Ownership

In the eight days after news broke that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai wants to fully repeal network neutrality rules, cable and broadcast news networks -- aside from MSNBC -- have given the story very little coverage. 

AT&T and Time Warner are extending the termination date of their merger to April 22, 2018 now that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing to block their deal.  Despite the DOJ’s move to stop the merger, both companies are hopeful they’ll still be able to complete the $85 billion deal if they beat the agency’s lawsuit. “AT&T intends to vigorously contest the DOJ’s allegations and is confident that the Court will reject the DOJ’s challenge to the merger,” the company wrote in its SEC filing.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai thinks everyone from Cher to Twitter has it wrong when they say that his efforts to roll back the US government’s existing network neutrality rules will spell the death of the web. Instead, Chairman Pai said that tech giants could pose the greatest threat by discriminating against viewpoints on the internet.

Among Sean Hannity’s critics, his relationship with President Donald Trump is frequently depicted as nakedly and sycophantically transactional — one career entertainer grabbing onto the coattails of another and hanging on for dear life. But people close to the president and Hannity say this caricature vastly oversimplifies the complicated and evolving alliance between the two men and misunderstands the degree to which Trump, as candidate and president, has come to Hannity’s positions, rather than the other way around.

David Callicott needs to be online to run his small company, GoodLight Natural Candles in San Francisco.  A proposal on Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission would undo so-called net neutrality rules that barred high-speed internet service providers from adjusting website delivery speeds and charging customers extra for access.

If you think Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google already have monopolistic power, just wait until the FCC rolls back net neutrality rules. One thing is certain. Allowing internet companies to boost their power will not benefit consumers, only hurt them. FCC commissioners will vote on lifting net neutrality rules on Dec. 14, and the repeal will likely pass on a party-line vote. After that, big business will control the internet like never before.

[Commentary] No one should be surprised by the Justice Department’s attempt to block AT&T’s $85 billion bid to acquire Time Warner.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposal — which is expected to be formally approved next month in a party-line vote — would render the FCC powerless to stop internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from slowing down or creating paid “fast lanes” for certain sites. And that could produce some big winners and losers throughout the industry.

Winner: Big Internet Service Providers

Loser: Netflix and YouTube 

Winner: Yahoo — and other services owned by ISPs 

Loser: Upstart streaming companies

Loser: Innovators 

For years, Comcast has been promising that it won't violate the principles of network neutrality, regardless of whether the government imposes any net neutrality rules. That meant that Comcast wouldn't block or throttle lawful Internet traffic and that it wouldn't create fast lanes in order to collect tolls from Web companies that want priority access over the Comcast network.

[Commentary] Moving in for the kill, incumbent carriers have stretched their home team advantage.  With millions in lobbying, campaign contributions and sponsored research, along with a like-minded Federal Communications Commission majority, the unpleasantness of the prior 8 year Obama stretch largely will evaporate very quickly. Money well spent. Rather than frame regulatory debates in terms of midlevel issues of economic theory and political philosophy, think lower tier: cold hard cash money. Follow the money.