Benton Foundation

[Commentary] The Senate Commerce Committee held three hearings this week on infrastructure.

One of the most important antitrust cases in recent decades, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) move to block AT&T from acquiring Time Warner, goes to trial in Washington, DC, on March 19. The significance of the case goes well beyond its impact on this huge transaction and on future media mergers.

[Commentary] The big Internet service provider gate-keepers may have bought the silence of Congress, but they cannot buy the silence of the people. We know there is overwhelming popular support for an open internet with strong net neutrality rules.  But we have to demonstrate this support and the power behind it.  We must make our voices heard.  Contacting Congress now on the CRA is vital—your Senators, of course, but your House members, too.  Tell them your vote in the next election depends on their vote now to restore net neutrality. 

In the early years of the 20th Century, Louis Brandeis was America’s most influential advocate for antitrust enforcement but his contributions to antitrust have been much debated ever since.

A recent Mobile Beacon report analyzing mobile broadband usage by non-profit organizations, including schools, finds that schools utilizing Mobile Beacon’s 4G LTE internet service indicate that the ability to supplement and/or extend existing school networks is the greatest benefit of the service. While schools reported that the two main drivers for acquiring Mobile Beacon’s mobile broadband services are the desire for mobile connectivity (41%) and to save money on internet access (28%), they reported that the main benefits of using the services were 1) the ability to supplement/extend an e

[Editorial] The Benton Foundation has joined literally hundreds of organizations that are asking the Federal Communications Commission to ensure Lifeline voice and broadband service for low-income households, with minimal disruption to the people who depend on the program for a consistent connection to the world via their telephone or internet connection. We're asking that the FCC:

President Donald Trump’s long-awaited infrastructure proposal was finally unveiled on February 12, 2018. The 10-year plan for "rebuilding infrastructure in America" calls for $200 billion of federal seed money that the Administration projects will generate $1.5 trillion by incentivizing states, localities, and private investors. “We will build gleaming new roads, bridges, highways, railways and waterways all across our land,” the fact sheet begins, quoting President Trump’s State of the Union address.

The Senate Commerce Committee convened a hearing for the president’s nominees to serve as Federal Trade Commissioners:

[Commentary] How can we improve the biggest tool to closing the digital divide in the Federal Communications Commission’s toolbox: the Connect America Fund. Back in 2011, the FCC adopted a performance goal for the Connect America Fund of ensuring universal access to fixed broadband and concluded it would measure progress towards this outcome based on the number of newly served locations — but it did not articulate any concrete vision for when this universal service goal might be achieved.

We've recently redesigned the Headlines Daily Digest. Based on some feedback we've received, we're considering some additional tweaks to the newsletter. But before we do anything else, we'd love to hear from you about the new design and ways we can improve your reading experience. Please take our brief survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KJX3F72

Thank you.