Margaret Harding McGill

Sinclair Broadcast Group is selling off nearly two dozen TV stations to comply with federal ownership rules — but that may not stop the company from reaching millions of those stations' viewers with its conservative programming. Four of the sales include provisions that would leave the giant broadcaster with a role in the stations' programming, finances and operations, even when it no longer owns them. Sinclair has made these kinds of arrangements before as it has sold off some of its outlets.

Federal Communications Commission  Chairman Ajit Pai turned down an National Rifle Association of America (NRA) gun award he received at the Conservative Political Action Conference, citing the advice of ethics officials at his agency. An executive from the NRA named Chairman Pai the Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award recipient at CPAC for his efforts to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules.

Rural Indian reservations have lower rates of coverage than anywhere else in the nation. About 35 percent of Americans living in tribal lands lack broadband access, according to the most recent report by the Federal Communications Commission. In Idaho, the FCC estimates that 83 percent of the tribal population lacks broadband, making the Nez Perce tribe among the least-connected groups in the country.

The Federal Communications Commission's own chief technology officer expressed concern Dec 13 about FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's plan to repeal the network neutrality rules, saying it could lead to practices that are "not in the public interest." In an internal e-mail to all of the FCC commissioner offices, CTO Eric Burger, who was appointed by Pai in October, said the No.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is making the rounds to rally supporters behind his plan to roll back the neutrality rules. His efforts include a huddle with House Republicans set for Thursday and a visit to the Senate Republican.

Apparently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will reveal plans to his fellow commissioners on Nov 21 to fully dismantle the agency's Obama-era network neutrality regulations in a major victory for the telecom industry in the long-running policy debate. The FCC will vote on the proposal in December, some seven months after it laid the groundwork for scuttling the rules that require internet service providers like Comcast or AT&T to treat web traffic equally. Pai’s plan would jettison rules that prohibit ISPs from blocking or slowing web traffic or crea

The roughly 100-day frenzy of deregulation at the Federal Communications Commission marks a bright spot for the Trump Administration, which has been hampered in other areas like repealing Obamacare. And FCC Chairman Ajit Pai shows no signs of slowing down, teeing up a takedown of the signature FCC achievement of the Obama years: network neutrality rules designed to ensure internet service providers treat all web traffic equally.

The White House has already said President Donald Trump plans to sign the resolution using the Congressional Review Act to rescind the Federal Communications Commission's broadband privacy rules. That leaves an open question of how the agency and Congress will choose to address the issue in the future. In his reaction to the House vote, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai seemed to suggest his next step would be to undo Title II, rather than create new rules that align with existing ones at the Federal Trade Commission.

Title II classified broadband internet access service providers as common carriers and put them under the FCC's regulatory jurisdiction. It's the same policy that bolsters the network neutrality rules, meaning revoking Title II could be tied to rolling back net neutrality. House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) is in step with Chairman Pai on leaving privacy to the FTC. "I hope the FCC will take up and review what was done under the Wheeler regime on Title II," he said, referencing the previous FCC chairman. "Repealing Title II solves the whole problem. I think we gotta get this back to where we can legislate in this space, and take the bill we drafted a few years ago that would put into statute prohibitions on bad behavior, on throttling, and paid prioritization and blocking, there's bipartisan agreement on that. But when the Obama administration forced the FCC to go straight to Title II, that created all these problems."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai met with the House Commerce Committee's Rural Telecommunications Working Group to discuss expanding broadband access in rural communities. Some of the topics the group touched on included the Universal Service Fund, call completion and the FCC's 477 Form, according to a committee aide. "The meeting with Chairman Pai was an opportunity for a robust, bipartisan discussion about bridging the digital divide that too often exists between rural and urban areas," said Rep. Bob Latta (R-OH). "Reducing regulatory barriers and investing in deployment of broadband infrastructure will help more of our communities - especially rural communities - compete and stay connected in the 21st century economy."

The White House has called for eliminating two regulations for every new one imposed, and though the policy doesn't apply to independent agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is sticking with the spirit of it. He told reporters that during his short tenure so far, the FCC has repealed, revised or tweaked what he described as outdated regulations. "I think the prism within which the FCC views any regulations that are on the books is: Do they continue to be necessary in the public interest and to promote competition in 2017," Chairman Pai said. "And if they don't, then we obviously want to modernize them to make sure that we're not standing in the way of investment or innovation or otherwise imposing more costs."