Press Release

The Department of Justice has reached settlements with CBS, Cox, EW Scripps, Fox, and TEGNA Inc. to resolve a Department lawsuit brought as part of its ongoing investigation into exchanges of competitively sensitive information in the broadcast television industry. All five companies are alleged to have engaged in unlawful information sharing among their owned broadcast television stations. Cox also owns Cox Reps, one of two large “Rep Firms” in the industry that assist broadcast stations in sales to national advertisers.

Sens Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mark Warner (D-VA) warned the Trump Administration not to concede on important national security matters related to countering Huawei, a Chinese state-directed telecommunications company recently added to the US Commerce Department’s banned Entity List, and the development of fifth-generation wireless telecommunications technology (5G) in order to achieve a favorable outcome on trade negotiations with China.

The Voices for Internet Freedom coalition called on the Senate to pass the Save the Internet Act, which would restore strong and enforceable Net Neutrality rules. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has held up the bill, which passed the House of Representatives in April, despite the overwhelming bipartisan support among voters for the Net Neutrality protections the legislation would reinstate. 

On the one-year anniversary of the repeal of network neutrality, Engine, who advocates on behalf of startups, released a letter signed by over 160 startups in support of the Save the Internet Act (HR 1644/S 682). The legislation would restore the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order, which allowed startups to grow and succeed by keeping the Internet a level playing field. Startups rely on a free and open Internet to survive.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai issued the following statement regarding USTelecom’s release of broadband investment figures for 2018:

US broadband provider capital investment increased by approximately $3 billion in 2018, continuing the positive momentum shift that began in 2017 when the Federal Communications Commission initially signaled its intention to restore a forward-looking regulatory framework for broadband.  According to a preliminary analysis of 2018 company data, USTelecom estimates that US broadband providers invested approximately $75 billion in 2018, up from $72 billion the prior year.

Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks sent letters to executives of 14 major phone and voice service providers seeking details about their plans to offer free, default call blocking services to consumers to combat disruptive and dangerous robocalls. “Carriers made clear to the Commission: they want to offer call blocking services to consumers by default. My colleagues and I made clear to carriers: they should not charge consumers for these services. The Commission has acted. Now it is industry’s turn to put these new tools to work for consumers.

The Federal Communications Commission authorized $166.8 million in funding over the next decade to expand broadband to 60,850 unserved rural homes and businesses in 22 states, representing the second wave of support from 2018's successful Connect America Fund Phase II auction. Providers will begin receiving funding in June. In total, the auction last fall allocated $1.488 billion in support to expand broadband to more than 700,000 unserved rural homes and small businesses over the next 10 years.

The Federal Communications Commission voted to make clear that voice service providers may aggressively block unwanted robocalls before they reach consumers. The FCC approved a Declaratory Ruling to affirm that voice service providers may, as the default, block unwanted calls based on reasonable call analytics, as long as their customers are informed and have the opportunity to opt out of the blocking. This action empowers providers to protect their customers from unwanted robocalls before those calls even reach the customers’ phones.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing its leased access rules. These rules require cable operators to set aside channel capacity for commercial use by unaffiliated video programmers. The FCC found that vacating burdensome requirements set forth in the 2008 Order as consistent with today’s highly competitive video marketplace. Second, the Report and Order streamlines the FCC’s existing leased access rules.