal.  In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission, the ACLU pulled out all the stops, invoking viewpoint diversity and the legal underpinnings of media ownership regulation to argue the deal should be rejected. It also spent some some time defending cable operators from what it said were the threats from the deal.

The Communications Workers of America, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA, the NewsGuild-CWA, and the Parents Television Council have all filed petitions with the Federal Communications Commission asking it to deny the merger between Sinclair and Tribune, which would create the largest broadcast group in the country with over 200 stations.