Ownership

In recent years, cable companies have gained broadband market share against the telecommunication companies except in areas where the telcos have upgraded their traditional copper-based network infrastructure to support speeds competitive with the cablecos’ hybrid fiber coax-based service. But according to researchers at Moffett Nathanson, that’s set to change as telcos, particularly AT&T, get more aggressive about delivering faster broadband speeds.

The British satellite broadcaster Sky warned that it may shut down its 24-hour news channel if the property becomes an obstacle to the company’s effort to sell itself to Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.  In a regulatory filing with the Competition Markets Authority in Britain, Sky wrote that the regulator should not “simply assume the ‘continued provision of Sky News’” if ownership of the channel posed a problem for the $15 billion transaction.

[Commentary] The Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission will vote Nov 16 to allow just one corporation to own the local newspaper plus every commercial TV station in your town. Nifty way to reduce down to just one newsroom then dictate whatever information that corporation does – and does not – want you to know in this democracy.  We know why Sinclair Broadcasting, renowned for its alt right editorializing over our public airwaves, wants to reach 72 percent of U.S. homes with its propaganda. We know this White House’s agenda.

[Commentary] The AT&T-Time Waner $85 billion deal dwarfs even the massive Comcast-NBCUniversal merger. And so do its implications: AT&T’s subscriber base is more than four times the size of Comcast’s at the time it purchased NBCUniversal. Any day now, the Department of Justice will announce whether this mega-merger will be permitted.

[Commentary] While news reports overflow with examples of the Trump Administration pulling back on oversight of business, they’re missing the story in one key area: the administration’s aggressive move to restore Federal Trade Commission power to police the internet. While the Federal Communications Commission is charged with protecting the public interest, it ultimately lacks the staff, resources, and statutory authority needed for a true on-the-ground, national consumer protection effort.

The Coalition to Save Local Media, which is the coalition to block the Sinclair-Tribune merger, has added six new members, according to organizers, including a big union and leased access advocates.

Maryland’s attorney general opposes the proposed merger between Sinclair Broadcasting Group and rival TV station operator Tribune Media.  Attorney General Brian E. Frosh filed comments Nov 3 with the Federal Communications Commission, arguing that the merger would lead to fewer options for consumers and higher prices. Frosh also asked the FCC to delay their decision on the merger until a court decides how to calculate national audience reach.

[Commentary] As the son of a broadcast pioneer who got his license from the Department of Commerce in 1923 and as a former broadcaster myself, I read with great sadness “FCC to Lift Limits on Media Deals.” Although Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai justifies his proposal by saying it will lead to more news gathering locally and more news for consumers, my experience tells me it will be the opposite. First, viewers and listeners don’t need more news, they need better news.

Comcast Xfinity Internet service suffered major problems on Nov 6, leaving customers in many major cities with slow connections or none at all.  Internet-monitoring company Downdetecter said that the outage is affecting Xfinity customers in Denver (CO), Portland (OR), Chicago (IL), Seattle (WA), New York (NY), San Francisco (CA), Houston (TX), Minneapolis (MN), Boston (MA), and Mountain View (CA). Comcast’s customer care on Twitter apologized for the outage and said that the company was trying to fix the problem, but it did not say when it would be solved.

[Commentary] Under the plain terms of the Communications Act, the Federal Communications Commission is obligated to review industry mergers and acquisitions to determine whether such transactions serve the public interest. Given that the FCC is “entrusted with the responsibility to determine when and to what extent the public interest would be served by competition in the industry," the commission’s merger review serves a useful and important function.