Jon Brodkin

The Federal Communications Commission is refusing to reverse a decision that will take a broadband subsidy away from many American Indians. Under FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's leadership, the FCC voted 3-2 in November 2017 to make it much harder for Tribal residents to obtain a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of Internet or phone service. The changes could take effect as early as October 2018, depending on when they are approved by the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB). 

A California network neutrality bill that could impose the toughest rules in the country is being resurrected. The bill was approved in its strongest form by the CA Senate, but it was then gutted by the State Assembly's Communications Committee, which approved the bill only after eliminating provisions opposed by AT&T and cable lobbyists. Bill author CA state Sen Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has been negotiating with Communications Committee Chairman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and other lawmakers since then, and he announced the results today.

AT&T is raising the base price of its DirecTV Now streaming service by $5 per month, despite promising in court that its acquisition of Time Warner would lower TV prices. AT&T confirmed the price increase said it began informing customers of the increase this past weekend. "The $5 increase will go into effect July 26 for new customers and varies for existing customers based on their billing date," an AT&T spokesperson said. The $5 increase will affect all DirecTV Now tiers except for a Spanish-language TV package.

Comcast's Xfinity Mobile service is imposing new speed limits on video watching and personal hotspot usage, and the company will start charging extra for high-definition video over the cellular network. Videos will be throttled to 480p (DVD quality) on all Comcast mobile plans unless you pay extra, while Comcast's "unlimited" plan will limit mobile hotspot speeds to 600kbps.

AT&T has been offering free HBO to its unlimited data customers since 2017, and you might have expected that deal to continue unaltered now that AT&T owns HBO thanks to its acquisition of Time Warner. But AT&T revamped its two unlimited mobile plans this week, and in the process it raised the price for the entry-level plan by $5 a month while removing the free HBO perk.

Lawmakers seeking to reinstate network neutrality rules are still 46 signatures short of getting the House of Representatives to vote on the measure. A discharge petition needs 218 signatures to force a House vote and 218 votes would also be enough to pass the measure. So far, the petition has signatures from 172 representatives, all Democrats. That number hasn't changed in two weeks. "We're 46 [signatures] away from being able to force a vote on the resolution to restore the Open Internet Order," Sen Ed Markey (D-MA) said.

AT&T will soon offer a new streaming video service thanks to its acquisition of Time Warner, and it will be buying more companies in order to beef up its advertising platform, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said. The streaming service will be free for AT&T mobile customers who subscribe to unlimited data plans and $15 a month for everyone else. AT&T will announce more acquisitions soon to improve its advertising system.

The New York State Public Service Commission ordered Charter Communications to pay a $2 million fine and complete network construction that was required as a condition of Charter's purchase of Time Warner Cable. If Charter doesn't meet its merger-related obligations, the company will "face the risk of having the merger revoked," the commission said. The commission said that state law gives it the authority to rescind merger approvals and threatened to start a proceeding to rescind or change the merger approval order if Charter refuses to comply.

Comcast has disabled a throttling system that it deployed in 2008 in order to slow down heavy Internet users. Comcast's network is now strong enough that a congestion management system isn't needed, the company says. The system has been "essentially inactive for more than a year," and is now disabled entirely.

The repeal of federal network neutrality rules became official June 11, giving broadband providers the right to block or throttle Internet traffic or to prioritize traffic in exchange for payment. But at least for now, some major ISPs are saying they won't do any of those things. The Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T websites all say they aren't doing any blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization.