Press Release

The National Religious Broadcasters received encouraging news from the Federal Communications Commission and veteran lawyers commenting on the government entity’s work during Proclaim 18, the NRB’s International Christian Media Convention. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai spoke to the Christian communicators gathered for the annual meeting in a video shown in both the opening session February 27 and an FCC session March 1. He pledged to continue to speak out for free speech and thanked NRB for its instrumental support in the last year.

Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, a new book from journalist and musician Claire L. Evans, offers a rougher and more complicated version of the history of the internet. 

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced the agency has chosen Patrick Webre as chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, continuing the work he has been doing as acting chief. During his career, Webre served in several leadership roles at the FCC including as an Associate Bureau Chief and Chief Programs Officer in the Bureau he now leads, legal advisor to the chief of the Media Bureau, and an attorney in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. Immediately prior to rejoining the Commission last year as acting chief, Webre worked at

House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), and Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-FL) announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on legislation reauthorizing the Federal Communications Commission and spurring the deployment of next-generation wireless services. The legislation, RAY BAUM’S Act (H.R. 4986), will be voted on in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 6, 2018. The legislation would:

On February 27 and 28, in partnership with the Benton Foundation, three digital inclusion innovators, joined NDIA's Angela Siefer for a round of meetings in DC. Amina Fazlullah, NDIA’s Policy Advisor and a Mozilla Tech Policy Fellow, made arrangements for four visits to senate offices and two visits to FCC commissioner offices, in addition to a meeting with Mozilla Tech Policy Fellows and an update on potential infrastructure legislation from SHLB Coalition’s John Windhausen. Thanks to Susan Corbett, we also met with Senator Angus King (I-Maine).

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai has said that bridging the digital divide is his highest priority. And now, we have a valuable tool that will aid in efforts to bridge the gap: a new interactive broadband map, which will help the public and policy-makers understand where there are gaps in delivering fixed broadband and much more. This new map is built on the latest data for fixed-broadband deployment, collected every six months by the FCC from providers on Form 477.

[Press release] I want the United States to win the 5G race. I outlined the Federal Communications Commission’s strategy for 5G leadership and delivering next-generation wireless connectivity to American consumers using a three-part approach: forward-thinking spectrum policy, modernized rules for infrastructure deployment, and light-touch network regulation.Today, I’m unveiling a lineup for the FCC’s March 22 open meeting that builds on this momentum.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the March Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday March 22, 2018:

The Federal Trade Commission has reached a settlement with PayPal over allegations that the company told users of its Venmo peer-to-peer payment service that money credited to their Venmo balances could be transferred to external bank accounts without adequately disclosing that the transactions were still subject to review and that funds could be frozen or removed. In its complaint, the FTC also charges that Venmo misled consumers about the extent to which they could control the privacy of their transactions.

The Federal Communications Commission announced that Straight Path Communications and Verizon Communications have paid a civil penalty of over $600 million dollars to the US Treasury in connection with a January 2017 settlement that Straight Path entered into with the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau—prior to the sale and transfer of its licenses to Verizon.